Macrium Reflect

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

  1. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    Last edited: Oct 21, 2020
  2. camelia

    camelia Registered Member

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  3. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    If you're only changing the hard disk in the licensed System, the license will remain with that System regardless of disk configuration.
     
  4. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    You're welcome :)
     
  5. camelia

    camelia Registered Member

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    Now I am confused :eek::eek:

    Same Computer:

    HDD 200 GB Contains:
    MR Home
    EIS
    Office 2010 and more apps

    I want to upgrade to a HDD 500 GB, because I need more space (It is clone an HDD?)
    The same content that is in my HDD 200 GB

    What I did was:
    Using the MR Rescue Media DVD
    A) Backup the HDD 200 GB to an external HDD
    B) Recover the image in a HDD 500 GB from the external HDD

    Now, What I have to do with the HDD 200 GB and the licensed programs?

    I can not have 2 version of MR, or Office Pro 2010 and other apps.

    Format the HDD 200 GB is the only thing I have to do

    Or

    After moving everything to the HDD 500 GB, I need to connect again the HDD 200 GB and start uninstall all app with internet connection?

    PS: I prefer that Windows Updates to v20H2 in the HDD 500 GB, rather than a clean install, lot of work :(

    Thanks
    Camelia
     
    Last edited: Oct 23, 2020
  6. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    @camelia - once you've restored your 200mB image to your 500mB disk, you're good to go. All those licenses you talk about are System licenses (not disk drive licenses) and as such they'll continue to work on the new System disk (since you restored everything there that was important). No reinstallations needed, no license issues... just use your 200gB disk for some other purpose (best to reformat).

    Although you have multiple versions of your apps on another disk, it's not the disk being used to run those apps anymore. If you connect that disk to your existing System and try and run any of those apps, most will fail. That's why you should reformat the old 200gB disk before you use it for anything else.
     
  7. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    I'm not sure what kind of restore you used but if you want to utilize your entire new 500gB disk partition in place of your old one, you need to take an extra step during the restore process to expand your old partition when it's restored to your new disk.

    Imaging is more than adequate to do this as well as cloning... but I find imaging much less intrusive as far as your System is concerned. The extra step you'll need to take occurs in the window when you see the "Restored Partition Properties" LINK in the lower right of the window. I don't know what your disk looks like as far as partitions are concerned so I can't advise beyond the point made above. Many of us here can help you when you get to that point.
     
  8. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    I would do the following. Create two partitions 200 and 300GB on the new disk. Using Macrium Reflect BootCD, restore the system from the image to a new disk in a 200GB partition. Do not boot the computer with the new and old disks connected at the same time, as the boot menu will be modified, and you will have to correct it.
    Windows will have to be reactivated. Use the second 300 GB partition for storing data (archives and installation files of programs, portable programs, photos, videos).
     
  9. kronckew

    kronckew Registered Member

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    You can do that, or if you prefer a single partition and drive letter, after restoring your backup, delete the unused data partition and extend the system partition with disk manager.
     
  10. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    I will soon have to replace my aging laptop with a new one. I use MR-Home to backup (image) my PC. Will I have to reinstall my many apps onto the new laptop, or is there a less painful (and reliable) way to transfer them over?
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2020
  11. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    You don't have to, all programs will work. With Reflect, you restore a backup to a new computer. Reboot your computer. If the computer boots up and does not crash into BSOD, install new drivers as usual.
    If you encounter problems while loading, unpack critical drivers for new hardware, these are SCASI, CPU, Video, unpack them until you get the .inf, .sys files (not .exe, not .zip). Boot from Reflect WinPE again and use the Re-Deploy function to add drivers.
    Windows will have to be reactivated. Better if the new laptop has an SSD instead of an HDD.
    https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/d...indows to new hardware using Macrium ReDeploy
     
  12. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    I'm kind of confused. My sole intent is to transfer my apps, not the OS (the new laptop will have a licensed Windows OS). Won't restoring a Reflect image using the Re-Deploy option completely overwrite the new laptop's OS, settings and drivers with that of my old laptop? :confused:
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2020
  13. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    Yes, if you restore an image, then regardless of whether you have to run ReDeploy, you’ll have that old PC’s OS configuration and installed apps, but nothing that came with the new system, all of which will have been blown away during the image restore. So you can either do that and therefore have to reinstall any drivers or apps needed for your new system (and possibly have to uninstall conflicting apps pertaining to old hardware), OR you can instead keep the OS environment your new PC shipped with rather than restoring an image onto it, and then reinstall your apps and set up your settings again. You can’t merge the old with the new. The only app I’ve seen that can do that reliably is Time Machine in macOS, but I suspect that's possible there because Apple is in the unique position of having total control over both the OS and the hardware that it will be running on.
     
  14. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    Thanks for the clearing that up for me. Can you help with these follow-up questions?

    1. If I choose to keep the new OS with the new laptop-specific drivers and files, what about using a migration tool such as EaseUS PCtrans instead of enduring the pain of re-installing and personalizing every app?

    2. If I choose to run ReDeploy, thereby blowing away the new OS, how do I go about retaining the new laptop's drivers and other laptop-specific files? ...and for that matter, I fail to see why using the ReDeploy option has any advantage over a regular image restore for my intended purpose!
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2020
  15. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    1. I've never used an application like that (other than Time Machine) because I haven't seen a good one recommended before. That said, I also haven't been following that market very closely since the fact that I have a "build list" and some other handy shortcuts for getting my system set up means that I can rebuild my system from scratch in about 4 hours.

    2. You could capture an image of your new system before you blow it away in case you want to have it for safekeeping, but you wouldn't "retain" anything. You'd erase everything that was there. In terms of getting it all back, drivers can be obtained manually from the manufacturer's download site or often through an app provided by the vendor, such as Dell Update (or Dell SupportAssist), Lenovo Vantage, HP Update, etc. They're all essentially Windows Update for drivers and firmware. If you really wanted any other pre-installed apps back, then you might be able to get those as well, but I tend to consider all of that crapware. If you actually purchased any licensed software with your new PC, then that should be recoverable through some other means. Dell has the Dell Digital Delivery app for that. If you bought Office 2019 (as opposed to Office 365), then you may want to activate that and associate it with your Microsoft account before overwriting anything, because I believe factory installations of Office 2019 are initially tied to the Windows activation until you link them to your Microsoft account. Again, if you capture an image backup of your new system before blowing it away, you'll have a way to get back to that state if needed.
     
  16. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    @jphughan,
    Thanks for your insight. Decisions, decisions , decisions!
     
    Last edited: Oct 24, 2020
  17. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    @Cruise - there's another tool for application bridging from one System to another called PC Mover by LapLink. It has been around for eons (I remember it from the W2000 to WinXP days) so it must have some staying power for some reason.
     
  18. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    For backup of drivers, all or selectively, you can use DriverExtractor Portable. The same tool allows you to install drivers from a backup, if necessary, either all or selectively.

    Transferring only programs (not portable) from one computer to another without transferring (restoring) the entire system is a useless exotic and a headache. As a result, you still have to either restore the system from a backup, or reinstall system.
     
  19. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    @Cruise - retaining drivers across OS transitions is a crapshoot at best. In the case of moving FORWARD (old OS onto new System), depending on the OSes involved, many, if not all, of those "new" drivers will not work with the old OS on the new hardware, especially if Windows 7 is the old System and Windows 10 is the new one. And if you want to save your new System's drivers (most likely Windows 10) and install them into an older OS (following the transition) like Windows 7... well, probably a non-sequitor. Driver/OS transitions are not necessarily an easy thing to do.

    It may be worth a test to try and use one of the application transfer methods mentioned above... but only after imaging that new System first so you don't lose it along the way if the app transfer goes awry.
     
  20. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

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    I honestly think with a new machine, you should re-install everything from scratch, it is a new environment. Why dwell onto something that is probably redundant?
     
  21. XIII

    XIII Registered Member

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    Is there an RSS feed to get notified of Macrium Reflect updates?

    (Unlike the posts here I can use that as input for automation)
     
  22. focus

    focus Registered Member

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    +1
     
  23. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    Based on the many of the user reviews I read last night, it seems as if all such migration tools are an 'iffy' technique, so I no longer believe it's worth pursuing.
     
  24. Cruise

    Cruise Registered Member

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    Thanks for the link. That could come in very handy.
     
  25. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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