Solved Image your system with free Macrium

[JDH1]

Hi JDH,

Good idea to see what others think first, ultimately you will need to try and see which suits you.

I have used Macrium , Paragon and several others.

They all have pros and cons.

They all work well on virtually all systems.

Similarly, they will be the odd system any one of them will not function properly on.

Right now I am using Easeus, it seems to be the most complete free offering- and is working perfectly for me.

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/180800-new-free-system-imaging-program.html



A couple of points:

1. Macrium v5 can make winpe media for you ( you need to download WAIK for their method - you can install the trial v5 to make it for you).

It works well in my tests. Imaging, restoring, and mounting without issues.

2. Easeus can also make winpe media for you . Same thing - you need to d/l WAIK for their method.

It works perfectly in my tests - image and restore is fast - even restoring to a smaller partition - which is unusual.

It also includes Restore to dissimilar hardware.

As far as I know , it is the only free app. to offer that function.

Oddly, the mount function has been disabled in their standard pe build.

It is extremely unlikely you would want to mount in pe, nevertheless, I am in discussion with them about it.

3. Paragon does not include an inbuilt method for making winpe media. ( I expect they will as the others have started doing it- paragon are normally the first with the new ideas )

However, it is very easy to make it portable and throw it into just about any pe environment.

It is the only free app to align to nt6 rules during partition creation or resizing ( from the left that is - it won't realign the whole thing if you are just extending to the right ).

Just depends which you prefer.

Have you tried any of these (or know of folks who have) with a Sandy Bridge processor based Win 7 64 bit system and had good success?

Sorry, but what does WAIK mean?

When you mentioned a "mount function", do you mean the ability to mount an image in order to, for instance, retrieve individual file and folders? Or is this something else?

You emphasis WinPE media due to the hardware incompatibilities I've read which can happen with Linux based disks?

 

[SIW2]

Have you tried any of these (or know of folks who have) with a Sandy Bridge processor based Win 7 64 bit system

No.

Sorry, but what does WAIK mean?

You can d/l it from MS - it is free to everyone. It is huge and not easy for a beginner to use.

Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - Windows® AIK for Windows® 7

Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - The Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) Supplement for Windows® 7 SP1

That is why those apps will do the winpe making for you - you still have to do the massive WAIK d/l tho.

When you mentioned a "mount function", do you mean the ability to mount an image in order to, for instance, retrieve individual file and folders?

Yes

You emphasis WinPE media due to the hardware incompatibilities I've read which can happen with Linux based disks?

Partly - it is also more fun - and you can put lots of apps. into one wim.


NB - WAIK seems to have shrunk - mine are 1.7gb and 1.3 gb

 

[mjf]

Have you tried any of these (or know of folks who have) with a Sandy Bridge processor based Win 7 64 bit system and had good success?

See my specs + Acer using Intel core 2 quad Q8300 W7x64
For me:
Imaging Process:
Macrium Reflect free (v4) - reliable no problems on both systems
Windows Imaging - reliable no problems on both systems
This involves multiple imaging and full system reimaging including to new HDD.

Image Boot restore process:
Macrium linux boot CD does NOT work on my Sandy Bridge.
V5 Trial pe boot disk does work
Hirens Boot CD Macrium installation works on both systems (Imaging, boot, restore).
Windows system repair boot image restore obviously works on both.

ISOs of all CD media work from a single bootable USB using grub4dos.

 

[kado897]

I need a rock solid backup solution for the same reasons any prudent computer user does. However in addition I have a new laptop running Win 7 64 bit, I wish to change its partition structure, and I want a backup to be sure of a way out should a major problem happen with this. It is the only Win 7 machine I own at the moment, so no thanks, I certainly do not want to repartition it so I can test to see if the backup plan I intend using really works. Not only does that make zero sense, WHS and others have been so helpful here, I believe I am learning enough to make this decision. BTW, let's please not get into failure probabilities next. I have been bitten so many times by PC oddities that I no longer really believe in the science of statistics <g>. I'm sure many others feel the same way and buy the old adage, if a thing can go wrong, it will!

Not ideal perhaps but you could create the test partition on your backup drive. I personally use a partition on a separate USB HDD for testing as my laptop came with all 4 partitions defined.

Now that's an interesting thought. A newly created partition on an external HDD would certainly be more sacrificial than drive C: on a working PC. However, being a non-system partition, a non boot partition, no Windows, etc. makes me wonder if the test would be worth much. I'll have to think about this one..... Regardless, thanks for mentioning the idea.

There is no doubt that until you have to do it for real you will not know if it works. The purpose of the test partition is to test the backup restore cycle as closely as you can while reducing the risks associated with any restore operation. I took Wofgang's (whs) advice on this and my testing gave me the confidence that when I needed to I could restore my system. Since then I have needed to do an image restore on three occasions (I had some dodgy memory corrupting windows) twice with Macrium and once with Windows Backup. I dual backup with Windows and Macrium.

Companies spend millions on planning for disaster and rehearsing the recovery for just this reason. I know. I was part of the recovery planning team for the UK arm of a major organisation for a number of years. We were required to do the full disaster recovery of our systems every year.

 

[JDH1]

Have you tried any of these (or know of folks who have) with a Sandy Bridge processor based Win 7 64 bit system

No.

Sorry, but what does WAIK mean?

You can d/l it from MS - it is free to everyone. It is huge and not easy for a beginner to use.

Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - Windows® AIK for Windows® 7

Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - The Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) Supplement for Windows® 7 SP1

That is why those apps will do the winpe making for you - you still have to do the massive WAIK d/l tho.

When you mentioned a "mount function", do you mean the ability to mount an image in order to, for instance, retrieve individual file and folders?

Yes

You emphasis WinPE media due to the hardware incompatibilities I've read which can happen with Linux based disks?

Partly - it is also more fun - and you can put lots of apps. into one wim.


NB - WAIK seems to have shrunk - mine are 1.7gb and 1.3 gb

Thanks for the info about WAIK. If it's not friendly, this sounds like it may be a good reason to seek backup software which can provide a non-Linux recovery disk.

 

[JDH1]

Have you tried any of these (or know of folks who have) with a Sandy Bridge processor based Win 7 64 bit system and had good success?

See my specs + Acer using Intel core 2 quad Q8300 W7x64
For me:
Imaging Process:
Macrium Reflect free (v4) - reliable no problems on both systems
Windows Imaging - reliable no problems on both systems
This involves multiple imaging and full system reimaging including to new HDD.

Image Boot restore process:
Macrium linux boot CD does NOT work on my Sandy Bridge.
V5 Trial pe boot disk does work
Hirens Boot CD Macrium installation works on both systems (Imaging, boot, restore).
Windows system repair boot image restore obviously works on both.

ISOs of all CD media work from a single bootable USB using grub4dos.

I looked at your system specs and found you are using almost exactly what I'm building -- same proc, same mobo, etc. Your bu/restore experiences are perfectly valid for me. Great!

So Macrium is fine in all respects except for its normal recovery disk. Never having used grub4dos (nor WAIK mentioned earlier), if I understood correctly, I can get a copy of the Hiren's disk and use the version of Macrium contained there for restores. I haven't used it in a long time, but I am familiar with Hirens BCD, and though it's large DL for this small purpose, Hirens may be my best option.

BTW, do you know whether anyone has posted an ISO of a non-Linux recovery CD for Macrium here or elsewhere? Seems like it might be possibility given the relatively small size of things and the freeware status.

Very good and thanks for all the good data!

 

[JDH1]

Not ideal perhaps but you could create the test partition on your backup drive. I personally use a partition on a separate USB HDD for testing as my laptop came with all 4 partitions defined.

Now that's an interesting thought. A newly created partition on an external HDD would certainly be more sacrificial than drive C: on a working PC. However, being a non-system partition, a non boot partition, no Windows, etc. makes me wonder if the test would be worth much. I'll have to think about this one..... Regardless, thanks for mentioning the idea.

There is no doubt that until you have to do it for real you will not know if it works. The purpose of the test partition is to test the backup restore cycle as closely as you can while reducing the risks associated with any restore operation. I took Wofgang's (whs) advice on this and my testing gave me the confidence that when I needed to I could restore my system. Since then I have needed to do an image restore on three occasions (I had some dodgy memory corrupting windows) twice with Macrium and once with Windows Backup. I dual backup with Windows and Macrium.

Companies spend millions on planning for disaster and rehearsing the recovery for just this reason. I know. I was part of the recovery planning team for the UK arm of a major organisation for a number of years. We were required to do the full disaster recovery of our systems every year.

I understand the reasons for testing (after many years of engineering, this is sort of preaching to the choir <g>). But some tests are less convenient than others, and some are less valid too. But see the recent message from mjf -- turns out he has done all the tests relative to my situation, both backup and restores. I am sure glad he jumped in with his post! Now it's a matter of pursuing the problem with the Macrium recovery disk.

 

[maxseven]

Sorry, but what does WAIK mean?

You can d/l it from MS - it is free to everyone. It is huge and not easy for a beginner to use.

But SIW2 wasn't it you who detailed an easy method to make a "Macrium with WinPE"? Earlier in this thread (sorry I've lost track)? Then you can use Free 4.2 at the Desktop level, and a SIW2-made Macrium5 trial as the rescue disk? No need to DL the whole WAIK?

The only reason I haven't tried this yet is that I've balked at the Macrium 5 download which iirc was almost a couple hundred Mb and I have a slow ISP.

 

[SIW2]

Yes, if you are on windows 7 x64 you can use my little app to make macrium pe3 instead of downloading WAIK.

But SIW2 wasn't it you who detailed an easy method to make a "Macrium with WinPE"? Earlier in this thread (sorry I've lost track)? Then you can use Free 4.2 at the Desktop level, and a SIW2-made Macrium5 trial as the rescue disk? No need to DL the whole WAIK?

That is exactly right.

I haven't done a version for 7 x86 yet. Might try and give the option to include Easeus Todo in the 32 bit version



( I was just answering the op's question "what does WAIK mean" )

 

[maxseven]

( I was just answering the op's question "what does WAIK mean" )

I thought you were just being modest.

Seriously, I'd forgotten the x64 caveat.

 

[mjf]

I understand the reasons for testing (after many years of engineering, this is sort of preaching to the choir <g>). But some tests are less convenient than others, and some are less valid too. But see the recent message from mjf -- turns out he has done all the tests relative to my situation, both backup and restores. I am sure glad he jumped in with his post! Now it's a matter of pursuing the problem with the Macrium recovery disk.

You will still never truly know until you do it yourself. There may be some quirk about your system that is different.
Since you are building your own system you are going to get grease under your fingernails so buy a spare $50 spinning drive and put all your imaging options under test. If you cannot recover your image to a blank HDD don't use that particular imaging software.
I suggest you try the new free Easeus imaging product as well.

 

[zsxd45]

Looks Good.

 

[bigcitycat]

Had to restore from back up. Worked great, real life saver. Macrium is awesome.

 

[stonebear]

I have backed up my "C" drive with Macrium and found the compression to be quite good. I wanted to try backing up my portable hard drive to another portable hard drive, I backed up 300gb of data and the image produced was 290gb, I wonder why the compression was virtually none? I didn't alter any of the backup settings, left it all on default.

 

[kado897]

I have backed up my "C" drive with Macrium and found the compression to be quite good. I wanted to try backing up my portable hard drive to another portable hard drive, I backed up 300gb of data and the image produced was 290gb, I wonder why the compression was virtually none? I didn't alter any of the backup settings, left it all on default.

The amount of compression you get is very dependent on the type of data you are backing up. If you are backing up pictures, music and videos you will not get much compression as these are already highly compressed.

 

[stonebear]

I have backed up my "C" drive with Macrium and found the compression to be quite good. I wanted to try backing up my portable hard drive to another portable hard drive, I backed up 300gb of data and the image produced was 290gb, I wonder why the compression was virtually none? I didn't alter any of the backup settings, left it all on default.

The amount of compression you get is very dependent on the type of data you are backing up. If you are backing up pictures, music and videos you will not get much compression as these are already highly compressed.

Yea, I was mostly backing up that stuff, thanks.

 

[maxseven]

Had to restore from back up. Worked great, real life saver. Macrium is awesome.

It is. The first time I used it I was amazed at how fast it was, too. :shock:

 

[kado897]

I've just given EaseUS Free a try. I have to say I'm impressed. It is considerably fuller featured than Macrium Free EaseUS backup software comparison: choose the best backup solution for your data and system.

If you install the WAIK you can create a PE recovery disk which works nicely under YUMI. On the whole the interface is a lot less confusing for new users.

 

[kado897]

Two points on EaseUS after a days testing compared to Macrium. An image of the System and C partitions used for the test. A total of 71GB of files.

1. Macrium is considerably faster than EaseUS. 29min vs 50min.
2. Macrium creates much smaller files than EaseUS. 30GB vs 48GB. Both at default compression settings.

The smaller size could go some way to explaining the difference in time as I am backing up to a USB HDD and the speed of this seems to be a limiting factor.

 

[whs]

As you said, the HDD speed is certainly a limiting factor. But more compression needs more CPU. So that could play a role in favor of EaseUS. Maybe you can make a comparison imaging to an internal HDD.

But then again, a different configuration (slower CPU, faster disk, etc.) may yield different results. I run my images in the background. So length of time is not a big deal.