Macrium Reflect

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

  1. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    Peter 123
    Everything is so simple here that there is no need to contact Macrium support.
    Save the definition file to a different location, completely uninstall MR, checking all the options in the uninstaller window, restart your computer. Install MR again, put the definition file back in place.
    All your problems will be resolved, including the icons will return to the backup files (associated).
    Replacing MR with something else would be your fault.
     
  2. Peter 123

    Peter 123 Registered Member

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    @jphughan and @aldist: Just a quick feedback for the moment:

    Many thanks for your interesting and encouraging replies. I will study them and follow their advices later (tomorrow or something like that).

    The reason is that at the moment I try to find a solution for another annoying problem that has to do with the upgrade to 64-bit but no connection with Reflect.* And afterwards I think I will need some sleep. ;)

    *(If you want to know which one: it is reported here by so many users. [In my case the temporary freezing does not affect video games but the return from the power safe mode.])

    Concerning this:
    No, I did not until now. But I planned to try it anyway as it would be of course the more comfortable way to get back the Home Edition.
     
  3. Peter 123

    Peter 123 Registered Member

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    I think I must change my plans:

    My above mentioned freezing problem with Windows is possibly caused by the fact that Microsoft seems to have replaced the controller driver during the upgrade to 64-bit (someone reported it in the above link). ---> So I need to see which was the controller driver (respectively its manufacturer) on the 32-bit system. --> In order to find it out, the easiest way would be to browse the last image (at least I think so - perhaps I will need your help to find out where I can find the driver). ---> So I will try to uninstall and reinstall Reflect as next step.

    So please @aldist
    What do you mean with "definition file"?

    OK

    Install in which way?
    - Downloading the 30 Day Trial for the Home Edition from the Macrium Website?
    or
    - Downloading the Free Edition?
    or
    - Should I reinstall with the installer I still have on my computer? But this is only a x86.exe (v7.2.4942_reflect_home_setup_x86.exe).

    Thanks.
     
  4. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    This file specifies the source drive, destination drive, etc., so you do not need to specify them every time you back up. Just right click on the definition file ...
    You can have no definition file at all, or have 1, 2 or more files.
    111.png
    How to create a definition file: https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/d...p image of your computer, drive or partitions (see section "Saving the backup definition").
    I think, until you figured out the errors, it will be enough for you to use Free, and you will not have to repeatedly activate the program.
    If Home Trial does not display the message "your trial has expired", then you can use it as well. If there is such a message, then in order to get rid of it, this is already a warez.
    On x64 systems, only MR x64 should be used.
    The program is extremely easy to remove and install, there are hardly any problems with this. And definitely go for Windows x64.
     
  5. Peter 123

    Peter 123 Registered Member

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    So the definition files are the xml files themselves (one per created image). Correct? If yes, all is already o.k. as I have stored them in my documents folder.

    Do you mean Macrium Reflect? :p I made three attempts to uninstall it (via the Apps list) without success. Every time popped up a window that tells me:

    When confirming the message by clicking on OK the window disappears and nothing more happens. I restarted the computer and Reflect was (and is) still here: I can open it as before and the full program folder is still on its place in "Program Files (x86)".

    Some software companies are perfect in driving their users crazy. Microsoft and Macrium definitely belong to them. :D

    I will leave now my computer for some hours. Thanks again for all your support.
     
  6. Tarnak

    Tarnak Registered Member

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    Earlier today, I had to restore a backup [first and only], which was created on November 29. As a consequence, I lost all files that had been saved since that date, in the following folders: C:\Users\Owner - Downloads, Documents, Pictures and Screenshots.

    Is there a way to exclude these 4 folders in future full backups, that if a restore is needed to be done of my system, a recurrence of losing important files is prevented?
     
  7. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    No, not one for each created image, but one for each user-preset backup type. An unlimited number of images can be created with one definition file.
    MR is really very easy to remove and install, 100% sure. Neither Microsoft nor Macrium is to blame for your problems, you just broke the system with your x64 <-> x86 experiments.
    Download Revo Uninstaller Pro Portable Trial and use it to uninstall MR (Uninstall or Forced Uninstall button)
    111.png
     
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2020
  8. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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  9. Peter 123

    Peter 123 Registered Member

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    Aldist, what I not like is the situation when some fan boys of a certain software defend their favorite products against every critics and start to blame the silly or careless (or whatever) users for the failures of a program.

    What you call my "x64 >-> x86 experiments" was the use of an image program for what it is intended to do (and for what I have paid for): to create a backup and - if necessary - to restore it. If Reflect is not able to handle such a procedure that's not my fault. As it is also not my fault that Macrium downgrades my version (as they do in case of other users too) without any reason and without any explanation from their side.

    Usually I could start now a dispute with the Macrium staff about all the things that had happened but I have no desire to explain them now a second time what I have already reported here. I will try to enter the activation key in the Free Edition (as suggested by jphughan) and if it is not accepted I will try to uninstall with Revo (as suggested by you). And then: Finished with Reflect and I will change to another image program (having paid 60 € for not more than about 6 months of use).
     
  10. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    Definition files are not one per created image. They are one per job. For example, I have a hard drive that has the standard OS partitions plus a Data partition. I have one definition file called “OS Partitions” and one called “Data Partition” since i want to back those up separately. I do NOT have separate definition files for each day I have run those backups. Again, doing that is a complete waste of time and completely defeats the point of a definition file in the first place. The entire point of a definition file is to allow you to step through the backup wizard once to define your source selections, destination, retention policy, any advanced settings, etc., and then later on just run that definition file each time you want to make that type of backup — rather than having to step through the wizard making those settings selections every single time. The latter is tedious and error-prone especially if you customize the advanced settings. If you’re stepping through the wizard every single time and just choosing to save an XML file at the end, but then never actually USING that for any FUTURE backups, you have a bunch of useless files on your system.

    I’m sorry Peter but that is not a fair representation of the situation. Yes the downgrade behavior is certainly a Reflect problem, and I don’t know what’s going on there since it’s persisted for a while now. But your problems have nothing to do with Reflect not being being able to create and restore image backups. That isn’t the part that’s causing problems. Your problems are the result of you using PC Mover to perform a type of migration that Microsoft specifically does not support. The fact that Reflect may happen to be more affected by your attempt to perform that migration may simply be due to the fact that Reflect isn’t necessarily Reflect’s “fault”. Reflect might simply need to leverage technologies components of Windows. It may be that in order for Reflect to do what it’s supposed to, it needs to leverage technologies and components of Windows that make it more susceptible to breaking in this unsupported migration scenario. If Microsoft explicitly supported what you were trying to do and Reflect were having problems, then sure maybe it would be fair to expect Macrium to do something about this. But if even Microsoft doesn’t support what you’re doing, then I’m not sure it’s fair to blame the vendors of the applications that have problems when you press on anyway.
     
  11. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    No, you cannot preserve certain folders on a partition that is targeted in an image restore. That simply isn’t practical given the nature of image restores. An image restore involves restoring the file system of the partition being restored, which would have no record or incorrect records of the existing target data you’re trying to preserve.

    The way to avoid this is to have a separate partition on your disk for your data. As I just alluded to above, I have a disk that contains the standard Windows partitions, and then I created a separate Data partition for my personal data — and the scenario you describe is a major reason why. The setup I have allows me to restore my OS environment without also having to restore my Data partition and thus without rolling back all of my personal data whenever I want to roll back my OS. It also means that if I ever want to make an OS backup before doing something that I’m concerned might go sideways, I can do so very quickly and with a small resulting image file size because that job won’t have to include any of my personal data.
     
  12. Peter 123

    Peter 123 Registered Member

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    Thanks for your comment, @jphughan. I appreciate your explanations and your use of arguments (and your patience ;)). Maybe you are right in some aspects, but I am too tired to think und to discuss about all this any longer.

    Concerning the activation:
    In the meantime I have tried it. It did not work. It remained a Free Edition. Consequently Premium Support is also lost: When entering the licenese key on https://www.macrium.com/support the answer is: "Premium Support is not available for this Key".
     
  13. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    Premium Support isn’t available for the Home edition ever. That’s an offering for their business-oriented offerings, i.e. every other edition that Macrium sells. The link you provided specifically says that the Premium Upgrade is for businesses.

    But support has nothing to do with the ability to activate a Reflect license. If Reflect for whatever reason didn’t accept your key, I agree with the earlier suggestion to uninstall and reinstall. But you don’t have to move definition files anywhere. The uninstaller defaults to preserving your settings, logs, schedules, etc. — which is fine for this purpose. Then reinstall and provide the key during installation.
     
  14. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

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    Interesting that it can be done this way, although I personally prefer not to touch the registry (I'm not that good even following instructions :D). What I do, I make incremental backups every day, first thing in the morning it takes between 1-2 minutes, therefore if a restore is required very little data (if any) is lost. For good measure I also synchronize my data to a USB flash drive every day, it takes a few seconds.

    A good reason to include everything in a backup is to take advantage of MR Image Guardian which protects against ransomware...
     
  15. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    Aldist, that only excludes folders from being backed up in the first place. Doing that would NOT prevent exclude them from the restore process such that the existing versions of those folders on the target partition would be retained. Tarnak seems to want a way to be able to restore an image backup of the C drive in a way that would leave certain folders already on C as they are. That isn’t possible. If you exclude those folders from backups and then restore that backup, you won’t have those folders at all anymore.
     
  16. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    It was about uninstalling, marking all the options in the uninstaller for a subsequent "clean" installation of MR. This deletes the definition files. It's also a good idea to have a backup of your definition files.
    ScreenShot_290.png
     
  17. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    For the other downgrade cases, it hasn’t been necessary to remove those components. And if you’re storing definition files on a volume that you’re backing up, which is a best practice, then you’ll have backups of your definition files in your Reflect backups.
     
  18. aldist

    aldist Registered Member

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    Probably, I should feel grief and sadness due to the fact that on another hdd partition I have backup copies of these two files of 10kB :)
     
  19. paulderdash

    paulderdash Registered Member

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    Apart from jp's separate Data partition (#8736), which I also now use, why not just separately backup your C:\Users\Tarnak folder (or required sub-folders only) using Bvckup 2 (my favourite), or similar ... ? Then just restore those?
     
  20. Tarnak

    Tarnak Registered Member

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    @aldist, @jphughan, @paulderdash

    Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions. I have decided to copy those files created in the applicable folders [ongoing] since the last restore to a USB stick. That seems to be the best for me in my circumstance.
     
  21. Peter 123

    Peter 123 Registered Member

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    I did it (almost) exactly in this way and all worked fine. The only difference is that I entered the license key only when the new installation was already finished and after having read now your posting. I was more or less sure that the reactivation of the license would not be possible without contacting the support and that so long I would be restricted to the Free Edition. But indeed the simple entering of the license key in the fresh install worked to bring me back the Home Edition. :thumb:

    Once more many thanks for your help, @jphughan and also @aldist (especially for the tip to use Revo Uninstaller because without Revo the uninstalling would not have succeeded).

    So in retrospect the procedure when the transition from Win 32-bit to Win 64-bit causes problems with Macrium is quite simple:

    Completely uninstall the Home Edition 32-bit --> Download and install Macrium Reflect 64-bit (I used the Free Edition but obviously with the Home Edition it would work too) --> enter your old license key.
     
  22. pb1

    pb1 Registered Member

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    So, they are coming out with V.8 in the near future, anyone who knows what is special with that version compared to v.7?
     
  23. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    See HERE for most of the v8 features...
     
  24. pb1

    pb1 Registered Member

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    Thanks.
    Are you a Beta tester?
     
  25. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    I've been "invited" but the BETA hasn't officially started yet. We're awaiting our sign-in credentials.
     
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