Imaging with free Macrium

clasof56 said:

I believe a clone takes longer as it was doing a copy of the whole drive whereas an image was just of one partition. my experience anyway

Either way would depend on the settings:

Macrium Reflect creates File and Folder backups as well as disk images including cloning complete disks. The Macrium Reflect Server Plus for Exchange and SQL version adds MS Exchange and MS SQL Server backup capabilities to this.

A File and Folder backup is a useful way to backup your working files, personal files and precious data. Unlike other backup solutions Macrium Reflect can backup open and locked files by using Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS). You can backup your Documents folder and save the backup configuration as an XML file for easy re-running and scheduling.

A Disk Image stores the information required to completely restore disks (or their individual partitions) exactly as they were when the image was taken.

Cloning with Macrium Reflect creates an exact copy of partitions to a different drive. For example, Upgrading to a larger hard drive or moving from a large magnetic hard disk to a smaller and faster SSD. When you Clone a hard drive, you can boot from the target disk on the same system after cloning.

Source: Backup, imaging and cloning - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Related:
Check similar threads at the bottom of this one for more on cloning vs Imaging

I have always used system imaging (generally Macrium) to transfer my OS to a new SSD or HDD. I have many images going back in time on more than one external HDD. Any one of them can easily be transferred to a new drive. You do need to disconnect the original OS drive before booting the new drive. However, I have always stayed with an MBR drive for my Windows 7 OS.

Cloning is a one shot option. If your OS gets corrupted then it's too late to clone. Depending what software you use to clone you can also end up with boot problems that need fixing.

^ That is very good advice. :)

Hmm well never tried using an image as I have always used cloning .

My latest foray into this had me scratching around for two days with no success. I then tried changing the second drive to a GPT disk after noticing the disk to be cloned was a MBR one and was absolutely dumbfounded to find not only did it clone but in super quick time - I wasn't watching but as opposed to the usual 8-10 minutes I am sure it did it in less than five. Mind you this was in Windows 10 though maybe that was the difference??

I have created >200 system images on 4 different PCs (different motherboards & CPUs) and performed a large number of system restores without a hitch using Windows inbuilt and Macrium. I have been using Macrium system imaging exclusively for quite a long time now. I have transferred to 4 new SSDs and a few new HDDs using imaging. The only problem I had was one SSD was misaligned and I fixed this easily using the Partition Wizard Mini Tool alignment function. A recent transfer was from a Crucial 128GB image to a Samsung 256GB 850 Pro.

I honestly haven't found it technically complex. I think it is useful to become comfortable with system imaging to existing and new drives. Macrium Reflect is a great product but like anything you may need a few practice tries. If you disconnect all but the new OS drive and reimage from the rescue boot pe it is hard to make too many mistakes and when you do try it again.

Yes MJF I should have at least a try at that as I rely on cloning a lot especially when I want to keep the original drive and use the clone for testing purposes for example the 10 upgrade etc my logic being that I do that on a small drive and it things go pear shaped with the upgrade or again for example a dual boot then I can just swap out the cloned drive for the original.

But I suppose I can afford to do that while others can't.

truckinguy said:

I used to clone but found the Macrium Imaging is the best for my needs.. saved my butt plenty of times. I have many saved images..OEM....wifes etc.

Yes me too truckin and I always use Macrium for cloning - I do this to try things out on (the clone) before I install/upgrade onto any drive

Yep truckin mate but personally I dislike large drives because if they go south in hurry then that is LOT of data lost _ I like to have say three 500GB drives - more than enough to keep my images up to date and if one goes belly up then I have the other two in much the same way as I still have the original install drive to fall back on if the clone loses the plot

But each to his own I guess eh? But I will agree that Macrium is great stuff eh? and one of the programs along with Partition Wizard I couldn't do without.