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

 

[whs]

Question is whether you have an image that is "clean" - meaning that it was taken before your problems started. I you do and restore that, then you should not have any problems. Just make sure you don't forget to restore the system partition also.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Before Creating Backup Images

You should run your AV program before creating your backup HDD image.

Before creating my backup HDD images I usually also run:

• Windows Disk Cleanup
• CCleaner
• Glary Utilities
• Defraggler

 

[kado897]

Yes. It is important that your images are clean.

 

[BLUEPUPIL]

I made rescue CD with whs's file- Macrium Rescue ISO 5.2.6404. The restoration of windows was fast. Thank you whs, for sharing this ready to burn ISO.... Can I create a rescue USB stick with this ISO? If yes, how to proceed?... More information about my PC: Win-7-64 Ultimate installed on GPT partition, UEFI boot, USB-3 stick, MB supports USB-3 after driver installation. I'm keen to read your guidance. Thanks in advance.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

You don't really have any control over what you restore John. If you do an image restore it is an entire partition, in which case there is no point in reinstalling Windows. You can mount the image by double clicking on it to restore some files by copying but that only works for data files not programs .

Ok so I essence I could be just reinstalling the problem/s:huh:

 

[lehnerus2000]

Depends

You don't really have any control over what you restore John. If you do an image restore it is an entire partition, in which case there is no point in reinstalling Windows. You can mount the image by double clicking on it to restore some files by copying but that only works for data files not programs .

It depends on the program.

I have replaced Firefox/Pale Moon (and a few other programs) by copying the program folder from my backup image, to the existing program folder on my PC (most recently when PM 25 broke a few add-ons that I like).

Ok so I essence I could be just reinstalling the problem/s:huh:

Why not try it and see?

Create another backup image of the current setup and then restore your other image.
It shouldn't take too long to re-image the machine.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes Peter you have a point there I will do it soon as the problems are driving me silly(er) LOL!!

 

[whs]

I made rescue CD with whs's file- Macrium Rescue ISO 5.2.6404. The restoration of windows was fast. Thank you whs, for sharing this ready to burn ISO.... Can I create a rescue USB stick with this ISO? If yes, how to proceed?... More information about my PC: Win-7-64 Ultimate installed on GPT partition, UEFI boot, USB-3 stick, MB supports USB-3 after driver installation. I'm keen to read your guidance. Thanks in advance.

Yes you can also make a USB stick. Rufus will make it for you. Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

 

[BLUEPUPIL]

Thank you for quick reply. I'll try Rufus.

 

[kado897]

If you want a multiboot USB try YUMI ? Multiboot USB Creator | USB Pen Drive Linux. It will run as an unsupported ISO using GRUB.

 

[BLUEPUPIL]

I'll make multiboot, but between two win7. Any difference?

 

[kado897]

I'm not sure what you mean but the PE will work with any Windows 7.

 

[BLUEPUPIL]

Sorry I wasn't clear enough. If I run dual boot with two windows7 installed on separate HDDs, I suppose that, there is no need of multiboot USB stick.

 

[kado897]

The purpose of the multiboot stick is to have multiple recovery tools on it. You can have AV scanners and Linux systems to aid recovery from infected / dead Windows systems not just for the Macrium PE.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Wolfgang I have a problem in that I have an OS on a 1TB drive and I just cannot afford a 1TB SSD so if I shrunk the partitions on the 1TB drive down to less than say 250GB all up - just for an example - is it possible to clone the shrunken partitions to the smaller drive as a whole or partition by partition?

The other small problem is that the 1TB drive has a factory reset partition and tobe honest I don't really mind if I don't clone it.

 

[whs]

I would recommend to go via images rather than clone. Then you need not shrink anything. Just image the partitions you need and want and then drag them to the SSD during the restore. The larger originating partition does not matter as long as the data fits. Make sure you have predefines, aligned partitions on the SSD and make the one for the system partition active.

For cloning that is different. There you have to be at least equal on both sides.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Wolfgang I have a problem in that I have an OS on a 1TB drive and I just cannot afford a 1TB SSD so if I shrunk the partitions on the 1TB drive down to less than say 250GB all up - just for an example - is it possible to clone the shrunken partitions to the smaller drive as a whole or partition by partition?

The other small problem is that the 1TB drive has a factory reset partition and tobe honest I don't really mind if I don't clone it.

Do you actually want to clone? Or do you want to make an image file and then restore it?

You certainly don't have to make an image of or restore a factory reset partition unless that partition happens to have boot files on it. Is it marked as "system" in Windows Disk Management?

Regarding your 1 TB drive and shrinking it--I think Macrium works this way:

Assume a 1 TB drive, with a C partition of 200 GB. Let's say 80 GB of that 200 is occupied and 120 is free. Let's say an image of the C partition is 35 GB in size.

I think you can restore that 35 GB image file of the C partition to any free space or partition that is at least 80 GB in size.

On the other hand, I think a true clone of a 1 TB drive would require a 1 TB or larger drive as a destination. I think some advanced cloning applications may be able to EXCLUDE certain selected items from the clone, but that's the atypical case. The typical case is that clones are of entire drives, while imaging is on a partition basis.

Mebbe I'm wrong and WHS will correct me.

 

[whs]

Yeah, that's what I said. A clone is a clone and things have to be equal at the destination. The rest of your calculations don;t matyter. For imaging - if the data fits, it works.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok so if I have a blank drive of for example 250GB and the larger drive has three partitions of 100MB 700GB and 200GB I just image the first two partitions that have the data on and image them to the new drive and only the data filled part of the second partition will be "copied" to the new drive? leaving me space to use on the new drive's second partition.

The factory restore partition I am not really interested in because if disaster strikes I can slip the original drive back in. I just want to be able to boot the system the machine came with and run the OS as I please.

 

[mjf]

As Wolfgang suggested I would image using Macrium then simply "drag an drop". SSD alignment should be fine- I've done it and it worked fine. Software like CrystalDiskInfo will show if alignment is ok.