Image your system with free Macrium


  1. Posts : 41
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
       #1671

    Lady Fitzgerald said:
    Example: You image a 1TB disk that has 350GB of data on it. You will be able to restore that image to a smaller disk as long as that disk has room for at least 350GB of data.
    Now we are getting into the interesting details.

    Do you mean just 350 GB of actual file data, or more specifically all inner data plus unused sectors plus outermost data that resides within a 350 GB radius on the disk. I'm assuming that no files are moved which would require changes to whatever table is used to reference file locations.
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  2. Posts : 16,161
    7 X64
       #1672

    Normally you would image used sectors. That is default for any decent imaging program.

    It is possible to image all sectors, no point unless you want it for forensic analysis.

    Image your system with free Macrium-ab1.jpg
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  3. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #1673

    ken75 said:
    When I mentioned buying another 1 TB internal disk, that would be the potential restore disk should my current disk drive ever fail.
    If this is still your goal then you should make a partition up the front of the new 1TB to take a Macrium system image restore. If your OS partition is using more than say 100GB then it's too large IMO and you are imaging data which should be stored elsewhere. 200GB should be plenty for the first partition. If you need to reimage to this partition (on the 1TB) then what was on there previously will be gone.
    The other partition(s) presumably would have data on it which you'd want in tact when the day came to use the first partition of this drive as your OS drive.

    Note: Macrium will do this. Windows inbuilt imaging will not.
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  4. Posts : 41
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
       #1674

    SIW2 - I agree that these programs are only imaging used sectors. However, I believe they may be inserting a lot of empty sectors between data during the restore process so that the restored image is identical to the original. That would all be part of the compression process. That observation then argues my point that the new disk must be at least as large as the fraction of the original disk that was being used including empty sectors between used sectors.

    mjf - Thanks for the information and observations including Macrium versus Windows 7 capabilities. My Windows 7 disk is currently using about 70 GB on a 1 TB disk. I like your idea about creating partitions so that a portion of the drive could be used for functions other than the imaged operating system.

    Since my images are stored on a USB backup drive, I really don't need to partition either internal drive although I can now see the benefit.

    Your suggestion on the 200 GB Windows partition does really have a benefit compared with my current single partition setup. This is because I have a large empty space between most of the used sectors and other used sectors in the middle of the drive. That would increase the partition size required in the replacement disk.
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  5. Posts : 16,161
    7 X64
       #1675

    Yes, of course, the target partition must be at least the size of the used sectors of the source partition.

    No need to stick a lot of unused sectors back.
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  6. Posts : 41
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
       #1676

    SIW2 said:
    Yes, of course, the target partition must be at least the size of the used sectors of the source partition. No need to stick a lot of unused sectors back.
    I may not have explained my situation well enough for everyone to understand. My system has a 1 TB disk with a single partition. Windows has placed most of the files at the beginning of the disk but there are some files out in the middle. There is a large empty space in between.

    I view this with the Auslogics Defragmenter program which shows a "map" of the clusters on the drive. The files out in the middle of the drive are mostly marked "unmovable" and I believe include Restore Points and some other files.

    If this arrangement was perfectly imaged to another disk, I believe it would require roughly a 500 GB partition even though Windows is currently only using about 70 GB. I'm assuming that Macrium does not move any files and especially unmovable files.

    Am I correct that this situation would require a 500 GB disk or partition? My feeling is that Window's current usage of about 70 GB is not very relevant in this kind of situation with a single large partition and some files out in the middle of the disk.
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  7. Posts : 10,455
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
       #1677

    my understanding is that the placement of the data is irrelevant it is the quantity that matters.
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  8. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #1678

    kado897 said:
    my understanding is that the placement of the data is irrelevant it is the quantity that matters.
    Seriously, methinks you are over thinking this. Many of us here, including me, have used Macrium Reflect to restore disks and move data to new disks without problems.
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  9. Posts : 10,455
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
       #1679

    If still in doubt read this article. v5: How to restore a backup image (Restore, v5). Particularly the section on modifying the partition.
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  10. Posts : 41
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
       #1680

    kado897 said:
    my understanding is that the placement of the data is irrelevant it is the quantity that matters.
    That seems to be what everyone is saying but that would require that some files are moved to different locations as part of the restore process. In that case the Original Partition and Imaged Partition would not be identical.

    Can Macrium move files to accomplish that? What about the unmovable files that I have near the center (approximate 500 GB point) of my 1TB disk as described above?
      My Computer


 

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