Imaging with free Macrium

Lady Fitzgerald said:

True, an image is bootable after the recovery process (otherwise, why bother with imaging?) but a clone is bootable as is; you can boot directly from the disk the clone is on without having to do anything to or with it.

To use a photographic analogy, think of an image as a photo negative and a clone as a photo print. You can use the photo print as is but you have to use the image to make a print to be able to use it.

Thanks again, good analogy :). I think this is the reason that I gravitated towards cloning and learned about that before imaging due to the "plug-and-play" cloning routine since I can boot up immediately after cloning to test it as a complete copied spare HDD.

I see the pro's and con's to both, depending on what the user's goal is with their system and preferences.

For me to do what I want, I'd need to get a larger external HDD in order to keep more than 1 full-disc image for a system HDD recovery.

I may just stay with what I have since I'm using the image primarily as a failsafe against any possible cloning issues, which I've not yet encountered during 2 years of cloning.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Scoop said:

...Thanks. I used the WinPE CD when I imaged. I used the link that you had previously posted here. I don't have Macrium Free loaded onto my HDD...

That might be the problem. I've used the WinPE disk to restore images but never to actually make one. I suspect using the disk to make an image is going to be slower than doing it directly from the installation of Reflect on your computer. It would also be more convenient than using the disk when making an image.

I think you're onto something :). I might just download the Free version to my HDD to compare imaging speeds.

Since this is all a learning curve with Macruim and imaging for me, I wanted to try the ISO download first to see how it worked out.

whs said:

It would also be more convenient than using the disk when making an image.

The main convenience is that the installed Macrium keeps your XML files with which you can easily start the second, third, etc. image without having to redo the definitions. Just highlight the XML file and click on the cog wheel.

I recommend to give a useful name to the XML file. That is done in the very last step before the imaging starts. Such a name is useful if you image different partitions or make images on different output devices (which is always recommended). I always alternate between an output device that is permanently attached and a device that is only attached for the images.

Thanks :) I gave my first backup folder the "date" name, "Backup 11-03-13" for my first full-disc backup folder.

I plan on downloading the Free version to my HDD today.

Macrium created this file on my external HDD when I ran the full-disc image:

7B4B17EBFCB245C6-00-00.mrimg

That is the file that's located in my backup folder.

Is the file supposed to be an xml suffix file?

Editorial column : ↓

I still don't get why more home PC users don't use a cloning or imaging routine. I read posts daily at the Norton and MBAM forums where users have to seek out recovery downloads or spend $$'s to clean their HDD's.

I wonder if some of the reason is related to the learning curve part or many may be intimidated by the terminology. I know that's partly what kept me from diving into basic backup schemes although I've always backed up my "must-have" items, Outlook data file, Quicken, etc.

I've posted a few things about backups at those forums to try and help users avoid the annoyance of recovering from malicious HDD intrusions. "I've been there, done that" :).

whs said:

It would also be more convenient than using the disk when making an image.

The main convenience is that the installed Macrium keeps your XML files with which you can easily start the second, third, etc. image without having to redo the definitions. Just highlight the XML file and click on the cog wheel.

I recommend to give a useful name to the XML file. That is done in the very last step before the imaging starts. Such a name is useful if you image different partitions or make images on different output devices (which is always recommended). I always alternate between an output device that is permanently attached and a device that is only attached for the images.

I don't even bother with the XML files anymore. For me (not necessarily true for everyone), it's much easier to configure each time. Since I image only one drive on my desktop, I only have to click on the C: drive, then Image and Reflect remembers my last configuration. Cloning is simply as easy as clicking on the source drive, Clone, then the destination drive.