Macrium reflect or easeus professional backup?

sreedhav · 09 Dec 2010

I am a new member and hi to every one here! My previous Win. was XP Prof. and i was using Macrium Reflect(free) for B&R (using the Linux rescue disk) without a hiccup not even once. I have installed Win. 7 Professional and my restore process using the Linux rescue disk has failed every time! I usually take the backups onto a Seagate free Agent Pro (1 TB) external HD and as a test have taken backups(two) onto an internal disk partition-->C/,D/,E/, onto F DRIVE.Both methods have failed. I am very curious to know whether there are any other methods of "restore" other than the rescue disk in Macrium!Any help is most welcome as i am at my wit's end.Thanks a lot!

bigmck · 09 Dec 2010

sreedhav said:

I am a new member and hi to every one here! My previous Win. was XP Prof. and i was using Macrium Reflect(free) for B&R (using the Linux rescue disk) without a hiccup not even once. I have installed Win. 7 Professional and my restore process using the Linux rescue disk has failed every time! I usually take the backups onto a Seagate free Agent Pro (1 TB) external HD and as a test have taken backups(two) onto an internal disk partition-->C/,D/,E/, onto F DRIVE.Both methods have failed. I am very curious to know whether there are any other methods of "restore" other than the rescue disk in Macrium!Any help is most welcome as i am at my wit's end.Thanks a lot!

I am using Macrium without any problems. Could you post a screen shot of your Disk Management. That will give us a better idea of what we are dealing with. == Also, did it back up a few times and it stopped working or it just never backed up at all on Win 7?

mjf · 09 Dec 2010

I use Windows 7 inbuilt imaging and Macrium Reflect free. The linux Macrium boot disk has always worked for me but I recall Macrium stating that sometimes it doesn't work for some system configurations (I'm using Win7x64 Home Premium). Can you give a bit more info on specifics of the linux boot disk failures.

Given you also have XP I believe you should be able to make a BartPe rescue/boot CD.
Apart from someone else coming along from this forum have you looked the Macrium forum?

sreedhav · 10 Dec 2010

To, bigmck & mjf,
Thanks a lot for your replies! The error message was after successful booting of the "rescue disk"!"RESTORE NOT POSSIBLE". I always verify the backed up image. One thing i was doing differently was ,i was including the "100MB" space the Win.7 reserves for the system at the start. Could it have had an impact on the whole process?

I was mulling over whether to try 1) Easeus Master professional which i got for free, for the simple reason it too has an option of booting thru' a disk and/or 2) Seagate's own Disk Wizard .

Kindly view the attachment containing the Disk management.

Regards,
DR.Sreedhav.

mjf · 11 Dec 2010

I don't know what has happened to your partition structure. I'd say this is the cause of your imaging problems. and you should fix this up first. I can only think your move from XP to Windows 7 is the basic cause of the problem. I don't think you have a fundamental problem with Macrium.

I can't see the size of the unallocated bit at the front but it looks like it used to be, or was supposed to be, the 100MB system reserved partition.
In addition you have 4 primary partitions. You can only have 4 primary partitions on a disk and this would be ok for XP. Normally for Windows 7, you would have the 100MB system reserved primary and at most 3 other primary partitions. Normally having and imaging the 100MB partition is not a problem but here it is. Did Macrium allow you to image the 100MB unallocated partition?

Is your PC still booting and working ok?
If yes then
(1) make sure you have all your personal files/folders backed up
(2) Make sure you have a valid and verified image of C: (don't worry about restore yet)
Then you need to decide
(1a) If you want the partition structure with a 100MB system reserved then it needs to be made a primary, system, active. If so then you have to lose one partition (D, E or F) making one of them unallocated. Then give that space to the partitions either side in whatever ratio you want.
OR
(1b) Same as (1a) except make E&F extended/logical
OR
(2) Merge the little unallocated with C: and not have a 100 MB system reserved.

If your PC is still working fine option (1b) or (2) are the easiest. (2) may be close to effectively effectively how your system is now running since C: is the system, active. The 100 MB is currently a vacant lot.
You need to make this decision & in the mean time download
Partition Wizard Bootable CD if you don't already have it because you will probably need it.
The other thing is have you Windows 7 installation disks or is there a recovery partition somewhere.

whs · 11 Dec 2010

1. I assume you burnt the Linux CD with the Win7 Macrium.

2. I suggest you backup C and the 100MB partition seperately - each in it's own run.

3. There is really no reason to restore the 100MB partition unless it is damaged (which will be rare). But if you do, mark it as active and restore the MBR.

4. If you restore C, do not mark as active and do not restore the MBR. With the 100MB partition present, C is like any other data partition.

5. Have a peak at my Macrium video tutorial. It also describes the recovery process - and read the text at the beginning in the pink "Warning" box. Imaging with free Macrium

mjf · 11 Dec 2010

I must disagree with whs because I back the 100 MB partition up all the time. What whs says about 100MB rarely needing to be restored is correct but because it is so small I believe a current copy should be kept with the backup set (just in case and for logistics). There is no need for multiple passes when making the image set. Notice I keep using the word "set".
The way Macrium Reflect (free) works is - you are presented with partitions to backup you are then presented with the same list/set to restore. You can restore one of them up to all of them. Macrium restores them one at a time then goes back and asks if you want to restore another one.

In a typical situation you may only need to restore c: (OS + programs, some data...). You don't need to replace the 100MB partition or the MBR.
In MS imaging they always include and replace the the 100MB and MBR with their imaging/reimaging wheteher you want to or not.

Sreedhav - your problem is understanding and fixing the partitions you currently have. I don't think you have a problem with Macrium or the rescue disk. At most the solution is a bit messy but no big deal.

whs · 11 Dec 2010

I believe a current copy should be kept with the backup set

mjf, what you say is not wrong. But todays copy of the 100MB partition is the same as yesterdays - so why bother.
I always suggest to deal with the 100MB partition seperately to avoid any confusion regarding "active" and "restore MBR".

mjf · 11 Dec 2010

whs said:

I believe a current copy should be kept with the backup set

mjf, what you say is not wrong. But todays copy of the 100MB partition is the same as yesterdays - so why bother.
I always suggest to deal with the 100MB partition seperately to avoid any confusion regarding "active" and "restore MBR".

Not dealing with it all at the same time causes confusion.
A virus can attack your MBR and your 100MB partition or youy BCD table in the 100MB partition can get damaged. Why go searching for an old separate image of the 100MB partition when you can have it as a part of the last clean image SET. That's making life simple.

sreedhav · 12 Dec 2010

I apologize for not viewing both your expert(i mean it!) advises. I know that excuses are redundant if the matter is serious ,like unable to take a B&R! All i can say in my defence is that i have a bout of COLD and i am dripping all over the lappy!

What i have done is downloaded an evaluation version of M-R and have just taken a backup of drive C ( not including the 100MB system allocated space. As i was progressing,(Destination drive-F:) instead of marking C: as PRIMARY, i marked it as ACTIVE. I have only succeeded after this small change! I will repeat the process tomorrow and if i succeed ,i owe a debt of gratitude to M-R! So, i will order a full version of it!
I am grateful to both of you for the help you have lent!

Regards,
Sreedhav.