Macrium reflect

[billd766]

I downloaded a copy of Macrium Reflect in an attempt to back up my C drive and my Data files drive to an external hard drive so that if the main PC dies I have a back up copy elsewhere to reload it.

 

At the moment I plug my external drive in every Friday morning religiously, open "Thai PC", delete last weeks saving, and do a "copy C" to the external drive and then a "copy F" to a separate folder on the hard drive. This takes most of the morning and then I do an IOBit Malware Fighter full scan, a full Advanced System Care scan and a full Smart Defrag on ALL the drives. That lot sometimes take over night to do.

 

I tried Macrium once and it seemed to do the C and F drives fairly quickly bu when I check the external drive it seems to take up about half the size that the way I normally do it.

 

Am I doing something wrong or is that the way it should be?

 

Any advice would be helpful.

[david555]

Having Macrium , but find it too complicated  (keep it in reserve )

I use Win 10 system image build in option as very simple to do . As a backup who makes my Windows back in that time status all settings and doc. identicall

 

In Win 10 >settings>backup >more options > see advanced settings >(left down screen) System Image Backup> Create a system image > And then you are on "the disc to put it on screen "...

Edited January 12, 2020 by david555

[Daffy D]

To make a BackUp that will restore your main drive to a bootable copy you need to select this option:-

Clicking through the options you have the choice of Full - Differential - Incremental BackUp. I always choose the "Full" option. I have a SSD with about 70gb data and that takes less than 15 minuets for a full BackUp.

 

I think you can use the differential options for your files and that should be quicker as it does not have to copy your whole data each time.

 

 

[billd766]

19 minutes ago, Daffy D said:

To make a BackUp that will restore your main drive to a bootable copy you need to select this option:-

Clicking through the options you have the choice of Full - Differential - Incremental BackUp. I always choose the "Full" option. I have a SSD with about 70gb data and that takes less than 15 minuets for a full BackUp.

 

I think you can use the differential options for your files and that should be quicker as it does not have to copy your whole data each time.

 

 

Thanks. I will probably try that next Friday.

[billd766]

44 minutes ago, david555 said:

Having Macrium , but find it too complicated  (keep it in reserve )

I use Win 10 system image build in option as very simple to do . As a backup who makes my Windows back in that time status all settings and doc. identicall

 

In Win 10 >settings>backup >more options > see advanced settings >(left down screen) System Image Backup> Create a system image > And then you are on "the disc to put it on screen "...

I am using Win 10 and I am with you up to this point

 

In Win 10 >settings>backup >more options >

 

I go to more options and I see back up with file history and either off or on I cannot see advanced settings. I have gone all around options, system restore, and created a restore point for today, 

 

I even went to Settings and typed System Image Backup and it doesn't recognise that command.

 

I will try again tomorrow and see how I get on.

 

see advanced settings >(left down screen) System Image Backup> Create a system image > And then you are on "the disc to put it on screen "...

 

Thanks for your help.

 

[david555]

In Macrium also you can in "other tasks" (up left) choose set a "boot menu" to choose from starting with rescue explorer menu or straight start Windows (10) when starting up your computer , a kind of replacement for safe mode if you need ..!

 

That I installed so I don't need to search which key to press to get in safe mode if needed , can so also use my Windows System image disk as choice .Is a handy Macrium tool !

[david555]

Left corner down : system image ,   " I am a clicker not a typer ...in Windows handling ...

Here Windows is looking for the drive to store on and further it is pointing to itself (nothing to writing commands …)

Edited January 12, 2020 by david555

[david555]

This is the boot menu from Macrium if installed in more options menu , further you can handle it in your normal windows settings how long it stay on screen 

 

[billd766]

2 hours ago, david555 said:

Left corner down : system image ,   " I am a clicker not a typer ...in Windows handling ...

Here Windows is looking for the drive to store on and further it is pointing to itself (nothing to writing commands …)

Ah, a light bulb has just clicked on as the external hard drive is physically disconnected. Tomorrow I will try again.

 

Thank you.

[topt]

3 hours ago, billd766 said:

I tried Macrium once and it seemed to do the C and F drives fairly quickly bu when I check the external drive it seems to take up about half the size that the way I normally do it.

When you image my memory says that Macrium Reflect compresses the data slightly. 

 

3 hours ago, Daffy D said:

To make a BackUp that will restore your main drive to a bootable copy you need to select this option:-

Please correct me if I am wrong but if you image everything (image selected discs but tick everything) would it not have the same effect - as the image will contain the boot files/partitions?

[billd766]

25 minutes ago, topt said:

When you image my memory says that Macrium Reflect compresses the data slightly. 

 

Please correct me if I am wrong but if you image everything (image selected discs but tick everything) would it not have the same effect - as the image will contain the boot files/partitions?

TBH I have no idea until I try it.

 

I do have another external HDD to use, just in case.

[david555]

I use 2 different disks , both partitioned in 2 partitions , 1 disk have a software collection on it , and the second partition has a system image  …works whiteout  problems 

 

But the other disk with 2 partitions , when  I try to do 2 system images on it, on different partitions , then that fails every time one on that disk , seems something is not allowing 2 system images on 1 physically HD to make ,and only accept 1 to make , probably it see a system disk already on that other partition I guess . 

[katana]

Is the external drive connected via USB? I recently tried backing up using Macrium Reflect via USB 2.0 to an external disk. Took forever. However, attaching the external disk to a spare SATA connector on my MOBO dramatically sped things up.

[bendejo]

14 hours ago, billd766 said:

t the moment I plug my external drive in every Friday morning religiously, open "Thai PC", delete last weeks saving, and do a "copy C" to the external drive and then a "copy F" to a separate folder on the hard drive. This takes most of the morning

As explained above, C must be backed up as an image.  My C drive has about 47Gb used, and that squeezes down to a 37Gb Reflect file.  I run the backup and have it saved to another partition on the same disk (much quicker), then afterwards copy it over to an external drive, and then use Reflect to validate it.  This last bit is important, as an invalid image is useless.  If you have other partitions that Windows created be sure to back those up too.  On my system 1 and 3 in this pic are what I'm taking about.

 

 

Try to get your hands on a utility that compares files/directories.  I use one called Beyond Compare, but it's not free.  I have backups of my other partitions on the external drive, but rather than delete the old one I use BC to copy over new files only.  Saves a bit of time.

 

Be sure to have a bootable thumb drive with Reflect, you will need it to restore. I always do the backups from there, as opposed to running it in Windows.  The only time I run Reflect in a Windows session is to validate.

 

[C followed by a colon turns into ???? ]

 

 

Edited January 13, 2020 by bendejo

[Daffy D]

11 hours ago, topt said:

When you image my memory says that Macrium Reflect compresses the data slightly. 

Yes it does, but not so much. You can still access them without going through the backup process.

11 hours ago, topt said:

Please correct me if I am wrong but if you image everything (image selected discs but tick everything) would it not have the same effect - as the image will contain the boot files/partitions?

If you just make copies of of everything I don't think it will have the Boot! files, I have never tried this but I wouldn't like to take the chance.

 

On the Macrium recovery disk/flash drive it has a Boot! file that you can use if your computer has a corrupt Boot! or no Boot! file.

 

Be sure to make a recovery disk/flash drive so you can restore your back up.

 

Just as an aside, I use Macrium for my weekly system back up but for all the other data I use SyncBack that checks previous files and only update those that are not the same. Saves rewriting all the files each time.

 

[johng]

20 hours ago, billd766 said:

then I do an IOBit Malware Fighter full scan, a full Advanced System Care scan and a full Smart Defrag on ALL the drives. That lot sometimes take over night to do.

IMHO,I think you should do the  Malware/virus scan first  otherwise you have already backed up the virus

also defrag every week is a bit of overkill

[david555]

On top of former reply , watch out if you use any iobit (as I also do , good programs I find ..) and you would use or install Malwarebytes … well Malwarebytes removes always Iobit program or put in quarantine , especially Advanced system care ...unless  you put those in "allowed " (and even then MB still try to do , it seems Iobit borrowed some things from MB without asking.... by internet sources ,  lol)

Edited January 13, 2020 by david555

[billd766]

22 hours ago, Daffy D said:

To make a BackUp that will restore your main drive to a bootable copy you need to select this option:-

Clicking through the options you have the choice of Full - Differential - Incremental BackUp. I always choose the "Full" option. I have a SSD with about 70gb data and that takes less than 15 minuets for a full BackUp.

 

I think you can use the differential options for your files and that should be quicker as it does not have to copy your whole data each time.

 

 

I used another external hard drive and imaged my C drive which took just over an hour.

 

That took up 84.8 GB down from 404 GB in the original C drive. Tomorrow I will delete it and try to load my data drive which is 537 GB and if that works on Friday I will try to image them onto my main external hard drive in separate folders.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

 

[scottiejohn]

2 hours ago, johng said:

also defrag every week is a bit of overkill

There is no need to defrag every week with Win10 on a HDD as win 10 does it in the Background and DO NOT defrag on an SSD as it is counter productive.

[billd766]

23 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

There is no need to defrag every week with Win10 on a HDD as win 10 does it in the Background and DO NOT defrag on an SSD as it is counter productive.

Well I don't have an SSD so that won't be a problem but when I open my defrag program (Smart Defrag 6) it shows that the drive is around 3 or more % fragmented. After the program has run it is 0.1% or less. Win 10 doesn't seem to be doing that good a job for me.

[Mavideol]

23 hours ago, david555 said:

Having Macrium , but find it too complicated  (keep it in reserve )

I use Win 10 system image build in option as very simple to do . As a backup who makes my Windows back in that time status all settings and doc. identicall

 

In Win 10 >settings>backup >more options > see advanced settings >(left down screen) System Image Backup> Create a system image > And then you are on "the disc to put it on screen "...

am with you on that.... btw is Macrium free

[david555]

10 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

am with you on that.... btw is Macrium free

Macrium is free for not commercial use they say , I stick with Win 10 system image (is a part of good old Win 7 ) as once you know the way to do it is very simple , but that Macrium boot screen option is handy as it make a boot disk not needed , so I installed it and before Windows 10 start it appears  and then you choose .

I never use file history (is set off) if something important I put temporary on a USB stick , and monthly I make a system image , or if a big update happens .

Edited January 13, 2020 by david555

[Mavideol]

2 minutes ago, david555 said:

Macrium is free for not commercial use they say , I stick with Win 10 system image as once you know the way to do it is very simple , but that Macrium boot screen option is handy as it make a boot disk not needed , so I installed it and before Windows 10 start it appears  and then you choose .

I never use file history (is set off) if something important I put temporary on a USB stick , and monthly I make a system image , or if a big update happens .

I am doing exactly the same as you, using win10 to back up to HDD, automatically backup every Sunday.....

just curious about macrium, is not the first time I heard about it

[david555]

1 minute ago, Mavideol said:

I am doing exactly the same as you, using win10 to back up to HDD, automatically backup every Sunday.....

just curious about macrium, is not the first time I heard about it

Because many don't find or know Win 10 system image as it s quite hidden away if not knowing it where to find ,restoring a system image is also a hidden way , as in boot screen Win 10 many many different options who  most need a restart , and then seeing is a wrong choice ...

[billd766]

3 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

I am doing exactly the same as you, using win10 to back up to HDD, automatically backup every Sunday.....

just curious about macrium, is not the first time I heard about it

I have been backing up my pc hard drive to an external HDD since 2016 when the pc hard drive locked up and died. Until that point I never even thought about backups. I lost a lot of stuff, some irreplaceable photos etc and it cost me another pc HDD and I bought and external HDD as well.

No I back up every Friday to the external drive.

I downloaded and tried Macrium a while ago but I couldn't get on with it but I did try again this month and it did back up my C drive today. I am not too sure yet how to download it but I am willing to give it a try.

[Mavideol]

6 minutes ago, david555 said:

Because many don't find or know Win 10 system image as it s quite hidden away if not knowing it where to find ,restoring a system image is also a hidden way , as in boot screen Win 10 many many different options who  most need a restart , and then seeing is a wrong choice ...

thks, understand your point but I use to backup win7 and then xp thus win10 was the following but had to do some clicking around before finding the correct way, for me it's easier to use win10 than some 2rd party software, first we download for free, after some options get blocked asking for a "payable" upgrade (catch 22) .... since some may had already use their services, they could be stuck with the "payable" upgrade... it's a no for me. I do sometimes use frostwire to download some software but it has to have a patch or key generator otherwise ignore it

Edited January 13, 2020 by Mavideol

[Daffy D]

With Win10 there is an option to have "My Pictures" and I think "Documents" folders on a different drive to "C" which can save a lot of disk space and backup time if you have tons of photos. The link to "Pictures" is still on "C" but the file is actually on another drive.

 

I have about 100Gb of photos on a separate drive, this saves having to copy them all again at each back up.

 

As far as I recall click on properties in the folder will give the option of moving it to a different location.

 

Of Course you have to remember that the "Pictures" folder will not now be included in your regular back up. I use SyncBack to make an incremental back up that only copies any files or pictures that have changed since the last time. Saves a lot of back up time.

 

 

 

 

 

[billd766]

3 hours ago, Mavideol said:

am with you on that.... btw is Macrium free

Well the basic one is and I don't think at 75 years old I could handle a full one.

[Daffy D]

10 hours ago, billd766 said:

Well the basic one is and I don't think at 75 years old I could handle a full one.

Me too,

The basic free version does all I need.

 

Don't know why some think it's complicated to use. Once set up the first time, what drive to copy to and "Full" back up, takes just 3 clicks each time to start the process.

 

 

[scottiejohn]

16 hours ago, billd766 said:

Well I don't have an SSD so that won't be a problem but when I open my defrag program (Smart Defrag 6) it shows that the drive is around 3 or more % fragmented. After the program has run it is 0.1% or less. Win 10 doesn't seem to be doing that good a job for me.

Every day, behind the scenes, Windows 10 performs maintenance on your PC. It does things like security scanning and performing system diagnostics to make sure everything is up to snuff — and automatically fixes problems if it finds them. 
There’s a chance, though, that the feature has been accidentally turned off so the maintenance hasn’t been done. You can make sure it’s turned on and runs every day, and run it manually if you’d like.
Run the Control Panel app and select System and Security > Security and Maintenance.