Macirum Reflect storage question

I've never used Macrium, but after a self induced panic, and an apparent forthcoming Windows update I am way overdue backing things up. I have been trying to read all the posts about Macrium. I am currently reading one thread that's ~49 pages long.

I'll download that latest Macrium version 7, but right now I have a question about storage.
It seems like the best way is to store a backup is on a USB drive rather then dedicate an entire hard drive ?
If the USB is the way to go what memory size should I be looking to purchase.
My current set up is an SSD with my OS, and installed programs. My photos, and other documents are on another regular spinner drive. At present my C drive properties shows 72.1 GB used.

As to my self induced panic you may get a laugh out of it.
My system although I know it's old still "to me" loads programs even the browser too slowly, but once loaded operates fine. So in an effort to help myself after reading on this forum about turning on a diagnostic mode I did just that. Rebooted then went into my panic. I could not use any tools no internet access no sound etc. I could move about the system, but could not do much more. I said to myself "now you've done it McGinty", and other not so much nice language. It was getting late, and I was tired so I backed away, and resumed trying the next day. I could hear the forum saying you should have been backing up, but I was too late I had done the deed. Then I tried repeating what I had done invoking this diagnostic mode, and saw the menu choices. That's when I realized that once in the diagnostic mode you need to option back out of it, and reboot. Nice way to lose a few pounds of weight without exercising !

Well done for thinking ahead. A system image is a great 'insurance policy'.

Yes, an external HDD is the preferred choice, but a spare partition on an internal drive will do. A usb stick can be used, but an HDD is less likely to die unexpectedly, just when you need it. The most important consideration is not to use a partition on the same physical drive as your OS (otherwise you loose the image if the drive fails). The other important point is to make the recovery media (bootable usb stick or CD/DVD) so you have it ready if needed.

How large a drive do you need? Well, with medium compression (the default) a full Macrium system image will be about 60% - 70% of the used space on the drives being imaged. Choose a drive large enough to allow you to keep several full images. I use a 2TB usb HDD on which I have several images of each of my half-dozen machines.

I have two 2TB external USB HDD for my backups. I have 3 systems I image and store the images on both ext HDD.

If you store your images on an internal 2nd HDD in your system and get hit with ransomware or other virus it could destroy you images. I only plug in my ext drives when using them and only one at a time. I believe in safety and wear a belt and suspenders.


I also use MS SyncToy to backup my 2 data drives. So far I can hold 3 images of each system and my data with some room to spare.

This is how I organize my backups.



Jim

I do scheduled Reflect backups to a USB 2TB drive (system & user partitions) and schedule backups of the system partitions to a partition on an internal 2TB drive. I also do a monthly backup to another 2TB USB drive which is stored separately from the PC.

smalltown said:

My current set up is an SSD with my OS, and installed programs. My photos, and other documents are on another regular spinner drive. At present my C drive properties shows 72.1 GB used.

Your Macrium "system backup" would take up somewhere between 35 and 50 GB and will grow slowly over time as C expands. That .mrimg image file can be saved anywhere it will fit OTHER THAN on a partition that itself is included in the image file. A hard drive of some type is the much preferred location. I'd consider it to be a rather important file that you'd probably want to back up like any other important file--so you'd have an additional copy of it.

But it's probably not as important as your most important data files--all it's typically intended to do is save you the time required to reinstall Windows and applications after a semi-disaster of some type. Some of your other data files are likely irreplaceable regardless of how much time you spent trying. I'd hope you have that stuff backed up. You COULD back up personal data with an image made with the free version of Macrium, but that's a bit spooky as you'd have to make the leap of faith that Macrium would work as advertised after the disaster. I won't do that myself, but I'd guess many do.

I've located a spare 1TB portable drive, and a 4GB USB memory stick so I thought why not start by trying a back up with these.
I downloaded Macrium free ver 7, and completed the install. on my C drive. As I arrived at my first page where I select what I want to back up I realized that Win 10 has somehow created a drive called F and labeled it system reserved. Is there anyway to tell where this drive is, and is it ok to just delete it. I don't see any files on it unless they are hidden.

Windows uses a number of partitions in addition to your C: drive. What they are for and what they are called depends on whether you have a legacy MBR or a UEFI GPT system. Normally these other partitions are hidden and don't have a letter assigned. On rare occasions they get assigned a letter, but you don't have the rights to see them so you can't see what they contain. Without a screenshot of Disk Management it is not possible to identify the purpose of your partition, but the chances are that it is a required partition and should not be deleted.

In Macrium there is an option in the left hand pane to 'Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows'. Click that and it will select all your essential partitions for you.

Here is a screen snip of my disk management.
I'm just curious why it suddenly created this F System Reserved partition.
The other System Reserved partition that appears to be on C drive is 93% free.

added a screen snip of what Macrium would back up. Doesn't look like it wants to back up F

That is curious. It seems on the face of it that F: is not needed for Windows. I see your C: drive is from Crucial. Was Disk 1 your original HDD which you repurposed after cloning it to a Crucial SSD? If so, that could explain why it had a system reserved partition (though not why it has just acquired a drive letter).

You could find out one way or the other if drive 1's system reserved partition is necessary by temporarily disconnecting the drive. If Windows still boots then it is not needed.

I also note that (as on my MBR system) Macrium has not automatically included Drive 0, partition 3 (the Recovery Partition). You should tick that and include it in the image.