Issue with creating Image on Laptop with Macrium Reflect

steveh69 said:

Is this just backup software or can it be used to create a complete system image?

These pages will give you an idea about the software:How to Restore System Image with AOMEI Backupper

Word Man said:

Sorry, I didn't notice you were in the rescue WinPE interface until now. The log tab is in the Windows interface. Not sure where that history log would be unless it's accessible from the command prompt you can open in the WinPE environment (see icons at lower left). I think you open that prompt to a RAM drive lettered X and not sure it will actually store a copy on a physical drive unless perhaps there's one on the target drive.

I use Macrium and I have a laptop which was due a backup so I thought I'd try backing up from the USB to see what happens.

There is a log file as you say. It's in .html format, and as suggested it's on the X: drive (and also as suggested I don't think it persists on a physical drive when you reboot). There's also rescuepe.log which is created when the machine boots up, and may also give a clue to driver problems - having said that I had an error here even thought it all worked for me.

To get the log, the trick is to go into the X:\ProgramData folder, which is hidden. So something like the steps below might work, from the command prompt option in Macrium

In this example my backup USB drive shows up as drive D: . I find WinPE is a bit random about which drive gets which letters so the OP's will most likely be different. These steps also have the virtue of testing whether you can actually write to that drive from the WinPE environment.

Code:

d:
md d:\MyLog
cd d:\MyLog
x:
cd \
copy rescuepe.log d: 
cd \ProgramData\Macrium\Reflect
copy *.html d:
dir /a
{If there are any other files with a date/time corresponding to the backup, copy these too... you could just "COPY *.* D:" I guess}
exit

I still wonder if there's a hardware issue somewhere- that loose-fitting USB seemed a bit suspect.

Or a driver issue with the My Passport drive, where the Rescue Disk version of Macrium doesn't have the drivers? (But I know I've used a My Passport drive with Macrium before now.)

@steveh69,
Is there any reason why you're trying to backup from the Rescue environment by the way? Obviously there are times when you need to Restore from there, but Backup should be possible from within Windows, and it may be an idea to try it within Windows to see what happens - if it still crashes then the log should be easier to find for one thing.

Thanks DavidY for your valuable information I will save it for the future. In your closing sentences it was key to my ultimate success this evening "Is there any reason why you're trying to backup from the Rescue environment by the way?" To be honest with you that is way I learned to use Macrium Reflect in backing up an image and also restoring it successfully to address a failing hard drive, that worked perfect before the last round of MS updates. I tried it as you mention from Macrium reflect within Windows and worked PERFECTLY! You don't know how happy I am about that. I want to thank you again and also Wordman for your assistance as well, both you went above and beyond in helping me out and I really appreciate it. I will mark this thread solved.

Happy New Years!

DavidY said:

I use Macrium and I have a laptop which was due a backup so I thought I'd try backing up from the USB to see what happens.

There is a log file as you say. It's in .html format, and as suggested it's on the X: drive (and also as suggested I don't think it persists on a physical drive when you reboot). There's also rescuepe.log which is created when the machine boots up, and may also give a clue to driver problems - having said that I had an error here even thought it all worked for me.

To get the log, the trick is to go into the X:\ProgramData folder, which is hidden. So something like the steps below might work, from the command prompt option in Macrium

In this example my backup USB drive shows up as drive D: . I find WinPE is a bit random about which drive gets which letters so the OP's will most likely be different. These steps also have the virtue of testing whether you can actually write to that drive from the WinPE environment.

Code:

d:
md d:\MyLog
cd d:\MyLog
x:
cd \
copy rescuepe.log d: 
cd \ProgramData\Macrium\Reflect
copy *.html d:
dir /a
{If there are any other files with a date/time corresponding to the backup, copy these too... you could just "COPY *.* D:" I guess}
exit

I still wonder if there's a hardware issue somewhere- that loose-fitting USB seemed a bit suspect.

Or a driver issue with the My Passport drive, where the Rescue Disk version of Macrium doesn't have the drivers? (But I know I've used a My Passport drive with Macrium before now.)

@steveh69,
Is there any reason why you're trying to backup from the Rescue environment by the way? Obviously there are times when you need to Restore from there, but Backup should be possible from within Windows, and it may be an idea to try it within Windows to see what happens - if it still crashes then the log should be easier to find for one thing.

steveh69 said:

I tried it as you mention from Macrium reflect within Windows and worked PERFECTLY! You don't know how happy I am about that. I want to thank you again and also Wordman for your assistance as well, both you went above and beyond in helping me out and I really appreciate it. I will mark this thread solved.

Hi Steveh69,

You're welcome - glad you made some progress.

The only thing I'd add is that, if there was a lurking problem with the rescue media, you wouldn't want to wait to find out when you come to restore the backup from some disaster.

Unfortunately I can't think of an easy way to test the full Restore except by running it... but if that test goes wrong you'd have a big problem as you'd have overwritten your system and not have a working backup.

But I would at least boot up from your Rescue Media, and see if you can use the option to open up the image you just created in Windows Explorer. I think there may also be an option to Verify a backup image. There is also an option (under 'Restore', I think) to 'View unsupported devices' which is worth checking in case it indicates driver problems.

steveh69 said:

Happy New Years!

Happy New Year to you (and Word Man) too. :)