Solved Image your system with free Macrium

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I also just keep full images. My problem is I probably keep too many of them. It's a bit like the junk that clutters up your house because "You may need it one day".

You can never have too many. I just was able to fix a problem on one of my laptops with an image from early 2013 - anything younger would not do.

I keep the original images I made when I first set up my computer for such situations which, fortunately, I have yet to encounter (knock on wood). Otherwise, I would have filled up a bit more than 2TB HDD by now.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Initial Install

I keep the original images I made when I first set up my computer for such situations which, fortunately, I have yet to encounter (knock on wood). Otherwise, I would have filled up a bit more than 2TB HDD by now.

I always create an initial install image (OS, Updates and Macrium).
Then I install an AV and other programs and then I create another image.

The other day I had to uninstall Avast (so that I could use an installer to do a clean install, since the in-place upgrade seemed to be corrupted).

Whilst my PC had no AV I took the opportunity to create an image, so that if I decide to replace Avast, I can use that image and install a different AV.

 

[chrysalis]

well my images will soon get bigger. As now I will be keeping games on my new C: drive. I dont want multiple backups of the games, and games are getting big now days, e.g. FF13 is 60 gig alone. I will definitely think about differential tho.
I think what seems most likely is every time I install a new big game, I do a new full backup and wipe the older full backup but otherwise do differential's in between which then should be small files.

 

[hawgwash]

Between here and Tom's Hardware, I've been a big sponge lately; just asking constant questions and sopping up the knowledge. Both places have been very patient with me and I thank you for that.

So...
Is there any way to tell how big an image will be before creating it?
Edited to add a second question:
Can the image be put on a drive with other files?
In other words can I put on my external HD with regular files and videos on it?
Thanks.

 

[Tookeri]

Don't know and can't check ATM but I think my images are about 70% of the total used space of all drives/partitions I select.

From a previously asked question at Macrium support:
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Arial, Helvetic]It depends on the type of data on your disk, MP3's and video files don't compress much, if at all. Generally the image file size will be around 60-65% of the size of the used space on the partition.
Macrium Support Forum - I need a compression estimate

Additional info: [/FONT]Advanced Settings - Compression

Question 2: Yes. The image will be one single (large) file.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Between here and Tom's Hardware, I've been a big sponge lately; just asking constant questions and sopping up the knowledge. Both places have been very patient with me and I thank you for that.

So...
Is there any way to tell how big an image will be before creating it?
Edited to add a second question:
Can the image be put on a drive with other files?
In other words can I put on my external HD with regular files and videos on it?
Thanks.

My Macrium images are about 40 to 45 percent of the size of the occupied space on the partition in question. That's using default settings---medium compression. I've never tried another setting.

An image file is just a file like any other. You can store it anywhere EXCEPT on the partition that it represents. Although you could store it on a separate partition on the same drive, it's a better practice to store it on a completely different drive.

I put mine in an "images" folder, but you don't even have to do that. You just have to be able to find it when you need it.

 

[whs]

Between here and Tom's Hardware, I've been a big sponge lately; just asking constant questions and sopping up the knowledge. Both places have been very patient with me and I thank you for that.

So...
Is there any way to tell how big an image will be before creating it?
Edited to add a second question:
Can the image be put on a drive with other files?
In other words can I put on my external HD with regular files and videos on it?
Thanks.

The size of an image of an OS partition (C partition) will be appr. 60% of the size of the data in that partition. The size of the total partition is not relevant.

Yes you can put the image on an external disk together with other files. I suggest you make a seperate folder e.g. called IMAGES and navigate to that folder in Macrium when you setup the image. Without the folder the image will get to the root of the disk and that may be a bit messy. Macrium images looke like this in the root of the disk or in the folder:

 

[hawgwash]

Time out...
I can't keep up to you guys.

 

[hawgwash]

Ok, caught my breath.
So, since there is no personal data on C,or anywhere for that matter, the 20GB of “used space” will be just the OS?
I’ve installed W7 and there is a hidden OEMpartition with a couple GB of, I’m guessing, old XP stuff. Will that be in theimage as well?

I guess where I’m headed here is, I want totry deleting the OEM leftovers but think maybe I should do an image first?
Makesense?

Playball..

 

[Tookeri]

You can choose exactly what you want to include in the image:

 

[whs]

Just make sure you also image and restore the 100MB system partition. That little partition contains your bootmgr which is needed for booting.

It may be useful if you posted a Disk Management picture so that we can make sure you get it right.

Bte - The image of your 20 GB will be appr. 12GB large.

 

[hawgwash]

It may be useful if you posted a Disk Management picture so that we can make sure you get it right.

Ok, here's a screenie.
Keep in mind that it’s all about learning and this machine is my learning tool.
It it runs off in the ditch or catches fire and I have to lob it off my 16th floor balcony, hey, I’ve learned something.

You have all gone above and beyond here today, so you can go home now and I hope none of you are in Buffalo.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Looks like all you have to include in the image is the C partition. It has the boot, active, and system flags.

20 GB of space occupied will result in a relatively small image file---somewhere near 10 GB, plus or minus.

That OEM partition is presumably related to factory restore and is not other wise needed. Do you have any interest in ever restoring to factory specs? Have you burned any "recovery disks" that are intended to restore to factory specs (duplicating the functionality of a recovery partititon)?

Or the OEM partition may contain tools of some type. What's the occupied space on it? OEMs can put some cuckoo stuff on OEM partitions, but it doesn't look like you need any of it. If worried, you could make a separate image of the OEM partition just in case.

The image of C would include everything on C, including Windows, installed applications, configuration info, licensing details, etc.

 

[whs]

You need to image/restore only C. It is the active partition and contains the bootmgr. You are all set to go.

 

[mjf]

Yes as others have stated C is the partition you want to make routine images of. But I don't know what tools etc live in the OEM partition so I would have at least one image of it so if your HDD dies you can fully recover to your current state. So if you need to replace your HDD you can reimage the small OEM partition along with the important C partition.

 

[hawgwash]

When I entered earlier in the day, my intent was, and I guess still is, to make a set of recovery disks and an image, just for fun.

I don't believe a return to factory specs is in the cards as I have jettisoned XP and stuffed W7 in it's place.
Funny thing about the OEM partition (Help is all that pops up on right click), previously it showed just under 2GB used space and now shows 100% free. I assume a "Clean Disk" operation I did, mopped up in there. Maybe Old Files?

Anyway, I guess I'll just go through the steps; recovery (is that the same as repair?) disk, image, delete OEM or expand C into it.

Now, can recovery and image be put on a USB flash drive?
I guess not, huh, cause USB is Fat, right?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Anyway, I guess I'll just go through the steps; recovery (is that the same as repair?) disk, image, delete OEM or expand C into it.

Now, can recovery and image be put on a USB flash drive?
I guess not, huh, cause USB is Fat, right?

"Recovery disk"?? I assume you mean the "rescue media" as it is called in Macrium. This is what you must boot from to restore an image file. It can be a DVD burn or a USB flash drive. You walk through a Macrium menu and choose either Linux-based" DVD or WinPE based. The latter is much preferred.

I've used both DVD burns and USB flash drives for the rescue media without issues.

I've always stored images on hard drives due to reliability. USB drives are typically FAT32 and I think there is a file size limitation (4 GB??), which would mean an image of the typical C drive would be too large. Maybe you could use exFAT, which doesn't have that size limitation. Never tried it.

 

[hawgwash]

Hey, don't confuse me now, after all this.
You said "recovery disks" back in post 1753 and now you're asking me what I mean???

So, without wearing out a keyboard, what's the difference between recovery, repair and now rescue.
L--O--L.

 

[whs]

Now, can recovery and image be put on a USB flash drive?
I guess not, huh, cause USB is Fat, right?

You can put an image on a flash drive provided it is big enough and formatted in NTFS.

The recovery disk can also be put on a flash drive (NTFS or Fat32). That takes less than 200MBs. But it should be on a different flash drive than the image. Use Rufus to burn the recovery image to the flash drive. Here is a precooked iso I made for the recovery disk. Right click and download.

Update: Rescue and recovery are the same. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Scoop]

Hey, don't confuse me now, after all this.
You said "recovery disks" back in post 1753 and now you're asking me what I mean???

So, without wearing out a keyboard, what's the difference between recovery, repair and now rescue.
L--O--L.

The terms "Recovery" and "Rescue" are often used synonymously. They're referring to the bootable media, CD/DVD or USB Drive, where the user can boot up the PC on the media and select recovery tools, such as restoring the HDD from a previously-processed Image file, or clone a Source HDD to a Target HDD.

You're getting great advice here about the topic . I've been Imaging (and Cloning) for a while. They're great peace of mind PC tools.

Regarding Imaging partitions, I'm in agreement with mjf. Since the "factory-restore" partitions are small in comparison to the user ("C", etc) partitions, it's simpler for me to Image the complete HDD. That way, I have the entire contents for recovery if needed.

For example, my Toshiba Laptop has 2 "recovery" partitions, one is a boot partition and the other one contains the "factory restore" data, original Drivers, etc, that came with the new PC to be used if a factory-restore is needed later.

[edit] Saw whs's post after posting, explaining your question about the Recovery/Rescue terms.