Imaging with free Macrium

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  1. Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
       #400

    Britton30 said:
    I think one advantage to imaging is one can store several on an external drive whereas a clone will occupy an entire drive. I think, think, Macrium will allow an incremental back up too. That is it will update an existing image with changes since it was first made. It may be possible to image a single partition as well, but I'm not full of knowledge on this either.

    Yeah, I'm full of something though.
    OOPs sorry Gary missed your post typing you have just added to what MJF has said and I am beginning t think that maybe I should adjust my habits as it does make more sense than just a clumsy clone.

    Erm that wouldn't be full of pizza would it? LOL!!

    Anyway have got to dash to work.
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  2. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
    Thread Starter
       #401

    There is indeed a lot of confusion about cloning versus imaging and the terms are being mixed up. I for myself have made this easy definition (which may not be comprehensive):

    Clone = a system copy that I can boot
    Image = a sytem copy that I can restore

    I hope that this does not add to the confusion.
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  3. Posts : 7,730
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit
       #402

    I'd go along with that.

    I try and look at it that a system image creates an image of the whole drive, which can then be used as a backup restore as and when needed, whereas cloning copies the contents of one hard drive to another.

    In other words, imaging relates to a drive you are currently using, while cloning relates to a drive you are going to use.

    I hope that makes sense.
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  4. Posts : 24,479
    Windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1
       #403

    OR..
    Clone=Exact copy which works
    Image=A picture waiting to be printed
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  5. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #404

    There is no effective difference between
    1) Cloning to a new HDD and sticking it in the cupboard
    2) Reimaging to a new HDD and sticking it in the cupboard

    Both achieve the same end result.
    Both will immediately boot to the state the computer was in when they were made.
    Cloning will include everything even if it isn't needed such as pagefile contents.
    I have 2 standby HDDs "in the cupboard" and they were made by imaging.

    With Cloning you need the new HDD immediately. With imaging you only need the new HDD when you are ready.
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  6. Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
       #405

    Thanks you fellas I was a bit gung ho with my perceptions on imaging and cloning and far from confusing me it really starts to make a bit of sense so I had better start imaging and I sort of like the idea that Gary put up re incremental imaging too - not conjures up in this sometimes erratic and impetuous mind like keeping my "clone" up to date.

    So I am not such an old dog that I cannot learn from all of you eh? In fact it was in a way rather fortuitous that I ranted on about what I do.

    Having said that I think I still might keep a clone in the drawer of the original setup in case everything goes belly up with the drive and it's image as four reinstalls just recently have been getting tedious as my OEM didn't come with SP1 on it plus the updates - need I say more.
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  7. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
    Thread Starter
       #406

    The idea of imaging is to do it on a regular basis - at least once per week. A 5 year old image (or clone) in the drawer is not very helpful.

    During a while I made a full image every morning after boot. That was automatically scheduled and ran in the backgrouns. Now I went back to 2 or 3 times per week depending on activities.

    Btw - I hate incremental images because if you lose one in the chain you lose the whole bit. Diffentials are a bit better. But both are more difficult to manage than full images which I prefer. With acres of disk space that most of us have that should not be a problem.
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  8. Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
       #407

    whs said:
    The idea of imaging is to do it on a regular basis - at least once per week. A 5 year old image (or clone) in the drawer is not very helpful.

    During a while I made a full image every morning after boot. That was automatically scheduled and ran in the backgrouns. Now I went back to 2 or 3 times per week depending on activities.

    Btw - I hate incremental images because if you lose one in the chain you lose the whole bit. Diffentials are a bit better. But both are more difficult to manage than full images which I prefer. With acres of disk space that most of us have that should not be a problem.
    Ok point taken Wolfgang I might just set it up like that only I'll still keep that clone in the drawer as a ready to go install, and save at least some updates etc. .

    At the moment it i s difficult for me to do an image at boot every three or four days because of work and the limited time I have before having to leave but I suppose I could leave it for an evening time slot when I am having some TV time.
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  9. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #408

    whs said:
    The idea of imaging is to do it on a regular basis - at least once per week. A 5 year old image (or clone) in the drawer is not very helpful.
    It depends on your needs.
    1) If your HDD dies and can wait until you get to the store to buy a new one all you need is a recent image.
    2) If you can't afford that delay then keep a spare HDD and be up and running with a recent image in say 1 hour. A little risk it will all go smoothly.
    3) Keep an operational spare HDD even if 6 months old to get you up and running in minutes. 5 years is stretching it.

    Option 2 is probably good enough for me. But then you would surely try option 3 anyway if you have never done this before.
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  10. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
    Thread Starter
       #409

    At the moment it i s difficult for me to do an image at boot every three or four days because of work and the limited time I have before having to leave but I suppose I could leave it for an evening time slot when I am having some TV time.
    John, I am not quite sure what you are trying to say. The imaging can run in the background and should not stall your normal activities. Just 'hide' Macrium.

    My total 40GB+ image takes only 5 minutes anyhow. But I image from the 60GB SSD to either an internal disk or an eSata disk. That is about as fast as it gets. And the other day a total restore took only 16 minutes. That was the fastest I have seen.
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