You cannot 'format' a computer but you can format a disk. With an image you can restore a computer to the staus of when the image was taken. And as for the restore steps, you have several options:
Restore your computer from a system image backup - Windows Help
No when making the image.
To add to the other comments; you are taking a "snap shot" of the partition you image. Typically this is your operating system partition containing Windows and installed programs etc. This is stored as totally different file data. When you restore the image file(s) you just need to be careful you restore them in the correct place but this is not that difficult if you read the tutorial links given earlier. When it comes to formatting you need with Windows inbuilt imaging to make sure the format box is generally not selected as you could format partitions you don't want formatted.
BTW. To restore a Windows System image you may need to have either an installation disk or a system recovery disk prepared earlier if your system will not boot. This tutorial will tell you how to create a repair disk. System Repair Disc - Create
Sometimes you do but this is generally when the partition structure has been changed or you are restoring to a new HDD. The other reason for selecting the format box when it is optional that I can think of is when you have a corrupt file system on the OS partition. Unfortunately the whole disk will be formatted which is bad news if you have other partitions for data etc. A good reason to use Macrium.
You need to exclude other drives. On the rare occasion the format box has been ticked and grayed out for me (going to a new HDD) I actually disconnect all other drives just to be safe. Accept that the whole drive will be formatted.
Last edited by mjf; 07 Jan 2015 at 15:41.
Sorry but I cannot confirm. After the Restore (with "format" on) completed, not only my C: drive but also SYSTEM, D:, and E: drives (a.k.a. partitions) were just as before. What I don't know is whether they all were included in the System Image and written back to the internal hard disk drive, or only C: (and SYSTEM?) were while D: and E: were never part of the Backup/Restore operations. And I don't know a safe way to find out.
I've decided to let Macrium Reflect alone until they do something about their terrifying warning message on creation of a Rescue Disk that you may not be able to access your drives anymore. Sorry, but either the warning is bogus and then they are incompetent for leaving it in or the warning is real and they are incompetent for not fixing the situation.
I didn't think this was my experience or that of others but it would be interesting if others could confirm.Sorry but I cannot confirm. After the Restore (with "format" on) completed, not only my C: drive but also SYSTEM, D:, and E: drives (a.k.a. partitions) were just as before.
What message is this?I've decided to let Macrium Reflect alone until they do something about their terrifying warning message on creation of a Rescue Disk that you may not be able to access your drives anymore.
Of course that warning should be "terrifying" because if you have no rescue disk, your images are for the birds. But I'll make it easy for you. Download the rescue disk .iso from my OneDrive and burn it to CD. For the rest of your assertion I better refrain on commenting.I've decided to let Macrium Reflect alone until they do something about their terrifying warning message on creation of a Rescue Disk that you may not be able to access your drives anymore. Sorry, but either the warning is bogus and then they are incompetent for leaving it in or the warning is real and they are incompetent for not fixing the situation.
Oh so the "terrifying" bit is not having a rescue CD/DVD/USB ? An image isn't much use without one.
But @malvoglio
did you interpret the warning as suggesting making a Macrium image could damage your existing partitions? If so then this is not the case.
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