Question about system images

Ok, some more questions, in the first screenshot it shows two options to download, first is Macrium reflect , second says reflect , any differences?


What I want to do is make a full system image of my entire computer to restore from if I ever get things really messed up , what is the difference between cloning and making a system image ?

Is cloning a hard drive the same as making a full system image? When I chose to make a system image the other day using this program I checked (burn it to a DVD ) when it was successfully completed the DVD was almost empty , why is this , I know when I have used Windows disk image burning it requires two DVDS.

see comments in bold

jonnyhillow said:

What I want to do is make a full system image of my entire computer to restore from if I ever get things really messed up , what is the difference between cloning and making a system image ?

You should use imaging. That makes an image file, which you later "restore" if you get in a jam. Cloning is a different procedure that does not use an image file and isn't as suitable for a "backup". Cloning is most often used when things are going well and you just want to move your system to a new hard drive. But you can use imaging for that purpose also.

You have a "system reserved" partition, so you must make an image of it as well as C if you want to restore your system. In your second picture, you'd choose "image this disk".





When I chose to make a system image the other day using this program I checked (burn it to a DVD ) when it was successfully completed the DVD was almost empty , why is this , I know when I have used Windows disk image burning it requires two DVDS.

I don't know exactly what you did regarding DVDs, but I'd advise you to give up on the idea of using DVDs for imaging. They are prone to problems. If you insist on using DVDs, I'd guess that your system would require 3 or 4 DVDs for the image.

Instead, store the image file on a hard drive. It's best to use an entirely separate hard drive than C, either internal or external. You could store the image on a separate partition on the same drive as C, but that's not recommended because if that drive drops dead, you would lose your image file and could not restore.

You MUST make a "recovery disc" in Macrium in order to be able to restore. You burn it to a DVD. Look for the menu for that in Macrium. You can make a recovery disk in two ways: Linux-based method or WinPE method. WinPE is by far the better choice.

Be SURE to test your recovery disk to make sure it will in fact boot your PC. If it won't, you cannot restore when you get in trouble.

Thank you

Unfortunately after using Macrium to backup my computer I noticed upon shutdown my screen would get stuck permanently on the Asus login screen .

It happened every time so I removed the program and it went back to normal , too bad I liked it , any reason for this ?

Thanks

You didn't give nearly enough detail to be able to evaluate what you did or the exact sequence of events, but I've never heard of such a thing.

ignatzatsonic said:

You didn't give nearly enough detail to be able to evaluate what you did or the exact sequence of events, but I've never heard of such a thing.

I am going to download it again and start over following your advice to see if I can figure out the issue, will keep you posted.

Thank you


Ok, I got this screen which is odd since the last Macrium download said it was just over a 40 mb file.

This screenshot is now showing 204 mb, very confusing.

Are you just trying to download Macrium itself at this point?

You don't need a "download agent" or any extraneous stuff.

All you need is the exe file. Get it here:

Download Macrium Reflect 5.2.6526 - FileHippo.com

From the green "download latest version" on the right side. It is 41.8 mb in size.

Or are you trying to download something other than the application itself?

Thanks for the new link but after downloading it said this is the 32 bit edition, I have a 64 bit machine.