Macrium Reflect

Looking forward to it. On another note i for one don't fault Macrium being slow but then i'm very new to it and all it's many features. However my DS imager so far backed up faster which really doesn't mean a lot to me either way.

The proof in the putting on this end will be the restore time. Now that's where speed is favorable for me.

 

Weel, you've probably read all the DS info here... restores can be quite slow (although reliable). Many would say reliability is paramount, speed is secondary when it comes to restore.

But as others have said, there are many reliable imaging apps... only a few are speedy in their restorations.

 

Exactly and that HAS BEEN the trend in my long experience with DS on restores. It was always something of a turtle restoring but to my knowledge never once a single failure, not a one. But now UEFI + DS will be a good test for me again. The trade-off will be totally acceptable (I hope) and worth it since DS boggled my mind on my recent imaging the other day in a live x64 Windows 8. It easily laid out all 4 partitions faster then it did when I used to image XP, and this is on a 320Gb drive at that.

Still I think that I am 100% sold on Macrium 6. It's very new to me, has a good following here, and seems chalked full of useful features that DS doesn't provide. And i'm not even in to scheduling anything yet. The "full synthetic" backup and such is an exciting new setting that I think sets the stage for incremental/differentials and such and so on.

 

hi
TheRollbackFrog thanks a lot

 

Regarding the previous discussion about Acronis True Image being much faster than Macrium Reflect. That may have been the case in the past. I just did a test on a 350 GB partition (Win 8.1 Pro) + 16GB boot partition (both ntfs).

Macrium Reflect: Medium compression, 24.1 minutes, 139 GB backup size
Acronis True Image: Medium compression, 27.5 minutes, 135 GB backup size

So there you go.

If only Macrium had the possibility to exclude files from the backup when imaging partitions (like Acronis can) and be able to restore Ext4 (linux) backups to smaller partitions as long as the used space fits (also like Acronis can) then I'd ditch Acronis in a heartbeat ... such a bloated product.

EDIT: Also, why in the world does it take so long for Acronis to mount a backup .tib as a drive letter? ... it thrashes the backup drive for several minutes on end (almost 15 minutes for the above backup) before it succeeds. If I then unmount and mount again, it does so quickly, but the first mount of any new backup is painfully slow! Macrium does it in a heartbeat.

 

This kind of results can´t be generalized, they are only applicable to your hardware/software setup. Can be different in other cases.

 

Agreed however I would like add my results just for some discussions sake. Means absolutely zilch/nothing at this point because this is an area which is been totally out of my normal element for quite awhile. I am a beginner again and it feels kinda nice to finally come out of the dark with imaging.

Macrium Reflect: Default compression, 45 minutes, 216Gb free of 282Gb (Synthetic Full)
DriveSnapshot x64: Default compression, 21 minutes!

Both imaging runs were done "in live windows".

I'm going to repeat again with both. Irregardless of speed which is nice i am determined to make Macrium my go to imaging solution because it has so many great features that DS will likely never have. One can always fashion scripts for DS as is always been the case but Macrium is chalked full of features and their support is amazing! Knowledgebase info galore plus the forum.

 

I'm working on a new first imaging right now. I think it's very important to point out that my tests are on rigs that only support USB 2.0 (no 3.0 unfortunately) so right there is a pinch point in transfer rates. That's why i mentioned it means zilch because i assume more and more users who experience great imaging and restore rates also are able to make full use of the USB 3.0 rates.

Will definitely do that. Thanks

Just finished an image run with Macrium 6. Finished in 17.50 minutes. NICE.

That was on a HDD 249GB free of 281GB.

EDIT: 2nd run Finished 19:19. Hello Macrium!

 

I'M new with Macrium Reflect, very new so I been combing over a lot of knowledgebase for it these days and nights. I'll need to ask for help on making incrementals/differentials and how to do them manually WITHOUT any scheduling. I am more confident for now just doing them one at a time but not ready yet.

Macrium just solved a serious issue for me today and the restore (2) of them went off without a hitch. You see I used a main production computer to download via mediacreationtool from MS update in order to install to the new HDD and everything went well to that end completing with phone activation.

The problem is whatever MS did to my machine while I was waiting hours for that slow as molasses preinstallation download and process to make the USB Flash Drive I woke up this morning with a non bootable system. The first I ever had on this machine! I proceeded to just follow my usual procedure to replace registry files via Linux Mint in Legacy Mode I was shockingly met with my C:\ partition completely emptied. Ugh.

I had no other choice since even what usually is a simple procedure for a REFRESH thru the Automatic Repair, it couldn't even do anything at all. The system partition was mysteriously emptied but all other 4 partitions were OK.

Fired up USB Macrium after (setting BIOS) to Legacy Mode and also inserted the External Drive where I happened to have a Macrium image and now i'm strictly a Macrium user for now on. It restored perfectly my (only) image which I made beforehand while testing image backup with MR some weeks ago and saved my system and files from certain doom.

This will teach me to make sure I keep at least 3-4 full backups in reserve should anything like this happen again.

I guess I can't blame MS but before I created the preinstallation media for the USB stick, I had not had a single problem before at all so this unexpected missing system partition scared the living fire out of me.

Macrium Rescue media DID INDEED rescue and performed as expected.

 

EASTER,

The C:\ partition is not the system partition in a UEFI system. I'm just being pedantic.

You shouldn't have to enable Legacy mode as Macrium should boot in UEFI mode.

 

Ok thanks for the "not necessary to do a BIOS setting switch". I just felt safer going that far under the windows system for safety plus it worked just fine anyway in Legacy.

On the C:\ partition I mention it was completely missing and oddly showing the the whole Windows System available space with the full compliment of Gb. What a shocker for me. I wasn't about to go thru all the trouble of doing a long dragged out partition search when Macrium surely had what it needed to recover it back from a saved image, which it done magnificently and in so doing boosted my confidence and much more loyalty now to this Imager.

No issues, hiccups, etc. It booted the restored image right back up and restored full normal operation again. I guess I needed this challenge because it afforded to see just how well I could use what MR supplies and experience REAL RESULTS not just imagined ones or putting it off. Overall really good experience.

Thanks guys for taking up addressing other users concerns and issues and keeping topics like this alive.

 

EASTER,

So the Win10 OS partition was missing and there was just Unallocated Free Space where the partition used to be. Is that correct?

Again, to be pedantic there is no C: partition seen in Linux Mint. I know you were booting a Linux disc but Linux doesn't assign drive letters to partitions. Similarly there is no C: drive when a Windows computer is turned off. Drive letters are assigned by and exist in the mind of the booted OS. You have to be booted into an OS, DOS or Windows, to have drive letters.

 

Does anyone know why Reflect 6 will not allow imaging of a usb drive? That's driving me nuts! I need that ability; I have a multi-iso bootable flash that I use to fix systems. That drive needs to remain intact. Using the file/folders method just isn't cutting it because the drive is not bootable after a restore. Every imaging app I've ever used has been able to do this, but not Reflect.

 

Nate,

I don't know the answer but Macrium Reflect isn't alone...

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/ufds-and-imaging-apps.370382/

 

Sorry Brian K, no Windows 10 here. And won't be until maybe last quarter 2016. I intend to wait until most the bugs are gone from it first.

All my rigs are strictly Windows 8/8.1.

Linux Mint 14 on a USB ThumbDrive is my emergency Go-To when something fudges up and allows easy access to the HDD and Windows entire layout, in the case of some "good" app with bad code that has caused Windows not to boot for me 99.9% of the time I simply BROWSE with the Linux Mint mounted Windows volume and manually by hand replace ALL registry files from where for example Tweaking.com creates daily backups.

Once done, pull the Mint Flash Plug out, access the BIOS settings and switch right back from Legacy to UEFI mode again and Wallah! Windows is back in business.

I do this on occasion when something goes south which isn't very often but it's proven a time saver without end.

With Macrium now, I can just use it to replace an image if Windows fudges but in my case yesterday with the Windows partition MIA, it was a real joy to return it back to normal with an image.

The days of playing Russian roulette with my machines is finally over thanks to Macrium but more importantly to you guys who inspire the confidence to press the issue and importance more effectively then I ever could.

 

EASTER,

Sorry, I meant 8/8.1

 

That's ok. To have Windows 10 on the brain these days can't be helped.

But to return to my point. It's as easy as pie most the time to simply boot up a Linux Mint flash drive to replace a non-bootable Windows with overwriting the registry files which I found fixed boot problems (if related) which is always been the case on this end.

That aside, i'm now a brand new fan of Macrium. It was my first actual RESTORE with MR and mind you was performed under some duress I might add but came though beautifully.

 

Let me see if I got this straight. You actually can do restores even via DS?

If so for this windows junkie THAT would be the best of both worlds wrapped in a single package. Had no idea.

Oh, and talk about amazing! and Macrium! My emergency restore took all of 1:27. That time element was totally off the charts and never before experienced by me with any other Imager before.

 

EASTER,

87 seconds for a full restore! You had no OS partition so it must have been a full restore and not a Rapid Delta Restore. What is the size of your backup image? Can you tell us the size of the Used Space in your Win8 partition?

 

BackUp image is 73.4Gb. The disk is 282Gb showing in windows explorer.

There's 202Gb free space now. This is after deleting the CustomRefresh.wim today.

When I restored it was around 193Gb if I remember

I don't even know what a Delta Restore is yet but the option was there.

 

Hi Pete,

Can you explain how a 73.4 GB image was restored in 87 seconds? Remember, EASTER said there was no OS partition.