Imaging with free Macrium

You burn the ISO directly to a disc.

The only valid test of the boot disc is to see if it boots your PC.

If it does not, throw it out and make another.

If it does, make sure you can navigate it and see your image file as well as the drive to which you might some day want to restore. It's good to have an idea of what to expect when the time comes.

Thanks for coming back so quickly.
Can you explain how, if and when I may need this boot disc and backup that I have made, a hard drive without an
operating system will be able to open an ISO file.

I am a relative novice so please be tolerant of my lack of knowledge.
Thank you in advance for your time.

miker70 said:

Thanks for coming back so quickly.
Can you explain how, if and when I may need this boot disc and backup that I have made, a hard drive without an
operating system will be able to open an ISO file.

I am a relative novice so please be tolerant of my lack of knowledge.
Thank you in advance for your time.

Once you create your boot media (CD or Flash Stick), the PC can be booted independent of the HDD or OS.

For example, when I want to test a worse-case scenario, where a HDD has been wiped due to necessity (malware removal, corrupt OS, etc), I'll install an unallocated HDD in my PC. This is the destination HDD where Macrium will restore the complete OS and all of your personal data from the previously-created Image file (all content that was present at the time of the original backup image file creation).

It will in effect, become your new "C" HDD containing your OS and everything else, if you're not running your PC with a dedicated boot/OS HDD.

Then I'll insure that my external storage device is connected to the PC. This is where one can store multiple image files, such as a portable USB HDD, etc.

For example, I have a 4Tb external HDD that I use to store Images of 3 PC's, my Desktop, Laptop, and my Mom's Desktop PC.

Then I'll boot into my WinPE Macrium CD and launch Macrium's software. The contents of the CD are loaded into the PC's memory (RAM). This is what makes these bootable media tools (Macrium, etc) valuable since no OS is required to run the software. That is one reason these backup programs are often referred to as "Rescue" media.

Then, follow the Restore dialog steps in the Macrium software program.

As others have mentioned, it's important to verify the complete worse-case "restore" methodology, in case it's needed in the future.

I've test-verified the process 2-3 times but now I do that infrequently since Macrium's images are very reliable, or that's my experience with it.


If you have a basic PC HDD setup, as I do (with one "C" HDD containing Windows and your personal data), you can do the following to create your image:

- Before booting into your Macrium CD, while Windows is running, plug in your "destination" device. This can be an external USB HDD or another device, where you'll be storing your backup Image file.

- Create a folder on the external HDD. This is where your image file will be stored.

For example, I use the following folder names on my external PC:

The name of the PC. For my Desktop PC, it's just "desktop" name for the folder. Laptop, the same, etc.

Then I'll create a sub-folder with the date when I run the backup/image file. ie folder name "08-31-14".

I like to create the destination folders before booting into the CD since, for me, it's easier that way. If I recall, Macrium will assign names for the folder but I prefer to use my own folder names.

- Restart the PC, selecting the Optical Drive (or Flash stick) for the 1st boot device. You can do that, with most PC's, using what's usually referred to as a "temporary boot priority" menu. It's a fast way to access the BIOS on the PC.

With my Toshiba Laptop, when the PC restarts and displays the "Toshiba" screen, there's a line of instructions at the bottom of the screen, showing the user how to access "setup" (BIOS), etc.

With my Toshiba Laptop, I press the F12 key at that screen to access the Boot Priority menu. Here is where you can select your Optical Drive (or Flash Stick) as the bootable device. The PC will then boot from that device instead of looking for the HDD boot manager, etc.

- When the PC has completed loading the Macrium software into your PC's memory, you'll see the screen as indicated in kado's video guide.

To create your Image backup, follow the guide instructions.


To recover the PC from a previously-created image:

- Install a "destination" device, a blank HDD, into the same slot/area where the "C" HDD is installed.

- Connect your external USB HDD, or the device where the image file is located.

- Insure that the Macrium CD is installed in the Optical Drive (or Flash Stick is plugged in).

- Boot up the PC onto the device that contains the Macrium boot CD/stick, as mentioned in the earlier steps.

- Follow the instructions to "restore from an image" section in the Macrium software.

When you select that option, the software will ask for your image file's destination location. Select the desired image file to restore onto your "C" HDD.

- Run the Restore process.

- If all went well, once the Restore process has completed. you'll boot up onto your "C" HDD and your OS will launch, containing the same content that was present at the time the image file was created.


You can also use Macrium as a cloning tool. I use both HDD backup activities, cloning and imaging. I've never seen the topic as "either/or", I like the advantages to using both approaches to full-HDD backup plans.


This is the reason I have a couple of spare HDD's on the shelf. They're inexpensive nowadays (spinner HDD's) and I'd rather have a small investment on the shelf vs being unprepared with a scenario where my PC HDD failed, malware, requiring a PC "rollback", etc.