Macrium Reflect

Hi

I have also been thinking that the RDR function could be the root cause behind my experience .
Could you be so kind to elaborate as to what can happen when you do a restore "the wrong way" according to your post above ? What do you think could be the reason/s to a vanishing WinPE environment and have you experienced that before ?

Flakey system ?...hardware problems ? , hmm , no i do not think so because of the fact that everything functioned alright before it happened the first time and then the pc went to repair and after the repair i then changed to a SSD disc and all was fine but later on exatly the same thing happened in the exact same way , again ! ?

The fact that i could restore without problems using a disc for weeks the first time before i changed to boot option witch failed after 4 to 5 times , both times , is another reason indicating a Macrium problem , i think . The second time i played with destiny and tried boot option directly .

 

Okej , thank you for your answer . Yes something deleted the the Win PE file , i think it was due to some sort of Macrium corruption . The thing is how , technically , meaning what can be wrong with Macrium when it does that . The only other possible software that could have deleted it would be some very common security d.o`s if not Spotify all of a sudden has gotten powerful .

No i could not restore to a Macrium image , i used a W8.1 installation disc that suddenly worked after 5 hours of trying .

 

The complete inner workings of the RDR process are unknown to me but the process is pretty clear. RDR will compare the File Index of the INC/DIF/FULL of the time point you're headed to the File Index of what is currently on your disk at the time of the process. It calculates the differences needed to restore to that time point, then scans all the images in that chain, starting with the FULL reference and moving through each successive image in that chain, obtaining exactly what it needs to restore the disk to the image selected. Due to the speed at which it does this, I'm guessing that the new image format may be indexed in some fashion, allowing the application to scan the needed parts very quickly.

If all seems reasonable with the above approach, the restore moves on. BUT, I have not tried an RDR of an unrelated (or possibly seriously broken) disk image with another completely different system image (no relationship to the original). I believe Reflect has some checks in place to determine if this is a fact and if it finds no relationship of the images at all, it switches to the old style FULL restore process, restoring the reference FULL image and all of its successors up to the selected time point. If it doesn't detect the needed relationship and goes ahead with its RDR, I have no idea what the outcome would be (a real mixed-up system?).

That's why I suggested that if it appeared your system had been compromised, I would never use an RDR to try and recover it... but a non-RDR recovery should have worked just like it did in the days of v5 and earlier, those types of recoveries are surely not rocket science

No, I have not seen vanishing WinPE environments before. When you first have Macrium add it's WinPE environment to the BOOT Configuration Data (BCD) for use by your system's BOOTmgr, it edits the BCD and adds its needed entry... that's all it does. From there on, you should be able to see that BOOT option whenever you BOOT into Windows (unless its been edited by something else). Reflect never touches that entry or the BCD again until you invoke it at the restoration of your System partition. During that process, Reflect will tell you that it is unable to LOCK the drive in question (System partition) and will ask you if you want to use AUTOMATIC Boot (which will be pre-checked if you have the Reflect WinPE installed). If you say YES to the "Run from Windows PE" by selecting that Button, Relect will again edit the BCD but only to mark the Reflect Recovery Option as DEFAULT so that when the reBOOT starts, it will be seleted to run. During the reBOOT, the BOOTmgr appears and runs the installed Reflect PE. This also is not rocket science as many programs do this when using their supplied/installed WinPE/Linux options.

In your case I do not believe it to be a Reflect problem. If you tried a restoration WITHOUT RDR selected, it should have restored your system perfectly, if it didn't, something else is at play. I'm not sure of the age of your machine but if your BiOS is flakey (a failing BiOS battery will surly cause that), lots of weird things can happen during the BOOT process.

Wish I could help more...

 

Okej , i see .

The thing is that before it happened the first time there where no indicators of any problems at all with the pc . At that time i used a disc when booting , had newly bought the program . So after i have been testing it for a while and considered it ok i decided to make it more permanent and installed the boot menu option and it went fine . Tried some restores and that worked fine and i considered Macrium with RDR to be a juvel of beauty and simplicity and thought i at last had found my backup solution . That it was reliable i knew from before .

Suddenly when i should restore , i think it was the 5th time , it said that the WinPE environmet was missing ...so i reinstalled it thinking , yeah , in short , what the hell ?? !The following restore it gave a blue screen when it booted up after the restore and the pc was not working as it should in any way at all . Boot time was several minutes and increased the more i tried to fix it . After hours i gave up then the boot time was about 10min . So i sent it to the repair shop . They tested everything and could not find a problem so they considered it to be a problem with the motherboard and so they changed it . At least thats what they told me and they were probably right since it worked . I got it back in working order .

After playing around with it for a while while all was fine i decided to change the disc to my newly bought Samsung 850evo SSD . After that i got the pc i always wanted , a fast lean mean smooth machine . I was happy as a clam . So after a few hours it was time to do the ultimate test , would it survive more than 5 restores with Macrium or not . In short , was it the pc or was it Macrium . I put my 6 months old pc ( there is the age ) to the test with risking to create a pale of junk again . Expensive junk .

I installed meaningless software like Unchecky (sorry michael) and the like and restored until it gave the same error as before , WinPE environment missing . Then i knew it would go wrong . So i installed the PE environment again and it did its check of earlier environment and could not find any so the install continued . The first restore after that was a nervous one since that was the make a break point. It failed . Bluescreen . Then 5 hours of work started to restore it and trying out how all the existing boot options worked + everything else . Nothing answered as it should ! Then all of a sudden a try , one of many , with the W8.1 installation disc responded so i used the option in a hurry and it worked fully . Puuh !...but would all be ok ? nope it was not . It booted like an old HDD . I decide to keep going and install and fix everything as i wanted but the problem still existed . Now 3 days later it works but it still is as crippled as it was after the reinstall . I am shure that it booted better this time only due to the fact that i had a SSD in it .

To me all this speaks of Macrium reflect to be responsible for the events especially since the repair shop did not find anything . I have had everything set to default values with Macrium all the time and i have nothing to speak of on my pc as i have mentioned in an earlier post . I wonder what would happen if i tried out a new cycle of 5 restores ? !

If it would be hardware problem behind it what could that be ?

Now , i am talking to Nick Sills on Macrium support by E-mail and i hope they have some solution to it but so far it do not seems to be the case .

 

The only other s-ware i have is MBAM premium , Bd free AV , Hitman pro alert 2 , Unchecky and Spotify and they have never given me any problems before .

I know that it is not an absolute fact that the pc is 100% ok just because they have tested it and found no fault but , the fact that they say so and the fact that it worked flawlessly before the first incident with disc restores , makes me believe that the pc was in good shape . The problem started with the use of boot menu .

Wheater it is Macrium or the pc an interesting fact is that exactly the same thing , exactly , happened twice , how could that be ?...what causes that ? - even after the new motherboard .

Oh , another fact is that i have used other backup software way before without any problems , Aomei and Easus , booth with boot menus .

A couple of years ago i had a horrible incident with Farstone restoreIT that totally crashed a pc for me , an incident that could not have happened because FR could not affect a pc that way , that was the tune . The same tune that Macrium support are singing right now . Now , in retrospect , many knows that it could and did . I got my money back from Samsung because they couldnt understand the problem and decided to consider it a constrution d.o . Cudos to Samsung !

 

No , because i contacted them first after the second event .

 

pb1, I don't know what state your system is in but I'll pass on what I did with mine when setting up Macrium Reflect. Although Reflect has installed thousands of successful BOOT menu referenced WinPEs, due to experience I've had with other vendors at times, using EasyBCD I install all my own WinPEs (ISOs) in that menu. As a result, I have Reflect produce an ISO rather that do the installation for me. I then have EasyBCD install the menu item using the menu item name Reflect requires (Macrium Reflect System Recovery). When I do this, I guarantee myself a consistent management of the BCD, and as long as the rightly named ISO image is referenced in the BCD, Reflect will offer the ability to use it when you do a restore of the System volume.

This has always worked well for me. ...and I still have to comment that I believe there's no way Reflect can cause what appears to be the hardware issues that you seem to be experiencing, especially with failures not occurring until after many restores... this makes little sense to me.

 

Hi Peter

Interesting...do you know if the Time Machine conflict with Reflect v6 is limited to the 528 Build of v2 or if it also occurs for users of the 24 Build of v1? Just interested as I am using v1 AX64 Time Machine and am contemplating installing Reflect v6 for a trial?

Thanks in advance.

Regards, Baldrick

 

I would guess that any effect Reflect would have would be on AX64's TRACKING FILE. If that's the case, just uninstall AX64 if you're concerned during the Reflect TRIAL... you can always go back and have your most recent images available.

 

I have not had a problem with AX64 V1 and have been using MR6 for some time. I have updated the MR6 software the day the updates were announced,,,,,you are probably ok with the 2 versions given my experience (but of course no guarantee).

 

That makes sense, I the AX64 tracking file would def get messed up by a MR6 restore. Have not tried to do a AX64 restore immediately after doing a MR6 restore so while its likely I have no experience with the situation. Of course the tracking file would be repaired the next time an AX64 snap was made so its not something that would likely bite you days or weeks later.

 

That thing with EasyBCD sounds like a good and interesting thing and is probably a secure way of doing it thank you for passing that on . Maybe i will try it some time .

So you think there is no way that Macrium could have caused it , even though it worked with discs for weeks ?
Look at AX64 that behaves randomly depending on the pc and then consider the fact that RDR in Macrium is a new feature . Another fact is that almost every fast restore backup program that has existed over the last years have had big problems with just that feature . For me it is therefore not a totally absolute that Macrium can NOT be responsible so i am not wholly that shure .

 

Hi Peter

Thanks for that. Sounds like I should give Reflect v6 a go. If I do then what would you recommend as a AXTM like schedule of snapshots? I currently do weekly full image followed by hourly snaps with AXTM restarting from scratch easach Saturday. Am not sure how that could be replicated Reflect v6. Any ideas?

Regards, Baldrick

 

Pet!?! Ok... what's her name?

 

Hi Balders! Wow! Hourly snaps for a week... that's a loooooooooog incremental chain. But, if I remember right, AX64 does some consolidation. How 'bout we start with what timeline resolution you feel you NEED (and don't think about how AX64 does its consolidation). Hourly for how long? Daily for how long? Weekly FULLs I understand but it's the time in between that I'm interested in.

Start talkin', WelshMan...

 

You are good...

 

Can someone help me understand why Macrium has not completed or done a backup/image since before April 1st? In fact, it looks like nothing has been done since March 27th....

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d78/AlexhouseK/Macrium%20Backups.jpg

 

Never mind. I figured it out. It took me a while, and it was kind of odd. However, that's why I'm going to share what happened here in case it might help someone in the future.

As you can see from the above picture, everything was working fine until 3/27. Once I found the log file in MR, I saw that there was an error message in every attempted image backup every day since 3/27. I had to go back to my xml file and re-review everything. What's odd is that my destination for my backup had somehow changed from my G drive (external HD) to an F drive. My images/backups are not on my F drive.

So, as far as I can tell, here's what happened--when I bought this PC, I bought it with a media reader. However, I never had a need to use it until last week whereupon I found out that it wasn't working. I tried to put an SD card in the reader and it didn't work. So, I opened the case and found that the builder had not connected the media reader to the motherboard. So, I connected it. Upon connecting it, all of a sudden I now had/have an F drive which I didn't have before.

For some reason, MR changed the destination of my backups in my xml file to my F drive instead of my G drive on or about the same day that I fixed my media reader. That's why I got those error messages as MR couldn't find my F drive or my other backups.

It should be fixed now; I'll find out Monday morning when another incremental is supposed to run. Whew--a lot of detective work....