Did my Macrium backup work?

thinwhiteduke · 23 Apr 2021

Hi all

(Windows 10 Pro build version 10.0.19042)

I have downloaded Macrium Reflect 7 Free, but my download/install experience does not match the tutorial.

I have a simple PC set up and backup requirements. I have one desktop with a C: drive, a Samsung external drive I backed up to (using the Backup & Restore (Win7) option in Win10 before I found Macrium) and a CD/DVD drive. I want to backup my files (basically the My Documents folder) and also have a separate system Win10 image in case I need to reinstall Win10.

1. Running the install as administrator I got Part 1 (2) so downloaded the agent there. But then I did not get the screenshot for Part 1 (3) to install Windows PE or Rescue Media (though I see from the Macrium web page that v7 includes this)

2. I didn't get any of the Part 2 screenshots re the Rescue Media wizard. The Macrium Setup Wizard started. I chose "Home", not to register, then chose not to install VBoot (as you had no mention of this). I then clicked Install, and it finished and launched.

3. Please see my screenshot.

Did my Macrium backup work?-screenshot-2021-04-15-210106.png

I selected a "Create an image of the partition" option and managed to follow your other steps.

Now forgive me for appearing thick but can someone be clear on what I am getting with that second option? Is it a Win10 system image (with no user data files)?

My user data is all contained within C: under My Documents. If I want to back up those files, I presume I choose "Create a file and folder backup". Can I store that on my Samsung drive as well as the image? When I chose the 'Image selected disks' option, a message said my destination drive could not store both (or words to that effect).

I put my pc into hibernate that night and the following day it seemingly continued the backup. However, I didn't get any confirmation message to say it was successful. This is the image summary:

Did my Macrium backup work?-screenshot-2021-04-16-180650.png

So I suppose in the end I'm just wondering why I had a different experience, did it work, and presumably the different messages I am seeing/not seeing is simply because I'm using version 7 and the tutorial is for an earlier version.

Any advice as ever is welcome

Thanks, Tim

dalchina · 23 Apr 2021

Hi, you don't give a link to the document you refer to, so I will set that aside. Further, if it's a tutorial here for MR, that's probably not been updated as you say, unlike all the others as far as I know, alas. There are plenty of guides for using MR around.

Where did you specify the image file to be stored? On an external disk?

Simply explore that disk and see if one has been created.

Normally you would see a dialogue showing the progress of imaging and transfer rate, for example, and a final dialogue showing - hopefully- its completion, waiting for your acknowledgement.

Given that you've chosen - apparently- to image well over 1Tb, I would expect that to take a long time over USB2- perhaps 3 hours- and perhaps 30-40 mins over USB3. (Those are very rough guesses).

If you
- see no image file on your destination disk
- didn't see that progress dialogue for that duration

you presumably didn't actually start the job succesfully.

Hint: if using an external USB disk to store image files, set a drive letter late in the alphabet - say R - so every time you plug that disk in, irrespecitve of other devices, it should be allocated R- the letter the backup job expects.
Just makes it easier.

Note the free version only supports
base imaging
differential imaging

Data backup is only available with the purchased version.

Product comparison - features:
Macrium Software | Product Comparision

Good you realise the significance of that- there are plenty of other products you can use discussed on tenforums in various threads to supplement imaging- e.g. data synching tools.

Want a guide? Try Google like this e.g.

ignatzatsonic · 23 Apr 2021

Looking at your screenshot in the first post.

I see only 2 partitions. Both have checkmarks underneath them.

You should have done this:

Put a checkmark under any and all partitions on the drive that contains the C partition. I cannot see if you have more than 2 partitions off to the right side. Maybe you do. Maybe you don't.

Regardless, put a checkmark under ALL of them.

The next step would be to poke "image this disk" that you can see in your screenshot, and click next.

That will lead you to about 5 more screens. You can accept defaults for all of them, but you MUST select a proper destination, which I think is on the second screen.

You'll end up with 1 big file with an .mrimg extension on the destination drive.

Your data will be included assuming your data is on one of the partitions you checkmarked.

Can you get that far?

Did you end up with an .mrimg file at all?

"File and folder backup" is a completely separate and distinct process available ONLY in the paid version that would back up ONLY your data, not Windows. You can use it if you want to, but it isn't the sharpest tool for the job. To repeat....your data will be backed up EVEN IF you do NOT use file and folder backup.

If you want to back up your personal files, your best bet is to use another application entirely, even though Macrium can and does do it. Macrium is just a clunky tool for the job. The better tools do NOT use imaging. They simply copy.

Bree · 23 Apr 2021

thinwhiteduke said:

... I didn't get any of the Part 2 screenshots re the Rescue Media wizard...

From the Part numbers you are quoting, you are probably referring to Kari's Ten Forums tutorial.

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect

It was written some time ago, with screenshots from Reflect v6.2. While the majority of it is still relevant today, there will inevitably be parts that don't match the current version of Reflect. Kari plans to rewrite it shortly....

Kari said:

This tutorial will need to be completely rewritten. As version 8 is so close, to avoid two rewrites in a few weeks, I'll wait until version 8 is out, before rewriting the tutorial.

Be patient, geeks.

Kari

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect = post #1072

thinwhiteduke said:

I put my pc into hibernate that night and the following day it seemingly continued the backup. However, I didn't get any confirmation message to say it was successful...

So I suppose in the end I'm just wondering why I had a different experience, did it work, and presumably the different messages I am seeing/not seeing is simply because I'm using version 7 and the tutorial is for an earlier version.

You get a Windows notification when the backup starts, there is no corresponding one to say it has completed. Reflect does have a pop-up window of its own to say 'completed' but its small and you may have just clicked 'OK' without taking much notice of it. The log in your screenshot however will say at the very end whether or not it was successful. You can go back and read that log again on Reflect's 'Log' tab, select the date of your backup, then scroll to the bottom of the log.