Macrium Restore

[DBSMB]

Hi,
I've created an 'image' of my internal hard drive C:\ to an external HD & I have no partitions. My question is when testing Macrium restore with a recovery disk I get to a screen asking me to select 'active', 'primary' or something else. I don't know which to select. I currently don't have any problems, was just testing to verify a good image.

Thanks,

DBSMB

 

[whs]

If your C drive is active in e.g. the Computer window or in Disk Management, then you mark the partition as active. But if you have a seperate 100 or 200MB partition that is marked as active (and contains your MBR), then you mark it as primary. You also DO NOT restore the MBR.
I suggest you post a picture of your Disk Management so that I can have a look what's going on. I also suggest you watch my Video tutorial that shows the whole imaging/recovery cycle with Macrium. I draw your special attention to the Warning at the beginning of the tutorial that gives more details regarding the case where C is not the active partition.

 

[DBSMB]

Thanks for the quick reply WHS! I'm not computer savy enough to upload pictures yet. I have watched the video which helped me create the system image, thanks... However to answer your questions, if I'm using a Recovery DVD to restore, my C: drive isn't active is it? That's the selection I think I should use but I'm not sure. If I select 'active' do I also select restore 'MBR'?

Thanks

 

[whs]

1. Go to Start and right click on Computer in the right pane. Here click on "Manage". When the page comes up, click on "Disk Management" in the left pane. Tell me how many partitions are on your disk , what their letters are (or whether they have no letter) and what their size is. I am looking for a small 100 or 200MB partition which is usually the leftmost.
2. If that small partition does not exist and if your C is marked as "Active". Then you mark it as active during the recovery process and also restore the MBR. Else you do not because the small partition has the role as active (Boot) partition and contains the MBR.

 

[DBSMB]

Thanks again for your replies... Here is what Disk Management is showing;
1st line under 'volume' shows disk w/ no letter 'Healthy (OEM Partition) '39 MB' w/39 MB free
2nd line shows my external HD IOMEGA (G) 'Healthy (Primary Partition) 465.76 GB w/233GB free
3rd line shows OS (C) 'Healthy' (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) 689Gb w/ 626GB free
4th line shows Recovery disk w/ no letter 'Health' (System, Active, Primary Partition 9.12GB w/6.87GB free

Hope this helps,

Thanks

 

[billberry12]

Same question.

Here is a picture of my disc management page, Can you tell me specifically how to backup an image correctly, and how to restore it correctly. I also have made an image to an external hard drive using Macrium, but I'm not sure if I did it correctly, nor if I could restore it correctly. I would really appreciate you telling me specifically how to do both with my computer based on the attached picture.
Thanks,
Bill

 

[whs]

Thanks again for your replies... Here is what Disk Management is showing;
1st line under 'volume' shows disk w/ no letter 'Healthy (OEM Partition) '39 MB' w/39 MB free
2nd line shows my external HD IOMEGA (G) 'Healthy (Primary Partition) 465.76 GB w/233GB free
3rd line shows OS (C) 'Healthy' (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) 689Gb w/ 626GB free
4th line shows Recovery disk w/ no letter 'Health' (System, Active, Primary Partition 9.12GB w/6.87GB free

Hope this helps,

Thanks

OK, sounds good. Your C is the active (Boot) partition. So during the recovery you mark it as active and restore the MBR - standard procedure.

 

[whs]

Here is a picture of my disc management page, Can you tell me specifically how to backup an image correctly, and how to restore it correctly. I also have made an image to an external hard drive using Macrium, but I'm not sure if I did it correctly, nor if I could restore it correctly. I would really appreciate you telling me specifically how to do both with my computer based on the attached picture.
Thanks,
Bill

Your situation is different than that of the OP. You do have the little 100MB partition which is the active partition and contains the MBR. During the recovery, you must mark the C partition as Primary (NOT Active) and must NOT restore the MBR.
For a restoration on the same disk, you need not image the little 100MB partition. If, however, your disk fails and you have to recover to a new disk, you will need this little partition. Else you have no MBR. I therefore always suggest to image it only once to a safe place (make a seperate folder for it on your external backup disk). There is no need to image it more than once because the content never changes.

PS: if you have further questions I suggest you start your own thread. Else it will get very confusing on this thread. Besides, it no good practice to highjack someone elses thread.

 

[DBSMB]

Thanks WHS… I appreciate your patience and help.

 

[billberry12]

Sorry for the hijac....

But one more quick question. Does the Boot cd that I created with Macrium serve the same purpose a the MBR partition if I need to restore to a new hard drive?
Thanks,

Bill

 

[whs]

But one more quick question. Does the Boot cd that I created with Macrium serve the same purpose a the MBR partition if I need to restore to a new hard drive?
Thanks,

Bill

Yes, with the recovery CD (Boot CD as you call it), you can restore any partition that you have imaged. But only one at a time. Here is a test scenario that I have developed if you care to practice. I use that in my imaging classes with good success:

1. Shrink 2GBs from C and define a simple volume (partition) - let's call it Y
2. Move some files (any files) into Y - I always also move the sample picture folder in (you'll see why)
3. Define a test folder on your external backup disk - call it Mtest
4. Make an image of Y to Mtest - requires that you make a new definition
5. Delete a couple of pictures from the sample picture folder on Y (I always use the 2 animals)
6. Reboot and tap (ESC or F2 or whatever it is on your system) to get into the BIOS boot sequence
7. Set your boot sequence to CD/DVD reader
8. Throw in the Macrium recovery CD and let it run, then hit Enter
9. Now you are in the recovery wizard, set it to Mtest where it says "Locate Image" and to Y where it says "Choose partition to overwrite with the image data". Note: the partition letters may not be the same as on your system. Macrium uses its own lettering. Best is to go by the size of the partitions and open it with the little + in the front.
10. Watch out when it asks whether to replace the Master Boot Record - in this case say "do not replace" because this is only a data partition. If that were your system partition, you would replace the MBR provided you do not have a seperate boot partition.
11. When you get the little window saying "Your computer will now reboot", you have to hit "Cancel" (on the bottom" to get it to reboot. That's a little strange way to end the session, but that's the way it is.
12. Check whether the 2 animals in the sample picture folder are back. That shows you that the recovery worked.

When you have done these steps, you did the whole cycle and have learned

1. That your recovery disk works
2. How to recover
3. That things work

Now you can delete the little 2GB partition and add it back to it's originating partition.

Here is a supporting tutorial in case you are not familiar with the ways to create a partition: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/72427-data-partition.html

 

[whs]

Thanks WHS… I appreciate your patience and help.

No problem. Any time. But now I go to bed - it is 2.30AM.