Can Macrium Free do "Backups", and can it make an Image of an Image?

[Clouseau]

Can Macrium Free do "Backups", and can it make an Image of an Image?

Hello again Ladies & Gents!

My Dell Precision M6400 laptop is currently fitted with an SSD (namely C-drive, on which Windows dwells) as well as a larger HDD (namely D-drive, on which my data resides). But as part of my goal to establish a truly effective backup system, I am planning to connect another HDD externally via eSata in the near future.

Following that, I would like to be able to save images of C on D, and then save either images (or backups) of D on the external drive, that will hopefully include the images of C that were previously deposited on D. In this way, the images of Windows on C will be stored on 2 other drives (for the sake of redundancy), and the data on D will also exist on 2 separate drives (if the data's current location on D is counted...)

In relation to such plans, my questions are as follows:

1) Can Macrium Free v7.2 create an image of a partition that is already storing some images of another partition?

2) Can Macrium Free v7.2 perform plain old file-and-folder Backups? (which might be a handy adjustment to my planned procedure if the answer to the above question is "no"...)

3) If the answer to both of the above questions is "no", are there any other free Image-creating programs (including earlier versions of Macrium Free) that can produce acceptably-stable images of the installed Windows 7 system partition, whilst also being able to either perform file-and-folder backups, or create images of partitions on which images of other partitions have been stored?

I can't do any tests yet regarding the first question myself, because I haven't bought the necessary hardware yet, and I'm reticent to leap into any purchases at this stage lest the purchasing requirements are modified somewhat by the actual answer to the question...

As regards the 2nd question, I strongly suspect the answer is "no", based on my own download of v7.2, as well as what appears to be a passing reference in the negative regarding file-and-folder backups that was made a while back in the Macrium Free sticky/megathread.

Many Thanks in advance,
Clouseau.

 

[SIW2]

All imaging programs that I have looked at can create images of partitions which include whatever data you have put on the source.

There are some free versions which do file/folder backups as well - Aomei backupper standard (free), for example.

 

[Clouseau]

Thank-you SIW2. I feel a little more confident now to push on with the whole undertaking. As an interim test, however, I might add a second partition to D-drive, and see if Macrium is quite happy to image the whole of its first partition (including a couple of images of C that are on it) over to the new partition.


Best Wishes for now,
Clouseau.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Images are backups that can be used to restore System files (OS and programs) and data files to a drive. Macrium Reflect can image individual partitions, multiple partitions of your choosing , or the entire drive. Images can be saved on any drive or partition you want (I recommend a drive other than the one the OS and programs are on). They also can be copied to other folders, partitions, or drives since they are files.

While imaging is necessary to restore System files, I do not recommend it for backing up data because it is too slow and the images take up too much room. Instead, I recommend using a folder/file syncing program, such as FreeFileSync. A folder/file syncing program, when set to mirror mode (not the same as RAID 1), will give you what is essentially a clone of your data on another drive or partition.

 

[Bree]

1) Can Macrium Free v7.2 create an image of a partition that is already storing some images of another partition?

Yes. In fact I do that all the time. I routinely image the Windows system of my machines to a separate D: Data partition on the same HDD, then image the whole drive including its Data partition to an external HDD.

Where it gets really interesting is that that Macrium can mount an image as a virtual drive. Before now I've mounted an image from that external HDD, then mounted an image from within that image in order to retrieve some files.

2) Can Macrium Free v7.2 perform plain old file-and-folder Backups? (which might be a handy adjustment to my planned procedure if the answer to the above question is "no"...)

No, file and folder imaging is only available in the paid-for version.

 

[Clouseau]

Good evening from down here in Oz folks,

While imaging is necessary to restore System files, I do not recommend it for backing up data because it is too slow and the images take up too much room. Instead, I recommend using a folder/file syncing program, such as FreeFileSync. A folder/file syncing program, when set to mirror mode (not the same as RAID 1), will give you what is essentially a clone of your data on another drive or partition.

Hmmm, that sounds quite interesting Lady F. I will definitely have a look at that FreeFileSync some time, in an attempt to formulate a decent grasp of the pro's and con's of each type of program v's the other...

Breelander - Many thanks for those confirmations. It sounds like I'm on the right track with my thinking, thank Heavens...

Best Wishes for now,
Clouseau.

 

[RolandJS]

"...FreeFileSync..." has served me well over the years, the only caution: users, when doing mirror operations, need to be sure of the "direction" of the mirroring; I tend to do such things from "left panel" to "right panel" to keep things samo-samo to me.