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#211
"if you have little use for bit locker and/or the F8 function."
I use F8 to use safe mode when needed, I wouldn't loase that ability would I?
JDH1, The reason I suggest to make the 4 folders is because then you can tell the images easily apart. And since you normally never restore the 100MB partition or the recovery partition, that is handy. It is also convenient for managing the restore points.
Over time you will accumulate a certain number of images for C and D of which you may want to delete some of the older versions. If all images are in the same folder, you do not know which is which.
Into each folder (via the XML) you can place as many images as you want. They are easy to distinguish by date.
With free Macrium you always get full images - which I prefer because they are easy to manage. With free Paragon you can also make differentials or incrementals. To manage those (e.g. delete older versions) is a lot more tricky.
F8 function "Repair your computer" requires only 2 things to function- the RE files (these are automatically installed on the computer when win7 is installed on the computer) and some bcd entries. It is not dependent on the Sysres partition.
All you need to do after making whatever changes you are making is- first check whether "Repair your computer" is present or not. If not the 2 simplest ways of creating it are by using reagentc or with easybcd (easybcd doesnt create the F8 thing but it can be used to create a bootmenu entry for the recovery options which is as good).
I don't know whether one backup file would be more or less confusing than using separate folders and separate files. WHS's recent post (#213) explains his reasoning on this quite well. I want to go over WHS's tutorial materials today -- hopefully things will make more sense to me after that <g>!
A different but related matter here is using Macrium to go from a HDD to an SSD. Obviously they have dissimilar structures, so maybe this is impossible to do. However if I eventually have three separate image files of the three partitions I now have on one physical HDD, I hope I will somehow be able to transfer all these to one physical SSD.
Yes I see your point. I have 4 partitions on my laptop internal HDD. I backup Recovery and HP tools together because they wont change and do System and C together regularly because they are a "working set". Other disks I do file and folder backups as and when needed (I have the paid version).
That things were usually done a bit differently with Ghost isn't really important. Your explanation about the separate folders for Macrium makes perfect sense to me. Right, the less confusion, the better <g>.
On Paragon vs. Macrium, I too have always preferred full images even if my current backup regimen allowed differential or incremental backups. For me, the extra time to do full backups never outweighed what I perceived to be a simpler and more straight forward approach.
Am I thinking of a different program, or doesn't Paragon use some kind of "capsule", apparently a virtual, hidden or possibly temporary partition. I have read about users having a drive letter D: partition inserted, and this new partition then bumping their existing partition D: to the new letter E:, effectively destroying any drive letter dependent links, shortcuts, etc. Maybe this was with another program and not Paragon, but if Macrium never adds partitions for its own use and never changes my drive letters, I would find that far preferable to any program which did do this.
Do you see any reason to get the paid version of Macrium? And what about migration from a HDD to an SSD?
Sorry about all the questions, but please know that you are helping out a lot here -- and it's appreciated!!!