Imaging with free Macrium


  1. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #1340

    whs said:
    I have made UEFI images with three W8.1 systems and they look OK. But I had no need yet to restore them.

    An even easier way is to make an image with Wbadmin. That is also easy for the recovery either via the System Recovery Option of your recovery still works or the installation/repair disc if the system is completely kaput.
    Please sound off loud and clear if you ever attempt to restore any of those UEFI installations with Macrium.

    I see that the command wbadmin is acknowledged at the command line on my system, but I'd prefer to completely evade the Windows tool--unless Macrium, Aomei, and others prove to be hopeless for whatever reason.

    Does it form a large pile of folders and files--as opposed to the single mrimg of Macrium?
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  2. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
    Thread Starter
       #1341

    Yeah right, you get a pile of files. But that does not bother me. Only the VHDX is big, the others are real little.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #1342

    whs said:
    Yeah right, you get a pile of files. But that does not bother me. Only the VHDX is big, the others are real little.
    OK and aye aye. I'll keep it in mind as a last resort.
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  4. Posts : 25,847
    Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
       #1343

    Will (Wbadmin) work in Windows 7 not a server?
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  5. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
    Thread Starter
       #1344

    The main advantage of Wbadmin is that you don't need an extra program and recovery is really easy. But it does not have all the bells and whistles of e.g. Macrium - scheduling, etc. You are really 'on the iron' with Wbadmin.

    And to answer Jack's question: Yes. The recovery part looks a bit different.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #1345

    Just ran it on my system for kicks.

    Took 8 minutes. I discovered you can't direct it to, for instance, E:\test. You must choose just E:

    It created a WindowsImageBackup folder containing 4 folders and 16 files, total 36 GB.

    I was denied permission to access the folders until I poked the "continue" button.

    Nearly all of the size is in the single VHD file found in one of the folders.

    There is a MediaID file with no extension that I can't open with Notepad. Don't know what it is.

    Not sure what it all means at this point, but I might keep this backup as I have plenty of space on E.
      My Computer


  7. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
    Thread Starter
       #1346

    I got to it because I work a lot with virtual partitions. There it is a lot easier for the recovery part which can easily be triggered when you do a restart when holding the Shift key down.

    Booting with the recovery disc of e.g. Macrium in VMware Player is more difficult. You have to change the boot sequence in the VMware Player BIOS. For that you have to add bios.forceSetupOnce = "TRUE" to the VMX file to get to that BIOS. And then you have to change that BIOS. Not obvious for the layman.
      My Computer


  8. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #1347

    I was under the impression that "Create a System Image" runs wbadmin and seems simpler to me. You end up with a WindowsImageBackup folder either way in the root directory of the nominated partition. You don't want to touch anything in that folder including the small MediaID file if you want a trouble free install. The only time you would fiddle is if you needed to access/mount the large vhd file.
      My Computer


  9. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
    Thread Starter
       #1348

    Michael, you are right. It is essentially the same as 'Create a system image'. But it is more fun. The end result is the same and so is the recovery procedure.

    I like to work with the command line which is more transparent for me than some program where I don't really know how it is proceeding and what it is doing.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #1349

    whs said:

    I like to work with the command line which is more transparent for me than some program where I don't really know how it is proceeding and what it is doing.
    Absolutely.

    If for no other reason than that you avoid that god-awful GUI, which must have been designed by a committee.
      My Computer


 

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