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

 

[BabaG]

thanks so much for the quick reply, whs.

a little more detail would be helpful. this is a dual boot system and the first partition is non-windows. drive is gpt/efi. i think that there's some kind of conflict between the gpt/efi and the new position of the w7 partition that's causing the issue. haven't found a procedure that will allow for transfer and resizing both os partitions while retaining bootability. macrium seems promising but i don't want to install it if i don't know more about whether it would work and what the procedures might be.

thanks again,
BabaG

 

[whs]

What more detail do you need. And if you don't try Macrium, you will never know whether it suits you.

 

[DavidE]

When i move my multi-boot PC to a new device and Windows won't boot, a Startup Repair fixes things for me.
Problems are usually caused by me moving partitions, re-sizing, etc.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html
This is on my test box, it's a triple boot Legacy MBR PC with W7, W8.1, and W10.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yep I can't believe how easy it is to use once I got by the initial confusion it's easier than falling off a log

 

[BabaG]

thanks everybody. i finally got the system running. it's not an ideal solution but, for now, it's working. will watch it for a while before i call it finished, though.

whs suggested using imaging rather than cloning, something i was gradually coming 'round to myself, and that's what worked, though, it's been a pretty rocky road. here's how the process went:

i started with trying to pre-partition the drive to the sizes i wanted. for that i used gparted. then i restored an image of the windows partition to partition 3. it had been on partition 3 on the original drive but at roughly 120gb into the drive. the new partition has it at about 200gb in.

i could never get that installation working so i went back to the w7 install disk to try repairs. none worked. then i tried a fresh install, thinking i would let windows take over. i started the install but cancelled after the formatting. that may have been what worked. it seems to have used my partitions but applied some of its own secret sauce somewhere.

i reinstalled the image to partition 3, just as i had before, and went back to the w7 install disk to try to repair the installation, assuming the boot partition and folders would need work. that took many rounds of, sometimes contradictory, info and repair. sometimes the repair would find the installation and report it as 120gb (the original partition size) and sometimes as 300gb (the new size). i ran bootrec commands as well.

eventually, windows did repair itself and was able to boot. then i installed the hfs+ partition from its image to partition 2 and was able to use tools associated with that system to get it running as well. both systems are now booting, apparently properly, and seem to run well. the only thing that now has me scratching my head and a little dubious is that the disk reports as an mbr disk where the original was gpt. gpt is what i'd been trying to set up on the new one but, i assume, the windows installation disk had other ideas and that's where the change happened. it does seem to be working, though.

thanks and hope this is helpful to someone.
BabaG

 

[Bellzemos]

Hello!

I have Macrium Reflect Free which I need for my personal use only. I don't plan on upgrading.

I have done a system image backup many times. What I would like to do now it this, if someone has experience doing it, please tell me if it will work with the free version:

I want to clone a GPT HDD to a GPT SSD with Macrium Reflect Free. Or a GPT HDD to a MBR SSD, or a MBR HDD to a GPT SSD.

Has anyone done that with it? Would it work?

Thank you!

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Restoring a UEFI/GPT System image to MBR - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Restoring an MBR System image to UEFI/GPT - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Macrium Support Forum - Convert MBR to GPT

You list 3 things you want to do. I think you can do the first.

The other 2 are problematic. Looking at the above links, it seems you can't do what you want unless you first convert the disk from MBR to GPT or from GPT to MBR.

That's for an image restoration. I suspect cloning would face the same issues.

You still may have to fix boot issues:

Fixing Windows boot problems - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Sounds like it's tentatively doable in some cases, but complex, depending on your hardware.

 

[clasof56]

just my experience: i have macrium free and have successfully done a clone of hdd to ssd of a dual-boot system of win7 and linux mint. works perfectly. takes a lot longer than doing an image but came out correctly and made all the partitions without input from me.

 

[Bellzemos]

@ ignatzatsonic - Thank you, I won't be messing with MBR/GPT then. If the HDD is GPT, I will clone it to GPT SSD.

@ clasof56 - Thank you too. But shouldn't a clone take less time to do than the whole image process?
http://www.sevenforums.com/member.php?u=21149

 

[clasof56]

I believe a clone takes longer as it was doing a copy of the whole drive whereas an image was just of one partition. my experience anyway

 

[Anak]

I believe a clone takes longer as it was doing a copy of the whole drive whereas an image was just of one partition. my experience anyway

Either way would depend on the settings:

Macrium Reflect creates File and Folder backups as well as disk images including cloning complete disks. The Macrium Reflect Server Plus for Exchange and SQL version adds MS Exchange and MS SQL Server backup capabilities to this.

A File and Folder backup is a useful way to backup your working files, personal files and precious data. Unlike other backup solutions Macrium Reflect can backup open and locked files by using Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS). You can backup your Documents folder and save the backup configuration as an XML file for easy re-running and scheduling.

A Disk Image stores the information required to completely restore disks (or their individual partitions) exactly as they were when the image was taken.

Cloning with Macrium Reflect creates an exact copy of partitions to a different drive. For example, Upgrading to a larger hard drive or moving from a large magnetic hard disk to a smaller and faster SSD. When you Clone a hard drive, you can boot from the target disk on the same system after cloning.

Source: Backup, imaging and cloning - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Related:
Check similar threads at the bottom of this one for more on cloning vs Imaging

 

[mjf]

I have always used system imaging (generally Macrium) to transfer my OS to a new SSD or HDD. I have many images going back in time on more than one external HDD. Any one of them can easily be transferred to a new drive. You do need to disconnect the original OS drive before booting the new drive. However, I have always stayed with an MBR drive for my Windows 7 OS.

Cloning is a one shot option. If your OS gets corrupted then it's too late to clone. Depending what software you use to clone you can also end up with boot problems that need fixing.

 

[profdlp]

^ That is very good advice.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hmm well never tried using an image as I have always used cloning .

My latest foray into this had me scratching around for two days with no success. I then tried changing the second drive to a GPT disk after noticing the disk to be cloned was a MBR one and was absolutely dumbfounded to find not only did it clone but in super quick time - I wasn't watching but as opposed to the usual 8-10 minutes I am sure it did it in less than five. Mind you this was in Windows 10 though maybe that was the difference??

 

[mjf]

I have created >200 system images on 4 different PCs (different motherboards & CPUs) and performed a large number of system restores without a hitch using Windows inbuilt and Macrium. I have been using Macrium system imaging exclusively for quite a long time now. I have transferred to 4 new SSDs and a few new HDDs using imaging. The only problem I had was one SSD was misaligned and I fixed this easily using the Partition Wizard Mini Tool alignment function. A recent transfer was from a Crucial 128GB image to a Samsung 256GB 850 Pro.

I honestly haven't found it technically complex. I think it is useful to become comfortable with system imaging to existing and new drives. Macrium Reflect is a great product but like anything you may need a few practice tries. If you disconnect all but the new OS drive and reimage from the rescue boot pe it is hard to make too many mistakes and when you do try it again.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes MJF I should have at least a try at that as I rely on cloning a lot especially when I want to keep the original drive and use the clone for testing purposes for example the 10 upgrade etc my logic being that I do that on a small drive and it things go pear shaped with the upgrade or again for example a dual boot then I can just swap out the cloned drive for the original.

But I suppose I can afford to do that while others can't.

 

[truckinguy]

I used to clone but found the Macrium Imaging is the best for my needs.. saved my butt plenty of times. I have many saved images..OEM....wifes etc.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

I used to clone but found the Macrium Imaging is the best for my needs.. saved my butt plenty of times. I have many saved images..OEM....wifes etc.

Yes me too truckin and I always use Macrium for cloning - I do this to try things out on (the clone) before I install/upgrade onto any drive

 

[truckinguy]

I would think some where using both cloning and images would work for some.. Like posted above you can have many images saved.. I have a 3 tb external drive and have many. OEM for my 3 dells, Wife's OEM and current images done every other day and or a least week. I delete the older ones in time but save OEM. I have storage module on the dell as well with files I image just in case. I will still do images but might try cloning again for when I want to update the HDD to current on my spare notebook.
Both are twins and share installed OS.
On a side note I bought Reflect Home 6.0 and it saved me by using redploy on the new spare I got. Wouldn't boot due to hardware difference.New mother board ? bought the spare used..so who knows what changed between the E6530's.. Thanks to Macrium..a great outfit..

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep truckin mate but personally I dislike large drives because if they go south in hurry then that is LOT of data lost _ I like to have say three 500GB drives - more than enough to keep my images up to date and if one goes belly up then I have the other two in much the same way as I still have the original install drive to fall back on if the clone loses the plot

But each to his own I guess eh? But I will agree that Macrium is great stuff eh? and one of the programs along with Partition Wizard I couldn't do without.