Macrium system image restore after blue screen - Very confused.

[mjf]

This has shaken my confidence in Macrium (V5.3.7299 free) and may be a concern to other Macrium users.

Background: I was working on a usb flash drive utility tool and in the process the system hung and I needed to do a hard reset. On restart I got a blue screen.

What I did:
1) I restored one of my numerous trusty Macrium images. PC booted fine and appeared to run ok but with the "Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown - bluescreen" message. Even older images I'd used before showed the message after I logged in. I expected a system restore to overwrite all error messages and start with a clean slate.
2) Used Partition Wizard boot tool to delete the 2 partitions on my SSD OS drive leaving it unallocated. Went through the same Macrium image restore process and the warning message still appeared.
3) Luckily I had a very recent Windows inbuilt system image. It restored fine (but slowww) with NO warning message as I would have expected from Macrium.
4) After this I tried restoring some Macrium images I used in step 1). They restored fine and now with no warning message.

I did an sfc /scannow after each image restore experiment and there was no system file corruption.

It looks like Macrium restore doesn't overwrite things I would expect it to. This is worrying.
Any thoughts??

 

[Callender]

The only time I ever had a problem with Macrium was when something messed with MBR and all I got was a startup repair loop.

Macrium could not restore any image backups. It got part way through restoring then failed.

However booting into PE and using a partition tool to wipe C: subsequently allowed me to restore a working backup using Macrium.

 

[mjf]

I think Macrium defaults to replacing the MBR with a system image restore using the MBR when the image was made and Windows inbuilt forces an MBR replacement from the image file.

The bluescreen I got was when I forced a shutdown and attempted a reboot. The bluescreen occurred at the start of the reboot. I expect a system image restore to fix this problem and Macrium seems to have failed.

Update:
I deliberately caused a bluescreen error to repeat the initial problem.
I then used the bootable Partition Wizard to actually wipe the OS SSD filling it with zeroes. Then I did a Macrium image restore. This time no warning message appeared. It is very strange but it suggests some older error reporting data is left on the drive after an image restore. It may be that Windows inbuilt image restores everything and didn't report an "unexpected shutdown" error.
Note this was for the last release version of Macrium V5.

 

[Layback Bear]

I have found that using Windows 7 to format leaves a little garbage at the front of the drive. Just a few MB's.
Using Partition Wizard cleans that bit of junk. Making things work properly.

I have also discovered if one has used a drive for any Linux system or the like it's best to do a wipe to remove all leftovers.

Another little goodie.
When I did use Samsung SSD's the Samsung Magician would also do crazy thing to the very beginning of the SSD. Doing a format with Windows 7 didn't help. After doing a wipe using Partition Wizard solved the problem.

Just a few stumbling blocks I have encountered and Partition Wizard helped me with.

Jack

 

[bawldiggle]

Partition Wizard ?

I have found that using Windows 7 to format leaves a little garbage at the front of the drive. Just a few MB's.
Using Partition Wizard cleans that bit of junk. Making things work properly.

I have also discovered if one has used a drive for any Linux system or the like it's best to do a wipe to remove all leftovers.

I have bootable (free) MiniTools 9.1, I haven't used it for a year or two
- brain cells have declined in that time too :shock:

Over the years I have accumulated an organized list of partition managers pros & cons.
- I settled on MiniTools purely based on their AlternativesTo.net rating ... I am still learning

Q1: Are you using Free MiniTools or PRO ?

MiniTool Partition Manager Software Comparison is beyond my limited knowledge.

Q2: Which version of MiniTools are you using. I am particularly interested in your comment

Windows 7 to format leaves a little garbage at the front of the drive

Without firing up my bootable MiniTools (it was free at the time) I don't know what version I have.
Q3: What feature would I look for on the MiniTools GUI to format a HDD/SSD and to wipe a drive ?

I have been successfully using AOMEI BackUpper in the last 2 weeks and am (so far) pleased with the results.
Now looking at AOMEI Partition Assistant purely because I like the color of the kitchen curtains.


Russell

 

[Layback Bear]

I use Mini Tool 10.2.1 at this time but I have used the older version without problems.

Mini Tool is pretty much self explanatory. Just do a little tinkering and in a few minutes one will be able to use it. I have not used all the options that Mini Tool has because I have not needed to do so.
On the top right under Manual and FAQ should answer your questions that might pop up.

Go here and you will find some helpful video's.

mini tool partition wizare video - Google Search

When you are done formatting a drive look in properties of that drive and see if their is a leftover. (Used and Unused)
Sometimes you will find a few MB of what ever that does not need to be there.
If you wipe the complete drive it can take a long time. So what I do is start the wipe and after about 10 minutes I stop the wipe and check the properties again. If the properties are "0" used then I format and use the drive.
Jack

 

[Callender]

Now looking at AOMEI Partition Assistant purely because I like the color of the kitchen curtains.

I got the Pro version free when they were giving it away. That's what i used to wipe windows partition before Macrium Reflect could restore backup. Differences in functionality in the Free version and Pro version.

Compare ALL Editions of AOMEI Partition Assistant

I can say that I actually used AOMEI PE Builder to create a PE USB that includes a copy of AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro on it if already installed. Otherwise it will include the Free version.

User Manual of AOMEI Partition Assistant