Windows 7: OS back up

Hi all, I am unsure how the restore from Macrium Reflect actually works. I have backed up the entire C: drive and loaded that onto separate drive F:. It is there. I have created the Macrium boot CD in case of OS failure. Now it says in case of failure to boot from their backup boot CD and click on the backup xml file to restore the operating system. Here is my confusion, if the operating system is not working ( corrupt) how do I get to F:\ Macrium back up XML? Has anyone tried this? Any help would be much appreciated. Regards Peter

Not a user of Macrium, boot up the Repair CD & test.

All Macrium users should test their Macrium boot CD to ensure that it actually boots and that you can locate your image file in it and see all of your hard drives. If you can't, the boot CD is useless and you are doomed to failure.

The boot CDs can be cranky---that's why the Macrium interface provides 3 different ways of making such a CD. In my case, I had to use the third method (compatibility mode???) to make the CD. The first two methods resulted in a CD that would not boot.

Just boot from your CD and go several steps into the procedure without actually restoring.

The boot CD is Linux. It will let you "find" the F: drive and everything that's stored on the F: drive including the working copy of the image you made of the C: drive. Don't get too concerned on what type of file the image is or how Macrium does its magic. Rest assured, you will be able to see the F: drive and select the image as long as the boot CD works.

An added feature of Macrium is you don't have to worry about renaming different system images. Each image is given its own unique identifying number. That means you can store multiple images on the F: drive unlike the Windows 7 imaging tool. In Windows 7 a system image is automatically called WindowsImageBackup. If you had that file stored on your F: drive and tried to create a new system image, you'd be warned that the original system image will be overwritten and in the end you'd still have just one system image available to choose from.

As ignatzatsonic said, try your boot CD and make sure you can follow the prompts to see your F: drive.

Hi ignatzatsonic, thank you for the warning. My macrium boot disk does boot but then stalls at " welcome to the image restore wizard" I left it there for 20 minutes but nothing happens. I have the latest Macrium 64 bit free version. It only has 2 boot making options Linux and Bart PE The bart PE version does not work with Win 7 64 bit. The advanced debug mode does not work either. So Macrium will not work to restore the operating system.
Any suggestions as to which software restores a corrupt win 7 system. Mine is OK but I am asking just in case it happens . Regards Peter

Best to choose the Linux option and re-burn the CD in compatibility mode. I don't remember exactly which dialog box it is, but you'll see an "Advanced" button. (The dialog box is just before you start the actual burn process.) Click on Advanced and then select compatiblity mode. That should get the boot CD working for you.

As far as restoring a corrupt Windows 7 system, it depends on what the corruption is. If it's because of newly installed software (just as one example), you could use system restore (not the same as restoring to a system image.) If it's corrupt system files you could try System File Checker. If it's due to a major corruption problem you could try Repair Install as a last resort option.

System Restore Point - Create

System Restore

SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

Repair Install

Choose Linux rather than Bart PE.

On the next screen you should see an "advanced" button for CD boot issues. That should lead you to "compatibility mode" and "debug mode"--these are the other 2 methods of making a CD.

Make a fresh boot CD using each of those and see if you still stall using them.

As it sits now, you are dead in the water. You can't use your existing boot CD to do what you need to do.

Hi Marsmimar and ignatzatsonic I have tried all the options and have burnt 3 boot disks. Using all the available options none of them go beyond welcome to the restore wizard. The repair install in win 7 only works from within win 7. So if it does not start you are out of luck. I thank you for your help. I do have the Win 7 repair boot disk but have once experienced it saying that windows was unable to repair etc. . The reason for my post was to try and prevent a, future, unable to boot to win 7 situation. Which may never happen. So I thought that Macrium Reflect provided the security. I wonder if I bought the full version if it would work? Spending the money is OK but only if it does the job. I recall Norton Ghost being able to do a restore image in DOS mode back in the days. Also it has been my understanding that in order to make a OS image you could not be in the operating system while doing it. Regards Peter

Download Hirens Boot CD. Select the mini XP environment and choose the Macrium pe tool. I have personally restored using it.
It works fine even on Sandy Bridge PCs which the linux boot CD doesn't seem to like.
Also note that it doesn't matter if your OS is x32 or x64.
Download Hiren

Dumb question: How is your backup disk formatted - NTFS or Fat32? If it is Fat32, you could have that problem.