Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect

kado897 · 01 May 2018

cereberus said:

No - it is all or nothing if using Free version.

Regulars here generally recommend partitioning drive with OS+Progs on one partition and data on another, so you can do exactly what you want. This keeps the Macrium Reflect backup image more lean and mean. The data partition can be backed in a variety of ways ranging from simple manual copying through to scheduled automatic backups.

It's all or nothing with any imaging program, free or paid. Cerberus is correct to do what you want you need to partition the drive.

reddice · 02 May 2018

cereberus said:

No - it is all or nothing if using Free version.

Regulars here generally recommend partitioning drive with OS+Progs on one partition and data on another, so you can do exactly what you want. This keeps the Macrium Reflect backup image more lean and mean. The data partition can be backed in a variety of ways ranging from simple manual copying through to scheduled automatic backups.

I don't mess with partitions anymore. I have two separate hard drives. The main SSD hard drive is imaged using Macrium and the other spinning drive where my photos, images and games are is backed up using SyncBackFree.

Staffy · 13 May 2018

Hi,

My hard drive has packed up and I bought a new one to replace it. Fortunately, I made a backup with Macrium Reflect a few days before and will like to restore my system with that image. I have a couple of questions:

I read that restoring images to a different computer tend not to work if the new computer is different to the one where the image was made. Is changing a hard drive classed as a change in computer? The image was made with Windows residing on the old hard drive so in device manager, it will show that hard drive in the list of devices. If I restore to the new hard drive, it will no longer tie up with what is in the image. Will that cause issues?

In Macrium Reflect, there is an option to change the Alignment in the "Restored Partition Properties" option. The 2 options are Vista/7/SSD (1 MB) and XP (CHS) and it defaulted to the XP (CHS) option. Do I change to Vista/7/SSD (1 MB) for restoring a Windows 10 OS? If so, what happens if I left it and restored using the XP (CHS) option?

Thanks

CountMike · 13 May 2018

It will restore to another computer but result would be same as if you just transferred whole disk. May or may not work.

essenbe · 13 May 2018

If I understand correctly, you have a new hard drive. Your image is being restored to the new hard drive on the same computer. If that is the case, it is no big deal. That is not a new computer.

Staffy · 13 May 2018

Thanks for your replies guys. Yes, essenbe, you understood correctly. The only difference in my computer would be the new hard drive - everything else is the same.

Can anyone help with my other question about the Alignment option? From what I read, CHS is used up to XP and 1MB from Vista onwards so it looks like I need to change the property from XP (CHS) to Vista/7/SSD (1 MB) when restoring Windows 10 (I'm not sure why it defaulted to XP (CHS) though) but would be interested in knowing what will happen if I left it at the defaulted XP (CHS) value (just for my understanding :))

Kari · 22 May 2018

A recommendation to those of you who use a paid version of Macrium Reflect (Home or Workstation editions): Download and install Macrium Site Manager at Macrium Software | Your Image is Everything

I've been using its intuitive browser user interface now for some time, managing backups on two laptops and a tablet from it. No need to schedule backups on each device separately.

Just set up your definitions and schedules, use a network share as image repository and let Site Manager take care of everything. Site Manager is free for those using a paid version of Macrium. You can install it also on a PC with no version of Macrium installed, or one using a free version, but this PC can then only be used to manage Macrium on those computers with a paid for version.

Anyway, as soon as I started to use it, I have not even launched Reflect once.

I wholeheartedly recommend! In screenshot Site Manager showing my backup schedule for June 2018:

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect-image.png

Kari

FrankS · 25 May 2018

If I understand correctly, an incremental backup only refers to the previous incremental backup whereas a differential backup always refers to the full backup. If this is so then wouldn't it make sense (and save disk space) to delete previous differential backup after the last one has completed?

kado897 · 25 May 2018

FrankS said:

If I understand correctly, an incremental backup only refers to the previous incremental backup whereas a differential backup always refers to the full backup. If this is so then wouldn't it make sense (and save disk space) to delete previous differential backup after the last one has completed?

That's mostly correct. An incremental can also refer to a previous differential if it is newer than the previous incremental. It starts a new incremental chain as does a new full image.

Yes you can save space by deleting earlier differentials if you need to reclaim space but you lose the granularity of your backups.

CountMike · 25 May 2018

FrankS said:

If I understand correctly, an incremental backup only refers to the previous incremental backup whereas a differential backup always refers to the full backup. If this is so then wouldn't it make sense (and save disk space) to delete previous differential backup after the last one has completed?

In MR, you can set number of backups and oldest one will be deleted.