Imaging with free Macrium

Kari said:

kado897 said:

The problem is that you need to image both the ssd and the partition that contains the "user" folder at the same time as it is considered by Windows to be part of the OS. (It contains user registry entries). In fact if you were to do a Windows image it wouldn't allow you to do just the SSD. If you leave the user folder on the SSD you avoid that.

As a user who has since Vista always sysprepped the Users to another drive than C: I just have to comment:

Using Windows native backup, yes you have to include the partition where the Users folder is located. Using Macrium that is not necessary although it is recommended; I have run several tests where I have only imaged the system reserved and C:, when the image is restored it picks the Users folder nicely along and system works again without issues. If the user has for instance installed software after the image was made which has let's say AppData\Roaming folders, these folders will of course remain in the system also after the image which no longer contains said software has been restored, but this really is a minor issue as those folders will be replaced as soon as the software is reinstalled after the restore.

The system works so well I have started to image only the C:, not the partition with Users because those files and folders are already securely backed up on OneDrive which I sync with my libraries. No need to image the Users with a terabyte of OneDrive.

Most of the registry is anyway stored on C:\Windows\System32\Config. Using Macrium instead of Windows native imaging, and keeping the Users folder relocated on another drive I can image and restore my system in a couple of minutes because the necessary image is relatively small, only containing software and Windows folders and when restored "picking up" my Users folder securely stored on another drive.

That's good to know Kari.

Kari said:

kado897 said:

The problem is that you need to image both the ssd and the partition that contains the "user" folder at the same time as it is considered by Windows to be part of the OS. (It contains user registry entries). In fact if you were to do a Windows image it wouldn't allow you to do just the SSD. If you leave the user folder on the SSD you avoid that.

As a user who has since Vista always sysprepped the Users to another drive than C: I just have to comment:

Using Windows native backup, yes you have to include the partition where the Users folder is located. Using Macrium that is not necessary although it is recommended; I have run several tests where I have only imaged the system reserved and C:, when the image is restored it picks the Users folder nicely along and system works again without issues. If the user has for instance installed software after the image was made which has let's say AppData\Roaming folders, these folders will of course remain in the system also after the image which no longer contains said software has been restored, but this really is a minor issue as those folders will be replaced as soon as the software is reinstalled after the restore.

The system works so well I have started to image only the C:, not the partition with Users because those files and folders are already securely backed up on OneDrive which I sync with my libraries. No need to image the Users with a terabyte of OneDrive.

Most of the registry is anyway stored on C:\Windows\System32\Config. Using Macrium instead of Windows native imaging, and keeping the Users folder relocated on another drive I can image and restore my system in a couple of minutes because the necessary image is relatively small, only containing software and Windows folders and when restored "picking up" my Users folder securely stored on another drive.

That's what I thought. Windows backup will include all partitions/drives that have system folders/files whereas Macrium Reflect will image only what you tell it to, even if the User Folder is on another partition/drive.

1. An image is everything on the partition so yes it will include those files.

2. When you restore an image you restore the partitions to the exact state they were when you made the image so if all your programs have been installed when you create the image then they will be there after the restore. Anything added afterwards, programs or data, will be lost.

Yes pretty much that.

RedLad said:

kado897 said:

1. An image is everything on the partition so yes it will include those files.

2. When you restore an image you restore the partitions to the exact state they were when you made the image so if all your programs have been installed when you create the image then they will be there after the restore. Anything added afterwards, programs or data, will be lost.

Thanks for clearing it up. So I guess this is the technique IT people would use in companies for rolling out new PC's for staff. They'd just have an image built, then just distribute this to the other PC's that need that exact setup?

kado897 said:

Yes pretty much that.

As Kado said, you almost nailed it :). They are talking about deployment which is, to put it simple, just a fancy Geek lingo word for installation. To deploy Windows is to install Windows using a more or less customized pre-made image.

Here's a walkthrough for using deployment with Macrium made image instead of clean install on your own one or more machine network: Windows 7 Image - Customize in Audit Mode with Sysprep. It also covers relocating the Users folder to another partition.

That's very comprehensive Kari.

Here's a question:

Is it possible to use Macrium Reflect to restore a single image to multiple destination drives? For instance, if I had three identical laptops and wanted to put the same image on each of them can I do this in one shot? I would be removing the destination drives and hooking them up to a desktop computer for the imaging process.

As a corollary, could I run multiple instances of Macrium simultaneously from the same computer, each dumping a single image to a different HD?

Best Macrium tutorial there is, by the way.