Macrium Reflect- leaving junk?

The EaseUS free version is not a trial or limited. The paid version may have some additional features that you likely would not need.

I haven't read of any issues with a USB drive with either EaseUS or Macrium.

There is nothing wrong with using both in an alternating fashion--EaseUS this month and Macrium next month. That way, you are not out of luck if one of them gives you a problem.

The important thing is to confirm that your so-called recovery disk actually boots and will show all your partitions and your desired image file.

I know there is nothing wrong with using both. I would use both if I were sure they were completely safe to use and not leave remnants after uninstall.

about confirmation - I am going to test it.
And thank you I will try both, maybe Macrium first.

It may be bad practice to image to a second partition on the same drive as the OS but the likelihood of your drive going bad compared to just restoring an image must be weighed up. The latter is generally more likely. It will also take longer to image to the same drive rather than the better solution of using a second drive but for laptops with a single drive then this might be one of the solutions. The Macrium boot CD can be removed once a restore is initiated so that images stored on DVD can be used but this usually involves spanning DVDs and is probably slower.

kado897 said:

Senteaf said:

kado897 said:

I have tried both and settled on Macrium. The only problem I had with Macrium was getting the Linux recovery disk to see my external drives. I have also done several restores of the OS with Macrium with no problems, the last only two weeks ago.

What problems did you have and how did you solve them?
I will probably use external drives too...

My only problem was with the Linux recovery disk sometimes not seeing my USB2 attached disks. I could get around this by making sure everything was done from a cold start (switched off). The real solution and one I have never had any problems with was to use a WinPE recovery disk. I think the latest free version (I have paid) has facilities for creating a PE disk but you need to download the WAIK (1GB+) to make it.

The PE disk you are talking about is a boot-able recovery disk, right?
if so, I think a PE disk is a must, or a USB...

pincushion said:

It may be bad practice to image to a second partition on the same drive as the OS but the likelihood of your drive going bad compared to just restoring an image must be weighed up. The latter is generally more likely. It will also take longer to image to the same drive rather than the better solution of using a second drive but for laptops with a single drive then this might be one of the solutions. The Macrium boot CD can be removed once a restore is initiated so that images stored on DVD can be used but this usually involves spanning DVDs and is probably slower.

I have a laptop with 4 partitions, by the way, why when I go to disk management utility there are two unlabeled partitions(one named OEM and the other one something else probably not meaningful) which are not accessible.
I mean I am an administrator so I should have full access...?

The problem is that currently I do not have 70+ DVDs and 600GB HD.
But ofcourse when I get a HD, I will plug it in and use the Macirum PE to save the output on it.

Senteaf said:

The PE disk you are talking about is a boot-able recovery disk, right?
if so, I think a PE disk is a must, or a USB...

I have a laptop with 4 partitions, by the way, why when I go to disk management utility there are two unlabeled partitions(one named OEM and the other one something else probably not meaningful) which are not accessible.
I mean I am an administrator so I should have full access...?

The PE disk is a bootable recovery disk, but not a must. It's an alternative to the Linux recovery disk. You can use either. The PE disk may be more compatible (bootable) with your system. As I recall, you have to make some downloads and jump through a few hoops to build the PE disk.

Regarding your partitions. A very small (200 mb or less) should be the Windows "system reserved" partition that contains your boot files. Any other larger partitions are likely either for system recovery (to factory conditions) or may contain tools provided by the system manufacturer.

Senteaf said:

kado897 said:

Senteaf said:

What problems did you have and how did you solve them?
I will probably use external drives too...

My only problem was with the Linux recovery disk sometimes not seeing my USB2 attached disks. I could get around this by making sure everything was done from a cold start (switched off). The real solution and one I have never had any problems with was to use a WinPE recovery disk. I think the latest free version (I have paid) has facilities for creating a PE disk but you need to download the WAIK (1GB+) to make it.

The PE disk you are talking about is a boot-able recovery disk, right?
if so, I think a PE disk is a must, or a USB...

pincushion said:

It may be bad practice to image to a second partition on the same drive as the OS but the likelihood of your drive going bad compared to just restoring an image must be weighed up. The latter is generally more likely. It will also take longer to image to the same drive rather than the better solution of using a second drive but for laptops with a single drive then this might be one of the solutions. The Macrium boot CD can be removed once a restore is initiated so that images stored on DVD can be used but this usually involves spanning DVDs and is probably slower.

I have a laptop with 4 partitions, by the way, why when I go to disk management utility there are two unlabeled partitions(one named OEM and the other one something else probably not meaningful) which are not accessible.
I mean I am an administrator so I should have full access...?

The problem is that currently I do not have 70+ DVDs and 600GB HD.
But ofcourse when I get a HD, I will plug it in and use the Macirum PE to save the output on it.

Usually there is a boot partition of a hundred MB or more and a Recovery partition of 10 GB or so. These might not be visible. One of the things about imaging, in my view, is to get the OS partition down to the minimum necessary so that images will be smaller.

To do this on my system for example I try to keep all data from programs (Spotify, BBC Iplayer etc) elsewhere along with personal data (easier to back-up too). Also since mine is a desktop I don't use hibernation and have my swapfile on another partition - although many imaging programs don't include the swapfile anyway. With just the OS and programs on the system partition I find this can be kept down to 50 - 80 GB and space used might be around 30 - 40 GB. Hence images will be kept to a managable size and only take about 10 minutes or less. I find I image about every week or so, depending upon software installs or other updates.

Hope that helps. :)

kado897 said:

Yes the bootable PE is best but try the Linux version first. It may be OK in your environment. I must admit that I haven't tried the latest version of the Linux disk. I believe it has changed with V5 for the better.

would you please explain what the differences are?
What does it actually mean "Linux version" or "Linux" when you talk about programs which are not run inside Linux kernel based OSs?

ignatzatsonic said:

Senteaf said:

The PE disk you are talking about is a boot-able recovery disk, right?
if so, I think a PE disk is a must, or a USB...

I have a laptop with 4 partitions, by the way, why when I go to disk management utility there are two unlabeled partitions(one named OEM and the other one something else probably not meaningful) which are not accessible.
I mean I am an administrator so I should have full access...?

The PE disk is a bootable recovery disk, but not a must. It's an alternative to the Linux recovery disk. You can use either. The PE disk may be more compatible (bootable) with your system. As I recall, you have to make some downloads and jump through a few hoops to build the PE disk.

Regarding your partitions. A very small (200 mb or less) should be the Windows "system reserved" partition that contains your boot files. Any other larger partitions are likely either for system recovery (to factory conditions) or may contain tools provided by the system manufacturer.

Okay I am a confused - on the Macrium tutorial you can see there is a button to burn such a recovery disk on a CD/DVD/USB storage. therefor eliminating downloads and hoops and jumps.

Yes there is a 200MB partition, probably for the MBR if I recall correctly and other required boot files.
besides the 200MB partition, the 500GB of the OS and user files, there two more partitions - one for the recovery solution and another one which I can not even see in process explorer and can also not even rename/delete. It is weird because I am an admin. I don't see any way the Manufacturer could block my access.

pincushion said:

Senteaf said:

kado897 said:

My only problem was with the Linux recovery disk sometimes not seeing my USB2 attached disks. I could get around this by making sure everything was done from a cold start (switched off). The real solution and one I have never had any problems with was to use a WinPE recovery disk. I think the latest free version (I have paid) has facilities for creating a PE disk but you need to download the WAIK (1GB+) to make it.

The PE disk you are talking about is a boot-able recovery disk, right?
if so, I think a PE disk is a must, or a USB...

pincushion said:

It may be bad practice to image to a second partition on the same drive as the OS but the likelihood of your drive going bad compared to just restoring an image must be weighed up. The latter is generally more likely. It will also take longer to image to the same drive rather than the better solution of using a second drive but for laptops with a single drive then this might be one of the solutions. The Macrium boot CD can be removed once a restore is initiated so that images stored on DVD can be used but this usually involves spanning DVDs and is probably slower.

I have a laptop with 4 partitions, by the way, why when I go to disk management utility there are two unlabeled partitions(one named OEM and the other one something else probably not meaningful) which are not accessible.
I mean I am an administrator so I should have full access...?

The problem is that currently I do not have 70+ DVDs and 600GB HD.
But ofcourse when I get a HD, I will plug it in and use the Macirum PE to save the output on it.

Usually there is a boot partition of a hundred MB or more and a Recovery partition of 10 GB or so. These might not be visible. One of the things about imaging, in my view, is to get the OS partition down to the minimum necessary so that images will be smaller.

To do this on my system for example I try to keep all data from programs (Spotify, BBC Iplayer etc) elsewhere along with personal data (easier to back-up too). Also since mine is a desktop I don't use hibernation and have my swapfile on another partition - although many imaging programs don't include the swapfile anyway. With just the OS and programs on the system partition I find this can be kept down to 50 - 80 GB and space used might be around 30 - 40 GB. Hence images will be kept to a managable size and only take about 10 minutes or less. I find I image about every week or so, depending upon software installs or other updates.

Hope that helps. :)

kado897 said:

I totally agree about keeping the minimum amount of data on the OS partition. I have most of my data on separate disks and use other means to back that up.

I know, I have those two partitions you mentioned.
But I also have another invisible partition which I can not even modify in any way. It has around the same space as the Recovery partition has.

Good idea but the problems emerge in case you choose/have to recover your system to get rid of viruses, or any malicious code.
It could stay in your Personal Data partition(which in most computers is at the same as the OS isn't it?) and then infect the OS partition after a restorations is completed. Now it is not such a good idea :)



Thank you all, you are very helpful :)