Solved Macrium Reflect Free ...I'm in :-)

Sorry, it's me again!

I started my Macrium imaging experience today with the Tecra R840 laptop (Win7 Pro 64-bit).

1- After installation, I created the Rescue disc with sucess
(I already had the 1.7 GB WAIK stored in one of my USB 3.0 external hdd, so it was done in a breeze. But...I still do not understand what is the WAIK!!! There was an option to delete the WAIK after the disc creation...I do not checked that!)

2- I imaged my entire SSD to one of my external USB 3.0 hdd (used only for backup images) (see pic) (70.4 GB in 11 minutes and the resulting image file occupied only 50% of that ).



Everything occured with no trouble at all and very friendly .

If anyone could answer these questions I would appreciate:

a- I imaged to a folder that I created (named "MacriumReflect Images) in my external hdd. Is this ok, since with windows backup I need to image directly to the root directory of the hdd ?

b- Instead of a DVD could I create a USB flash rescue bootable media?

c- Was everything in my laptop imaged?

d- In a worst scenario case (almost) like I cannot boot from windows, neither in safe mode, how can I restore my laptop to a previous imaged state?

e- I saw (via autoruns) that a service was created "ReflectService.exe" ! Is this necessary for...? What will happen if I disabled it?

f- May I backup my images? I mean, may I copy/paste the image for another external hdd just in case?

Thanks a lot for reading this! I will appreciate any comments

Cheers,
paulo

Bom dia Paulo - please see some comments below.

paulobao said:

If anyone could answer these questions I would appreciate:

a- I imaged to a folder that I created (named "MacriumReflect Images) in my external hdd. Is this ok, since with windows backup I need to image directly to the root directory of the hdd ?

Click to expand...

Yes, its perfectly OK to use that folder structure.

paulobao said:

b- Instead of a DVD could I create a USB flash rescue bootable media?

Click to expand...

Yes, you can do that. Here is a tutorial that shows how to use the Linux rescue disk from USB, but if you use WinPE its exactly the same. Tip: for the rescue ISO, make sure there are no spaces in the name, or the USB will not boot.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/218920-macrium-reflect-create-bootable-rescue-usb-drive.html

paulobao said:

c- Was everything in my laptop imaged?

Click to expand...

Everything on the SSD was imaged.

paulobao said:

d- In a worst scenario case (almost) like I cannot boot from windows, neither in safe mode, how can I restore my laptop to a previous imaged state?

Click to expand...

Boot from the rescue iso from the USB, then browse to the image and restore it. See this:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

paulobao said:

e- I saw (via autoruns) that a service was created "ReflectService.exe" ! Is this necessary for...? What will happen if I disabled it?

Click to expand...

The service is neccessary to run Macrium.

paulobao said:

f- May I backup my images? I mean, may I copy/paste the image for another external hdd just in case?

Click to expand...

Absolutely, yes - you back them up like any other file. No worries with that.

Allow me to make one more point. Test the rescue CD, now, make sure it works. You will not have to use the image. You want to be sure the CD works during the time of a crisis. I make a new image every time I download new software, updates or make any other changes. In addition, I make an image twice a month.
Macrium has saved me twice.

Excellent addition, thanks Rich.

And you are welcome.

reflectservice.exe = Macrium Reflect Image Mounting Service
To mount the image and give it a drive letter as it was a real drive.

Golden, thanks for the quick answers and the portuguese words too .
Thanks richc46 for the aditional tip .
Thanks for the explanation Kaktussoft.

About your tip "Test the rescue CD, now, make sure it works"...(sorry I'm a newbie) how can I do that? Any sugestion? This CD only works to my computer right? I've finished to install Macrium in my desktop at work too!

Cheers,
paulo

Turn off the computer
Put the CD in the computer
Boot the computer
It should boot from the CD
After boot you should not be in Windows, you should see the available, images. You can stop at this point do not choose an image or you will actually install the image.
If any of the above does work as described, post and we will help.
BTW, now, set the computer to boot from a CD and leave the setting, in case of future problems.
Follow this tutorial, the same as Seven
Boot Priority - Change - Vista Forums

paulobao said:

Golden, thanks for the quick answers and the portuguese words too .
Thanks richc46 for the aditional tip .

About your tip "Test the rescue CD, now, make sure it works"...(sorry I'm a newbie) how can I do that? Any sugestion? This CD only works to my computer right? I've finished to install Macrium in my desktop at work too!

Cheers,
paulo

Click to expand...

That is very simple.

1. Create a small 2GB partition
2. Copy some data into that partition (any folders)
3. Image that partition
4. Delete some data from that partition
5. Restore that partition with the Macrium WinPE CD and check whether the data you had deleted is back.

The advantage of that approach is that it is very fast and you need not take any risks with your system partitions. Just watch out that you do not have more than 3 primary partitions on your disk before you attempt to create that 2GB partition.

Thanks a lot for all this help!
I will try it right away and post here as soon as I finish!

paulo

Ok...this is odd!
A little off-topic but I tried to shrink my ssd (which is 512 GB with 405,05 GB free and the size of available shrink space is only 4324 MB !!!!). Please see the pic!

That is normal. The MFT (master file table) is sitting high up in the partition and Disk Management cannot move it. If you want to shrink more, you have to use the bootable CD of Partition Wizard. That can move the MFT.

Ok whs, I will see that later thanks!

About the restore process..!
I got this message (please see pic) after booting from the DVD, and I pressed NO!
Went to the main Macrium Restore screen and I choosed the image I wanted to restore and I draged to the partition I had created before! Et voilá, restore complete and sucesseful (The folders I removed from the partition were there after the restore ).

One thing I found (confirmed!) is that the USB 3.0 do not work for the restore process, only for the backup.

Thanks a lot for all this .

Is this the expected behavior right?

Now let me see what is happening with my ssd !

Cheers,
paulo

paulobao said:

Golden, thanks for the quick answers and the portuguese words too .
Thanks richc46 for the aditional tip .
Thanks for the explanation Kaktussoft.

About your tip "Test the rescue CD, now, make sure it works"...(sorry I'm a newbie) how can I do that? Any sugestion? This CD only works to my computer right? I've finished to install Macrium in my desktop at work too!

Cheers,
paulo

Click to expand...

This rescue CD/DVD has:
standard usb and ide and sata drivers. Same as win7 install dvd.
so should work on any computer. Unless special raid drivers are needed

Hi,

After pressing NO, no USB was installed and I could restore from a USB 2.0 external hdd! But if I use a hdd connected to a USB 3.0 I cannot see it ans, of course, cannot restore from/to it!

I do not know if that message (picture) is normal or not, but in my system it appears in all the experiments I did!

Is any possibility to use USB 3.0 for the restore?

paulo

Look at your restore screen, click on restore upper left. You have the choice of the drive to choose from and all the images.

With Macrium 5.0.4995 (and later), the USB3 is supposed to work. I have not yet been able to test that because my systems here in Germany have no USB3. When I am back in FL in Nov., I'll check it out.

Maybe someone else who has USB3 could clarify.

Please see my other thread in this forum!

paulobao said:

Hi,

After pressing NO, no USB was installed and I could restore from a USB 2.0 external hdd! But if I use a hdd connected to a USB 3.0 I cannot see it ans, of course, cannot restore from/to it!

I do not know if that message (picture) is normal or not, but in my system it appears in all the experiments I did!

Is any possibility to use USB 3.0 for the restore?

paulo

Click to expand...

usb3.0 is possible if you use macrium 5 and use the winpe rescue disk (not linux)