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

 

[Heyyou]

It would have been easy to Google it. But here it is:

MBR = Master Boot Record
NTDLR = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTLDR

WHS - Thanks. I didn't think to Google it.

 

[ijmolina]

Hi

Got 2 questions:

1.- Where can i look if i have the 100 MB boot partition? (sorry, but i'm just starting on this imaging things )

2.-

With free Macrium, a USB drive is not supported for the recovery program.

¿That means i can't use a external USB HDD for storing the full image of my pc?

3.- If i use Macrium for imaging on DVDs, can i use this DVDs with the Sony-Vaio Start Repair Tool? or it only works with the Bootable-CD that you create with the Macrium free software?

Thanks for your time and answers

 

[kado897]

Hi

Got 2 questions:

1.- Where can i look if i have the 100 MB boot partition? (sorry, but i'm just starting on this imaging things )

2.-

With free Macrium, a USB drive is not supported for the recovery program.

¿That means i can't use a external USB HDD for storing the full image of my pc?

3.- If i use Macrium for imaging on DVDs, can i use this DVDs with the Sony-Vaio Start Repair Tool? or it only works with the Bootable-CD that you create with the Macrium free software?

Thanks for your time and answers

Three questions actually.

1. You can look in disk management.



In my case it is 199MB. Macrium also displays the partitions when you fire it up.

2. An external USB drive can be used to hold the Macrium backups. I do it all the time. The quote above refers to the recovery environment which can't be installed on a USB HDD. It can be installed on a DVD or with third party tools (or version 5 of Macrium Pro - New release) be installed on a USB flash drive.

3. You need to create a Macrium recovery disk. The Sony Viao Recovery disk, the Windows Repair or Installation disk will not work. You can also use the Mini XP mode on Hirens Boot CD which has the Macrium PE recovery environment in it.

 

[whs]

1. You see the 1ßßMB partition in Disk Management.
2. You can image to a USB attacjed HDD. The quoted comment refers to the Macrium recovery program which can only be on a CD (with the free version of Macrium - in the Pro version the USB sticks are supported)
3. Imaging to DVDs is not recommended. It works but it is messy. Use a disk. And for recovery you must have the Macrium recovery CD which you can burn in one minute - no other tool will work.

PS: LOL - kado was 3 seconds faster with the right answers.

 

[kado897]

Sorry to jump in like that Wolfgang but it was 8 hours since the post and I didn't want the op to feel neglected.

 

[whs]

Sorry to jump in like that Wolfgang but it was 8 hours since the post and I didn't want the op to feel neglected.

That is quite alright. I am currently in a European time zone, so I react a bit late. Your guidance was excellent and right to the point.

 

[ijmolina]

Thank you very much!

I already imaged with win7-tool on my HDD (formatted it to NTFS, it was FAT32 so i couldn't use it). And created a win7 system repair dvd.

so, now ill image with free-macrium ( so i can have 2 images, coming from different programs ).

This is my Disk Management:



So i think i must mark ( C: ) as active (cause i don't have system reserved 100MB partition and because the C: has the Boot (Arranque, in spanish)), and I should replace the MBR.

Then, I have an extra "recuperative partition" from Sony-Vaio. (That i should mark it as pimary when imaging right? and when restoring i shouldn't replace the MBR there.

So, i can image both partitions ( "C:" and "Vaio-Restore-thing" ) at the same time. But when i'm going to restore, i should restore first the C: and after i've restored that i can restore the "vaio-blabla".

Am I right at all?

Thank you very much for your time and answers, really

 

[kado897]

Yes that sounds right. I can't remember whether the Windows restore gives you an option on marking the partition type and whether to restore the mbr but Macrium Free does and also suggests what you should mark them as.

 

[ijmolina]

I've got another doubt:

When i restore the Sony-Vaio-Recuperative-Partition, what should be my partition destiny?
Because the partition where i store now that, doesn't have a letter ( E:, F:, etc)

Is the first partition, the one of 11 GB


Sorry if my doubts are stupid I think i understood all, but when i saw my disk management, that SonyVaio-RecuperativePartition i got confused.

Thanks!

 

[whs]

1. Yes you deal with C as Active

2. The recovery partition I would image only once and keep it in stock - in case your HDD breaks. No need to restore it. But I would also burn the Win7 recovery DVD from it.

The recovery partition is a hiden partition. If you want it to have a letter, right click on it in Disk Management and assign a letter. But as I said, there is really no need to touch it.

3. You can replace the MBR, but if the disk did not break and you installed a new disk, it is not necessary.

 

[mjf]

+ to WHS advice. Your system active is also your "Boot" (Windows) partition.

Windows Imaging is a good additional imaging tool that takes care of these little things like MBR and correct active partition.

 

[ijmolina]

Thank you very much, i imaged with free-macrium, setting C: as active, and the hidden-vaio-partition as primary. If i have to restore it in the future, i think i'll come back to this forum and ask again for getting things clear.

Again, thanks for your time and answers ! Good job helping the others

 

[kado897]

You are welcome ijmolina. Take care.

 

[coop1]

Windows 7, SP1, IE-9

When Restoring a backed up Image, how do you select an Image that has 3 partitions on a single Hard Drive?

My Hard Drive is comprised of a System Partition (100)MB; a "C" Partition with the Operating System (Windows 7), Programs, Documents, and the Factory Restore Partition. Macrium Backup & Restore displays all of the separate patitions for my drive. When trying to do a restore I can only select 1 partition at a time. Is this normal or is there a way to restore the complete image at once?

Thanks for any help

 

[kado897]

This is normal. I believe that with Macrium you need to restore them one at a time. At least I always have.

 

[whs]

Absolutely, kado is right. You can image multiple partitions in one run but you can only restore each one at a time.

 

[coop1]

Windows 7SP-1, 64Bit, IE-9

Thanks for that info. I'm new to Macrium Reflect. I just crapped a restore on my computer. I choose to restore only the System & "C" Partitions and when it all finished I had a black screen with an active cursor, but nothing else. Nothing would activate. Better said, would be, Windows did not load, nor did I get to the Desktop. I was able to shut down the computer, and restore with Acronis True Image which I am more familiar with. The Backup I used had been Validated. I did skip the offer to re-Validate the image before restore so was this wise? Also, could skipping the restore of the Factory partition have had an adverse effect on the restore? Again, thanks for any help or info.

 

[kado897]

Whenever I have had to restore with Macrium. I have just restored System and C and done so without problem.

 

[SIW2]

You can use Diskrestore to do the whole lot at once - but you need to put it on your winpe boot media.

download diskrestore.msi

 

[mjf]

Windows 7SP-1, 64Bit, IE-9

Thanks for that info. I'm new to Macrium Reflect. I just crapped a restore on my computer. I choose to restore only the System & "C" Partitions .....

When restoring with Macrium with the separate system reserved partition and you are restoring both system reserved and C:, you must select
System reserved = active
C: (Boot,.. the OS) = NOT active

I generally say "yes" to replacing the backup MBR when replacing the system reserved but in most cases the MBR will be the same.

Add: Each to their own but I find restoring one partition at a time not a hassle. It has an advantage in seeing your success or otherwise one partition at a time.

Coop1, SIW2
(SIW2 you prompted my search)
there appears to be an exe you can run now from an existing pe disk.
http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50004.aspx?Keywords=Restore