Solved Image your system with free Macrium

[PCG]

This is my first post on SevenForums, and I want to start off by saying "Thank you" to everyone, especially to WHS for sharing all of his knowledge and expertise on this topic.


As the result of two recent hard drive crashes on two separate computers, I stumbled on to this site several days ago looking for information about error messages. Now I feel like I am becoming a system imaging and user data backup guru.


That might be pushing it, but, since stumbling upon this forum, I have come a long way, and in fact have successfully started my own imaging and user data backup routine, still very much in its infancy stage. I was very lucky that I was able to recover all data from both crashes using a hdd adapter and usb. These crashes along with the the enthusiasm on this forum have prompted me to act.


For my main home desktop computer, (one of the two that crashed), I went from a single 750GB HDD system to an enhanced system now in which I added a Samsung 840 Pro SSD and two back-up/storage drives (I re-purposed the OEM Seagate Baracuda 750GB that came with the computer, a Dell XPS 8100, and added a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue).


My very first SSD install and OS transfer occurred last night. I used Macrium according to your install tutorial WHS, and the system seems to be running very well. I first moved the boot mgr from the System Reserved partition using EasyBCD and eliminated that. I have a couple of questions that I'll present in a later post.


For now, though, I thought I would post a snip of my current set-up in hopes of obtaining any feedback that might make this better, or to point out any glaring errors that I may have made.


Any feedback is greatly appreciated.


Thank you

 

[whs]

The layout looks fine. I assume you image the OS to both M and X (maybe alternatively?).

The part I do not quite understand is how you backup your data. I image my data partitions too (although sync would be faster). Reason is because I like to keep the father, grandfather, etc. copies for a while.

I image about 2 or 3 times per week.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Just in case ...

... I image my data partitions too (although sync would be faster). Reason is because I like to keep the father, grandfather, etc. copies for a while.

I image about 2 or 3 times per week.

It's good to keep multiple copies, just in case something corrupts one of them.

Also, you may decide to delete a file and then 6 months later discover that you shouldn't have deleted it.
It has happened to me.

 

[PCG]

The layout looks fine. I assume you image the OS to both M and X (maybe alternatively?).

The part I do not quite understand is how you backup your data. I image my data partitions too (although sync would be faster). Reason is because I like to keep the father, grandfather, etc. copies for a while.

I image about 2 or 3 times per week.

Yes, that's the plan: OS images to both M and X. I wasn't really thinking about the alternating approach, but it sounds good and I will try it. I plan to use N and Y in a similar fashion for user data backups.

The X and Y partitions (Disk #2 in the snip), are located on an external, enclosed drive. I'll keep that drive off-line except for when executing actual imaging and back-up operations.

Regarding how I'm backing up my user data, well so far in order to eliminate the major vunerability that I had, I've been using the Window's 7 Back-up & Restore utility and imaging data partitions with Macrium. I'll continue to use these until I figure out this part of my plan. I like Macrium a lot, and I'm considering an upgrade to their paid standard version to get access to their file and folder backup feature.

 

[PCG]

... It's good to keep multiple copies, just in case something corrupts one of them.

Also, you may decide to delete a file and then 6 months later discover that you shouldn't have deleted it.
It has happened to me.

This makes sense to me! I'll keep that in mind as I go forward.

 

[PCG]

whs,

In my first post, I mentioned that I have a couple of questions; let me throw out the first one now (I'll direct this to you first, since I picked this up from your "SSD - Install" tutorial, (which was great, btw)):

In that tutorial, you stated:

"Note: Before you activate the SSD, it is recommended to set the BIOS to AHCI. Best time to do that is just before you change the boot sequence. Once Windows7 is running, you make the corresponding settings in the OS. Here is a tutorial on how to do that. Many people claim that there is a significant performance gain with AHCI. I, however, did not see that. But it may be different from system to system."

I believe I followed all intrtructions fairly close. Everything went flawless for me up until the point of rebooting and attempting to change the BIOS to AHCI. I had previously changed the registry to "0" as directed by B.F. Kid in his tutorial, but when I got in to the BIOS, there was not an option for AHCI, but instead "RAID" or "ATA."

I was stuck, but using a different computer I searched online and learned (that possibly), my Dell's RAID setting is equivalient to a combo RAID/AHCI setting all in one... I decide to go ahead and boot up and everything seemed (and still seems) fine. I re-checked the 'msahci' registry entry, and it somehow reverted back to "3."

Should I be concerned about this, or just leave it alone?

 

[whs]

there was not an option for AHCI, but instead "RAID" or "ATA."

Raid is the right setting in your case. But AHCI or IDE, the performance difference in real life is very minor. It only shows up in some of those meaningless performance measurements which are for bragging purposes.

Leave it as is. No need for action or concern.

PS: I assume you know that you can run the imaging in the background (click the 'hide' button on the macrium screen) and do other things in the meantime. No need to be concerned about the time it takes to make an image.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Backup Storage

This makes sense to me! I'll keep that in mind as I go forward.

The quote got mangled.

Obviously you'll need a fair amount of storage to keep multiple images.

I'm using ~2TB of external storage for backup images of my files (documents & pictures) going back to 2009.
I'm also using ~2TB of external storage for my video and music files (not imaged).

Those backups are spread over 5 external HDDs.

 

[PCG]

Thank you whs; I will not change the RAID setting, nor will I go back in to the registry to change the 'msahci' start value to "0". I will leave it on its current setting of "3."

Now, on to my next question: This one relates to file locations and user folders. Prior to the SSD install, back when I was still using the HDD as the OS disk, I followed your Data Partition video dated 20 March 2010 on how to move the location of the user data folders and files off of the C: drive. I created a new partition, "I" drive I believe it was, and moved all data in to folders with the same names as those listed under my old Library. Prior to the install, this partition (I Drive), was imaged with Macrium, and that image was later used to re-establish my new G user data partition.

This seemed to work well prior to the SSD install and I was able to clear much space from the C: drive before shrinking it down in size.

In the snip below, you can see that I now have all Library contents residing on the G drive, which I believe is correct, but I'm not 100% sure. I did this by linking the data folders (on my newly imaged G drive) to the various Libraries. I'm not sure if this is a problem, but when I right click on the individual folders (not the library icons), I do not see the "Location" option in the Properties tab. You can see this in the snip as well.

Does this sound right? I searched for the location tab by right-clicking directly on the various Library folders and also down below in the actual G drive and still could not come up with the location options.

Also post-image transfer, I have noticed that my iPhone "Photo Stream," HP Officejet printer (which I use wirelessly), and one of my Adobe programs is not linking up properly with their data folders. I suspect this has something to do with the AppData folders and files, but this is just a guess.

Any advice you can share would be appreciated.

 

[PCG]

Disregard the HP Officejet printer issue mentioned above; for some reason the wireless connection stopped working (I don't know if it had any thing to do with my SSD install or the image transfer). I reset the connection to my router and it's working fine now...

 

[whs]

When you moved the folders to the I drive, they lost the location tab because you probably moved them to the root of the I drive and not to individual folders. But that is no problem if you now INCLUDED them into the libraries.

The link of some apps may be disturbed because the path to the folders has changed. You will probably have to reestablish the link to the new location manually.

 

[PCG]

Okay, user data is stored and accessible on G drive, far away from C:, and included in my Libraries tab.

HP Officejet problem resolved by re-establishing wireless connection to router. This may not have been related to the SSD/OS reimaging… I may have unplugged the printer causing this issue. It’s working fine now.

Apple iPhone PhotoStream re-established by uninstalling then reinstalling iCloud. Seems to be okay.

The very brief Adobe error (for Adobe Air, I believe), has not returned. The only app I have (that I know of), that uses Adobe Air is Pandora, and I’m listening to music on it right now… no problems at all. I suppose I’ll have to ‘wait and see’ on this one.

Other than that, I have accessed most of the programs and apps available on my computer and everything seems to be working okay except for the following two items:

1. Windows Media Player (which I never use), does not contain the right path to my G data folders and files. I played around with this for a while but have not yet been able to figure it out. I’ll do some additional research.

2. Internet Explorer “Favorites” are not showing up in the Favorites tab when I’m on line surfing the internet. I use these quite often and need to figure out how to redirect the Favorites internet shortcut files, which are contained in a “Favorites” folder that I established on my G drive. Should I simply copy these files (they add up only to 56.0 KB) from the G drive and paste them in to my C: Favorites folder?

I’m open for suggestions.

Thanks

 

[whs]

1. For the WMP try what is explaines in the picture. Maybe it let's you browse to the right folder.

2. I would try that. Else, if they show up at all, I would export them and then reimport them.

 

[PCG]

"Favorites" issue solved! My registry entries were pointing to my previous data drive, "I".

I changed it to "G" and my Favorites have returned to the appropriate place in the Favorites pop-up window.

 

[PCG]

I believe most of my problems occurred because I changed the original user data backup drive letter from "I" to "G." But, all of that was part of my initial tinkering to get everything set up in the first place.

Now that my system is tweaked to my liking and no new drive letters to create (for now at least), I'm going to re-image in Macrium (and Windows Backup for an additional safety net), and then do a live test by restoring the new Macrium image.

In order to do this, should I use the Macrium CD or USB Recovery Disk that I created to boot up and take it from there? or, should I open Macrium from my C: drive and restore from there?

Also, are there any other nuances that I should know about before moving forward with this test?

Thank you,

 

[whs]

You cannot restore from C. That's like pulling yourself out of the water by the hair, lol. Use the WinPE CD.

But if you only want to make a test, create a small 2GB partition, copy some data into it and image/restore that. This is a lot less risky and faster. You learn the whole process that way too. I always keep a little 2GB partition around - just for testing purposes.

 

[bigmck]

I believe most of my problems occurred because I changed the original user data backup drive letter from "I" to "G." But, all of that was part of my initial tinkering to get everything set up in the first place.

Now that my system is tweaked to my liking and no new drive letters to create (for now at least), I'm going to re-image in Macrium (and Windows Backup for an additional safety net), and then do a live test by restoring the new Macrium image.

In order to do this, should I use the Macrium CD or USB Recovery Disk that I created to boot up and take it from there? or, should I open Macrium from my C: drive and restore from there?

Also, are there any other nuances that I should know about before moving forward with this test?

Thank you,

You can't boot from the C: drive and restore. I have always used the bootable Macrium CD to restore. It has never failed. Let us know if you have any questions.

 

[PCG]

Great, from the bootable usb it is then.

whs, regarding the test partition, I followed your same recommendation from an earlier post in this thread (or another one), and already feel comfortable restoring images in that fashion.

In order to really put this to rest, I'm going to have to do a real live test. I want to be 100% sure this is going to work in the future if I have another failure.

I'll be back shortly to let you know how the test goes...

 

[kado897]

I did an image restore earlier this week using Macrium with no problems. You should be OK.

 

[mjf]

In order to really put this to rest, I'm going to have to do a real live test. I want to be 100% sure this is going to work in the future if I have another failure.

Macrium hasn't let me down but forget 100% certainty for anything. The safest way to test a full system restore and also prove you can recover from a failed HDD is to do an image restore to a new HDD.