Macrium Reflect Free and GPT+MBR

[Bellzemos]

Hi!

I've been using Macrium Reflect Free v5 for some time now and liked it a lot.

I will be getting a new computer which will probably have MBR and GPT partitioned disks.

Will I be able to, let's say, make a system image of a GPT SSD to a MBR HDD and then recoveer it from MBR HDD back to GPT SSD? Or any other combination really.

I've also read that the new v6 now has auto verify feature - that's great, I always did that manually in the past.

What is the SSD Trim feature (not included in the Free version) about? Is that only when imaging to (and restoring from) a SSD? So only concerning a backup SSD drive? Or is it about the OS SSD drive?

Also, I have a Macrium Boot Media CD for my Windows 7. Do I have to create a new one for the v6 now?

Anything else I should know?

Thank you!

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Hi!


Will I be able to, let's say, make a system image of a GPT SSD to a MBR HDD and then recoveer it from MBR HDD back to GPT SSD? Or any other combination really.

I'd be very surprised if the destination disk being MBR would be a factor. VERY surprised.

However---I too am concerned about possible issues when making an image of a GPT disk, even if the destination disk was GPT.

I've been told that it's not a problem, but I have seen very little discussion about it on these forums. Maybe that's because it isn't a problem, but I'm still a bit anxious. You might find more detail at the Macrium forums.

Can't help with your other questions, but I need to look into them too. I'm trying to resist the urge to move to free version 6 when free version 5 is working perfectly.

 

[Bellzemos]

Hi, thanks for your input. I'd still like someone to answer my (and your) questions though, I hope someone with knowledge on the matter replies.

 

[mjf]

Hi!
I've also read that the new v6 now has auto verify feature - that's great, I always did that manually in the past.

I will await the knowledgeable one to answer your question(s).
BTW verify takes a long time and as far as I am aware it just checks the integrity of the image file. It does not verify that it is a good image. The best way to "verify" is to perform a system image restore but just make sure you have a good system image to fall back on.

 

[dsperber]

Also, I have a Macrium Boot Media CD for my Windows 7. Do I have to create a new one for the v6 now?

Seems like an easy question to answer...

The standalone WinPE boot CD contains the same version of Reflect (along with any required hardware drivers for your machine which automatcially got added when the CD got created) which was installed which you used it to create the standalone boot CD. So I'm surmising that would be v5 for you. If that functionality is sufficient for your needs, either through your installed v5 program running under Windows then the boot CD equivalent will also be sufficient to meet your needs.

On the other hand, if you require some functionality that is only in v6, then you obviously need to create a new standalone WinPE boot CD (again, plus any needed drivers which get added automatically) in order to benefit from the v6 version of Reflect which would be on that new CD.

Furthermore, although I don't know for sure, I would certainly feel more comfortable if new images on your backup drive are taken with v6, if i had a matching v6 standalone boot CD to definitely be capable of restoring those images problem-free. I'm sure there was nothing actually changed in the images themselves taken by v6 of the product that is truly incompatible with a v5 boot CD, but who cares to gamble?

Why would you not want to spend the tiny effort required to create a brand new v6 standalone boot CD that you would then have 100% confidence in, as long as you've installed v6 of the product into Windows?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I just spent 10 minutes or so looking around the Macrium support site, including Google searches, for the term "GPT" and found virtually nothing--somewhat of a surprise.

Perhaps that means GPT is of no consequence whatsoever.

Re verify: apparently it compares hashes, so that the "target" can be said to match the "source". It doesn't mean that you will necessarily have a successful restore experience for whatever reason.

Against my better judgement, I'm going to spend this afternoon installing free version 6 and see if I can make a working bootable USB stick.

I don't know if I have to uninstall 5. Probably not, but I'm going to.

 

[GokAy]

I would think it would not change anything if it is MBR or GPT, the image file created is the same in both.

Some comment from another forum regarding SSD TRIM:

Han, when watching this function actually perform (during a RAPID DATA RESTORE), Macrium issues TRIM commands to the volume it will be restoring to prior to the operation beginning. The only process this can be is that it's TRIMming all unAllocated disk space (using TRIM in the WinPE build) prior to beginning the operation... which really doesn't accomplish very much at all. If, on a FULL restore, they were deleting all the partitions, recreating such (empty) prior to restoration... then a TRIM would be useful. Even a TRIM operation after the restoration would be somewhat useful cleaning up old data blocks on the disk that weren't being changed upon the restore... but I don't see that happening during the process. Macrium would be the only ones who could tell you exactly what's going on but it looks like only a pre-TRIM is happening upon restoration.

 

[mjf]

I know you can do MBR to GPT/UEFI
How to Restore an MBR System image to UEFI/GPT (Convert, GPT, MBR, Restore)
I don't know about the other way around. The MBR contains your partition table data. If you have a good old MBR I guess it should work???

 

[Bellzemos]

Huh, so, in conclusion: after we update to v6 we need to create a new rescue media CD. No big deal, I just needed to know.

The other thing: so can I simply make a full system image of a SSD GPT drive and save the image on a HDD MBR drive? And later restore it back to the SSD GPT drive? Will this work without problems?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The other thing: so can I simply make a full system image of a SSD GPT drive and save the image on a HDD MBR drive? And later restore it back to the SSD GPT drive? Will this work without problems?

Re your third question; my guess is yes. It's a guess.

But I'd operate on the assumption that the answer is NO until and unless someone steps up and says outright, "Yeah, I've personally done it many times with no issues at all". Or unless you can find an explicit answer at the Macrium web site. I could not with a cursory look there.

 

[Bellzemos]

Well I did that once already, without even questioning it (I did a full system image of a tablet drive which was GPT formatted onto a normal MBR formatted exetrnal HDD). But then I saw the feature comparison chart of the new Macrium Reflect v6 and there was the GPT SUPPORT and then I started questioning it...

Anyway, thank you all for you comments!