Macrium Reflect Resore Question

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by fdm2000, Dec 12, 2015.

  1. fdm2000

    fdm2000 Registered Member

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    My daughter had a Windows 7 issue and had to format from the Win 7 Pro disk. She has attempted to use a recent Macrium 6 backup and everything went well after using the rescue media to enter the restore function and select the external drive containing the backup image.All going well at this point.
    The restore ran until it reached 89% and then would not proceed because of a broken image. Not sure what this means and what might be the cause. Is there some way to salvage the restore?

    Any suggestions or assistance would be appreciated.

    Frank
     
  2. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Frank, without seeing the actual error msg it's difficult to make a suggestion. You can try and run a VERIFY operation, from the Recovery Media, on the image located on that external drive and let us know what the error might be.

    PS- there was no need to reformat the W7 partition... the rescue image should handle that just fine (if the image was good).
     
  3. fdm2000

    fdm2000 Registered Member

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    Thank you TheRollbackFrog. I am somewhat of a aging novice with Macrium Reflect 6. I should have mentioned that after the restore operation failed her pc crashed and would not boot up. She had to use the Dell restore cds to return back to full operation albeit with only the programs and apps preloaded when first purchased. She is apprehensive about running Macrium restore for fear that another crash will result - as a consequence I am unable to provide the error msg - except that she recalls that it mentioned the word broken. Can I impose on your patience and ask how to run a Verify operation from the Recovery Media. Not sure what you mean by the term Recovery Media on the image located on the external HDD (are you referring to the backup that she created on an external hard drive?). I am familiar with the verify operation when one runs a backup. Would you kindly walk me through the actual steps.

    If she is unable to do a restore (as mentioned it stops at 89%) is there a any possible way to salvage individual files e.g., her photos?

    Frank
     
  4. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Good morning, Frank!

    The "Recovery Media" is Macrium's official name for their CD/DVD/UFD-based BOOTable rescue media, apparently you have one. An "image" is the image of her disk taken during her most recent backup, located on her external HDD.

    When you BOOT the system up with that media, it eventually arrives at the RESTORE TAB of the media. When you did this originally, her image would have been available for selection in the right hand pane of the window... under the new System build, it may not. If it's not, you should use the "Browse for an image file" feature and locate her image. After selection, it should appear in the right hand pane as expected. If you SELECT that image, 4-Liks should show up in the right hand side of the image description... one of them is "Verify Image." PRESS that link and a "Verify Image" window will ope, allowing you to use the VERIFY function to see what's wrong with the selected image. It will check the image for you and hopefully give you the same error message that the original restore attempt did. It will not affect her current system status or build. Pls report the error if you receive one

    FYI: any incomplete (partially finished) restoration will render your system, usually, unBOOTable. At that point, the System is in an indeterminate state.
     
  5. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Macrium Reflect, either operating under its Recovery Media or from its installation under a LIVE System, usually can "mount" any backup image as a separate volume under the running Windows System. If the mount is successful, files may be copied from one volume (the mounted backup) to the current LIVE System volume without issue.

    BUT... if the backup image is found to be defective, it may or may not be mountable. Let's find out what the state of the backup image really is before we move on with trying to mount it and copy needed files.
     
  6. fdm2000

    fdm2000 Registered Member

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    My daughter left early for the gym but when she returns she will follow your instructions to verify the image. She did have a memory flash back and believes that the error message was
    "broken pipe" - whether there was any additional letters or symbols she doesn't remember.

    Your comment..."any incomplete (partially finished) restoration will render your system, usually, unBOOTable. At that point, the System is in an indeterminate state"

    Correct me if I misunderstand the comment, but it appears that after the incomplete restoration operation she was unable to start windows 7 (unbootable) and made an apparently hasty and perhaps unnecessary decision to use the Dell restore and recovery media (which is tedious and time consuming format and restore) taking her pc back to day one - with all her accumulated programs apps and files no longer available. Would this indeterminate state you mention have required her to to do that, or could there have been an alternative method? Good to know should this recur.

    You are most kind and patient with my uninformed basic, questions and I am grateful for your hand holding - I have another: if one adds ( installs) the boot menu option to start the recovery environment, is it still necessary to initiate the restore operation from the bootable cd rescue media as she has done? Or does the boot menu option accomplish the same thing as long as one is able to start the pc and get into windows?

    Frank
     
  7. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Frank, if her backup image is truly bad, and she has no other backup image of any kind, then, of course, her DELL restore option would be the only way to come up with some semblance of a running system.

    But if the image is really in tact... verified by the Recovery Media, then there's a good chance that the error was transient and that the image is just fine. Possibly something went wrong along the way with the external storage device or some other transient error. If that's the case, another restore attempt may work just fine, or if not, possibly that image moved to some other kind of external storage device would work just fine... as long as it's a good image and can be moved. There are many possibilities for both failure and success scenarios.

    Installing the BOOT menu is a nicety if the user is doing a lot of restores for whatever reason. Since it's installed pre-BOOT to actual Windows starting, even if Windows is unBOOTable the system may be able to get to that pre-BOOT selection point so it's always worth a try. BUT... understand, when it's installed it adds a stop along the way to normal Windows BOOTing. The delay at that stop point can be minimized through configuration but it will add some slight additional time to the system BOOTing process. All it really adds to the whole process is some speed to get to the Recovery Media itself. You'll still need either a BOOTable UFD (USB Flash Device) or CD/DVD just in case the disk content of the volume your restoring get messed up in some way (that's where the Local BOOT option resides)... a required backup "just in case."
     
  8. fdm2000

    fdm2000 Registered Member

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  9. fdm2000

    fdm2000 Registered Member

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    I gather that you are not a fan of the Boot menu - she does have it installed, and from your comments, it may be of little value to those who are fortunate not to require frequent restores. Should she decides to remove it - is there a way?

    Now to her restore problem: she ran the verify image operation and it too stopped at the 89% with the following "read error - permission denied operation cancelled - please locate file BF7BFF32B6585935-00.00.mring Insert media to locate the missing file
    File NO. 1 original file BF7BFF32B6585935-00.00.mring unable to find file please try again or cancel this process"

    She is able to see the missing file in her external HDD and it shows the file size but it appears that Macrium restore is unable to see the file. In your opinion does this indicate that the backup was unsuccessful or for some other reason it is unseen by the restore process - what are your thoughts? When the restore and verify image both stop at 89% would that somehow suggest that there are some of the backup files located on the image file?

    Since she is adamantly opposed to running Macrium restore again for fear that the pc will again become unbootable and the tortuous Dell restore/recovery will be necessary, it would appear that it is "game over"?

    Frank
     
  10. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Well, it not clear to me exactly what process the restore was in when it failed at 89%... but if the file was really missing, it could not have been the restoration part of the process unless she had a multi-part image when it was first created and only 1-part is now available.

    To be sure, see if she can do another VERIFY, but this time, use the "Browse for an image" LINK located at the top of the RESTORE TAB (or to the LEFT under the "Restore Tasks") to locate the image she'll be using for the VERIFY. Once located. try another VERIFY on the image found and see the results.
     
  11. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    If that image VERIFYs, I would suggest re-Installing Macrium on her newly built system and using its MOUNT feature to get access to all the files in that image. That way she can copy what she needs over to her new system and she doesn't have to risk another failed restore.

    Although if that SELECTED image verifies correctly, we can safely assume that a Macrium restoration, using that same "selected" image will also restore correctly.

    But let's see what happens with the "selected" verify. If a piece of the backup is missing, I have no idea where it will be. If the external storage device wasn't big enough for the original full image, it may have stopped, asking for a place to continue to, and if it wasn't continued properly, the image would be incomplete.
     
  12. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Well, think about it. If a user only uses the Recovery Media RESTORE function when their system breaks... hopefully that's not very often. Under those conditions I don't think a BOOT menu is very usable and only provides a "stumble" along the way into Windows. I use it a lot due to the amount of software & configuration testing I do... it's VERY USEFUL for users like myself.

    If she's "recovered" her system with the DELL recovery partition, both Macrium REFLECT and its BOOT Recovery Media should be gone at the moment. If she's since re-installed Macrium, she can use the "Browse for file" function, find it in the offered image list, and try the BROWSE function offered for that image. If it's got a good enough structure associated with it, Windows will create another "virtual" partition for her use on that system. Using the standard Windows Explorer, she can copy anything from that virtual image to her real system.
    If that 89% failure occurred during a pre-restore image process and the image is really there somewhere, then there should be a way of finding it and extracting its contents. That was the purpose of the 2nd verification above. If only part of the image is really there, although there's something there, its structure may not be readable for the purpose of extracting anything.
     
  13. fdm2000

    fdm2000 Registered Member

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    She is digesting your latest comments and advice and will do another verify when she gets back home and apprise you of the result. You also wrote:
    "If that image VERIFYs, I would suggest re-Installing Macrium on her newly built system and using its MOUNT feature to get access to all the files in that image. That way she can copy what she needs over to her new system and she doesn't have to risk another failed restore".

    She does have Reflect installed on the newly built system - she and I are unfamiliar with the Mount feature and does not seem to be found anywhere on the toolbar menus. Once again I will test your patience and kindly ask for explanation and how-to information.

    Frank
     
  14. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Once a fully verified (or maybe otherwise) is available under the RESTORE TAB, when selected. you will se a "Browse Image" LINK available. When you SELECT that, a small window pops up asking you to select that image. Once selected, an OK is performed and that image is mounted by Windows on the first available Drive Letter in her LIVE Windows system.

    At that point she can copy'n'paste as much as she wants...
     
  15. fdm2000

    fdm2000 Registered Member

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    You wrote: "But let's see what happens with the "selected" verify. If a piece of the backup is missing, I have no idea where it will be. If the external storage device wasn't big enough for the original full image, it may have stopped, asking for a place to continue to, and if it wasn't continued properly, the image would be incomplete".

    The selected verify also stopped at 89%. Her external Iomega drive had/has considerable storage capacity and currently still has 212 GB free space, so apparently that was not the cause of the failure? I'm sure there are many other possible causes. On a more positive note, she was able to access some of the contents of the external drive and copied what was accessible to her live system HDD. She is a very happy camper - it now appears that all of her photos and most, if not all, of her documents were transferred and are openable.

    You have been most gracious and enormously informative and helpful - she and I are in your debt for your time, patience and assistance. I have copied and saved our conversation for future reference - as Macrium is used so infrequently that finding our way around it is often problematic.

    Thanks again,

    Frank
     
  16. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    You are quite welcome!
     
  17. fdm2000

    fdm2000 Registered Member

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    Hey encountered another puzzle! My daughter went into her computer folder and along with the C drive she has two Drives which contain Macrium Reflect. One identified as Drive J and the other Drive K. Both are identical in all respects? Not sure why or how Windows created two drives when she has only one external HDD (an Iomega 500GB). She finds no way to remove one - what are your thoughts on the why/how and what if anything should be done.

    Frank
     
  18. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Those are virtual drives that she mounted when she went to get her files. If she mounted her backup image twice along the way, she'll have 2-virtual drives.

    In her desktop explorer window (one that shows all those drives), she can <right-click> on each of the 2-drives in question, select the "Macrium Reflect" option, then select unMOUNT image. She should do it for both of those virtual drives if she no longer has an immediate need for her backup's contents.

    EDIT: She can also do a System RESTART and her virtual drives will disappear during the reBOOT.
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2015
  19. fdm2000

    fdm2000 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the explanation and removal instructions. I am convinced that computer software is like women - hard to live with them and hard to live without them!

    Frank
     
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