Macrium Reflect

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by Stigg, Nov 23, 2013.

  1. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    I agree with TheRollbackFrog that an uninstall and reinstall is no big deal since the uninstaller defaults to preserving everything you'd still want to keep if you're planning to reinstall Reflect. But if you really want to avoid that, go to Programs and Features, select Reflect, click Change, select Modify, and select the CBT component to install it. If that's already checked and CBT still isn't working, then I would do the uninstall and reinstall.

    Side note: Delta Incremental Indexes is completely separate from CBT. That existed before CBT and Macrium actually just added the CBT options to that Advanced Incrementals section of the options, which isn't a perfect fit because CBT can be used for Differentials as well.
     
  2. normanbg

    normanbg Registered Member

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    Hi TRF, good to hear from you again. It's nighttime here and when I read your reply (quick and to the point, as usual), I decided it would be wise to wait until the morning before undertaking the uninstall/reinstall you recommend. Then I saw jphughan's post, and I couldn't resist. So I tried it and, lo and behold, the 'Enable Changed Block Tracking ...' option became available and the MrCBTTools.exe file reappeared (though not under C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect, which still doesn't exist, but in my Macrium install directory). The little running figures, greyed out for now, have returned to adorn the entries in my 'Create a backup' screen, and all appears well with CBT.
    Thank you both for solving my problem. Next time I upgrade, I'll disable my AV.
     
  3. MPSAN

    MPSAN Registered Member

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    I know that I have done this but it is not working again. Not sure what I am doing wrong.
    All seems OK and I am using Windows 10 Pro. I backup images to a 4TB drive and nothing else is on it. Images are about 60 or so GB and I had plenty of room...perhaps too much as I saved every image. So I had removed some older ones and can see that my unused space grew.

    Today I was running low so I deleted a bunch of Image files and yes I did it from Reflect, and it said I would gain so much from each file that was removed, but it is NOT giving me back any space. I do not see them in the recycle bin so I can not imagine how to recover my space and I even shutdown and did a power cycle.

    So what am i missing here?
     
  4. WinterKnight

    WinterKnight Registered Member

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    Are there any compatibility issues between Macrium Reflect and the new Microsoft OneDrive Personal Vault? I’m asking because it says: On Windows 10 PCs, OneDrive syncs your Personal Vault files to a BitLocker-encrypted area of your local hard drive. I’m not sure if this could affect Macrium Reflect in any way.
     
  5. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    Well if you have nothing but images on that drive, if you select all of your image files, right-click any of them, and click Properties, how does the total size of all selected files compare to the "Used" figure you see if you right-click the drive itself and select Properties? Some discrepancy would be expected because the System Volume Information folder, which is normally hidden and not readable even by admin users, will contain some data, but if your free space on the drive hasn't changed despite you having just deleted several ~60 GB image files that are no longer showing on your hard drive, then you should be seeing a large discrepancy. If you aren't, then are you sure the files were in fact deleted from the drive? If you close and relaunch Reflect, do those images perhaps still appear under the Restore tab?
     
  6. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    The answer might depend on whether you're intending to store backups in that vault or back up data that would include that vault, and/or whether you're using Reflect to perform an image backup of the partition that hosts the vault or a File & Folder backup of the vault's contents. It would certainly be nice if Microsoft would provide a bit more technical detail on this "BitLocker-encrypted area" of your local hard drive. Are they creating a separate partition just for that? Or perhaps creating a VHDX file containing a BitLocker-protected partition that gets mounted, similar to the PortableBaseLayer VHDX-hosted partition introduced in Windows 10 1903 for Windows Sandbox? I notice that Windows 10 1903 is a requirement for this new Personal Vault feature, so my guess is the latter. It would also make the feature more broadly available, since creating an additional partition might be tricky for people still using Legacy BIOS systems and MBR disks that are limited to 4 primary partitions -- and it could become more problematic as storage requirements grew. If it's a VHDX-hosted partition and you're just trying to back up the partition that hosts that VHDX file as opposed to the mounted partition itself, I doubt you'll see any problems, since Reflect hasn't had any problems backing up Windows 10 1903 systems with the PortableBaseLayer partition, or any other partitions that contain VHDX-hosted partitions, even when those are mounted at the time.
     
  7. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    I had this, and I solved it this way: looked at the directories in TreeSize Pro, he found previously "deleted" images *.mrimg, disabled MIG in the Macrium Reflect and deleted permanently "deleted" images. Space immediately freed.
     
  8. paulderdash

    paulderdash Registered Member

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    MIG, and CBT, seem to have endless problems. :cautious:

    Other than incremental backups, these are the only pro's of the paid version. The free version is probably fine with me.
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2019
  9. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    If all your doing is protecting your System then FREE is fine. For those of us who do frequent restorations, FREE is lacking RDR (Rapid Delta Restore) which is a MAJOR feature when it comes to Rapid restorations.

    For me, RDR is the MOST VALUABLE feature of Reflect. CBT provides very little unless you're doing hourly or intra-hourly Incrementals, and MIG is more trouble than it's worth (I am a "FIDES" user).
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2019
  10. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

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    I had for years the free version which is fine, but having the paid version is really like having the same program on steroids: incremental backups on a daily basis take between 40 and 50 seconds, restores so far have never exceeded 3 minutes, it is indeed very fast and reliable… I had no trouble with MIG, I wonder what kind of trouble are we are talking about...
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2019
  11. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    I haven’t had any problems with MIG across multiple systems, and the release notes contain far fewer fixes to MIG than CBT. As to the paid version, it’s quite a bit more than those features and Incrementals. RDR and RDC as previously noted are huge, ReDeploy for some people can be worth it all on its own even if it’s only used once, the ability to encrypt backups, the ability to perform File & Folder backups, and probably more I’m not thinking of right now.
     
  12. paulderdash

    paulderdash Registered Member

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    Re MIG, I was primarily reacting to the post above mine, #7757 ... but I have seen quite a few issues reported. I also use FIDES for this - also because I can protect my Bvckup 2 backups, besides Macrium images.

    @TheRollbackFrog @jphughan You are right of course, especially RDR :thumb: - I do use the paid version on my 'test' machine, which needs more frequent restores ... just not sure the other features are worth paying for a second license on my more stable 'prod' machine, and for my use cases (imaging only).
     
  13. MPSAN

    MPSAN Registered Member

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    Well, I use Power Desk. I can load Reflect again and see if the older ones are gone. I can disable MIG...but not sure where to do that. However even with MIG I thought that a Delete from within the restore would do this when selecting other activities.
     
  14. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    Disabling MIG is done in Reflect under Other Tasks > Macrium Image Guardian Settings. But you’re correct that this isn’t necessary when deleting from within Reflect. I’m not sire what would have happened based on your description.
     
  15. MPSAN

    MPSAN Registered Member

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    Yes, I thought the whole point of deleting from within Reflect was that you would recover the space. Let me do it again and see if others will delete and give me some space back.
     
  16. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    FYI someone has reported that CBT causes BSoDs when installing the October cumulative update for Win10 on multiple tested systems. Make sure you have good backups before proceeding I guess, or remove CBT: https://forum.macrium.com/Topic31705.aspx
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2019
  17. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Just to add to JP's post above, the user in question was running the Windows DRIVER VERIFIER (the user didn't even know it was running). This tool is used to stress test drivers during development and it's not recommended to have it running during normal System operations... it's primarily a driver development tool. The user is also running the LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel) version of Windows... a special version that most of us don't even run.

    If you don't know whether the verifier is running or not, see THIS PAGE for instructions to turn it ON or off. An elevated COMMAND PROMPT (running as Administrator) can execute...

    verifier /query

    ...to see if its running, and...

    verifier /reset

    ...to shut it down if running.

    Macrium will look into the issue anyway since their CBT driver shouldn't be doing anything "unusual" (normally detectable by the DRIVER VERIFIER) during its loading and initialization. We'll see how it plays out but if you're not running the verifier, you may not see any issue at all. JP's advice is excellent about having a backup before the Cumulative Update is applied... but my guess is that most of you already do that based on just Windows issues that have occurred in the past during updates :)
     
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2019
  18. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    Windows 10 was in "shadow mode" under Shadow Defender. Made some system settings, installed software, and created a full backup. Then I performed recovery from backup, everything went fine.
     
  19. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

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    What would be the point of this test, can you explain?
     
  20. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    So it’s clear - compatibility of Macrium Reflect and active "shadow mode" Shadow Defender.
     
  21. MPSAN

    MPSAN Registered Member

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    OK, I recovered my free space but WHY does this happen?
    So, I removed old images from a nearly full 4TB drive using the proper method from Reflect. The file(s) are removed but I gain no space. I look at the recycle bin on that drive and show nothing on that drive...Drive E:.

    I booted from my rescue DVD and use the Macrium File Explorer and go to that drive and there are 10 GB free! So I look at the recycle bin and it shows a bunch of files on that drive. I delete them and I get 172GB back! OK, but why are the removed files going into the recycle bin when I delete them from within Reflect on Windows 10? Is there an option in Reflect that tells them to go to the recycle bin? Yes Image Guard is active, but I had always thought that I could do this from within reflect on Windows.
     
  22. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    @MPSAN - There's no REFLECT option concerning image files, only LOG files. I have done what you describe many times without issue and the space utilization always returns whether via a manual delete or through automatic Retention Settings.
     
  23. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    If the Recovery Media can see everything and do what's required, the problem may be a User/Permission issue under LIVE Windows. The User level that you are running REFLECT manually at may not have the proper permissions to do the required delete... or something similar to that. If your RETENTION LEVELS are being honored correctly (that's being done by the Scheduler which is running your tasks at a higher user level) I would say that your logged in User needs some attention.
     
  24. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    Reflect when launched interactively always has SYSTEM-level privileges, which is why it's possible to use the file browser in Reflect to browse into folders that even administrators typically can't, such as System Volume Information -- so I don't think permissions would be the issue.

    @MPSPAN, every time I've used the delete option within Reflect, the files are deleted immediately, regardless of whether Image Guardian is enabled. I've never seen Reflect put deleted backup into the Recycle Bin nor an option for it to do so. There's an automatic log file purge option that can either move logs into the Recycle Bin or delete them permanently, but that's completely separate from the backups themselves. I also can't account for why after this type of deletion your Recycle Bin would appear as empty within Windows but full of backups in Rescue Media. Do you have any sort of background security applications or similar that might be interfering with Reflect's delete operation somehow?
     
  25. MPSAN

    MPSAN Registered Member

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    Well, the files ARE removed when I am in Windows using Reflect. My issue is that they are being removed but to the Recycle Bin so I do not see any added space. If I look in the recycle bin within Windows, I do not see any in drive E: which is my backup drive.
     
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