Macrium Reflect

Yes, I'd agree with that conclusion in general. VSS Maxsize is normally "unbounded" (i.e. uses all available free space) but you can both check and adjust using the vssadmin command line as explained in this TechNet article.

 

If you want extract files from VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service), you can use ShadowExplorer (RMB > Export). It work portable.

 

Unless I've completely misunderstood WinterKnight's concern, it had nothing at all to do with "extracting files from VSS." It was about whether there was any "limit to the amount of changes that VSS can hold while the [Macrium Reflect] backup is running". His conclusion that that isn't normally a problem is correct, but the available free space and vssadmin settings may be relevant in some situations as already mentioned. In fact, running an OS partition without adequate free space is generally not a good idea for many reasons.

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P.S.: See this TechNet article for further details regarding that particular issue.

 

This is general information, it does not apply to the WinterKnight's problem, but sometimes you need to extract the files from the shadow copy.

 

And how exactly would you regard that "general information" as being relevant to the topic of this Macrium Reflect thread? Just curious about your posting rationale.

 

What does it mean when a partition on the Macrium Reflect Disk Image screen has a red bar? My computer has five partitions. The first four have blue bars depicting the disk usage. The fifth partition has a red bar. The heading says “5 - Image (None) NTFS Primary” and it appears to be almost full.

 

I believe the RED BAR is similar to Windows, letting you know that the partition in question is almost full (less than 10% left).

 

Thanks for responding. Another question. When running a full backup I noticed that the write speed for the partition with the red bar is lower than the other partitions. Any idea why?

 

Has a reason. In order for the Restore Points of Windows (VSS copy) to be included in the image to be created, the image must be created only in WinPE.
When restoring from this image, the Restore Points of Windows will also be restored.
It's checked, it works.

 

Which explains your posting of advice about extracting files from VSS using ShadowExplorer about as well as your previous posting of unhelpful and dangerous "save only MBR" advice to a user with a UEFI boot system issue. But I think I'm beginning to understand the real underlying motivation and "strategy" involved. I've seen it before and can only hope that it gets dealt with appropriately here before it snowballs.

 

Reflect's "speed" indicators aren't exactly the most reliable on the planet, but that aside, knowing which one of the partitions is "red barred" (almost full as Froggie says) might help in trying to answer your question. It's not unusual for the Windows OS setup process itself to create some partitions with very little free space, but it seems strange that write speed on the destination drive would be affected more heavily by that factor. It's basically a straight I/O operation and hardware and connections are more usually the major determinants.

 

Win10 Defender False Positive: It has been reported and confirmed by Macrium that some versions of the Windows Defender are issuing false positive Trojan findings when users attempt to install the latest Reflect patch update. Macrium has suggested that it is most likely to affect the latest insider preview build of Windows 10, but the user reports indicate that it has occurred with w10.v1703 and possibly other "mainstream" releases as well.

I am not able to confirm from my own direct experience, but I patched Reflect prior to the most recent Windows Defender update.

 

You were expecting, perhaps, some rational logic to be involved in the suggestion and its explanation?!

 

The partition with the red bar is the last of five partitions. The partition heading says “5 - Image (None) NTFS Primary.” I would say it’s about 95% full.

 

Well, it's clearly not a FAT32 or EFI system partition, but without additional details, that doesn't really help us much to be more specific. A screenshot of the partition layout for the entire drive might be more informative. My guess would be that it's either a factory restore partition or else an obsolete and superseded recovery (WinRE) partition in which case it might be "disposable", but don't take any action based on guesswork. You could possibly assign a drive letter to mount it and look at its contents.

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P.S.: Instructions here if you want to try that.

 

Thanks Arvy. I think I’m going to file this one under the heading “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Whatever that partition is, I’m just going to leave it alone unless it causes problems besides a slightly longer full backup.

 

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Probably wise. I can't imagine that the size of any such partition would add much to the total backup time despite the apparently slower write speed. In fact, I'm rather surprised that it lasts long enough to be noticeable.

 

WinterKnight,

Can you post a screenshot of Disk Management?

 

Is this already fixed by Microsoft (as far as known)?

 

Arvy,
With respect to version 6.3.1849 :
Does this new version has the same "issue" as mentioned by you in reply # 5019?
Does a person (who is running version 6 on Win7 ) really need that new version?

 

If so, there has been no confirmation that I'm aware of. However, a conclusive answer would have to come from someone who has actually tried to patch their Reflect installation after installing the latest Windows Defender update.

Unfortunately, having now switched my own Reflect installation from v6 to v7, I'm unable to check for you whether Macrium's 6.3.1849 update patch is now installing its MacriumService.exe file in the correct location. I can only confirm that, when I installed the v7.1.2695 patch, it did locate the MacriumService.exe file correctly, but it did not update the WAIKFiles package as it should have. I had to download and run the full v7.1.2695 installer executable to correct that issue. If you want to be completely certain that everything gets put in its proper place as it should, I'd recommend that you do likewise for updating your Reflect installation to v6.3.1849. Frankly, Macrium's recent sloppy management and control of its patch production department doesn't merit a "5-star" level of confidence IMO.

 

Yes, I agree, that is the only way to know it (or maybe by a posting by a Macrium representative on their forum ...).

Thanks.
I don't know yet if and when I will update or upgrade.