Question about system images

[jonnyhillow]

I only want to periodically make images of my entire system including everything i would need to restore from a bad malware infection.



Here are more screenshots

 

[ignatzatsonic]

You certainly don't need any of it for imaging purposes.

You'd need only Macrium and a bootable recovery disk.

Just save your images directly on that external. Don't divide the external into multiple partitions--no need for that. Just keep track of your various images by use of a folder structure. Such as put an image you make today in a folder called 051714 signifying today's date. Whatever makes sense to you.

You might be able to find out the purpose of those programs on the WD web site, but I certainly don't see why you need them. I'd guess they are all related to supposedly helping you with backup, but you've already got that covered.

Don't forget to make an image of that small "system reserved" partition if you have one, along with C.

 

[jonnyhillow]

I just want to use the version for idiots , where even a cave man can do it . I am still learning but if i have a system image on the passport why do i need a recovery disc?

I am also the only person who will ever have access to it , i see this comes with a lot of security features but i am unsure of the kind needed to protect malware from accessing the drive . I don't need security for other people attempting to use it.

 

[whs]

If you want to make your life easy, just make full images of all partitions from time to time. I recommend you use free Macrium because that is easy to use, reliable and has never failed me.

I keep my user data in a seperate partition and image the OS (including the 100MB system partition) and the data partition whenever some significant changes were made to those partitions. Sometimes once per week, other times in longer periods - it all depends on the changes that occured.

The backup programs that come with the external disks I would not trust. I know that some do not work and others have restrictions. It is better to rely on a proven program like Macrium. But if you happen to have Acronis or Paragon, those are good too. Just a bit more complicated to use. AOMEI Backupper is another easy to use program. It works well in 64 bit but I could not make it to work on my 32bit system.

Btw: It is true that I use 12 disks for images - external and internal disks (in case of the desktops). But that is for 7 PCs that are in 3 different locations thousands of miles apart. If all those PCs were in the same location, I would have consolidated the amount of disks for images. The fastest disks I use are 1TB SSHDs attached via USB3 and, of course, the internal HDDs. And the external disks are usually disconnected when not in use.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

if i have a system image on the passport why do i need a recovery disc?

You appear to misunderstand what you have on the passport.

If you are using Macrium for backup, you would have one file on the passport. It would have an mrimg extension. It's a large file, measured in gigabytes.

It is NOT repeat NOT I say NOT a working replica of your current system partition. You can't boot from it. It's not even on an internal drive.

If you poke it with the mouse, it will open up and you could browse around among the files in it to recover pictures of your cat or some other file that is on the partition you imaged. In that sense, it is a "backup".

But it's not going to boot your PC. For that to happen, you MUST restore that image file in its entirety. At that point and only at that point do you have a working restored system. Restoration requires that you use a recovery disk full stop period. You make the recovery disk in Macrium by burning a CD. There are 2 types of recovery disks: Linux based and WinPE based. WinPE is much preferred. You choose between the two from a Macrium menu.

After you've burned the recovery disk, test it to be sure it will boot your PC. If it won't, you CAN'T restore. In which case you troubleshoot why it won't boot your PC and make another disk until you succeed in burning a bootable disk.

I suspect this misunderstanding is why you said you previously failed in a Macrium restoration attempt.

Macrium is the closest thing you are going to find that is Cro-Magnon-certified. It's up to you to get it working with our help.

 

[whs]

Macrium is the closest thing you are going to find that is Cro-Magnon-certified

:roflmao:

 

[jonnyhillow]

This is getting more confusing as we go along lol, should I keep any of these programs on the passport is the first question , secondly, in this very thread I was told I needed to buy an external drive for backups and that my dvd drive wasn't something that would be recommended for burning images for backups .

Every time I have tried to restore with Macrium it has failed , don't know why but the only thing that has worked is windows image backup. It requires a total of TWO dvds while Macrium requires SEVEN.

Thank you for your time

 

[derekimo]

You store the images on the external drive.

I think your confusion about the DVD drive was, it is not recommended to create and store images on DVD's.

You do need to have a rescue disc that will use your DVD drive to boot from.

Images are just the backup files you create of your system, you store those on the external drive.

The rescue disc is what you use to boot from outside of windows, once booted to the rescue disc you can choose an image file on your external drive to restore windows with.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

see comments in bold

should I keep any of these programs on the passport is the first question

Probably not. They are not needed to create an image file and later restore it, which is why you say you bought the Passport. They would not be needed for any other general purpose for an external drive that I can think of.

, secondly, in this very thread I was told I needed to buy an external drive for backups and that my dvd drive wasn't something that would be recommended for burning images for backups .

You were told correctly.

You don't burn an image file.

You make the image file with Macrium and store it on the external drive, NOT ON DVDs. Just as you would make a Word document about how to make spaghetti sauce. You make it and you save it somewhere. The somewhere is the external drive. NOT DVDs.

You do use your DVD drive and a blank disk to BURN A RECOVERY DISK IN MACRIUM. You need exactly one disk to do that. The only reason you'd ever need more than one disk is if the first burned disk will not boot your PC. In which case, trouble shoot that and burn another till you get one that will boot the PC.

Every time I have tried to restore with Macrium it has failed , don't know why but the only thing that has worked is windows image backup. It requires a total of TWO dvds while Macrium requires SEVEN.

Who knows what you are doing with 7 DVDs and Macrium. Quit doing that, whatever it is. The image file goes on the Passport hard drive, not on DVD or CD disks.

The file on the Passport and the recovery disk are two distinct things. Both are necessary. You use the latter to boot the PC and restore the former to your internal hard drive.

 

[whs]

I am puzzled by your statement that the windows image fit on 2 DVDs. They have a capacity of less than 10GB and all the images I ever made were bigger than that. Are you sure those were real images or just backups of the user data.

An image is on average 65% of all the data on the C partition (or the partition you image). If the image is less than 10% that would mean that your C partition has only a total of appr. 15GB of data (OS, userdata - everything together).

 

[mjf]

2-3 DVDs sounds more like a factory restore backup (ie a backup of an OEM recovery partition). Are you running an OEM PC (eg Acer, HP etc).
Also, I'd generally avoid HDD manufacturers backup utilities.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Maybe thats why it only took two dvds , (my hard drive is more than 75% empty) i click on the" make a system image " in the Windows recovery screen, i set the bios to boot from the dvd , it says Windows is loading files and takes me to the Windows installation screen , i click on custom and format and delete both partitions (computer only has two) .

After that , instead of clicking next i hit the X in the top right corner which takes me back to the "repair your computer options screen" and click on system image , i eject the Win 7 iso and put in my system image discs to restore and it works.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I take it you have given up on Macrium?

 

[whs]

What you created is an installation/recovery disk - not an image. With those DVDs you can reinstall the system as it came out of the box. But you would lose all your data, programs, setups, etc. - you start from square 1.

That is not the idea of an image. If you restore an image, your system will be exactly like it was when the image was taken. If it was taken yesterday, the recovered system will look like it looked yesterday.

Reinstalling a system, performing all the updates, reinstalling all the programs, redo all the setups takes several days as to my experience. Plus you may lose all your data unless you first recover it with e.g. a live Linux CD. Restoring an image takes 20 to 30 minutes and that includes your data..

 

[jonnyhillow]

I found a similar example of what happened to me with Macrium:

I did a complete system image copy with Macrium Reflect Free Edition of my W7 laptop about 18 months ago,

I tend to do a complete fresh install every 18 months or so. This week I wanted to do a complete factory restore of my laptop, But alas somehow my manufacturers recovery partition (Press F 11 and select restore to factory) has become corrupted.

Never mind I said, I got the option now to go down the Macrium Reflect route, I put in the 18 month previously created rescue disc and..........NOTHING.....ERROR MESSAGE DISC WONT LOAD.

The BKU files(BKU = Back Up)are safe and stored and I believe correctly copied on my external HDD, but I have no way of installing this snapshot out of the box 18 month ago clean fresh BKU including all partitions at the time.

Don't worry I am not asking for help, I have contacted my manufacturer, and they are going to post out some Factory Restore W7 Rescue Discs. (Basically what the recovery participation would of done).

The moral of the story....... if the rescue disc does not work when you want to restore a image then you are in big TROUBLE.

Irony of all Irony while I am waiting for the postman/postwoman I decided to experiment with other programs, The in-built W7 Create a system image and create a rescue disc..... WORKS

Paragon Backup & Recovery 2013 Free Create a rescue disc.....WORKS

PLEASE NOTE...In my tests I didn't actually restore anything and by...WORKS...I mean the Rescue Discs I created are recognised when I try to boot from the discs, and on both occasions when I removed my HDD (Imagine If I Am Installing A Copy To A New Drive) I can follow the instructions up to..........which image would you like to restore.

I get none of this with Macrium Reflect........Including after also RECENTLY burning a new rescue disc......with both options offered Linux and Windows PE 3.1

That's My Experience.....

The below is worth noting: My Macrium rescue disk did not work either and i know i followed the instructions correctly because it said burned successfully but still didn't work even when bios was set to boot off the cd drive first.



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by kenjzur on 14. December 2013 - 20:43 (112947)

I HAD the same problems; could not boot on bootable image DVD/CD's and flash drive. Yet, they booted fine on my other older machine. Yet it wouldn't boot on the very machine that created them. The solution - AHCI BIOS option. If this option is on, (which many OS's support) then these cd/dvd, flash bootable images will not work/boot. Check your bios, turn off AHCI (normally associated with SATA/IDE functions) and reboot your restore dvd/cd or flash. It should now work. Also, changing the bios allowed me to boot on flash drive.

ps 1. Don't forget to turn on the AHCI when your done restoring. If your system had it on at time of install, it needs it to run!

ps 2. Don't forget to turn off AHCI when doing off-line image backup as well.

Hope this works for you

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Burned successfully means nothing. The test is whether or not the recovery disk will boot the PC. The guy you quote apparently never tested that. I have no idea what he means by BKU files. Macrium creates MRIMG files. Just one for each image.

All imaging programs are useless for restoring the C drive unless you have a way of booting other than the C drive.

The last I heard, you made a series of 7 DVDs with Macrium. That surely is NOT a recovery disk.