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]

That is new in v6 free. It is very useful but you still need a recovery disk in case the drive fails completely or there are boot problems.

 

[ThrashZone]

Thanks
I really wasn't looking for another boot entry to confused me or my current system of which this install is not my only one
I'd be happy if the recovery disk points to and recovers what it is supposed too without being inside windows

Which is most likely going to be the case I would clean the disk and recover from the recovery hdd to the cleaned drive = I believe that made sense in my head

 

[kado897]

That's fair enough but the paid version has a facility to do a rapid restore which is just as fast for a recent image as a system restore so I use that instead and the boot menu is very convenient.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yea thanks I'm not quite ready for that one
I guess I'll have to wing it since there is no instructions on how to go about the recovery disk at boot and only through windows :/

I got a taste with the winpe or re disk it started loading windows = looked like vista loader though then open cmd :/ just exited that so I hope the real recovery goes better than that on the new recovery disk
Thanks guys "I'll be back" downloading 10 home yuck
Getting ready for the double upgrade skipping the first with a saved xml activation file for home and then off to anytime to 10 pro
Last I saw M$ wanted 140.us and not the 99.us Shawn's tutorial showed for upgrading from home to pro them dogs :/

Pretty much makes upgrading 7 senseless I can buy 10 pro for 140.us and keep both

 

[whs]

I would not even attempt to get 10. What are you missing in 7 that 10 can give you.

 

[ThrashZone]

I have 2 7 installs on this asus board
1-7 home premium and 1 new 7 pro
I only need one

I was going to upgrade to win-8 pro
But that upgrade key is tied to my Acer board which will stay 7 home prem for it's life time which is actually a retail 7 key so it will be moved to a new board when the Acer board dies or I get tiered of it which ever comes first

I know curiosity killed the cat and 10 has not changed much in all this time but this new asus system might or might not have better luck in basic functionality with 10
Either way 2 installs of 7 is one too many on one board
Even though I probably will not use it much same is said about the other 7 install time to move.

 

[ThrashZone]

Looks like it worked
Deleted files were back so all is good

Personally I can't believe I got it right :shock:
Thanks again guys y'all rule
Cheers.

 

[Anak]

We knew you had it in you Mike!

 

[whs]

Congratulations Mike. Now you are a pro and can tell others how it works. I am glad I can retire with such a capable new expert on board, lol.

 

[ThrashZone]

Thanks I did see a little confusion on the source and destination
It was opposite of what I was expecting to see
The source showed as my ssd that was supposed to be the destination

So I clicked on the source listing and on the bottom clicked on restore this partition and bang 13 minutes later it was

Not sure why they were reversed though that is weird there :/

 

[whs]

I am not sure on which page you had this confusion. But I am sure it was just a misunderstanding.

 

[ThrashZone]

No doubt it wanted to overwrite my recovery hdd the way it was at first :/
That is not what I had in mind
A tad of a bug in the boot recovery options

Although some how my back up drive was disk 0 for some odd reason so possibly that is why
I used command prompt to deactivate the hdd and after that is showed as disk 0 but moved onwards anyway
That made my ssd c drive as disk 1.

 

[kado897]

Well done Mike. It is quite simple once you do it.

 

[Bellzemos]

Hello!

My friends bought 2 identical laptops. One replaced his laptop's HDD with a SanDisk 240GB SSD and the other replaced his laptop's HDD with Samsung 250GB SSD.

I am doing the installation of Windows, drivers etc. on the first one's laptop (with the SanDisk SSD).

I would like to use Macrium Reflect Free to make a full system image of the SanDisk SSD and then resotre it to the Samsung SSD on the other laptop to avoid installing Windows and all the drivers again.

Will it work?

 

[Kari]

Hello!

My friends bought 2 identical laptops. One replaced his laptop's HDD with a SanDisk 240GB SSD and the other replaced his laptop's HDD with Samsung 250GB SSD.

I am doing the installation of Windows, drivers etc. on the first one's laptop (with the SanDisk SSD).

I would like to use Macrium Reflect Free to make a full system image of the SanDisk SSD and then resotre it to the Samsung SSD on the other laptop to avoid installing Windows and all the drivers again.

Will it work?

I t will work as long as the hardware is identical. Of course both laptops need their own individual product key to activate. I've always used the Audit Mode method in creating the initial Windows 7 system image with Macrium as told in this tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...w-create-general-system-image-audit-mode.html

Until very recently I had several similar laptops and I used the method told above to create the image on one of them and then simply restoring the image to the others.

Kari

 

[ThrashZone]

Well after 6-7 years I finally imaged my Acer machine lol
Sweet I also got the esata port/ cable to work on it too dang that is fast why I've been messing with usb 2 ports for so long I have no idea Oh yea because I couldn't get it to work
Cheers.

 

[kado897]

Good news Mike.

 

[thelma]

He Mike ,been reading this thread, cannot say I understand it, but some of it make sense to me, congratulations, you have given yourself a nice Christmas pressie

You can be a proud

 

[whs]

What is there that you cannot understand ??

 

[thelma]

About 99% but I am learning

Little by little one step at the time,

We are almost neighbours, you in the land of

And me in Tirol land of

I wish you good health for the New Year !