How often do you Verify your Macrium Reflect backup images?

f14tomcat said:

Not really "comfort factor", like a blanky, just 2-3 minutes well spent. IMO.

Absolutely, TC! I will continue to have Macrium verify my backups, since it's set to do just that, and doesn't disturb me one way or the other. I get a notice that it's doing its job and then that it's verified it did its job . . . that's it, as Shawn says . . .

And, in that rare instance that something can go wrong, it will. Not only will it go wrong, but it will be the one time I cannot afford to lose what I just finished doing!

essenbe said:

I verify every image when I take it. It's probably not necessary, but better safe than sorry.

Helmut said:

I always do a verify on every Image, part of the process for me.

KabyBlue said:

Interesting point...

Also in my experience, when using Macrium to attempt to create an Image from a buddy's PC that we suspected had failing sectors, it actually stopped half way with an error about reading the disk. Point being if there was an issue with a potential image, my guess would be it would probably not complete successfully...

Well, I can say that I have seen images complete successfully, and then fail verification - and not at the initial verification point either. It's quite possible for a drive to have failing sectors which can indeed be written to, but not read from. They are not marked for reallocation until after a failure to read has occurred. So, yes, it happens, I've seen it happen, and IMO verification is necessary.

cereberus said:

Small - no way - it takes a significant fraction of the time in my experience.

It takes just as long to verify as it does to make the image itself. So, it depends on how you have your system setup (OS on one drive, data on another/all on one drive, etc.); what kind of backup you're doing (full/differential/incremental/file+folder/grandfather-father-son, etc.), whether you're using SSDs or spinners, USB2 or 3, etc.

cereberus said:

Although MR can ignore errors if you set it to do so, in the end, I would only use this option to get as much data backed up as possible. The discussion here assumes the drive is read ok but not written to image ok. In the end, my experience tells me from literally hundreds of backups is that MR fails so rarely, wasting time on verifying image is pointless.

As I said, verification is really a hangover from DVD backup days when write could be more flakey.

Can anybody even remember a verification failing?

If I was trying to get as much data back as I could from a drive, I certainly wouldn't be using Macrium to do it. I would be using a recovery program in that case. And, yes, I do see verifications fail.

Wynona said:

Absolutely, TC! I will continue to have Macrium verify my backups, since it's set to do just that, and doesn't disturb me one way or the other. I get a notice that it's doing its job and then that it's verified it did its job . . . that's it, as Shawn says . . .

And, in that rare instance that something can go wrong, it will. Not only will it go wrong, but it will be the one time I cannot afford to lose what I just finished doing!

Well said Wynona.

I turned on auto verify to do it when making full backups. Unknown to me, I had problem with one of my RAM sticks and MR finished backup normally but when I tried to verify that one and couple of backups made earlier it didn't pass and those backups became useless. Some HW problems can make backup corrupted and verifying it make much sense. After all, I'm doing backups to make sure I can fall back to it.
Verifying can take 2 -3 times longer than actual backup but it's worth it. MR has options to shut computer down after successful backup so you can just let it run at the end of the day.

I verify with every image.
Cheap insurance. Cost: about 5 extra minutes.

And for me there is no cost. It's not like I sit and watch it. Doing images is one of those things I get going and then go eat dinner or anything else.

Clive K said:

Never. Not with Ghost and not since using Macrium. I've done hundreds of restores with nary a problem.
But you be the judge. hehe

It just may not work when needed most, If it's not as sure as possible, it's not real backup unless you are 100% sure it's reliable. I had a problem with RAM at one time. MR finished backup but could not verify it and sure enough it couldn't be restored. Unknowing to me that problem lasted for a while and I had to delete last few backups. From than on, I always verify at same time backup is made.

This thread is becoming pointless now.

It all comes down to a simple fact i.e. do you feel the need to use verification as an additional safety barrier?

I trust it implicitly, so I do not bother.

Others do trust Macrium Reflect (or else would not be using it) but prefer to take a conservative position and use verification as an added precaution.

I fully accept by not verifying, I am exposing myself to an additional risk, but that risk is very low (especially as I have confirmed backups), and is a risk I an willing to take based on many years experience.

As an aside, many of the regulars here are PRO users, and a really good way to check if an image is sound is to open the image in viboot as a hyper-v virtual machine.

essenbe said:

I verify every image when I take it. It's probably not necessary, but better safe than sorry.

I do the same, it only takes an extra minute or so.