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

 

[kathy025]

Hi whs,

I have imaged my recovery partition and created the *.mrimg file. At the beginning of the video tutorial, you described something about a Recovery CD/DVD that must be burned. Does that mean I cannot use the "Restore Image" feature of Macrium without the CD/DVD?

 

[whs]

Kathy you can recover a data partition with that feature as long as your system works. But what if your system is dead - then you need the recovery CD to recover the image of the system. Just burn it to CD from the .iso on my Skydrive link and make sure tou also image the C partition and system partition.

 

[kathy025]

Thanks. I just thought the CD was a prerequisite to perform any Restore operation with Macrium.

 

[whs]

The CD is not a prerequisite, but I really recommend to burn it and have it in your kit.

Btw: You can also use the CD to make images (not only recover) if you don't want to install Macrium on your system or if you want to use it on a dead system - e.g. to recover the data partition(s).

 

[Britton30]

Kathy I also have the WinPE on a bootable flash drive which works nicely too.
Silly question, did you store the image on a drive separate from the OS and Data drives?

 

[kado897]

Macrium won't let you write an image to a partition you are imaging.

 

[whs]

Macrium won't let you write an image to a partition you are imaging.

Keith, I think Gary was referring to a physical disk with the word 'drive'. This is a very confusing word and even MS uses it in the wrong sense - I think. For me a drive is a physical disk and the others are partitions. But many times 'drive' is being used for partitions.

 

[Britton30]

Macrium won't let you write an image to a partition you are imaging.

Keith, I think Gary was referring to a physical disk with the word 'drive'. This is a very confusing word and even MS uses it in the wrong sense - I think. For me a drive is a physical disk and the others are partitions. But many times 'drive' is being used for partitions.

Yes I do mean a physical disk, not partition. Yes I agree MS has it wrong, but Windows recognizes a partition as a separate drive. It gets confusing when trying to help people.

More confusion is the fact that a whole drive CAN BE a partition if formatted. It took me a long time to understand that.

 

[kado897]

Point taken Wolfgang.

 

[whs]

I am afraid we'll continue to live with the confusion, lol.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Heck, I was born in the State of confusion; you would think I would be used to it by now.

 

[kathy025]

You can also use the CD to make images (not only recover) if you don't want to install Macrium on your system or if you want to use it on a dead system - e.g. to recover the data partition(s).

That is very convenient. I will be creating the Rescue CD as suggested. I chose WinPE and clicked Advanced...

Which do you guys prefer, WinPE 3.1 or WinPE 4.0 (and a bit of "why")?

Kathy I also have the WinPE on a bootable flash drive which works nicely too.
Silly question, did you store the image on a drive separate from the OS and Data drives?

As a test, I imaged the RECOVERY partition and temporarily stored it in the UserData partition. All partitions are just 1 physical disk though. After I'm done playing around with Macrium, I will move the images to an external disk. Why ask, Britton?

--------------------
At least this is how I separate things:

Disk - physical hard disk (HDD)
Disc (vs. Disk) - optical media (CD/DVD/BD)
Partition - a portion of the physical hard disk

I tend to avoid using the term "drive" (because of the big confusion it brings) and only use it with another word so it's specific enough like "hard drive" or "optical drive".

People would often interchange "partition" and "volume". Are they really one and the same?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

To be absolutely honest I am a bit like Lady Fitz a tad confused now. I always thought of the drive as a crockery dinner set and the partitions the pieces that go to make it up.
By that I mean that you cannot have the partitions unless you have a spinning disk that is driven by a motor that is in turn controlled by a control circuitry (for example).

So as a novice compared to a lot of our membership I think we should all agree that the disk is a drive and vice versa and the term partition applied to both descriptors.

 

[kado897]

I think the problem here John is that a partition can be all or part of a drive and that a drive can contain more than one partition. It is not a good idea to create an image of a partition to another partition on the same drive. If there is a problem on the drive it quite likely will affect all partitions so you will have lost your backup as well as the original..

 

[kathy025]

...disk is a drive and vice versa and the term partition applied to both descriptors.

I think the problem here John is that a partition can be all or part of a drive

This. Reason why we cannot consistently apply the term "partition" to equally mean drive/disk.

Can someone enlighten about Partition vs. Volume?

 

[Anak]

Which do you guys prefer, WinPE 3.1 or WinPE 4.0 (and a bit of "why")?

• Windows PE rescue media: This rescue environment is a Windows-based environment which injects the necessary drivers, Macrium Reflect components and tools to enable you to recover your system. Windows PE environments generally have better hardware support and allow you to perform functionality such as ReDeploying your system, fixing windows boot issues. There are two possible choices for PE environment which are summarised in the following table:

PE Version
Description
4.0
Created using the Windows ADK, this is a Windows 8 based PE environment with support for later hardware, UEFI boot and Secure Boot systems.
3.1
Created using the Windows AIK, this is a Windows 7 based PE environment which may work better on some legacy systems, or may be useful if drivers are not available for your Windows 8 hardware.

Source: Create a Windows PE Rescue Environment

From Anak:

But, you can find discussion on the web that 4.0 is more backward compatible and will work with 7, Vista, and XP - than 3.1 is forward for Windows 8 and 8.1

People would often interchange "partition" and "volume". Are they really one and the same?

Well, yes, and maybe no.

Partition:
(v) To divide memory or mass storage into isolated sections. In DOS systems, you can partition a disk, and each partition will behave like a separate disk drive. Partitioning is particularly useful if you run more than one operating system. For example, you might reserve one partition for Windows and another for UNIX.

In addition, partitioning on DOS and Windows machines can improve disk efficiency. This is because the FAT system used by these operating systems automatically assigns cluster size based on the disk size: the larger the disk, the larger the cluster. Unfortunately, large clusters can result in a wasted disk space, called slack space. There is an entire sector of the software industry devoted to building utilities that let you partition your hard disk.

On Apple Macintosh computers, there are two types of partitioning: hard and soft. Hard partitioning is the same as DOS partitioning -- the disk is physically divided into different sections. Soft partitioning, on the other hand, does not physically affect the disk at all, but it fools the Finder into believing that the disk is partitioned. The advantage of this is that you can partition the disk without affecting the data on it. With hard partitioning, it is usually necessary to reformat the entire disk.

A section of main memory or mass storage that has been reserved for a particular application.

Also see "Formatting a Hard Disk Drive" in the "Did You Know...?" section of Webopedia.

Volume:
A fixed amount of storage on a disk or tape. The term volume is often used as a synonym for the storage medium itself, but it is possible for a single disk to contain more than one volume or for a volume to span more than one disk.

Both sourced from: What is partition? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer Dictionary
What is volume? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer Dictionary

Even here there's some wiggle room.

It has gotten more complicated with the way these two words have been batted around but I would look at Volume as the "fixed amount of storage on a disk or tape" You buy a 1TB HDD it has a 1TB volume, and you can add "partitions" after you get it installed.

A physical book on one subject is a volume.
The chapters in that book are the partitions.

The wiggle room comes in with something like an Encyclopedia where a subject could span between volumes

 

[kado897]

Confusing isn't it.

 

[Anak]

Yes! It certainly is.

Kado did you see my last line edit about Encyclopedia's? I tried to sneak it in before anyone received notice.

 

[kado897]

Very apt.

 

[whs]

Kathy, you are on an old, old version of Macrium. We are on version 5 now. Why don't you update and then download the corresponding .iso from my Skydrive. That saves you a lot of time.