Latest Macrium free

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  1. Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
    Thread Starter
       #11

    Well having read Jimbos post I have to be honest and admit that I prefer having a clone rather than images or whatever to back up to (on a spare drive) .

    The thought of spending hours of fiddling around doing this and that - is like trying to undo those dreadful tangles in a fishing line I spent many hours undoing in my youth. So I have a clone of whatever I am doing now sitting on the shelf and back data to an external or another internal which I can easily copy back to the other drive when the time comes.

    Now everyone is probably thinking I am quite potty but I do (and have done in the past) intensely dislike losing data such as personal pictures or documents such as short stories, resumes for example when a drive goes belly up. It's another reason I like using Ubuntu as a bootable way of retrieving most data from a dead drive.

    Now seeing what Jimbo has posted only reinforces my "comfort zone" in cloning the drive from time to time. The fact that I can slot the clone back in means that within the time it takes I can be back on line and working again albeit with some stuff missing.

    Mad perhaps yes - stupid I don't think so:)
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  2. Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       #12



    There is nothing at all complicated about restoring a Macrium image. Whats all the confusion about?
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  3. Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
    Thread Starter
       #13

    Well I must admit I have never had to restore using the Macrium but if you say it is ok then perhaps I will try it when the time comes. But until then that clone is staying put:)
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  4. Posts : 8,135
    Windows 10 64 bit
       #14

    I have partially tested my paid version with the WinPE recovery disc. I didn't actually do a restore but did everything up to the actual restore and it did not ask for any serial number.

    However, as I created the disc, I noted that it loaded hardware drivers for the specific system on to the disc. Thus I created a separate WinPE rescue disc for each system. I don't know if that is really needed, I didn't test one for a different system.
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  5. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #15

    When I've used Macrium (free), I haven't had a problem doing a restore. Some time ago now though since I still use Windows inbuilt as my primary imaging tool . Also I'm on basic ADSL and I don't see the fuss for a WAIK download which is what I used for my pe rescue disc.
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  6. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #16

    jimbo45 said:
    Hi there
    Questions for you if you are using the PAID version. (Not the FREEBIE).

    1) If you create a BOOTABLE recovery disk / usb system does it nag you to enter a serial number each time you use the restore. That would be a SHOWSTOPPER if you needed to do an urgent restore and you had to hunt around for serial nrs etc...
    No. Once you enter the serial number in your computer the first time you set up the program, that's it. It's not needed for recovery using the recovery disk.

    jimbo45 said:

    ...2) I don't like the XML idea -- this might make the backups and restores very slow.
    The "XML idea" doesn't slow anything down and actually may speed up backups and restores a bit by simplifying the process but it isn't necessary except for making differential and incremental backups. Since I only make full images of my boot drive and clone my data drives now, I deselect making XML files.

    jimbo45 said:
    ...3) Can you disable "Restore by sector" -- if I'm restoring from a different HDD or SSD to an SSD with a totally different geometry restoring sector by sector is not a good idea...
    MR uses Intelligent Sector Copy by default which means it backs up only the sectors that has any data on it. To save space, it also doesn't backup the page and hibernation files. Making a complete copy, including all sectors, even empty ones, is optional. I use the default setting myself. I haven't heard of anyone having problems using Macrium Reflect to move an OS from an HDD to an SSD although a clean install on an SSD is generally recommended, no matter what imaging program is used.

    I'm using the latest version of Macrium Reflect Pro. When version 6.x comes out, I'm probably going to keep using 5.x. even though there will be no updates, because it's working just fine for me.

    I use the Win PE recovery disk (actually, I just recently switched over to using USB sticks) and the only problem I've had is the slow USB interface. I recently enabled the option to allow the recovery from an internal drive but haven't used it yet. However, it should be faster than going through an optical drive or an USB.
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  7. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #17

    ICit2lol said:
    Well having read Jimbos post I have to be honest and admit that I prefer having a clone rather than images or whatever to back up to (on a spare drive) .

    The thought of spending hours of fiddling around doing this and that - is like trying to undo those dreadful tangles in a fishing line I spent many hours undoing in my youth. So I have a clone of whatever I am doing now sitting on the shelf and back data to an external or another internal which I can easily copy back to the other drive when the time comes.

    Now everyone is probably thinking I am quite potty but I do (and have done in the past) intensely dislike losing data such as personal pictures or documents such as short stories, resumes for example when a drive goes belly up. It's another reason I like using Ubuntu as a bootable way of retrieving most data from a dead drive.

    Now seeing what Jimbo has posted only reinforces my "comfort zone" in cloning the drive from time to time. The fact that I can slot the clone back in means that within the time it takes I can be back on line and working again albeit with some stuff missing.

    Mad perhaps yes - stupid I don't think so:)
    You are making a mountain out of a molehill (a large mountain and a small molehill). Making an image with Macrium Reflect is no more difficult than making a clone. There is a small learning curve but, believe me, it isn't as dire as you seem to believe; certainly not as difficult, frustrating, or time consuming as detangling fishing line (been there, done that, snagged and ruined the tee shirt). It's faster to make an image than it is to make a clone and restoration is also faster. Images are smaller than clones and can be used to backup and restore individual or multiple partitions instead of being restricted to entire disks. Also, also a Intelligent Sector image can restore to a different sized partition as long as the partition is large enough to hold the restored files.

    I only use images to backup and restore my boot drive because they are simpler and faster to use and take up less storage space. Although imaging is superior to cloning for backup and restoration, I do use cloning because, if an data drive in my machine should take a one-way trip to computer never-never land, I can disconnect it, plug one of the backup clones into the hot swap bay in my computer (I keep two on hand), and keep chugging along until I can get and install a replacement for the "departed" HDD.
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  8. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #18

    fireberd said:
    I have partially tested my paid version with the WinPE recovery disc. I didn't actually do a restore but did everything up to the actual restore and it did not ask for any serial number.

    However, as I created the disc, I noted that it loaded hardware drivers for the specific system on to the disc. Thus I created a separate WinPE rescue disc for each system. I don't know if that is really needed, I didn't test one for a different system.
    I haven't actually tested it either (yet) but I'm thinking the downloaded drivers are only for if one uses the Restore to Dissimilar Hardware feature, which I'm highly unlikely to ever use. I used each of my machines (desktop and notebook) to make a restoration USB stick to keep with each machine since the notebook gets used when traveling only and I'm too lazy to pack and unpack stuff (not to mention absent minded).
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  9. Posts : 8,135
    Windows 10 64 bit
       #19

    The downloaded drivers would not be for dissimilar hardware, as the drivers would not be applicable to the different hardware. The drivers would only be for the particular machine the recovery disc was created on.

    For example, I have one Desktop with a Gigabyte motherboard and another with an ASUS motherboard; both have different hardware, such as NIC's and SATA drive controllers. The recovery disc I created for the Gigabyte system loaded driver for the Gigabyte hardware. The recovery for the ASUS loaded drivers for the ASUS hardware. I have a third system, a Lenovo Laptop and it too has different hardware and the drivers for that system were loaded on the recovery disc for that one. I have one System with both Win 7 and Win 8.1. I made separate recovery discs for those, to be on the safe side.
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  10. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #20

    fireberd said:
    The downloaded drivers would not be for dissimilar hardware, as the drivers would not be applicable to the different hardware. The drivers would only be for the particular machine the recovery disc was created on...
    Good point! I shouldn't post shortly after waking up from a short night.

    That got me thinking, though (yeah, I know, a dangerous thing). Downloading the drivers is an optional step when making the recovery "disk". Under what circumstances would they actually be needed?

    fireberd said:
    ...I made separate recovery discs for those, to be on the safe side.
    I did the same thing but, in my case, it was cowardice . I really need to dig out my notebook and see if the recovery stick I made for the desktop will work with the notebook (or vice versa).
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