Imaging programs

Solution: Persevere with Macrium Reflect and get to know the interface. For a simple system image of one drive I am just using the drop down menu at the top that says "Back up" and Selecting "Image Selected Disks". As I only have one disk I just checked all partions are ticked. Untick the back up drive if that is ticked too, then click next. Leave the next page as default settings (although I did untick "differential" on that page to keep the "rules" simpler and just make a one off full image). And proceed - to make an image. Then create a restore disk by selecting "Other tasks" on top menu and "Create a restore disk" (for reinstalling on a new drive eg). As I understand it the restore disk is needed to reinstall the image.

Original Post:

Now that Windows System Images are apparently no longer supported (deprecated) and the option may be removed from Windows 10, I am looking for a simple, user friendly way of making system images. I previously tried using Macrium reflect to clone a drive and had issues and found it complicated. So I tried EaseUS todo. Didn’t get far with that as the install crashed with a runtime doll error. That didn’t fill me with confidence so I have downloaded Macrium reflect free 7. It seems a bit simpler to do an image than cloning. First issue though is that the second window that opens with the backup criteria to select, doesn’t actually fit on the screen! So “next “ or any other selection is out of view. And can’t seem to move the box upwards on the screen. With F11 full screen and the task bar dropped out of sight I can just access the essential buttons at the bottom of the window.

But that hasn’t filled me with confidence either. I now have an image being done and it says it will take 3 hours! (Drive contents are 500gb approx on a 1tb drive.). Is that normal?

I know Macrium Reflect is very popular but I still don’t understand half of the tick box selections and find it a bit complicated. I really miss Windows built in image maker - it was so simple! And it always worked for me.

I realise third party image software will be slightly more complex as they offer a lot more than just system imaging. But can anyone reccommend something real simple and intuitive?

It now says it will take 5 hours!

Yes depending on what you are making the image on. Do incremental and only back up what you need such as those items not in cloud or external drives. I try to keep all personal stuff on iCloud or One Drive so that I can get to it cross platform.

Hello @Hazel123,

Just some information for you.

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Personally, I would stay clear of the Windows Built-In Imaging & Backup option for the reasons I have given below.

Information:

DOWNSIDE:

It is common knowledge that most of the time you CAN'T trust ANY of the MS built-in Backup or Image facilities because they just DON'T work. The System Imaging facility is a deprecated feature which is NO longer being developed or updated [ it used the same executables in every version of W10 ]. Even MS say that the built-in System Imaging facility should NOT be used . . .

System Image Backup (SIB) Solution
We recommend that users use full-disk backup solutions from other vendors.

SOURCE: > Features Removed or Deprecated in Windows 10

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UPSIDE:

If you do use the built-in MS System Imaging facility, then a Recovery Drive USB from almost any version of Win 10 is capable of restoring any other version of a Win 10 MS System Image. A Recovery Drive USB and the System Repair Disk DVD are functionally identical. The only requirement is that it is the same Win 10 bit type [ x86 or x64 ] as the System Image to be restored.

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Cloning Versus Imaging:

Cloning Versus Imaging:

Cloning is a one-step process that transfers the contents of 1 drive to another in real time. The target drive is immediately bootable if the cloning succeeds.

Macrium imaging merely creates a file with an mrimg extension. A very big file. You save it like any other file. You can move or copy it like any other file. It is largely useless in that state. It becomes useful when you formally "restore" it to some other drive, at which point that drive is immediately bootable. You can make a new image every day, week, or whenever, and keep as many as you like if you have the space. Or delete them at will. Each would represent your hard drive's state as of the moment the image file was made.

Imaging is done on a partition by partition basis. You choose which partitions to include in the image. You choose which partitions to restore. You wouldn't need the Macrium recovery media on the USB stick IF your hard drive is still bootable and you can still run Macrium from it. The stick would lead you to the same interface as opening Macrium from your hard drive, but it's much slower due to USB speed.

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 Alternatives - Imaging & Backup

Other Backup options [ Software ] available . . .

Software:

This Software is listed in alphabetical order as opposed to relevance order.

> Acronis True Image - PAID
> AOMEI Backupper Standard Edition - Free Backup Software for Windows - FREE
> EaseUS ToDo Backup - FREE
> FreeFileSync: Open Source File Synchronization & Backup Software - FREE
> Karen's Replicator - Backup Utility - FREE
> NovaBackup - PAID
> Paragon Backup & Recovery - FREE
> Second Copy Automatic Backup Software - PAID
> SyncBackFree: Backup and Synchronization Software - FREE
> SyncToy - MS Download Centre - FREE

I personally use . . .

> AOMEI Backupper Standard Edition - Free Backup Software for Windows

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I hope this helps.

Thanks. Is it worth paying for Acronis and is it faster and simple to use?

Years ago it was good. There are good free options.

From a GUI point of view, Aomei is the simplest.
Macrium is regarded as the most robust, and is updated every couple of months - even the free version.
However its GUI looks somewhat old-fashioned.

When I used Aomei backupper I occasionally found error message a bit oddly worded. That may have improved. It's Chinese, and the English is quite good, and they did respond to questions when I used it. I believe free includes incremental images, whereas Macrium free does not.

Macrium is widely supported with Youtube videos, an enormous help file.
It has a couple of useful repair utilities on its bootable disk.

I now have an image being done and it says it will take 3 hours! (Drive contents are 500gb approx on a 1tb drive.).

Factors: are you using a fully USB3 connection to a USB3 external drive? Or are you using USB2?

Is the source a SSD or a HDD?

Example: 150Gb from SSD to external USB3 HDD takes maybe 15-20 mins for the first (base/full) image.
Subsequent differential images (the difference between 'now' and the base image) - maybe 9 mins typically.
Also depends on how much has changed.

Macrium paid for supports faster options.

It's slow- but if you're using HDD->HDD over USB2 (you don't say) it will be much much slower than USB3.

All imaging programs- and some file backup programs- use the concept of base, differential and incremental imaging.

If you were to search for these terms you would find descriptions. e.g.
Disk Image: Incremental and Differential Images
What's the difference between differential and incremental backups (and why should I care)?
Full vs. incremental vs. differential: Comparing backup types
Incremental vs differential backup: what are the differences and how do they compare to full backup? | by Richard Gall | Macrium Software

No, a diff. image does not overwrite anything.

If your backup disk contains
base image
diff1
diff2
diff3

(each of those lines being an individual file on that disk)
then you can restore any of
base
base + diff1
base + diff2
base + diff3

I.e. 4 different dates to which you can restore the partitions represented by those image files.

Macrum reflect can also manage the image files on your backup disk so you never have more than, say, 1 base and 4 differential image files on the disk- so it never fills up if it's big enough for those.