Solved Image your system with free Macrium

[lehnerus2000]

Update

Well I just had my first re-image failure using Macrium.

I tried to re-image my XP partition and somehow my Linux Mint partition suffered some sort of damage, which rendered my PC unbootable.
Not only that, it totally hosed the recovery disc functions.
I couldn't use the Linux Recovery disc to restore any images at all (it would "stick" on the image folders and then reboot the machine).
...

I just updated Macrium Reflect.
As near as I can tell, there have been 2 updates since last month.

Checking the details showed that there was a bug in the Linux Recovery CD.
That might have been responsible for the problem I experienced.

 

[Britton30]

Peter maybe the Grub boot loader screwed it up for you.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Weird

Peter maybe the Grub boot loader screwed it up for you.

I've never had a problem re-imaging my triple-boot setup before.

I have done multiple re-imaging operations on all my operating systems (mainly to eliminate software that I had tried, but that hadn't lived up to its creator's promises).
This was the first failure I've had with Macrium.

I usually image/re-image XP (and Linux) from W7, but for some reason this time Reflect refused to allow it.
I had to use my Recovery CD.
I re-imaged my XP partition, which succeeded, but crucial parts of my Linux Mint partition got corrupted.

Luckily my friend (Linux expert) was able to force a disc check on the partition.
This fixed Linux Mint and my PC booted up normally.

My hypothesis:
According to the bug description, that version of the Linux Recovery CD sometimes attempts to re-image additional partitions, not just the selected one.
I chose the XP partition (#2), only.
The Linux Recovery CD may have tried to also re-image Mint partition (#3) but it only had the image data for the XP partition.
This may have "confused" it, resulting in some file system corruption.

I shouldn't have updated my Recovery Disc.
The previous version had worked correctly.

 

[Britton30]

Good story Peter. I still use the, I think, 5828 PE and it works fine for me. New isn't always better.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Next time I have to do a re-image from outside my Windows OS installs, I'll try the WinPE disc that you and whs provided.

 

[Britton30]

I can verify both work, I've used them both to image and reimage.
I also used YUMI to make a bootable USB stick and added the WinPE as an unlisted iso, works great.
YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator (Windows) | USB Pen Drive Linux
I suspect you have it though.

 

[lehnerus2000]

I can verify both work, I've used them both to image and reimage.
I also used YUMI to make a bootable USB stick and added the WinPE as an unlisted iso, works great.
YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator (Windows) | USB Pen Drive Linux
I suspect you have it though.

I haven't tried YUMI.
My previous motherboard wouldn't allow USB booting (my current one does).

 

[Scoop]

Hi all,

I've been reading the posts here but haven't read the complete thread yet. I'm interested in trying Macruim and have been reading about it at their site and here as well.

I have a couple of questions to see if I'm understanding the Imaging process. I'm mainly a cloner, cloning every 6 weeks, but am interested in getting up to speed with basic full-disc imaging (basically identical to cloning, complete backup HDD with all OS, MBR, included).

I use Acronis 2011 but am wanting to try another tool as, for me, the Imaging dialog with Acronis isn't too clear to me as a novice with Imaging.

- When I select the Image option within Macrium, does it offer a "full-disc" imaging option without asking the user numerous partition/custom-image questions? Since I'm primarily interested in imaging the entire HDD, with no customization of partitions, that's all I'm wanting to do.

- Regarding incremental backups, I would like to run scheduled incremental backups and merge/write that backup into a pre-existing full image of the HDD.

Do I have the right understanding of the following?

- Day 1: Image my entire HDD, a full bootable HDD replacement.

- Day 2 and thereafter, depending on defined frequency, set up an incremental backup with the Scheduler that will write any changes to the previously-created image, thus keeping an up-to-date complete HDD image restorable with the Recovery media.

Looking at the comparison chart at the Macruim site, it looks like I'd need the paid "Standard" version to have incremental capability.

The "recover to new hardware" option looks interesting but I'd need the "Pro" version for that option.

Has anyone used that option to install a HDD from an older machine to a new one and how complex is that operation? I assume that you'd need to find a way to load all-new drivers and to deploy that data into the new machine's OS registry.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Looking at the comparison chart at the Macruim site, it looks like I'd need the paid "Standard" version to have incremental capability.

Correct

The "recover to new hardware" option looks interesting but I'd need the "Pro" version for that option.

Has anyone used that option to install a HDD from an older machine to a new one and how complex is that operation? I assume that you'd need to find a way to load all-new drivers and to deploy that data into the new machine's OS registry.

You better do this..it's free http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/292068-make-windows-7-bootable-after-motherboard-swap.html

 

[Kaktussoft]

- Day 1: Image my entire HDD, a full bootable HDD replacement.

- Day 2 and thereafter, depending on defined frequency, set up an incremental backup with the Scheduler that will write any changes to the previously-created image, thus keeping an up-to-date complete HDD image restorable with the Recovery media.

An image must be restored.... it's not a bootable HDD!
What is incremental and differential.... v5: How to create Incremental and differential disk images (Backup, Differential, Image, Incremental, v5)
You only have to restore 1 image. It knows what previous differentials/incrementials/full backup to load.

Notes on scheduling:

• User that runs it must have password
• If system shutdowns while running backup... backup will be cancelled

 

[kado897]

You would be safer doing differential backups than incremental. Incremental backup rely on the full backup and all incrementals. Differentials rely on the full backup and on differential. I personally do one full backup per week and daily differentials. The paid version of macrium has a storage management option. I chose to keep three full backups and their associated differentials.

Kaktussoft is correct. The image is not bootable, it is just a file. You need to create a recovery disk to restore it. The WinPE recovery disk is more reliable and has more features than the Linux one.

 

[whs]

- When I select the Image option within Macrium, does it offer a "full-disc" imaging option without asking the user numerous partition/custom-image questions? Since I'm primarily interested in imaging the entire HDD, with no customization of partitions, that's all I'm wanting to do.

No problem. All you have to do is tick the partitions you want to include into this image. If you have a look at my other Macrium tutorial, it may become clearer.

 

[Scoop]

Looking at the comparison chart at the Macruim site, it looks like I'd need the paid "Standard" version to have incremental capability.

Correct

The "recover to new hardware" option looks interesting but I'd need the "Pro" version for that option.

Has anyone used that option to install a HDD from an older machine to a new one and how complex is that operation? I assume that you'd need to find a way to load all-new drivers and to deploy that data into the new machine's OS registry.

You better do this..it's free http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/292068-make-windows-7-bootable-after-motherboard-swap.html

Thanks for this link. I'll look at it closer as I have more time.

- Day 1: Image my entire HDD, a full bootable HDD replacement.

- Day 2 and thereafter, depending on defined frequency, set up an incremental backup with the Scheduler that will write any changes to the previously-created image, thus keeping an up-to-date complete HDD image restorable with the Recovery media.

An image must be restored.... it's not a bootable HDD!
What is incremental and differential.... v5: How to create Incremental and differential disk images (Backup, Differential, Image, Incremental, v5)
You only have to restore 1 image. It knows what previous differentials/incrementials/full backup to load.





Notes on scheduling:

• User that runs it must have password
• If system shutdowns while running backup... backup will be cancelled

Thanks. I knew that the image needed to be restored but forgot to include that in that part of my post.

I wasn't aware of differential imaging. I will need to understand that info in the link before deciding on the best method for me.

You would be safer doing differential backups than incremental. Incremental backup rely on the full backup and all incrementals. Differentials rely on the full backup and on differential. I personally do one full backup per week and daily differentials. The paid version of macrium has a storage management option. I chose to keep three full backups and their associated differentials.

Kaktussoft is correct. The image is not bootable, it is just a file. You need to create a recovery disk to restore it. The WinPE recovery disk is more reliable and has more features than the Linux one.

The once/week full backup is probably what I would gravitate toward, having first learned the cloning portion of the HDD tools.

What is the compression ratio with Macrium? In other words, how many full-backup images would I be able to store on a spare HDD that is storing my full back up images from my Source 1 Tb HDD? I'm currently have about 400 Gb used out of 1 Tb.

- When I select the Image option within Macrium, does it offer a "full-disc" imaging option without asking the user numerous partition/custom-image questions? Since I'm primarily interested in imaging the entire HDD, with no customization of partitions, that's all I'm wanting to do.

No problem. All you have to do is tick the partitions you want to include into this image. If you have a look at my other Macrium tutorial, it may become clearer.

This will help a lot, thanks.

 

[kado897]

The compression ratio with Macrium is about 50%, but that depends on the type of data. Things like pictures and videos don't compress well as they are already compressed. If I were you I would separate your data (pictures, videos and documents) onto a different partition to Windows and programs and only image the Windows partition. For the data backup use a file and folder backup. The paid version of Macrium has this feature but I prefer to use a dedicated program for that. I use FreeFileSync now although I have also used Microsoft's SyncToy which is similar but with fewer features.

 

[SIW2]

Macrium is a very good option. It does a few things which might not be ideal for advanced users, but overall,does the job. Paragon is a great choice, Aomei is terrific, too. They differ in which functions they offer, so try them and see.

 

[Frank1]

For quite some time I have created images with that which is built into Windows 7 and also the one in Windows 8. I have created images and also restored several times and have never had problem. I'm not putting down the others; I'm just saying that I like the one in Windows.

 

[mjf]

For quite some time I have created images with that which is built into Windows 7 and also the one in Windows 8. I have created images and also restored several times and have never had problem. I'm not putting down the others; I'm just saying that I like the one in Windows.

Frank,
I use the native Windows imaging also for some time now and have never had a problem (but see my signature). I also use Macrium Reflect which offers more flexible options. I see no reason to go any further.

 

[lehnerus2000]

The compression ratio with Macrium is about 50%, but that depends on the type of data. Things like pictures and videos don't compress well as they are already compressed. If I were you I would separate your data (pictures, videos and documents) onto a different partition to Windows and programs and only image the Windows partition.

Agreed.
I use separate partitions for my documents, music, pictures, and videos (as well as a few others).

The compression level can be adjusted, but I have mine set to the default level (medium).

​

Music, pictures and video partitions will create images roughly equal to their uncompressed size.
Here is a comparison of my Pictures partition and the Reflect image of it.

​

 

[Wenda]

I'd been using the built-in imaging program since Vista, but once I saw how it had been deprecated in Win 8 I started looking at free alternatives.

I finally settled on the free version of EaseUS Backup Manager, and used it successfully for some time.

But around last April, I got the full version of EaseUS Backup WorkStation 5.8 off 'Giveaway of the Day' as one of their free giveaways. Nothing is disabled or crippled, it is the full retail package.

I've had very good results with this program, and will likely stick with it.


Wenda.


EDIT: Re compression... I found using EaseUS that the default setting was best. I did try an experiment, and imaged my entire C: drive including my VMs (which are not normally included in my images) using the Maximum compression setting.

The size of the installation to be imaged was around 170GB, and the image was created successfully, if somewhat slowly. A considerable amount of space was saved. So all was good.

Or was it???

The time taken to actually restore the image went from around 35-40 min using the default compression setting, to almost 3 hours using the max setting. So if space is at a premium, it's worth doing, but if not, or if speed is more important, probably best not bother.

 

[kado897]

Macrium is the same. The default setting gives a slightly bigger file than maximum but takes a lot longer to back up. I haven't compared restore times but I would expect something similar.