MACRIUM REFLECT - Create Bootable Rescue USB Drive

MACRIUM REFLECT - Create Bootable Rescue USB Flash Drive

How to Create a Bootable Rescue USB Flash Drive for Macrium Reflect​

   Information

In order to restore a Macrium image when your Windows operating system cannot be started, you are required to boot from a rescue CD, which holds a compact Linux operating system. The Linux operating system on this rescue CD allows you to quickly browse the disks and partitions of your PC, and select the image you wish to restore.

Within Macrium reflect, there is no direct way to create a bootable USB drive, but there is a very simple workaround to create bootable rescue USB drives. This tutorial will show you how to do that, so you can forgo the stack of rescue CD's sitting on your desk. If you manage Macrium images for multiple computers, you will find this technique extremely useful.

This tutorial is based on Macrium Reflect Free Edition Version 4.2 Build 3141

:note: Requirements:

You will need the following in order to create a bootable rescue USB drive:-

1. A USB flash drive
2. YUMI Multiboot USB Creator

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:note: Step 1 - Create the RESCUE ISO

Open Macrium Reflect as normal, and then from the menu, select the option Other Tasks > Create Rescue CD.

The 1st panel of the Rescue CD Wizard will be be displayed as shown below:

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The default option is Linux. Accept that by clicking on Next, and proceeding to the 2nd panel of the Rescue CD Wizard.

From the pull-down list, select the option Create ISO image file, as shown below:

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Click Finish, and now provide a name and location for the rescue ISO file that is about to be created, as shown below:

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   Warning

Do not include spaces in the ISO name or YUMI will fail to boot from it.

Once the file has been saved, close Macrium Reflect as normal.

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:note: Step 2 - Create the bootable RESCUE USB drive


Download YUMI Multiboot USB Creator to your desktop - its a single executable that requires no installation.

Insert the USB flash drive you want to use, into an available USB port on your computer.

Open YUMI by double-clicking it, and when prompted by Windows UAC, click Yes. You will be prompted to accept the Licence Agreement. Click I Agree to proceed.

Now follow thse steps and refer to the image shown below:

1. From the drop-down list, select the letter of the USB you wish to use.

2. The USB drive is required to be formatted as FAT32. If this is not the case, check the format option, which will format the entire USB drive before copying any information to it. If the USB drive is already formatted as FAT32, ignore this option.

3. In the distribution box, scroll to the very bottom and hlighlight the Try an Unlisted ISO.

4. Click Browse to locate and select the rescue ISO you create previously.

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5. Now click Create to create the bootable rescue USB drive.

If you opted to format the USB drive, please take careful note of the warning panel that appears, and is shown below. Click Yes to proceed.

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The rescue ISO file will now be copied to the USB drive. If successful, you will see the progress panel as shown below:

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Click Next to proceed. You will be prompted if you wish to add more ISO's/Distros. Click No to close this pop-up, and then click Finish to exit YUMI.

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You have now created a Macrium Bootable Rescue USB and can safely remove the USB drive.

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:note: Step 3 - Test the bootable RESCUE USB drive


One of critical elements of imaging, is to ensure that you can boot from the rescue USB drive. In fact, the same holds true if you choose to use the traditional bootable rescue CD method.

To do this, turn off your computer, plug in your USB drive and reboot your computer as normal. During the POST screen, press the DEL key repeatedly to enter your BIOS, and then find the setting that allows you to boot from a USB drive and place it first in the device boot sequence. Alternatively, during POST keeping pressing the F8 function key to bring up the one-time boot menu, and then select the USB device from that menu.

Once the PC boots from the USB device you will see the YUMI boot menu, as shown in the example below:

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If you select the option called Directly Bootable ISO's you will then be presented with the rescue ISO you created earlier. In the example shown below, I have a choice of 4 rescue ISO files (refer to the tip below):

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Once you select that ISO, the Linux operating system will boot the ISO, and then allow you to select the Macrium image to restore, as shown in this example below:

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   Tip

If you manage multiple computers, you can add as many Macrium rescue ISO's as you require. I manage 4 different computers and each one's rescue item is bootable from a single USB flash drive - refer to the image above.

If you already have a YUMI multiboot USB drive with other ISO's and/or distros on it, simple add the Macrium rescue ISO's as normal. This makes for a very handy USB toolkit.

I hope you find this tutorial useful, and remember : you saw it first at Sevenforums.

Regards,
Golden

   Note

Special thanks to kado897 who provided the information for capturing the YUMI screens.

Related Tutorials

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• Imaging with free Macrium

 

[gugarci]

I'm using the Win 7 Starter 32 bit netbook to create the rescue media, and all have failed except for Paragon B&R 2012 free.

I can't think of anything else at present. Perhaps others will have more suggestions.

Don't worry about too much. As soon as I try it again i'm going to post more info like we discussed earlier in this thread. And if it still doesn't work I'll stick with Paragon and move on with my life. No big deal. But I do like Macrium better that's why I'm trying to figure this out.

 

[gugarci]

Hi guys,

I was able to try it again and finally got it to work. I installed it on another Sandisk 4Gb drive which is same as the one that it wouldn't work on. Not sure why it wouldn't work on that other flash drive. Both of these flash drives are the same model and size and both were formatted the same way. Also that drive now has the Paragon Recovery Media which works.

Anyway my only question is the following message I got after making the custom PE disk.

"Drivers may need to be loaded for the following devices in order to backup and restore.
Network Controller"

Should I be worry about this message? The image is stored on an external USB drive in my home network. To make images I plug in the netbook directly to this drive.
Thanks.

 

[kado897]

I don't think so. The Macrium disk doesn't need network access unless you are storing the images on a networked location. If you can boot from the usb and locate the backup image you will be ok.

 

[gugarci]

That's what I thought. Regardless when I make an image for this laptop with Macrium, I will also make another one with Paragon to play it safe. I do this with my main family desktop. I always make one with Macrium and True image.

 

[kado897]

It's always safer to have alternatives. I use windows imaging as mine.

 

[gugarci]

I didn't want to mention but so do I on my main family desktop. I use Windows Backup and Restore, Macrium and TI. I make a weekly image with each program. My other PC's don't need weekly images.

 

[kado897]

I have the paid version of Macrium. I do a weekly full image and daily differentials. I do a monthly Windows image after "Patch Tuesday". Probably overkill but I'm a bit paranoid about backups. I have also had to restore from both backup types so I know they work.

 

[gugarci]

I'm a little paranoid myself also. But only on our main family desktop which has Quiken installed and my wife uses it to keep track of our finances.

I have one more netbook to do. But this one uses XP home.

 

[kado897]

I've no experience of XP except as a casual user. We used it at work before I retired.

 

[gugarci]

That's alright. If I run into issues with that one there are others places I can seek help. Good Day.

 

[hTspree]

Are there different steps required for v5? I am having trouble restoring an image using the steps provided in the tutorial.

I am able to follow the steps and create an ISO, load it onto YUMI, then boot into YUMI. I then see the ISO I created and am able to select it. However, when I try to boot from the ISO, I get an additional screen that allows me to select between "Macrium rescue CD", "Memtestx86", and "Memtestx86+".

If I select "Macrium rescue CD", I seem to get stuck at a screen that says

Booting 'Macrium rescue CD'

kernel /Macrium...

I get to similar screens when I select the other 2 options. Does anyone have thoughts on why I can't seem to get to the reimage screen (the last image included in the tutorial)?

Thanks.

 

[Golden]

Hi,

No, the steps are excatly the same for V5 of Macrium.

It sounds like the rescue image wasn't created properly, or there may be a problem with the USB. To test this : can you test to see whether you can burn the rescue image to a CD/DVD, then see whether you get to the screen that allows you to browse to your images?

Are your Macrium images stored on a different USB to the one you are trying to boot from?

Regards,
Golden

 

[damien76]

I just saw this thread and I downloaded YUMI.

I have already created a WinPE Bootable DVD via Macrium ver5 and I thought I'd try out this usage of YUMI. Now I tried to add the ISO image of the WinPE Rescue Media of Macrium ver5 + ISO image Acronis Media (ATI Home 2011) + ISO image Acronis Media (ATI Home 2012).

The creation went well but when I booted to usb(4gb Adata brand) only Acronis Media ISO of both 2011 and 2012 were working. For Macrium I got an error.

xxxxxx...

Error 15: File not found.....

Press any key to continue.....

So thinking that maybe it was the ISO's of Acronis that is the culprit, I reformatted the USB and did it again. This time with only the ISO image of the WinPE Rescue Media of Macrium ver5. Creation went well but when I booted and selected Macrium Rescue Media ISO I got the same error!

Tried another USB Stick this time a Kingston 512mb -- same error.

Reformatted (Kingston 512mb)and selected only ISO image Acronis Media (ATI Home 2011) + ISO image Acronis Media (ATI Home 2012). No error and I was in fact able to create a backup and restore a backup image! Nice.

Now just to be sure I created a WinPE Rescue Media via the Macrium ver5 gui. Selected the same Kingston 512mb drive letter. It went well. Tested it a WOW it worked!

So I guess the WinPE USB Rescue Media creation via the Macrium gui is okay. But when the ISO of that same 'WinPE USB Rescue Media' is selected in Yumi I have an error.

Now making one USB stick that has essential tools is very good and highly recommended. I have both Acronis and Macrium(free) and I'd like to have both WinPE ISO working in Yumi.

Can someone help me please..

Thank you.

 

[kado897]

I think your original problem may have been because the ISO name had a blank in it. The isolinux search function doesn't like that.

 

[Golden]

I agree with kado - check to see that the ISO has no spaces in the name.

 

[damien76]

Hello all,

Thanks for the help here. I do not have any spaces on the file names. Please see images attached.





I tried it again with Yumi and it's the same. The Acronis 2012 / 2011 are working but the Macrium Reflect is still the same error.

Any ideas...?

Thanks all

 

[kado897]

When you replaced the ISO did you manually edit the menu.lst to reflect the change?

 

[damien76]

When you replaced the ISO did you manually edit the menu.lst to reflect the change?

@kado897,

Thanks for the reply. No. What I did was reformat the usb stick ans started clean. The ISO file does not have any spaces to start with. It's like that as in the images attached.

What can be done...?

Thanks and I will wait for your reply.

 

[kado897]

I don't really know.The only time I have had a search error was when the name had spaces.

Can you post a screenshot of the contents of the ISOS folder found here...



and zip up and attach menu.lst found here...

 

[Britton30]

You might give this .iso a try which I uploaded to Fileswap. It will need to be unpacked to use.
FileSwap.com : MacriumRescue5603.zip download free