Macrium utilities and tools for imaging: large capacity pen drives

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  1. Posts : 636
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       #11

    loninappleton said:
    I have a couple older and smaller Sandisk which are budget ones. Who is making the best pen drive for the backup function which is critical?
    Ideally you should use an external USB3 HDD to store your images. Pen drives can and do fail unexpectedly, though any of the big names should be OK. I have successfully used a budget Sandisk for images, but it's only practical for imaging smaller systems, the price of really large capacity pen drive is prohibitive.

    An external hard drive would be more reliable for long term storage. Larger capacity, often faster, and cheaper per GB too.
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  2. Posts : 2,774
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
       #12

    If you continue to use flash, pen, drives, always create two, original and duplicate, for each computer.
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  3. Posts : 892
    Windows 7 x64 Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #13

    Breelander said:
    I use Macrium Reflect Free extensively, both for W7 and over on our sister-site Ten Forums.

    How much do you trust Macrium Reflect? - Windows 10 Forums

    Note that you don't have to install Macrium on a machine in order to image it. You can also make images by booting from a Macrium recovery usb. It's not just for restoring images, it can make them too.

    For a full user guide to the current version, see:

    Macrium Reflect v7.2 User Guide

    I will look at the guide for this. Even if it is less simple than AOKIE which is the drift here,
    If I can pullout just what I need and then stick with it, that's the goal. See above about my

    reluctance to use multiple partitions. I may just stay with what I've been doing but will proceed
    with the guide. Is the How much do you trust thread above the proper place for questions or
    continue here? No need to reinvent the wheel: I just need the basics. But I recall that Macrium can do scheduling as well. This leads to more questions.



    In all this keep in mind I may not answer immediately. I'll reply when ready.


    So two things going forward: what kind of pen drive and the Guide.




    cheers and thanks for your patience.
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  4. Posts : 892
    Windows 7 x64 Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #14

    Breelander said:
    Ideally you should use an external USB3 HDD to store your images. Pen drives can and do fail unexpectedly, though any of the big names should be OK. I have successfully used a budget Sandisk for images, but it's only practical for imaging smaller systems, the price of really large capacity pen drive is prohibitive.

    An external hard drive would be more reliable for long term storage. Larger capacity, often faster, and cheaper per GB too.

    Ok, we are still in the exploration process of all this. I've never used or own a USB external drive
    because didn't see the need for it for one thing.


    Are you saying that with the USB external connected, you boot from that to perform the imaging process on your HD C: and HD D: or whatever-- usually E: drive ( if an optical DVD drive is on it)?


    Frankly, with SSD's a bargain, I've wanted to run programs and OS from that and keep media
    files and large items on standard HDs.


    Doesn't that solve the problem of lots of partitions and buying more stuff?
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  5. Posts : 636
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       #15

    loninappleton said:
    Is the How much do you trust thread above the proper place for questions or continue here?
    Probably here, but I see you also appear to have a registration on TenForums...

    No need to reinvent the wheel: I just need the basics. But I recall that Macrium can do scheduling as well....So two things going forward: what kind of pen drive and the Guide.
    Macrium has a lot of options, including scheduling, Differential images, backup set image retention rules (and even more if you pay for it, Incremental imaging for a start). I understand why it can be confusing trying to jump straight in. But it can be really simple to use if you just ignore all the optional extras.

    For the simplest possible guide, ignore all the confusing options and just install Macrium on the machine you want to image. Then open Macrium and select 'Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows'.






    Click Next, untick all the retention rules. Don't bother with scheduling. When you get to Finish it says: Backup and Save Options.




    Untick 'Run this backup now' (unless you actually want to make the image straight away). The 'save Backup Definitions...' option will save your chosen backup settings, which can be run manually any time you want (as a Full backup or a Differential) from Macrium's 'Backup Definitions Files' tab.






    A Differential image contains just the changes since the last Full image, so can be much smaller. For a restore you just need to keep the latest Full image (and it's latest Differential, if you made one).

    You can safely ignore all the retention rules and delete old images manually as required. Retention rules are only really of use if you automate the whole process with scheduling, but that too is something you can safely ignore. I make all my images manually from my backup definitions files at a time of my choosing.
    Last edited by Bree; 15 Oct 2019 at 10:23. Reason: added images (again)
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  6. Posts : 2,774
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
       #16

    +1 Breelander. I can only add this little bit: one full image for each partition in existence. Momma OS and its babies can be backed up in one swoop, and be restored in one swoop.
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  7. Posts : 636
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       #17

    Yes, RolandJS, my instructions are sufficient for an image that will backup a typical Windows machine, allowing a fully working machine to be restored from the image it creates.

    It won't include any user-added 'extras' that are not required by the Windows system. Another OS in a partition on the same drive or on another drive won't be included, for example. Such partitions (and additional drives) can be included in the image though, just by ticking their box when setting up the backup definitions.

    The OP wanted a simple guide, so I left out any steps a more complex machine might need. Those should be easy enough to add (if needed) once the basic principles are understood.
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  8. Posts : 892
    Windows 7 x64 Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #18

    Breelander said:
    Probably here, but I see you also appear to have a registration on TenForums...

    Macrium has a lot of options, including scheduling, Differential images, backup set image retention rules (and even more if you pay for it, Incremental imaging for a start). I understand why it can be confusing trying to jump straight in. But it can be really simple to use if you just ignore all the optional extras.

    For the simplest possible guide, ignore all the confusing options and just install Macrium on the machine you want to image. Then open Macrium and select 'Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows'.






    Click Next, untick all the retention rules. Don't bother with scheduling. When you get to Finish it says: Backup and Save Options.




    Untick 'Run this backup now' (unless you actually want to make the image straight away). The 'save Backup Definitions...' option will save your chosen backup settings, which can be run manually any time you want (as a Full backup or a Differential) from Macrium's 'Backup Definitions Files' tab.






    A Differential image contains just the changes since the last Full image, so can be much smaller. For a restore you just need to keep the latest Full image (and it's latest Differential, if you made one).

    You can safely ignore all the retention rules and delete old images manually as required. Retention rules are only really of use if you automate the whole process with scheduling, but that too is something you can safely ignore. I make all my images manually from my backup definitions files at a time of my choosing.

    Your screen shots did not open. Is there another source like the Win10 Forum that shows
    these or can you repost?
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  9. Posts : 892
    Windows 7 x64 Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #19

    One quick reply on Win10. I may still have the registration but I'm not pursuing Win10. I spent most of my
    time at !0Forums asking how to turn things in it off.


    So onward for that.
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  10. Posts : 636
    Windows 7 Home Premium x64
       #20

    loninappleton said:
    Your screen shots did not open. Is there another source like the Win10 Forum that shows
    these or can you repost?

    Sorry about that, they show for me. For now, here they are as attachments. I will see if I can edit my earlier post to make them show.


    Edit: They showed for me while they were still in my browser cache, but not now I've cleared it. They should now show in Post #15
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Macrium utilities and tools for imaging: large capacity pen drives-macrium-create-image-windows.png   Macrium utilities and tools for imaging: large capacity pen drives-macrium-backup-save-options.png   Macrium utilities and tools for imaging: large capacity pen drives-macrium-backup-definitions-tab.png  
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