Macrium Reflect

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

  1. n8chavez

    n8chavez Registered Member

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    Perhaps you are right. According to this, that seems to be the case. I wonder why I never had an issue updating?
     
  2. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Updates continue until the end of the major version (currently v7), support stops after 1-yr.
     
  3. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    It varies based on the edition you buy.

    With Home, the license to use it is perpetual -- NOT a subscription. It will work forever, or at least as long as it remains compatible with whatever version of Windows you're running. You are also entitled to any updates within that major version (e.g. V7), regardless of when they're released. You also get email and ticket system support for 12 months from your purchase date. You get support through the Macrium forums permanently. You do NOT get free upgrades to any major version updates (e.g. V8 ), even if that major version arrives within your 12-month support period. However, when V7 was released, anyone who bought V6 within a relatively short window prior to that date was given a free upgrade.

    With the business-oriented editions (Workstation, Server, and Server Plus), the licenses are also perpetual -- except for certain specific licensing scenarios -- and you once again get one year of included email and ticket system support, plus forum access. The differences with those versions are:
    • You can pay to extend support beyond that initial year. Home users do not have this option.
    • You can pay to upgrade to Premium Support, which includes 24/7 phone-based support and I believe priority support even via email and tickets. Home users do not have this option.
    • Even if you don't purchase Premium Support, you DO get free upgrades to major releases that occur while you have an active support agreement.
    So the business versions get a model that resembles "software assurance" as offered by Microsoft and others. Home users don't get that, but they get cheaper license costs, especially if they go for the Home 4-pack that's 50% off. Home and Workstation are almost identical except that the latter is licensed for commercial use and I think writes events to Event Viewer, which Home doesn't. But Workstation costs a bit more even for a single license and isn't available in a 4-pack at 50% off.

    There are also some subscription-based offerings, such as the Technician's License and the Image Deployment Kit. There's also a Reflect Agent license meant to be used with Macrium Site Manager, but I believe that is perpetually licensed.
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2020
  4. Osaban

    Osaban Registered Member

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    Thank you jphughan, always very informative explanations.
     
  5. paulderdash

    paulderdash Registered Member

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    This may be a dumb question but if I have a Home license: Single PC, would I be able to install it twice if I had two instances of Windows on that PC?
     
  6. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    I believe that should work just fine. It's licensing algorithm should find the same elements for validation under both OSes. It's sure worth a quick try...
     
  7. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    Might require some assistance from Macrium, but they do explicitly allow a single license to be used on a dual boot PC within both OSes.
     
  8. razorboy

    razorboy Registered Member

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    That's good, because that is exactly what I need to do.
     
  9. Keith Weisshar

    Keith Weisshar Registered Member

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    Will WinPE be discontinued? The WinPE based recovery media uses an older build than WinRE.
     
  10. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Eventually a newer version of WinPE will be "certified" for use... at that time things will change. It's not going away.
     
  11. jphughan

    jphughan Registered Member

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    I've seen no indication of that, and that would be a significant problem for people who might need to build Rescue Media on a different Windows kernel than they're running on their system, which can be necessary for compatibility issues with some other systems they might need to use that Rescue Media on (such as people using a Technician's License). But I also haven't seen any functionality that's relevant to Rescue Media get added to WinPE since WinPE 10 1709. Macrium migrated the WinPE 10 option to that build, moving up from WinPE 10 1607, because the Win 10 1709 kernel added support for multi-partition flash drives, which CAN be useful for Rescue Media use cases. But newer is not always better (as Microsoft has been proving more often than usual lately....), so I have absolutely no issue with Macrium sticking to an older WinPE 10 release rather than upgrading for the sake of upgrading. If there's no benefit, then that's just Macrium wasting time they could be spending working on useful things.
     
  12. paulderdash

    paulderdash Registered Member

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    Just to confirm: tested, and it works. :thumb:
    (Will see if it also works on another triple-boot laptop I am about to configure :D).
     
  13. pb1

    pb1 Registered Member

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    Hi Guys

    Noob question here.
    If i convert my C: disk from gpt to mbr will M.R change that back when i restore with an image earlier done or does it not meddle with thoose features?
     
  14. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    It's a disk imaging System... it will restore the UEFI-Gpt environment. Pls understand, it won't BOOT after the restoration if you've changed your BiOS operation to Legacy-MBR.
     
  15. pb1

    pb1 Registered Member

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    Yes i have read that, that`s why i asked this noob question.
    So my only option is to make a new install of Windows and then change, or?
     
  16. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    A quick question... since you already have an operational UEFI-Gpt configuration, why would you want to change it to the older BiOS operation of Legacy-MBR? Just trying to understand why someone would want to move in that direction.
     
  17. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    This POST from 7-yrs ago says it's pretty easy if you use the right tool. The key is a tool which will do a GPT to MBR non-destructive disk change... there are many out there. I've never done this so I can't vouch for the user's success.
     
  18. pb1

    pb1 Registered Member

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    When i boot Uefi i get the HP logo, when booting Mbr i get the W10 logo. I want W10.

    As far as i know there are no real downsides to a change except space, or?
     
  19. pb1

    pb1 Registered Member

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    Thanks.
    Yes i know there are several methods but all seems to demand the wiping of all partitions and then convert. Hence my question, is a reinstall of Windows the only way, except the wipe?
     
  20. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Not at all. That LINK I referenced above had a user doing a complete conversion (using his tool of choice) of a disk with full OS loaded and BOOTing, then just changing his BiOS from UEFI to, most likely, CSM (both) if it was supported. When done, the System BOOTed up just fine. He did not rebuild the System in question.

    Downsides with MBR: only 4-PRIMARY partitions allowed on a single disk, no disk (non-AFD <4k sector>) larger than 2tb supported.
     
  21. pb1

    pb1 Registered Member

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    Yeah i know, but the chicken in me gets nervous when the program says i have to wipe them first. I think of course that it will do it if i dont. Or i will just lose them anyhow :D.

    But i have to take my chances since i have Macrium image.

    I guess 4 partitions means even the partition before C:?
     
  22. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Well, rather than modify your whole System, give THIS a try (less fear involved, make sure you have an image backup).

    PS- you will not be able to do the above if you're using SECURE BOOT with UEFI, you will have to turn SECURE BOOT off.
     
  23. pb1

    pb1 Registered Member

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    I found that yesterday when i began searching about this but its to complicated and to much effort. I will try the converting.
    Worst case scenario is a reinstall of windows but since i have my external image, who cares.

    But what about the partitions, does all the ones before C: count to?
     
  24. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Just so you know... I created a Win10 UEFI build (4-partitions by DEFAULT). Then I added an additional DATA partition and copied some files over. I then used the GPT to MBR conversion tool offered in Minitool's Partition Wizard (supposedly non-destructive, most are) and converted the just created OS disk. I then tried to BOOT it and it failed... I expected it to due to myriad differences between UEFI and MBR booting. I then ran Reflect's Recovery Media and used it's FIX BOOT option. It made me pick a partition to BOOT from (be careful, you'll need to get the right one... make sure your partitions are labeled). I did that and allowed all its options. When finished, it BOOTed just fine in MBR mode... all DATA available on both partitions.

    It really couldn't be easier...
     
  25. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    When you use the REFLECT Recovery Media "Fix BOOT" option, that process asks for the partition you want to BOOT from. If you select your OS partition, the Fix BOOT process will put everything needed to BOOT on your selected partition and make it the ACTIVE boot partition (needed for BOOTing on an MBR System).

    When finished and BOOTed successfully under Legacy-MBR, the only partitions left that you'll need are the OS partition and your DATA partition. The others, EFI appx. 100mb (FAT32) and Recovery partition are no longer needed. The original System Reserved space of 16mB or so is now unallocated.
     
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