Solved Easeus todo for images?

[DavidE]

The one issue is the CD pe takes quite a while to load for some reason.

Have you tried using the add Macrium Recovery option to the boot menu (V6) ?
For me, running Macrium from the boot menu is much faster than booting from a CD or flash stick.

You still need a Macrium Rescue bootable CD or flash stick in case the HD/SSD fails and can't boot anything.

 

[DavidE]

Hi,
Version 6 works very well and the new version winpe isn't a long download less than 10 minutes and should be used.

For me with Version 6 (free) updating to a new V6 release while running Macrium is very fast and reliable.
Also, updating the Rescue media is very fast and reliable.

It seems doing a program update from the Macrium GUI only downloads and installs the "small patch" needed, not a "full download/install".

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Hopefully macrium will do it faster than Windows, 650-700 gb takes about 4 to 5 painful hours which is why it's particularly frustrating when the backup fails. I wished if it was going to fail it would do it much earlier and save a lot of time.

You've got a Sandy Bridge CPU.

So do I--an Intel i5-2500.

Re speed: my processor makes a Macrium image of my C drive in about 7 minutes. That's for 40 GB of occupied space.

Extrapolating that to your situation, I reckon my CPU could make an image of 650 GB in about 2 hours.

You can cut that time way down by getting your data off that C partition.

If you have a "System Reserved" partition, you'd need to image it too.

I used Easeus Todo for a while. All I recall is that the installation took up an awful lot of space (200 maybe 300 GB?) and offered nothing special, so I stayed with Macrium.

Aomei Backupper has a decent reputation too.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yep no real good reason not to use the most up to date version
Yes I use or create both a cd and flash media WinPE - why not cd drives go out at funky times

 

[Scottyboy99]

I'm def going to use Macrium. Will install it tonight. I got a horrible feeling my hard drive is the reason I am struggling with the WIndows Image software though. It always used to work great. Then my USB HD has an issue, so that's why I bought a new portable one. Frustratingly the process gets 80-90% done and then 'back up failed - drive disconnected'. Last night I deleted the image and tried again on a different USB port. Gets about 90% done and suddenly a BSOD which I didn't have time to take in properly but I am sure it referenced kernel_data. So maybe the internal HD is to blame although it works fine in everything else and I never had a BSOD in any other way before other than trying to do this image.

Anyway I'm going to try Macrium and see how it goes. Most of my critical data (like music, photos, documents) is backed up on various NAS drives. I want the image because I find re-installing Windows and getting everything how I like a lengthy process. All the game installs over the years (on physical media or digital downloads) and the searching to make them run or patching (I have many older games that need to some working on). So that's why my HD and image is nearly 700GB.

But long story short I'm going to give Macrium a go. Hopefully it'll give me security that I have an image. If things really to go to pieces then I'll prob just replace the machine as it's not far off 5 years old (although still a very good spec Alienware laptop).

 

[mjf]

The one issue is the CD pe takes quite a while to load for some reason.

Have you tried using the add Macrium Recovery option to the boot menu (V6) ?

I always use independent boot media. I'll get around to sticking the rescue ISO on my multiboot maintenance USB flash drive eventually.

 

[Scottyboy99]

Well I'm running it. It's about 50% done in about an hour. I really hope it completes the image unlike the Windows one. Thoughts so far are its so much faster. At this rate it'll be done in 2 to 2 half hours. Windows takes 5 or 6!

 

[whs]

You should be able to use your PC whilst it is writing the image in the background.

 

[Scottyboy99]

Yeah it's so much more responsive than the Windows backup using the PC whilst running. Very impressed thus far - it's just got to complete that image and I'll be doing cartwheels !!

 

[Scottyboy99]

Well things didn't end so good. It was about 96% done when I noticed things freeze up. No writing to the connected USB (which I changed out) and suddenly saw in system tray the Intel Rapid Storage program report disk on port 0 disconnected (or removed - it happened too quick). Some quirky behaviour and eventual BSOD which went by so fast I didn't get a chance to read it. Should I try the image again on the other side of the laptop connected to the USB 2.0 ports instead? I'm thinking there is something on the windows HD that is causing the issue though. Yet under normal operation everything is absolutely fine, it just seems to blue screen when taking an image. And it seems to be the same point whether it be Macrium or Windows own supplied imaging. About 96/97% of the way in. The good thing is Macrium reached the point in half the time windows does. But it's pretty soul destroying that I cannot image the machine. I'm worried the HD is on the way out (yet in every other operation there are no problems) or windows needs a re-install which is something I really struggle to contemplate given all that's gone into it (especially as there is no guarantee it'll remedy the issue). Can I try again with Macrium and maybe it'll try to pick up where it left off?

 

[whs]

This is really strange. I wonder whether it is something on your OS disk. Can you post an image of your disk management for checking.

 

[mjf]

Also you could run diagnostics on your OS drive using the manufacturers diagnostics.
IRS has caused problems for some people. I have it installed on my Sandy Bridge and haven't had problems inc running Macrium. If I need to dump it then I may follow this:
Uninstalling the Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology driver - Microsoft Community
I'd suggest this as a last resort.

 

[Scottyboy99]

Hi, here is the picture. I attached a second pic also, the prompt in about disk 1 relates to my OCZ Synapse Cache SSD. I have used this for years. It's a cache SSD which works with dataplex to provide caching across the whole hard drive, ie. hot data. Whenever I did an image with Windows I always uninstall the dataplex as software forcing dataplex to sync all it's data back to the main HD as this is a restriction of the software. I have done this many times without any issues.

 

[Scottyboy99]

And this is what I am trying to image in Macrium (I leave the OCZ cache SSD unticked)

Thanks, Wayne

 

[whs]

Your recovery partition is the active partition with the bootmgr. That's not good. I suggest you copy the bootmgr to C (see link) and then you image C only. There is no need for the other stuff..

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/209885-bootmgr-move-c-easybcd.html

 

[DavidE]

Years ago i had an issue where Windows Explorer would crash when i tried to browse a folder.
As i remember it, i figured out it was caused by a corrupt thumbnail that explorer couldn't deal with.
Finding the "bad" file/thumbnail was a pita, but when i did and deleted it, no more problem.

 

[Scottyboy99]

I just completed a quick virus scan which came up clean.

Ok will try diagnostics and report. It's a Seagate momentus 750gb. I'm not really sure how to check the OS diagnostics but google to see if there is a Seagate tool. It's just strange, I have had the Intel Rapid Storage technology driver since I got the computer back in 2011 and it's never been updated or changed so it seems odd it might be causing grief now when I have done numerous images successfully in the past. I am worried there is a bad sector on the HD causing the problem and it's the beginning of the end!

 

[DavidE]

I would use Seagate SeaTools for DOS.
That way you boot from a SeaTools CD, not the HD, and check the HD when Windows is not running.
SeaTools for DOS | Seagate

 

[Scottyboy99]

Your recovery partition is the active partition with the bootmgr. That's not good. I suggest you copy the bootmgr to C (see link) and then you image C only. There is no need for the other stuff..

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/209885-bootmgr-move-c-easybcd.html

Do you think this is what is causing the problem? I will try this after the Seagate diagnostics

Thanks,
Wayne

 

[ThrashZone]

Oh no you don't want to read this then
http://www.sevenforums.com/news/390...ion-lawsuit-over-hard-drive-failure-rate.html