System Image in Windows 10 usefulness now

After looking at "Drive Snapshot", Looks like support for it lacking a bit ? Last update was in March 2018, to support W10 1709? I see nothing about 1803, 1809 or 1903 when it happens. Doesn't look like a reliable solution to me ?

storageman said:

After looking at "Drive Snapshot", Looks like support for it lacking a bit ? Last update was in March 2018, to support W10 1709? I see nothing about 1803, 1809 or 1903 when it happens. Doesn't look like a reliable solution to me ?

Quite the contrary, it performs flawlessly in all builds up to and including the latest 20H1 build (18885). It has never had a reliability issue during my use in any Win 10 build. The proof is in the pudding, so to say, try it and then ping back with your experience...it would be useful to hear how it performs for others...

It has saved my "bacon" more times than I can count over the last "decade"...

Thanks for your reply.

Here is my understanding:

Disk imaging will duplicate the contents of one drive to another drive; it is used as a backup.

Disk cloning is a copy of the main drive to another drive; it is used when upgrading to another hard drive.

So, if I get a new computer, a clone of the current (old) computer could be made to then be duplicated on the new computer. This is assuming that the current computer drive is accessible.

I already have a backup plan in place for my data.

A disk image would be a backup of the operating system and could be used in the event there is a drive failure, and I need to replace the failed computer.

The assumption would be that the disk image would be done on a regular basis so the operating system would be current with the working computer. Am I correct in my understanding?

I mistakenly thought I could save application programs with the image backup and thus save time with installing programs. So, following your suggestion, I can create a list the software programs I have, and then keep the list up-to-date. The programs would then have to be installed on a new computer.

My current computer is getting old, but it is in good health. I have been lucky in the past with RAID and disk failures and have not lost data so I am hopeful this will be the case with my current computer. My backup plan is a security net in case disk recovery doesn't work as it has in the past.

It looks like I need to do a disk image on an external drive on a regular basis. Does this seem logical?

Is there some best practice for how frequent a disk image is done?

I really appreciate any help people can give me. While I totally understand backups and have a solid backup plan, I am just struggling with the notion of imaging and cloning. I can't seem to wrap my old brain around this.

'It looks like I need to do a disk image on an external drive on a regular basis. Does this seem logical?'

It is. A separate external drive with a disk image will be useful to restore your pc to the state it was in when the image was made if you run into a problem you can't fix.

Lynnea1941 said:

Thanks for your reply.

Here is my understanding:

Disk imaging will duplicate the contents of one drive to another drive; it is used as a backup.

Disk cloning is a copy of the main drive to another drive; it is used when upgrading to another hard drive.

For the best understanding of disk imaging versus cloning, I would suggest looking at the Macrium Reflect User Guide:

http://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v...df?src=sidebar

I mistakenly thought I could save application programs with the image backup and thus save time with installing programs. So, following your suggestion, I can create a list the software programs I have, and then keep the list up-to-date. The programs would then have to be installed on a new computer.

You were not mistaken. An image made of a Windows system disk usually includes all the elements of the operating system (including system, Microsoft Reserved, EFI and restore partitions) AND preserves the installed application software because it includes the Program Files and Program Files x86 directories, as well as the Registry, containing system and application settings.

In short, if you imaged the system drive of computer A, installed several applications or programs, then had to replace the system drive of computer A, you could restore the system drive image, and computer A would have the same OS and applications installed as it did when you made the system drive image.

It looks like I need to do a disk image on an external drive on a regular basis. Does this seem logical?

Yes. Strongly recommended, even.

Is there some best practice for how frequent a disk image is done?

As often as the data or operating system and applications installed change to any degree which you want to be able to restore.

I really appreciate any help people can give me. While I totally understand backups and have a solid backup plan, I am just struggling with the notion of imaging and cloning. I can't seem to wrap my old brain around this.

Lots of old brains around here. We're all still learning!

After looking briefly at a couple of videos for Macrium Reflect, it appears to me that in order to restore a disk image made from old computer A to be copied to new Computer B, Macrium Reflect software would have to be installed on Computer B. Is this correct?

In other words, a new Computer B would have the latest operating system, and the Macrium program would be installed on it so that it could be used to restore the information which had been copied to an external drive from old Computer A. So, this means that the image on the external drive should be as current as possible in regard to the software as the restoration would overwrite the programs on the the new Computer B. Am I understanding this correctly?

This would be where having an incremental backup schedule would be useful. Right?

My problem would likely be one that I already have three different backups being performed (9 am, 6 pm, and real time) so I would need to figure out how to schedule the Macrium backup so there wouldn't be a conflict.

Also, another question. The full 400 plus user guide is the only user guide even for the Macrium free version?

See comments below:

Lynnea1941 said:

In other words, a new Computer B would have the latest operating system, and the Macrium program would be installed on it so that it could be used to restore the information which had been copied to an external drive from old Computer A. So, this means that the image on the external drive should be as current as possible in regard to the software as the restoration would overwrite the programs on the the new Computer B. Am I understanding this correctly?

Yes, a restoration of an image would typically overwrite both the Windows installation and the installed programs on the new computer B.

But the old and new computers presumably have different motherboards, processors, hard drives, RAM, etc. The new hardware is likely superior to the old. The image of the old computer would contain info related to that old hardware.

The rule of thumb would be to bite the bullet and reinstall all programs to the new PC to avoid as many issues as possible. You can certainly restore the image of the old computer installation to the new computer, but it might not be as painless as you'd hope. Having said that, Windows 10 is said to be reasonably accepting of that.



This would be where having an incremental backup schedule would be useful. Right?

There's no over-riding reason to get involved with incremental backups unless you are pressed for drive space or time. The most common strategy is to make full image backups on some schedule--perhaps weekly or monthly. If your PC is in a high state of experimentation and constantly undergoing significant changes, maybe you make an image more often.


My problem would likely be one that I already have three different backups being performed (9 am, 6 pm, and real time) so I would need to figure out how to schedule the Macrium backup so there wouldn't be a conflict.

You may have an unusual situation, but why would you make images that often?

A few points:

Macrium images represent ONLY those partitions that you direct it to include. If you want to "backup my PC", that would typically mean including several partitions. The resulting image would be just 1 file, with an .mrimg extension. The size of the file would be roughly half the size of the occupied space on the included partitions.

You would typically make "recovery media" within Macrium from which you could boot in the event your hard drive is dead or dying. A USB flash drive is the recommended media. After booting from this media, you are presented with the Macrium interface that exists on the USB flash drive and can then "restore" a previously made image file to a known good hard drive. You would also likely have Macrium installed on your hard drive, but it of course would not be available to you after a hard drive failure.

Lynnea1941 said:

... it appears to me that in order to restore a disk image made from old computer A to be copied to new Computer B, Macrium Reflect software would have to be installed on Computer B. Is this correct?

No. In order to restore the Macrium image of Computer A to Computer B all you need to do is boot Computer B from a Macrium restore media USB. You can make this restore media using Computer A, or another machine (say, Computer C) with Macrium installed.

In fact, you don't even need Macrium installed on Computer A in order to make an image of it. The bootable Macrium recovery media is capable of making images as well as restoring them.

Bree said:

No. In order to restore the Macrium image of Computer A to Computer B all you need to do is boot Computer B from a Macrium restore media USB. You can make this restore media using Computer A, or another machine (say, Computer C) with Macrium installed.

In fact, you don't even need Macrium installed on Computer A in order to make an image of it. The bootable Macrium recovery media is capable of making images as well as restoring them.

The only issue is if Computer B has any kind of special drivers required to be loaded. Most don't, however, and the standard drivers included with WinPXE are all that is needed.