Solved Image your system with free Macrium

[SIW2]

The "smart" feature not smart at all, then .

Glad you fixed it.

 

[whs]

I finally solved it. It was something to do with the XHCI setting in the BIOS. At the default of 'Smart Auto' or with it set to 'Enabled', there is no input with the rescue media. However, if I choose 'Disabled' or 'Auto', the USB mouse and keyboard work fine.

Thanks for all the help/suggestions.

Who would have thunk. Good job - but that would have been quasi impossible for us to figure out. Lesson learned.

 

[Diddlededum]

I had a scary moment the other day whilst making a routine backup image of my data drive. I got the following message:

Backup aborted! Unable to read from disk - Error Code 23 - Data error (cyclic redundancy check)


According to Macrium's support page (v5: Imaging disks with bad sectors (Bad Sectors)), if a bad sector is encountered during image creation then you will receive that error in your backup log. This is considered a fatal condition because your data cannot be read and the image will abort.


As instructed by Macrium I ran a full checkdisk including repair option. However, chkdsk went off and a few hours later reported back, no bad sectors, no repairs needed...0 bad file records processed....Windows has checked the file system and found no problems. The only thing it did say was that there were 46 unused index entries cleaned up from file 0x9, whatever that means.


So is my disk failing and in need of urgent replacement (according to Macrium) or is it in perfect health (according to MS)? Kind of important given it's still under warrenty and I thnk I'd have a hard time presenting a normal healthy disk to the shop and asking for a replacement!

 

[Kaktussoft]

I had a scary moment the other day whilst making a routine backup image of my data drive. I got the following message:

Backup aborted! Unable to read from disk - Error Code 23 - Data error (cyclic redundancy check)


According to Macrium's support page (v5: Imaging disks with bad sectors (Bad Sectors)), if a bad sector is encountered during image creation then you will receive that error in your backup log. This is considered a fatal condition because your data cannot be read and the image will abort.


As instructed by Macrium I ran a full checkdisk including repair option. However, chkdsk went off and a few hours later reported back, no bad sectors, no repairs needed...0 bad file records processed....Windows has checked the file system and found no problems. The only thing it did say was that there were 46 unused index entries cleaned up from file 0x9, whatever that means.


So is my disk failing and in need of urgent replacement (according to Macrium) or is it in perfect health (according to MS)? Kind of important given it's still under warrenty and I thnk I'd have a hard time presenting a normal healthy disk to the shop and asking for a replacement!

Can be faulty memory stick as well. Please test your memory.
Macrium Reflect still reports disk errors?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I got an image failed error once. I ran it again and the image was created successfully. Apparently, sometime, stuff just happens. Btw, I strongly recommend always running verify after an image (MR can be set to do so automatically). I would much rather discover a faulty image while I can still make another one than to discover the image I'm depending on to restore my machine is mung since it's too late to make a new image by then. It takes almost twice as long to make an image when Verify is included but who sits around staring at the screen while MR is doing its thing (not this old lady, anyway)?

 

[kado897]

Good point.

 

[SIW2]

Imaging programs can be over cautious. But it is worth checking. For your own peace of mind, you could run the manufacturers disk utility and see what it says. They are not foolproof either, of course, but give it a go.

Don't know what disk you have, but seagate for dos boot media seems to be able to work other drives, not just seagates. WD do one that you can run from within windows, but I don't think it has any fixing capability.

I had a scary moment the other day whilst making a routine backup image of my data drive. I got the following message:

Backup aborted! Unable to read from disk - Error Code 23 - Data error (cyclic redundancy check)


According to Macrium's support page (v5: Imaging disks with bad sectors (Bad Sectors)), if a bad sector is encountered during image creation then you will receive that error in your backup log. This is considered a fatal condition because your data cannot be read and the image will abort.


As instructed by Macrium I ran a full checkdisk including repair option. However, chkdsk went off and a few hours later reported back, no bad sectors, no repairs needed...0 bad file records processed....Windows has checked the file system and found no problems. The only thing it did say was that there were 46 unused index entries cleaned up from file 0x9, whatever that means.


So is my disk failing and in need of urgent replacement (according to Macrium) or is it in perfect health (according to MS)? Kind of important given it's still under warrenty and I thnk I'd have a hard time presenting a normal healthy disk to the shop and asking for a replacement!

 

[whs]

Try again and see what happens. If it repeats itself, it may be prudent to RMA the disk. You don't want to live with a disk from which you cannot make images.

 

[Mang Nux]

If I image my three SSDs using a standard (non-advanced format) hard drive (in a USB enclosure) as the target/storage device and then restore from that, will they still be aligned properly?

 

[whs]

Yes, if you do it right. Read here - directions in the picture.

http://www.macrium.com/help/v5/reflect_v5.htm

 

[Mang Nux]

Yes, if you do it right. Read here - directions in the picture.

Reflect_v5


View attachment 302658

From that document it seems like I don't have to do anything to preserve alignment since I'm using Windows 7, am I reading it right?

I'm also assuming that 'Copy selected partitions' is now called 'Image this disk'

 

[whs]

I'm also assuming that 'Copy selected partitions' is now called 'Image this disk'

There you have to watch out. If you have several partitions on the image, make sure only those that you want to restore are checked in the little boxes under the partition.

 

[Bellzemos]

Hi, I have some questions. I've been using Win7 system imaging but I find it a bit cumbersome, esp. the un-ability to restore the image to a smaller drive (is that possible with Macrium Free?).

I'm thinking of going with Macrium Free. Is it really free (no adware etc.?), trustworthy and reliable? I like one ability of Win7's B&R and that is that I can mount the image VHD file and restore single files etc. and also restore the whole image from the boot (using the Win7 rescue disc). Are these functions possible with Macrium Free?

In the feature comparison chart of Macrium it says that the Free version can't do recovery from Windows boot menu, so I guess that's a no-go then? How would I have to restore it then, first install Windows, then Macrium and then full restore (overwrite the latest Win installation with the one from the image backup)?

Please help me understand. And if you recommend some other freeware imaging software, please do tell too. Thank you!

 

[essenbe]

Yes, you can do all the things you asked about. You can recover from a bootable Linux DVD or a PE Rescue CD or USB drive. What it means by recovery from the boot menu means there is no recovery partition you can boot into when Windows starts. You can also mount, VHDs, recover files from the mounted VHD. It is very highly thought of my most here on Seven forums and widely used. This may help answer some of your questions. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

 

[Bellzemos]

Are you sure that with Macrium Reflect Free I can:

- Restore to a smaller HDD (I have a 500 GB HDD with 3 partitons and I monthly make an image of all 3 partitions - so the whole HDD, but there's just about 250 GB of data on all 3 partitions of mine, so if my 500 GB HDD dies, can I buy a 320 GB HDD and restore the 3 partitions onto it without any problems)?

- Restore from the boot (just like using the Windows 7 rescue disc) without any problems (onto an empty/new HDD), even though it says on the Macrium site that in the free version that's not supported?

- VHD files can be mounted, explored, files copied etc. - just like in Windows 7 integrated tool?

I apologise for being a pain in the ass but backup and restore is an extremely important thing and I have to depend on it so that's why I'm double-asking.

Thank you!

 

[essenbe]

Some imaging programs create a recovery partition which you can boot into when Windows boots. That's what they mean, that is not supported. What you do is create a recovery CD or USB drive and boot into that, just like the Windows Rescue disk. I'm sure about the VHD files being able to be mounted, explored. I am not sure about restoring to a smaller drive, but I believe it can. When it does the image, it only images the used portion of the partition. So, I see no reason it can't restore to a smaller drive as long as your partitions on the smaller drives are larger than the image (used portion it was created from) It can also clone a partition.

 

[SIW2]

The macrium boot menu thing just means you can boot up the macrium winpe from a boot menu entry.

( Essenbe is right that a few imaging programs can make recovery partitions, Acronis and paragon for example, I can't see the point ).

The idea of the boot menu entry is you don't need to carry a flash drive with macrium winpe on it. The downsides are

a) It might not work, if windows boot process is damaged ( which is quite often the reason you want to restore)

b) You will always get a menu for few seconds on startup, which can be quite annoying. ( unless you are multibooting, where you will have a menu anyway)

There are several free imaging programs . They will all be able to restore to a smaller drive and let you get individual files out of an image.

They will all create boot media of some kind to be put on flash/dvd. Many of them do not create the boot menu thing, instead they can reboot themselves into what they often call pre -os mode. That also means you don't need to carry a flash with you ( but, like the boot menu entry, depend on Windows not being too damaged to fire them up ).

You will definitely need the external boot media they create, just in case.

Paragon do a free one. Paragon paid products are great, but the free versions are quite limited.
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/

Easeus do one. It has some nice features, e.g. you can see and copy out of the backup images with windows explorer- you don't need to mount anything. http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm

Macrium does a free one. It works well, I used it for a while myself.

Now there is an even better free one. FREE Backup software for Windows 7, 8 and Server 2008 R2, 2012

 

[whs]

Why don't you just try it on a small 2GB partition. That will amswer all your questions. And yes, it is the best imaging program around - only AOEMI would be a good alternative.

Read and watch the tutorial and Keith an I have put together and you will get the hang of it - Steve linked it.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

- Restore to a smaller HDD (I have a 500 GB HDD with 3 partitons and I monthly make an image of all 3 partitions - so the whole HDD, but there's just about 250 GB of data on all 3 partitions of mine, so if my 500 GB HDD dies, can I buy a 320 GB HDD and restore the 3 partitions onto it without any problems)?

Macrium Reflect can be used to restore an image to a smaller partition as long as the original data is less than the size of the partition it is going to. Even though you can restore your partitions to a smaller HDD, if you can afford it in any way, I would suggest buying another 500GB HDD so that, when your original HDD exceeds 320GB, you will be able to still backup your data on the second HDD.

- Restore from the boot (just like using the Windows 7 rescue disc) without any problems (onto an empty/new HDD), even though it says on the Macrium site that in the free version that's not supported?

The restore from boot you are referring to is an optional feature on the paid versions that will allow you to restore and image without having to use a recovery CD or USB flash drive. When you first boot up the computer, a screen will appear during boot, but before windows itself starts booting, that gives you the option to open up the program that is on your computer that will restore your image. If the drive has been damaged enough that the program can't be opened from the drive, a recovery disk or USB flash drive will be needed. I have the Pro version and use that feature myself because it's convenient (and I'm lazy).

On the free version, instead of a program that can be opened during boot, you have to use a recovery CD or USB flash drive you make ahead of time to restore an image to your HDD. It's not as convenient as having the option on the computer but is more reliable. Even though I use the built in version, I still need the have my recovery USB flash drive on hand just in case I manage to mess up my boot drive badly enough the built-in feature can't be used or I'm using the image to restore to a replacement drive.

If I've confused you thoroughly, just rest assured you will be able to use the free version to restore your data as long as you make a recovery disk or USB flash drive ahead of time.

- VHD files can be mounted, explored, files copied etc. - just like in Windows 7 integrated tool?

Yes.

I apologise for being a pain in the ass but backup and restore is an extremely important thing and I have to depend on it so that's why I'm double-asking.

No apology necessary. You are wise to want to make backups and to make sure you will be doing it correctly.

 

[Bellzemos]

Thank you all for sharing the knowledge! I will try Macrium Reflect Free and leave Windows 7 imaging tool. Have you all always had success in restoring a Macrium full image of a drive? Also, let me ask you a few questions about the Macrium program itself. Does it have any processes/services that run in the background all the time or is it a run-when-needed kind of application? Is there any adware or calling phone (since it's a freeware app)? I guess if supports USB 3.0 speeds and I saw that it comes in 32 and 64-bit flavours (I have Win7 x64). The freeware version is a bit hidden on tha Macrium site but I have found it - though it only has a small DL installer.

Anyway, I'm going to go and try it, thank you very much for help, much appreciated!