Image your system with free Macrium


  1. Posts : 10,455
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
       #1131

    You would be safer doing differential backups than incremental. Incremental backup rely on the full backup and all incrementals. Differentials rely on the full backup and on differential. I personally do one full backup per week and daily differentials. The paid version of macrium has a storage management option. I chose to keep three full backups and their associated differentials.

    Kaktussoft is correct. The image is not bootable, it is just a file. You need to create a recovery disk to restore it. The WinPE recovery disk is more reliable and has more features than the Linux one.
      My Computer


  2. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
    Thread Starter
       #1132

    - When I select the Image option within Macrium, does it offer a "full-disc" imaging option without asking the user numerous partition/custom-image questions? Since I'm primarily interested in imaging the entire HDD, with no customization of partitions, that's all I'm wanting to do.
    No problem. All you have to do is tick the partitions you want to include into this image. If you have a look at my other Macrium tutorial, it may become clearer.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 161
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
       #1133

    Kaktussoft said:
    Scoop said:
    Looking at the comparison chart at the Macruim site, it looks like I'd need the paid "Standard" version to have incremental capability.
    Correct

    Scoop said:
    The "recover to new hardware" option looks interesting but I'd need the "Pro" version for that option.

    Has anyone used that option to install a HDD from an older machine to a new one and how complex is that operation? I assume that you'd need to find a way to load all-new drivers and to deploy that data into the new machine's OS registry.
    You better do this..it's free Make Windows 7 bootable after motherboard swap
    Thanks for this link. I'll look at it closer as I have more time.

    Kaktussoft said:
    Scoop said:
    - Day 1: Image my entire HDD, a full bootable HDD replacement.

    - Day 2 and thereafter, depending on defined frequency, set up an incremental backup with the Scheduler that will write any changes to the previously-created image, thus keeping an up-to-date complete HDD image restorable with the Recovery media.
    An image must be restored.... it's not a bootable HDD!
    What is incremental and differential.... v5: How to create Incremental and differential disk images (Backup, Differential, Image, Incremental, v5)
    You only have to restore 1 image. It knows what previous differentials/incrementials/full backup to load.





    Notes on scheduling:
    • User that runs it must have password
    • If system shutdowns while running backup... backup will be cancelled
    Thanks. I knew that the image needed to be restored but forgot to include that in that part of my post.

    I wasn't aware of differential imaging. I will need to understand that info in the link before deciding on the best method for me.


    kado897 said:
    You would be safer doing differential backups than incremental. Incremental backup rely on the full backup and all incrementals. Differentials rely on the full backup and on differential. I personally do one full backup per week and daily differentials. The paid version of macrium has a storage management option. I chose to keep three full backups and their associated differentials.

    Kaktussoft is correct. The image is not bootable, it is just a file. You need to create a recovery disk to restore it. The WinPE recovery disk is more reliable and has more features than the Linux one.
    The once/week full backup is probably what I would gravitate toward, having first learned the cloning portion of the HDD tools.

    What is the compression ratio with Macrium? In other words, how many full-backup images would I be able to store on a spare HDD that is storing my full back up images from my Source 1 Tb HDD? I'm currently have about 400 Gb used out of 1 Tb.

    whs said:
    - When I select the Image option within Macrium, does it offer a "full-disc" imaging option without asking the user numerous partition/custom-image questions? Since I'm primarily interested in imaging the entire HDD, with no customization of partitions, that's all I'm wanting to do.
    No problem. All you have to do is tick the partitions you want to include into this image. If you have a look at my other Macrium tutorial, it may become clearer.
    This will help a lot, thanks.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 10,455
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
       #1134

    The compression ratio with Macrium is about 50%, but that depends on the type of data. Things like pictures and videos don't compress well as they are already compressed. If I were you I would separate your data (pictures, videos and documents) onto a different partition to Windows and programs and only image the Windows partition. For the data backup use a file and folder backup. The paid version of Macrium has this feature but I prefer to use a dedicated program for that. I use FreeFileSync now although I have also used Microsoft's SyncToy which is similar but with fewer features.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 16,129
    7 X64
       #1135

    Macrium is a very good option. It does a few things which might not be ideal for advanced users, but overall,does the job. Paragon is a great choice, Aomei is terrific, too. They differ in which functions they offer, so try them and see.
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 394
    Desk Top with Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit and Lap Top with Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit
       #1136

    For quite some time I have created images with that which is built into Windows 7 and also the one in Windows 8. I have created images and also restored several times and have never had problem. I'm not putting down the others; I'm just saying that I like the one in Windows.
      My Computer


  7. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #1137

    Frank1 said:
    For quite some time I have created images with that which is built into Windows 7 and also the one in Windows 8. I have created images and also restored several times and have never had problem. I'm not putting down the others; I'm just saying that I like the one in Windows.
    Frank,
    I use the native Windows imaging also for some time now and have never had a problem (but see my signature). I also use Macrium Reflect which offers more flexible options. I see no reason to go any further.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 4,049
    W7 Ultimate SP1, LM19.2 MATE, W10 Home 1703, W10 Pro 1703 VM, #All 64 bit
       #1138

    kado897 said:
    The compression ratio with Macrium is about 50%, but that depends on the type of data. Things like pictures and videos don't compress well as they are already compressed. If I were you I would separate your data (pictures, videos and documents) onto a different partition to Windows and programs and only image the Windows partition.
    Agreed.
    I use separate partitions for my documents, music, pictures, and videos (as well as a few others).

    The compression level can be adjusted, but I have mine set to the default level (medium).
    Image your system with free Macrium-macrium-reflect-compression-level.png
    Music, pictures and video partitions will create images roughly equal to their uncompressed size.
    Here is a comparison of my Pictures partition and the Reflect image of it.
    Image your system with free Macrium-macrium-reflect-image-size-image-partition.gif
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 415
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 32-bit; Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (VM).
       #1139

    I'd been using the built-in imaging program since Vista, but once I saw how it had been deprecated in Win 8 I started looking at free alternatives.

    I finally settled on the free version of EaseUS Backup Manager, and used it successfully for some time.

    But around last April, I got the full version of EaseUS Backup WorkStation 5.8 off 'Giveaway of the Day' as one of their free giveaways. Nothing is disabled or crippled, it is the full retail package.

    I've had very good results with this program, and will likely stick with it.


    Wenda.


    EDIT: Re compression... I found using EaseUS that the default setting was best. I did try an experiment, and imaged my entire C: drive including my VMs (which are not normally included in my images) using the Maximum compression setting.

    The size of the installation to be imaged was around 170GB, and the image was created successfully, if somewhat slowly. A considerable amount of space was saved. So all was good.

    Or was it???

    The time taken to actually restore the image went from around 35-40 min using the default compression setting, to almost 3 hours using the max setting. So if space is at a premium, it's worth doing, but if not, or if speed is more important, probably best not bother.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 10,455
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
       #1140

    Macrium is the same. The default setting gives a slightly bigger file than maximum but takes a lot longer to back up. I haven't compared restore times but I would expect something similar.
      My Computer


 

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