Did I do Macrium Disc Image Correctly?

Hello,

I recently reinstalled my Windows 7 OS, my software, and personalized my computer for the third time in 3 months. I won’t go into the details, but suffice it to say, the system became unstable due to software incompatibilities.

Now that I have my system exactly where I want to start from, should I ever need to reinstall the OS, or lose a profile, I decided to make an image of the HDD.

I did some research on this site, and found that Macrium was a frontrunner, so I followed 2 sets of instructions and did a disc image onto DVDs. However, there are some looming questions I would like to have answered to make sure I can restore my system in the future, should the need arise.

1. I made a Macrium Linux Boot Disc, but when I was doing the actual disc imaging after that, it said that if you are using the Linux disc, it is recommended that you use DVD/RW for the images. Is this for people who are doing incremental images, or should I be concerned because I used basic DVD+Rs?
2. When creating the Macrium image, and reading about it on the Web, it espouses the use of the XML file to restore the image. It also creates a “shortcut” to this XML on my hard disc. I thought that the point of the Macrium Linux Boot Disc was in case I did not have access to my hard drive files. I also read, however, that if your image spans multiple discs, you should put in the last one first.

Basically, all I want is a bootable system restore image. It now seems as if there is a problem, I can boot from the Macrium Linux Boot Disc, which will then begin an image restore to the hard drive from my 2 DVD+R image discs. Is this correct? Do I have to format the hard drive’s partition before I restore the image? It seems like there is a big piece of the puzzle that I am missing, and I do not want to mess up now and be sorry later. I am going to create a new partition on my HD for the Macrium images, and run the program again and place the image in that partition. But even then, the questions still remain. Do I boot from the Macrium Linux Boot Disc, then format the partition I am restoring, and then somehow restore the images, and if so, how?

Your help with this is greatly appreciated. It takes me about 24 hours to reinstall Windows 7, my hardware drivers, software, and personalize my computer. If I don’t have to do that again, it would be a big help.

Thanks for your consideration,

~Antonio :)

MilesAhead said:

Boot the Linux CD. Start the restore program, but don't go on with it. Just see if the restore program recognizes your HD. If it does, you should be good to go.

I'd recommend getting either an external USB drive or a docking station and use internal Sata drives for backups. It's easy to make a backup a few times a week. That way if stuff gets hosed, you only lose a few days of tweaks, installs, customizations.

Also restore from disc is slow. With a USB drive you can easily keep several backup images and restore is a lot faster. The Linux boot CD supports USB. I've tried mine and it sees the docking station no problem.

Hello MilesAhead,

I am sorry that I missed seeing your post originally, but was checking back in to let people know who are following this thread that using Macrium is the way to go.
FWIW, I had done the system image with Macrium a few weeks ago and, over the weekend, tried to turn off my Taskbar Thumbnails and make them appear as a list instead. I used a program that turned them off, but did not make them into a list. So, I turned them back on. But the program did something to my registry which made my Quick Launch bar keep disappearing on every boot. So, I ran the Macrium image restore, and it worked! And, it only took about 35 minutes! I was pleasantly surprised, especially since I was considering using MS Backup until the night before, when I tried to backup some files, and it hung at 31% for about 45 minutes before I just gave up on it... It is so NICE when something actually works, and it is such an elegant solution.

As for the media I have my backup on, I am just maintaining (right now) the bare essential of my Windows installation on image. If I start imaging more complex (and therefore bigger) partitions, I will definitely go with your advice and use a USB drive. For the last restore, however, I was able to do it from the image I made to another HDD partition, and it worked marvelously! I keep the 2 DVD-Rs as a next, "last resort".

Either way, Macrium rules, and I wouldn't trust Microsoft with backing up my data.

Take good care,

~Antonio