Macrium Reflect

No

yes, more features

 

You can not make backups booting from the Linux boot CD - its restore only.
Also yes, PE4/5 support Secure boot and UEFI.

 

In addition to what others said, you are far more likely to have all your hardware supported under WinPE since it is using your drivers from your instance of Windows. So USB3 support, network support, etc.

 

thanks to everyone

 

Is everyone going to update to WinPE 5.0?

 

I did. No problems.

 

hi guys

regarding the UAC popup of Macrium Reflect app not setup: does it say unknown publisher or something else ?

 

Mine says:

Program name: Macrium Reflect Disk Imaging and Backup
Verified Publisher: Paramount Software UK Ltd

 

thanks

so may be it was a corrupt installation

gonna try to reinstall

 

hi
is there a switch to avoid to write at every restore data in same blocks?

image for windows/linux has /wco switch -> https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=2343897&postcount=879

 

Thumbs up for Macrium Reflect...I don't use the professional edition, but i am pretty satisfied by the Standard edition...so I suppose that Pro will be even better

 

For a long time I have not been a Reflect fan. Mostly because of poor hardware support for the Linux restore boot CD. The multiple times I tried it, it wouldn't boot.

But I recently had to find something for imaging some relatives PCs and my favorites are on the geeky side of the fence. So, I bit the bullet and tried Reflect again. I admit that I really don't know if the Linux boot media is any better but now that Macrium supports WinPE boot environments, it has made a huge difference! While I don't see myself using it much, I will definitely recommend it to everyone I feel it's appropriate for.

During my tests, I was able to image and restore what I currently consider to be one of the hardest challenge for a typical user. A GPT drive on a PC running UEFI and Secure Boot. The image (15 minutes) and restore (11 minutes) ran without any problems. This is something some other well known image programs cannot do (certainly not within those time frames!)

Reading others overwhelmingly positive experiences was what made me reconsider my thoughts. So to all, thanks for the posts. Hopefully someone will find mine useful too!

 

may i know what 's the meaning of pe4/5 support secure boot and uefi?
i mean pe4 should be w7 based ,p5 w8 based
for example pe3 doesn't support secure boot and uefi?
does it mean it can't restore properly?

i used for months image for linux to restore image for a machine with secure boot and uefi ...

thanks

 

Whether or not a WinPE boot medium can be booted in UEFI with Secure Boot enabled depends on how the WinPE was built. To boot in UEFI, you must use a 64-bit medium compatible with UEFI. It also depends on the hardware, which must be compatible with the drivers included in the WinPE.

A WinPE 3.0, based on Windows 7, can be booted in UEFI with Secure Boot enabled. It doesn´t have USB 3.0 drivers, unless they were added manually.

WinPE 4.0 is based on Windows 8, WinPE 5.0 is based on 8.1. Both have the USB 3.0 drivers included in the corresponding Windows version. Windows 8/8.1 USB 3.0 drivers don´t work well with some external USB 3.0 disks (write operations are slow).

EDIT: I did some tests and found that a WinPE 3.0 can´t be booted with Secure Boot enabled.

 

thanks Robin

 

Robin are you sure PE 3.0 can boot correctly while secure boot is on?

 

I checked and the boot failed, the "security policy" blocked it. So you are right, PE 3.0 can´t be booted with Secure Boot enabled.

 

Can someone please tell me how to get the purge function to work?
All the other backup functions seem to be working, but purge fails every time.

I would really love that to work so I don't have to manually delete backups.
I have it set to keep a maximum of 2 backups, but it doesn't work.

 

Guidance Request regarding my backup strategy:

1. Win 7 Pro system with
2. C: SSD drive for OS and programs
3. E: 2TB drive for general data
4. F: 600GB drive for music recording data
5. G: 180GB drive for other data
6. I: 2TB external backup drive for "backups"
7. J: 750GB external backup drive for music recording data backup

• Using AX64 which backs up my C: drive hourly.
• CrashPlan online backs up my C: user data, E:, F:, G: drives
• CrashPlan also backs up my C: user data, E:, F:, G: drives to the I: external drive

Just installed and am running Macrium Reflect Free.

Question 1:
Currently doing an initial full backup of the C: E:, F:, G: drives to the I: external drive. BUT not sure if I made a mistake. Should I be backing up all those drives or just the C: drive?

Question 2:
Since I have AX64 doing hourly incrementals, do you suggest I just do a full Macrium backup weekly or a few times a month for added security?

Question 3:
Is it okay to be working on the PC while the backup is going on?

Question 4:
Do I need to turn off Online Armor or Emsisoft AntiMalware when running the Macrium backups?

Question 5:
If I backed up the drives to the I: drive but neglected to create a folder for the image, can I make a folder (e.g. Macrium Images) and move the image into it? And will Macrium still be able to see it?

Question 6:
Is my next step making a Bootable Recovery CD? And will the Question 5 issue impact the CD?

Thanks all...

 

My suggestions and answers:
Q1: It depends on what you want to backup. If I were you I would use Macrium to backup system only ( C: )
Q2: I would use it for weekly backup as extra precaution.
Q3; You can use you computer during creation of backup.
Q4: I don't know if there are any conflicts between those apps. I use Nod32 and don't turn it off.
Q5: You can move you image file but will have to manually browse for it in Macrium if you'll try to restore it.
Q6: Yes, do create bootable CD if you won't be able to run Windows. Location of backup image doesn't impact bootcd creation. You will have to manually find backup image if you move it (it won't be added to list of available backups automatically).

hqsec

 

Thanks for the input hqsec.

Anyone else have input?

 

Also, in addition to the above questions...

Macrium's "Creating a bootable CD"...offers Windows PE 3.1 environment by default on my system, but the advanced button gives options of 4.0 and 5.0.

What's the difference? And how do I base a decision?

 

WinPE 3.1 is based on Windows 7 kernel, WinPE 4 on Windows 8 and WinPE 5 on Windows 8.1. If you don't use UEFI boot you can stick with 3.1 version. More info here: http://www.macrium.com/help/v5/How_to/Rescue/Create_a_Standard_Windows_PE_Rescue_Environment.htm. After creating CD, I suggest that you boot from it and check if you can get to backup images and local disks that you have backed up.

hqsec

 

hi
did you notice that macrium reflect install files in system zone boot manager?
but when you uninstall it , it leaves such files

 

No, I didn't notice that but did check it up and there are Macrium files in Boot folder. 400 MB of files... I guess there are files for both WinPEs which I downloaded (WinPE 4 and WinPE 5).

hqsec