Thanks for the good info here. I had some serious trouble yesterday and had to break out the Acronis TIH v13 Recovery Disk and get an image from last month and recover my main PC. The good thing is that with the SSD, it only took 20 minutes to recover everything and get back up and running!
I just downloaded and installed WAIK through the Rescue Media setup process and created my own Rescue disc. Did another restore, completed in 1:32:41, same as before. When I created the WinPE disc I checked the option for scanning unsupported devices, when I booted up the only unsupported device were the network drivers. I'm dotting every i and crossing every t and my restore times are still over 1:30mins.
The only thing that's left is to use the Linux boot disc. Going to do a restore with Linux disc and see if that makes any difference.
Using Acronis I found that Restore took 3 or more times longer than backup if the backup files were held on a NTFS format partition of a USB2 connected external HDD.
I then tried using a FAT32 format partition on the the HDD and restore become as fast as backup.
Acronis running under Windows took the same time to create a backup regardless of the destination format.
I deduced that the Linux drivers and system on the Acronis Boot Recovery CD were "native to" FAT32 format,
but were incompetent when faced with NTFS.
The above was a few years ago.
I tested speed again when I switched to Macrium Reflect version 4 and found the WinPE Boot recovery took no longer regardless of which external partition held the backup file.
Macrium is always as fast (or even faster) at restoring than at making the backup - in my experience.
My suggestions :-
1.
Try using a FAT32 format partition for holding the backup file;
2.
Investigate replacing or supplementing the WinPE default drivers with those that actually work with your hardware when running under Windows 7.
Default drivers in WinPE were NOT capable of working with USB3 connected external drives.
Somewhere on the Macrium forums there was advice upon how to adjust the WinPE based Recovery CD with suitable USB3 drivers.
That is no longer a user issue - Macrium now has USB3 issues fixed.
Perhaps WinPE Recovery drivers are compatible with and fully functional on your hardware platform,
BUT one or more (not necessarily USB3 / External related) may be much slower than those supplied in your Windows 7 system,
and whatever that may be should be fixable - but I do not have the detailed knowledge to assist you.
My memory is that the Linux disk gives a slightly faster restore with Macrium from an external USB2 drive but that was some time ago and version 4.
I never tried Macrium Linux because WinPE worked so well for me.
N.B.
Twice I Microsoft trashed Windows 7 with an automatic update,
and each time I had documents that were more recent than yesterdays backups.
I booted into WinPE Rescue CD and did some magic.
I created a backup of my broken system (including my user files)
and then restored from the previous backup,
and then running under restored Windows I mounted the latest backup and copied the latest version of my user files.
I doubt that a Linux Restore CD would have a similar backup capability
I just performed a restore with the Linux boot disc and my restore time was 18mins 55 secs which is a long way from the 1hr 35mins it took the WinPE environment to recover the image.
There's obviously a driver issue with the WinPE disc or there's a driver I must install before performing the recovery.
Exactly, and USB 2.0 is limited by bus speed and it doesn't matter if USB 3.0 is used unless the external HDD uses USB 3.0 and is connected to a USB 3.0 port with the proper drivers installed.
That was not an issue with 3 GB image files of XP on my old Laptop
It is not an issue with my 6.? GB image files of Windows 7 on my Desktop,
because Macrium is fully capable of working with 4GB restricted "fragments" by using suitable numbered increments.
Macrium can also break up an image into 4.7 GB etc fragments for burning to DVD archives.
You failed to understand.
I am NOT talking about USB3 speed.
I am referring to the fact that people were backing up to a USB3 external,
BUT WinPE was INCAPABLE of even seeing an external drive on a USB3 PORT,
and those people with only USB3 and no USB2 ports were absolutely stuck until they obtained advice on adding "extras" to the WinPE Rescue CD.
Macrium have NOW fixed that in standard issue WinPE - no more user hassle.
It might be insoluble with a Linux rescue CD.
Last edited by alan10; 14 Jan 2013 at 07:06.
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