I can certainly see how the inconsistent wording would be confusing to a non-native English speaker. But yes, “image” can be used as both a noun (create an image) and a verb (image this disk). The same is true for “clone”. You can create a clone, and clone a disk. Dictionaries aren’t always the best resource for technical jargon, or even general slang. If Macrium wanted those items to be consistent, it would probably be easiest to change the Windows-related option to say “Image the partitions necessary to back up and restore Windows”, simply because “image” is more efficient than “Create an image of”. And changing “Image this disk” to “Create an image of this disk” would take up more space.
I recently tried to image an SSD which ultimately failed. In the log file it says: Backup aborted! - Write operation failed - A device which does not exist was specified. Can anyone suggest what the problem is? The SSD is readable and was the primary Windows boot disk in my old computer. I'd like to image it before attempting to install it in a different system. TIA.
Without seeing your initial directive screen... haven't a clue. Since it's a WRITE failure, it looks like your TARGET disk (for the image) was not specified or didn't exist.
I'll try it again at some point and take a screenshot. By the way, the process went along fine until the very end. MR displayed the target drive at the beginning and wrote virtually 100% of the data to it before failing.
With ransomware so prolific it's almost like imaging apps including Macrium and all your major commercial/business imaging solutions really stepped up their research and progress within their products which has also greatly benefited home user's as well. It use to be image backup/restores were an occasional practice due to Windows borking or some software or the occasional malware recovery. This is when i found Reflect and added it in the camp along with Drive Snapshot as simply an alternative. I stuck with it ever since and i remember only 1 or 2 occasions where a restore was messed up. Having a DS backup too there was no cause for alarm and i chalked it up as some Macrium twist or my machine as culprit. Beyond that Macrium is reliably performed well to expectations.
Thanks @jphughan Something similar was my consideration too: Perhaps they chose the verb "image" because it is shorter than "Create an image of ...". But then it was not logical for me that they used it exactly for the sequence of words which is the shorter one anyway: "selected disks on this computer" (a) is shorter than "the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" (b). But they combined the (more "efficient") expression "image" (as a verb) with a) and the phrase "create an image of" with b. Anyway. It's fine that you confirmed that their wording is not consistent...
FYI, Reflect 8.0.7167 is apparently the end of the line for Reflect Free, with the exception of security updates if necessary: https://www.macrium.com/product-support-policy#macrium-reflect-free-product-end-of-life-eol
So they're already on the verge of releasing Macrium Reflect 9? v8 didn't last nearly as v7 did. Time to look for an alternative for free users.
Not necessarily. Previous major releases have each had minor dot releases (.1, .2, etc.), each of which added some new features. There hasn't been one for V8 yet. And given that even V6 still works on the current Windows release, it may be a while before the final release of Reflect Free breaks.
So, no more FREE version moving forward. Anyone wanting to stay with Reflect may want to use the 50% Off Macrium Reflect | Black Friday offer. Offer ends on December 01, 2022.
V8 Home licenses give you a year of technical support from Macrium and a perpetual license to V8, meaning you get any updates within the V8 “track”. Business-oriented V8 licenses offer a renewable subscription option that gives you access to support and any new major releases that arrive while your subscription is active. There is not, nor to my knowledge has there ever been, a “lifetime” license for Reflect that allows you to pay once and upgrade even to major releases that arrive in the future. Think about it like a car. You buy one and it’s yours forever (perpetual license), but you don’t get free trade-ins to newer models.
Oh, I wasn't aware of that. I thought for some reason it was a subscription for 12 months. I may have to look into it. Thanks.
I have always left "Enable Multi Boot (MBR/UEFI)" selected. I understand that is good for booting to both legacy BIOS and modern UEFI systems. But I've often wondered what type of UFD I get by unselecting it. By unselecting it, do I get an MBR or UEFI UFD?
Dumping the free version won't convert free users, it will drive them to another product. I have purchased 6, 7, and 8. If they ever go subscription I will move on as well. I have been good with the model so far where you buy 8, you get all version of 8. 9 will be an upgrade. If it is time limited you could hold a user's backup hostage if they don't maintain the subscription. I won't use anyone's product if they do that.
I'm guessing that by 2024 MR 9.x will have been released. I might stick with MR 8.x Free Version for now. If I'm still above ground I may have dumped Windows by then anyway.
When that’s checked, the Rescue Media partition must be FAT32, and you can’t use WinPE 3.1. When it’s unchecked, meaning you only care about BIOS booting, the target can be either FAT32 or NTFS, and WinPE 3.1 is allowed. There is currently no way to build UEFI-only Rescue Media through the application, which is why GPT targets aren’t allowed. But you can create such Rescue Media manually if desired.
Technically there’s always (or at least usually) a free trial if you really needed to restore from backups created by a subscription solution you’ve decided you no longer want to pay for.
OK. Unchecked equals legacy BIOS booting. Thanks for the clarification. In Rufus, you can choose either one, but as far as I'm aware, it doesn't support both.
Rufus still allows multi-boot if you press the correct advanced option hotkey to show that function. But the option is now buried by default because when it was available for all, the developer got too many questions/complaints from users who created multi-boot media and then ended up installing Windows incorrectly. Rufus is often used for creating Windows install media, and if you boot Windows Setup in BIOS mode, it will perform a BIOS-based install even if the system is UEFI-capable and you may have wanted UEFI. So now the default is to only allow one or the other so people can’t make that mistake. People who enable the advanced options are expected to know how to use the resulting media correctly.
Thanks, JP. How do they make the mistake with multi-boot? They could just as easily make the mistake creating the wrong media with either BIOS or UEFI. What's the advanced option hotkey?
Maybe but it's one more thing you don't want to deal with when you have to get a machine up and running. Especially if that requires downloading that free trial with the machine you are trying to restore.
