Imaging with free Macrium

   Information

This tutorial shows imaging with free Macrium Version 5.0. If you are still using Macrium Version 4.2, go to this Vimeo site where the tutorial of that version is stored.

The Video does not show the recovery part because I have no setup to screen capture it. But Keith (Kado) made this excellent recovery tutorial with text (but no sound) that he captured from a virtual partition.

   Warning

Note that the external disk to which you image must be formatted in NTFS. A disk that is formatted in Fat32 will accept an image, but the recovery programs cannot restore that image. You can, however, mount (open) a Fat32 image as VHD.

   Note

The production of the WinPE recovery CD (which is highly recommended) may take up to 3 hours because Macrium needs to download the 1.7GB WAIK (Windows Application Installation Kit). For your convenience I have uploaded a ready made .iso of the WinPE recovery disc. That can be downloaded in appr. 8 minutes which clearly beats the WAIK download. Once you downloaded and unzipped the folder, you can burn it directly to a CD with e.g. ImgBurn.

Here is the link to my Skydrive site.

Here is an alternate link from FileSwap (courtesy of Gary - Britton30)

I draw your attention to the fact that this WinPE CD can also be used to make images. That may be convenient in case you do not want to install Macrium on your PC.

This video tutorial explains the full cycle of the imaging process which is:

· Initial setups
· Image definition
· Image scheduling
· Image production

The imaging program that was used for this tutorial is free Macrium. But the basic principles are the same for other imaging programs although the user interface will be different.

This video runs for appr. 7 minutes.
There is a related thread on the Vista forum which gives a brief introduction to Macrium followed by a discussion.
You can download the free Macrium edition from here.

Note: If you have a problem with the loudness of the sound output of the video, check the "Loudness Equalization" box in your Playback device. It is under the 'Enhancements' tab.

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Create a System Image Backup in Windows 7
• How to Do a System Image Recovery in Windows 7
• How to Backup User and System Files in Windows 7
• How to Restore Backup User and System Files in Windows 7
• How to Restore your System with a Broken Windows 7 System Image
• How to Create a Bootable Rescue USB Flash Drive for Macrium Reflect

 

[kado897]

From the size of the image I am guessing that you are imaging a lot of data. If this data is pictures or video then since they are already highly compressed they don't compress during imaging.

 

[whs]

4 hours for an image is a lot of time and quite unusual. Either your disks are very slow or there is a hickup in the system.

For a test, make the same image with the WinPE disc. That is possible and then you exclude any problems you might have with the installed OS.

 

[Scoop]

From the size of the image I am guessing that you are imaging a lot of data. If this data is pictures or video then since they are already highly compressed they don't compress during imaging.

Thanks for the info. I had previously read about the video/compression issue. I moved my video files over to another HDD a few weeks ago to prepare for imaging.

I do have pictures that are still on my C drive so that may explain the large image size. I did a rough total estimate of my picture sizes and the total on my C HDD is about 120 Mb of picture data.

4 hours for an image is a lot of time and quite unusual. Either your disks are very slow or there is a hickup in the system.

For a test, make the same image with the WinPE disc. That is possible and then you exclude any problems you might have with the installed OS.

Thanks. I used the WinPE CD when I imaged. I used the link that you had previously posted here. I don't have Macrium Free loaded onto my HDD.

I wonder if my RAM may be the limiting factor with imaging? If I have this understood right --> When I boot from the WinPE (or any other bootable media), I'm loading all of the software/tools into my RAM since I'm booting outside of Windows.

I have 8 Gb RAM in my PC,

Corsair 8GB DDR3
Memory Speed: 1600MHz
Memory Size: 4096MB


Generally, my PC seems to be running well. I haven't observed sluggish response times, etc, in my browser or running programs.

I periodically check "Process Explorer" (Sysinternals) and look at the CPU usage for abnormalities (high usage items).

It's possible that my PC's performance is being affected by some intrusion item, malware, etc, but I don't see any observable signs of intrusions and I run overnight full scans with MBAM Pro and Norton AV.

My C Drive is a SATA III Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM.

The image Target HDD is a SEAGATE GoFlex USB 2.0 Portable HD 500GB 5400 RPM

One thing that may be affecting my imaging time is that I'm using my USB 2.0 port for the Target HDD. I have USB 3.0 capability but I don't have any 3.0 HDD's.

Another thing that may affect my HDD speed is that I'm still running in "IDE" mode in my BIOS. The BIOS wasn't initially set up for AHCI mode when Windows was installed and I haven't tried the tutorial that's available at this site, to change the HDD mode in BIOS to AHCI mode.

As I mentioned earlier, when I clone with Acronis, it takes about 35-40 minutes to complete the cloning operation.

 

[kado897]

I image to the same target drive type as you. It takes about 50 minutes to image a partition with 80GB of data so that is in the same time range as you. Interestingly it only takes 30 minutes to restore so it seems to be the target disk performance that is the issue.

 

[Scoop]

I image to the same target drive type as you. It takes about 50 minutes to image a partition with 80GB of data so that is in the same time range as you. Interestingly it only takes 30 minutes to restore so it seems to be the target disk performance that is the issue.

Thanks for the info. I'm wondering a couple of things:

- Since this was my first image and it was a full-disc image, would that have affected the elapsed time total for the operation? I've read elsewhere, generally speaking, that a full-disc image, depending on the size, takes a long time to run the operation. After completing the initial full-disc image, subsequent images require considerably less time to complete.

- I think you have a point there about my Target HDD. That's an old Seagate Goflex HDD and it was my "workhorse" for a few years, serving as my Target HDD for my daily Acronis backups (not imaging, just 1:1 copies using the Acronis Scheduler). Perhaps it's performance speed has degraded and that's affecting the Macrium inaging operation time total.

I also recall that I wasn't able to format that HDD within WIndows. I got a strange error that I can't recall at the moment. When I tried later with my "Gparted" CD, the HDD formatted without problems.

 

[whs]

1. If you image with the Macrium that is installed on the system (not the WinPE disc), you can let the imaging run in the background and do other things with the PC in the meantime. That way the 4 hour timespan is not lost.

2. A good option would be to move all your user data to a seperate partition. Then you can image the OS only which should be rather fast. For backing up of the data there are other options that are a lot faster than imaging - e.g. sync programs.

3. As an example : I image my OS partition (23GB) from a SSD to an internal 7200RPM disk in less than 5 minutes.

 

[kado897]

Subsequent images are only faster if they are incremental or differential. This is not available with the free version. I agree with whs concerning the separation of data and backing it up with a sync program. I use FreeFileSync for this.

 

[Scoop]

1. If you image with the Macrium that is installed on the system (not the WinPE disc), you can let the imaging run in the background and do other things with the PC in the meantime. That way the 4 hour timespan is not lost.

2. A good option would be to move all your user data to a seperate partition. Then you can image the OS only which should be rather fast. For backing up of the data there are other options that are a lot faster than imaging - e.g. sync programs.

3. As an example : I image my OS partition (23GB) from a SSD to an internal 7200RPM disk in less than 5 minutes.

Thanks again for the info

1. That's a good point. I guess I've always been in the habit (due to my periodic cloning) of running backups like imaging while my PC is idle and from the bootable media.

If I recall something I read recently, you're referring to the "shadow" technology in Windows that allows the PC to remain in use while cloning or imaging but I may have that terminology confused with something else.

The actual imaging time isn't an issue for me since I have another PC (Laptop) that's a close mirror to my Desktop PC and it's connected to my peripherals with a KVM Switch so I can use the Laptop while imaging on my Desktop.

2. Custom partitioning: You're so right . It's one area where I've not spent time to learn it and install like most of you all here do, OS in a separate partition, etc. I know it makes sense and is more efficient and my plan is to get up to speed with it soon. I know that I can manipulate partitions easily with my "Gparted" boot CD but I haven't spent time with that part of HDD customization.

3. That's amazing, speed. I'm still running the old platter HDD's in my PC's. I've been reading about the SSD's but haven't made the jump yet to the SSD market.

Subsequent images are only faster if they are incremental or differential. This is not available with the free version. I agree with whs concerning the separation of data and backing it up with a sync program. I use FreeFileSync for this.

Right. I had considered upgrading to the paid version but since I already have Acronis 2011, I decided to wait a while on that decision.

Thanks whs and you for the "FreeFileSync" tip. I bookmarked that for reading later.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...You mentioned the 2 advantages with cloning vs imaging, one being that the clone is bootable. Since I ran my image selecting both partitions (Sys Reserved/MBR) and the main partition, my image will also be bootable after I run the Recovery pocess...

True, an image is bootable after the recovery process (otherwise, why bother with imaging?) but a clone is bootable as is; you can boot directly from the disk the clone is on without having to do anything to or with it.

To use a photographic analogy, think of an image as a photo negative and a clone as a photo print. You can use the photo print as is but you have to use the image to make a print to be able to use it.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...Thanks. I used the WinPE CD when I imaged. I used the link that you had previously posted here. I don't have Macrium Free loaded onto my HDD...

That might be the problem. I've used the WinPE disk to restore images but never to actually make one. I suspect using the disk to make an image is going to be slower than doing it directly from the installation of Reflect on your computer. It would also be more convenient than using the disk when making an image.

 

[whs]

It would also be more convenient than using the disk when making an image.

The main convenience is that the installed Macrium keeps your XML files with which you can easily start the second, third, etc. image without having to redo the definitions. Just highlight the XML file and click on the cog wheel.

I recommend to give a useful name to the XML file. That is done in the very last step before the imaging starts. Such a name is useful if you image different partitions or make images on different output devices (which is always recommended). I always alternate between an output device that is permanently attached and a device that is only attached for the images.

 

[Scoop]

True, an image is bootable after the recovery process (otherwise, why bother with imaging?) but a clone is bootable as is; you can boot directly from the disk the clone is on without having to do anything to or with it.

To use a photographic analogy, think of an image as a photo negative and a clone as a photo print. You can use the photo print as is but you have to use the image to make a print to be able to use it.

Thanks again, good analogy . I think this is the reason that I gravitated towards cloning and learned about that before imaging due to the "plug-and-play" cloning routine since I can boot up immediately after cloning to test it as a complete copied spare HDD.

I see the pro's and con's to both, depending on what the user's goal is with their system and preferences.

For me to do what I want, I'd need to get a larger external HDD in order to keep more than 1 full-disc image for a system HDD recovery.

I may just stay with what I have since I'm using the image primarily as a failsafe against any possible cloning issues, which I've not yet encountered during 2 years of cloning.

...Thanks. I used the WinPE CD when I imaged. I used the link that you had previously posted here. I don't have Macrium Free loaded onto my HDD...

That might be the problem. I've used the WinPE disk to restore images but never to actually make one. I suspect using the disk to make an image is going to be slower than doing it directly from the installation of Reflect on your computer. It would also be more convenient than using the disk when making an image.

I think you're onto something . I might just download the Free version to my HDD to compare imaging speeds.

Since this is all a learning curve with Macruim and imaging for me, I wanted to try the ISO download first to see how it worked out.

It would also be more convenient than using the disk when making an image.

The main convenience is that the installed Macrium keeps your XML files with which you can easily start the second, third, etc. image without having to redo the definitions. Just highlight the XML file and click on the cog wheel.

I recommend to give a useful name to the XML file. That is done in the very last step before the imaging starts. Such a name is useful if you image different partitions or make images on different output devices (which is always recommended). I always alternate between an output device that is permanently attached and a device that is only attached for the images.

Thanks I gave my first backup folder the "date" name, "Backup 11-03-13" for my first full-disc backup folder.

I plan on downloading the Free version to my HDD today.

Macrium created this file on my external HDD when I ran the full-disc image:

7B4B17EBFCB245C6-00-00.mrimg

That is the file that's located in my backup folder.

Is the file supposed to be an xml suffix file?

Editorial column : ↓

I still don't get why more home PC users don't use a cloning or imaging routine. I read posts daily at the Norton and MBAM forums where users have to seek out recovery downloads or spend $$'s to clean their HDD's.

I wonder if some of the reason is related to the learning curve part or many may be intimidated by the terminology. I know that's partly what kept me from diving into basic backup schemes although I've always backed up my "must-have" items, Outlook data file, Quicken, etc.

I've posted a few things about backups at those forums to try and help users avoid the annoyance of recovering from malicious HDD intrusions. "I've been there, done that" .

 

[SIW2]

I still don't get why more home PC users don't use a cloning or imaging routine.

I think a lot don't know anything about it. For the average user, it has never crossed their minds. That is a shame because they are the ones who would benefit most from it. No need to get anal about it . For most people just an image of the os partition that is not too old will do.

More advanced users are less in need of it. I have all the media, updated, all my program installers,etc. I can start with clean install and put everything back together.

 

[kado897]

The file name and extension is correct. The xml file referred to by whs is a backup definition file which allows you to store a backup definition. It is only used as a quick way to perform the same backup again.

 

[kado897]

I think a lot don't know anything about it. For the average user, it has never crossed their minds. That is a shme becuase they are the ones who would benefit most from it.

More advanced users are less in need of it. I have all the media, updated, all my program installers,etc. I can start with clean install and put everything back together.

Unfortunately, if Windows 8.1 is anything to go by, Microsoft don't agree.

 

[SIW2]

if Windows 8.1 is anything to go by

LOL. In fact the windows system image thing is in 8.1, they put it back after taking it out. Quite weird. They claim they do it by telemetry - e.g. les than 1% use whatever function therefore it gets the chop. 5 mins later, they put it back in. Then they hide it where the average user is not going to look. Something wrong with going purely on telemetry perhaps?

 

[kado897]

I didn't know they had put it back.

 

[SIW2]

You have to seek it out. It is probably part of their new "we will listen" campaign. They are not very interested in it though. They are pushing this new refresh thing. It has it's uses I suppose, but also a lot of limitations. It is, as aver, all about the "apps". I can't say I am interested in any of them. I have look every now and then to check. I can do the same things better and more easily via a desktop browser. That is only for as long as we have a desktop, of course.

Windows 7 will be around for a long while yet from the looks of what else MS is now offering.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

It would also be more convenient than using the disk when making an image.

The main convenience is that the installed Macrium keeps your XML files with which you can easily start the second, third, etc. image without having to redo the definitions. Just highlight the XML file and click on the cog wheel.

I recommend to give a useful name to the XML file. That is done in the very last step before the imaging starts. Such a name is useful if you image different partitions or make images on different output devices (which is always recommended). I always alternate between an output device that is permanently attached and a device that is only attached for the images.

I don't even bother with the XML files anymore. For me (not necessarily true for everyone), it's much easier to configure each time. Since I image only one drive on my desktop, I only have to click on the C: drive, then Image and Reflect remembers my last configuration. Cloning is simply as easy as clicking on the source drive, Clone, then the destination drive.

 

[whs]

Is the file supposed to be an xml suffix file?

This is NOT the XML file but your image. If you double click on it, you can mount the image and it will appear in My Computer as a virtual volume. You can deal with that like with any other volume. If you open it (double click), you can e.g. retrieve files from it. You can also shrink it, image it and do anything you could do with a real volume.

Your XML file(s) is in Documents in the Reflect folder. If you ever want to get rid of it, it's best to delete it there rather than in the list of XML files in Macrium.