Windows 7: Macrium reflect questions

Hi I am getting ready to do my first image backup using Macrium and I had a couple questions.

1) About 2 weeks ago when I first downloaded the program I made a rescue disc for Macrium reflect per their instructions. However since that time, I have added a new external drive (which will be the drive I use to store the backup images) and switched around some usb devices ( pluged them into different ports) which caused some drive letters to change.

Do I need to make a new rescue disc as a result of these changes?

2) Kind of on the same subject. Once I make this image backup, If I need to add something hardware wise (like a new soundcard), or switch around usb ports which could change certain drive letters again, will I still be able to restore my computer from the image if one of my drives fails.

Thanks in advance for any info - Carl

As long as the C drive has not been remapped, you should have no problem restoring from the backup and you shouldn't need another rescue disk.

All the rescue disk does is get you into the Windows Recovery Environment where you can choose various options, one which is to restore a your system from an image backup.

If you install new hardware etc. I think it would be prudent to create another system image backup.

Thanks for the quick reply Seavixen. I figured that would be the case, but just wanted to check. I won't be changing the mapping of the c:drive at all. Hoping to get a soundcard for Xmas, Ill be sure to make a fresh image after making that change. thanks again - Carl

You wouldn't be able to change the C: letter of your system partition anyway, so no worries there.

As for the other USB devices, you can just manually change their drive letters via Disk Management and set them back to what you're used to.

You're very welcome Carl.

If you do encounter problems after you've installed your new sound card, be sure to post back if you need further help.

What I would recommend, especially if you're using MR v5, is to make a new rescue CD whenever you update MR -- and it also updates the Rescue CD ISO. You can tell when it does that because you can see it updating the directory containing the ISO when it does the "patching".

Only suggesting this because MR has been pushing out updates that corrected Rescue Disk problems, and you'd hate to be stuck with an "older" version of the disk that fails when you need it the most.

Mark is absolutely right, however: not every program update automatically carries an update to the rescue CD with it. You can review the changelog in Reflect and see if updates to the rescue CD are mentioned (if they are, there's usually a version number too).

If you just burn a new disc everytime the main application updates, you might find you're wasting time (and CDs) half the time.

Thanks Mark and Corazon, I'll take your suggestions and make a new rescue CD after updates. To me it's no big deal making the discs, if it gives me an added bit of peace of mind.

Just one question, if either of you know, When I first made the windows PE rescue disc, I had to download this large file from Microsoft. I can't remember what the name of it was, but I do remember it downloaded as an ISO file. Will I need to redownload that file each time I want to make a rescue disc after updates?

Interesting question ... one I asked of the MR folks myself. And they told me YES. So, I went through ALL the problems of using WAIK -- only to find out later that the download and install were NOT needed.

Appears that with v5, MR "bundles" the option to create the WinPE disk with the product, so really, no WAIK download or install is needed.

I confirmed this on another PC, one in which I had NOT dowloaded or installed WAIK, and it made essentially, the same WinPE disk.

So, basically, NO, you do not need to mess around with WAIK anymore to make a WinPE disk.

Thanks Mark for your input on the MS WAIK download. I should probably mention that I am using the free version, not the paid version. Not sure if this would make a difference or not when you mentioned that it comes bundled. Maybe the paid version comes bundled and the downloaded free version does not. Not really sure.