Macrium Reflect

I've never had VX installed so can't speak from personal experience. You will probably find the answer by reviewing the earlier posts here. Someone will probably have mentioned having both versions installed and being used at the same time.

 

I've had no issues whatsoever when running HASLEO BACKUP SUITE along with both v8 and vX of Macrium REFLECT. I run their scheduled images 10-min apart just so I don't exacerbate the Windows VSS Service, although I believe they would run fine at the same time.

 

As a long time user of Macrium Reflect (since its v5, and until 8.1), I discovered the Hasleo Backup Suite Free and I am just thrilled about it. Lightweight app, easy and quick to install, responds well and is packed with features not falling behind to Macrium Reflect X. Just awesome. Everything works as it should, no problems whatsover, at least on my system (Win 11 Pro x64, 24H2, system drive on M.2 NVMe Samsung 990 Pro SSD disk, Intel Core i9, 64 GB RAM). Smooth backups, smooth restores, much easier to handle than MR. This looks like a truly successful project. I can only recommend it to those who have not discovered it yet.

 

Hello,

I have a PC (i7-7700K, Asus Z270-A, 32 GB, GTX 1080, Win10) with a Samsung 960 EVO 1TB NVMe drive. I recently bought a new drive (Samsung 990 PRO 1TB) and am now using them both in the PC (even though the new drive supports PCIe 4.0 x4 and my motherboard only supports PCIe 3.0 x4).
I made an image of the old 960 EVO using Macrium Reflect 8 PE, then installed the 990 PRO in 960 EVO's M.2 slot and moved the 960 EVO to the second M.2 slot on the motherboard. Then I restored the image to the new 990 PRO drive. I had to boot into safe mode to uninstall the Samsung NVMe driver in order to make the 990 PRO boot into Windows (before removing the driver it alwasy got stuck at the Windows loading screen). Anyway, I solved this and later reinstalled the Samsung driver (for the 960 EVO) and the PC boots fine now.
I have a comple of questions though.

1. I'm curious, why is the 960 EVO still displayed as GPT Disk 1 in Reflect and the 990 PRO (the new OS disk) as GPT Disk 2? I even put the 990 PRO in 960 EVO's M.2 slot but it's still seen as GPT Disk 2. Where does Reflect get this info from, where is it stored?

2. I've set 10% over provisioning on both drives (using Samsung Magician) and later saw that it put the empty space between the C partiton and the last partition (instead of leaving the empty space at the end of the drive). When I was still using only the 960 EVO as my drive, the over provisioning empty space was set at the end of the drive (after the last partiton). I don't know why has Samsung Magician set it differently now, but is is OK as it is - or can the new positioning cause any problems whatsoever?



The last question is not really Reflect related, I hope that's OK.
The old drive (960 EVO) is reaching great speeds (and the 990 PRO even better, for what PCIe 3.0 allows) - except for the random write speeds, which are really low.
I have the latest BIOS version - released in 2018, 4K alignment is OK, Trim is enabled, overprovisioning is set to 10%, Windows power settings are on max, the 990 PRO is using Microsoft NVMe driver and the 960 EVO is using Samsung NVMe driver (Samsung only made drivers up to 970 models, it's MS drivers for 980 and onwards).

3. So, both drives are in the same system (on the same Asus motherboard) and both have the latest FW. Yet, the old 960 EVO has way better random write speeds than 990 PRO. Why?
I'm very happy with sequential read / write speeds and random read speed, but not with the random write speed (IOPS). Is there any way to optimize it?

 

I can only really address the disk numbering. That’s not Reflect. You’ll find that Windows Disk Management uses the same numbering. The only difference is that Windows starts its numbering at 0, while Reflect starts at 1, but the sequence is the same since they are relying on a common source. That source is the system firmware, and I remember Macrium posting somewhere saying that systems are not always consistent about numbering disks according to slot numbers, and sometimes will even enumerate disks in a different sequence on different boot cycles. That’s why Reflect long ago updated definition files to include a unique identifier for source disks on image and clone jobs, rather than just saying “Disk 1”, since that designation can potentially change.

 

Hi jphughan, thank you for the reply.

In Windows Disk Management, the new 990 PRO (C drive - OS) is number 0 and the old 960 EVO (D drive - data) is number 1. And the same order is reported via msinfo32. But in Reflect it's 1 for the old 960 EVO and 2 for the new 990 PRO. It's not a problem I think, just my OCD.



About the OP space being set before the last partiton, I think I should be fine. I tougth there could maybe be a problem if I wanted to restore the image and it could confuse the partiton and free space ordering or something. I should hope not.

And about the speeds, well, I gave in, I read a lot on the matter and quite some people have issues with the 990 PRO speeds. It's still fast enough anyway, in real world use. I was just hoping for some insight, as there's probably no magic solution to this.

 

How to change your "default" screen resolution in the Macrium Rescue(WinPE)
By default, the resolution of 1024x768 is set in the Macrium Rescue(WinPE)
To change it, copy one of the "unattend.xml" from the corresponding folder of this Archive to the root of Macrium Rescue USB flash drive.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/vhimsar2k5r69nb/Resolution_Macrium_Rescue.zip/file (4 Kb)
You can select files for "default" resolutions 800x600(for version 7), 1280x800, or 1280x1024 or 1600x1200
Also, you can set the screen resolution to "default" if you change two lines in the file "unattend.xml".
To create a Macrium Rescue(WinPE) USB flash drive, use the Ultra ISO or Rufus programs.
If you will use the Ventoy program, then use the Ultra ISO program to add the file "unattended.xml" in the ISO image.

!! First, launch your Macrium Rescue flash drive, open the "Other Tasks" -> "Change display resolution" and select a resolution from the list acceptable for your configuration.

NOTE
======
The resolution can be changed if your motherboard is in "Legacy BIOS(MBR) mode" or "UEFI and Legacy", while the "CSM Support" function is "Enabled".
If your motherboard is in the "UEFI only" mode, and the CSM support feature is disabled, then the resolution will most likely be the only one, and you will not be able to change it using this method.

PS... yes, but at your own risk

 

Wow… I don’t know how to account for this. That’s the first time I’ve seen the disk number sequence between Windows and Reflect not match up. I’m not sure how that’s even possible…

 

Hi, jphughan! All Your messages are very helpful, thank you!
This is your message for 4 November 2017
"...What resolution is it defaulting to? And are you booting your Rescue Media in Legacy BIOS or UEFI mode? That affects how the graphics subsystem works. For example, when I boot in UEFI mode, my Rescue Media is locked at 3200x1800, which is my built-in panel's native resolution. When I boot that same system in Legacy BIOS mode, I get 1024x768, and I think I have options to go lower, but not higher..."
https://forum.macrium.com/post/19330
You write further:
"...DPI scaling support is improving in Reflect (if you are using WinPE 10, since earlier versions do not support this at the operating system level), but there are still several problem areas..."
https://forum.macrium.com/post/19365

oh la la... so it's been 8 years … but the problem hasn't been solved(for UEFI only mode)? Or is it solved?
Have you added DPI scaling for your 3200x1800 display (UEFI only mode)?
Have you changed the display settings, or have you changed the program? If so, how did you do it, if it's not a secret?
Is it possible to make Macrium Rescue(WinPE 10) with 200% DPI scaling?
...

 

Wow, reaching all the way back to 2017!

Macrium Support posted at one point that the resolution options available in UEFI mode depend on the system's support of UEFI GOP (Graphics Output Protocol). This came up more often for users who found that when they booted in UEFI mode, the only option available to them was a very low resolution, like 640x480 or 800x600 -- which made Reflect very difficult to use since some buttons in wizards were hiding below the bottom edge of the display.

But apparently Microsoft changed something for the worse, because some of those affected users found that older WinPE versions gave more resolution options. So Macrium developed a workaround by adding the "Use legacy EFI bootloader" option in the Advanced section of Rescue Media Builder. That caused Rescue Media to always use the bootloader file from WinPE 5 (Win8.1 kernel), even when using newer WinPE versions as might be needed for driver support or other reasons. So if you haven't already, you could try that to see if you get more resolution options on Rescue Media created with that option enabled.

But in terms of DPI scaling, that has just worked for me since I started using WinPE 10. It didn't work on WinPE 5, even on regular Windows 8.1 installation media (which made Windows Setup rather exciting to navigate...), but it's been fine on WinPE 10. I don't know of any configuration options for controlling the scaling factor, though. If you have WinPE 10 and your laptop panel is running 3200x1800 with the default 100% scaling, then I wonder if your system isn't reporting the display's physical size. That's the crucial bit of information that even full Windows uses in order to calculate pixel density and therefore select a sensible default scaling setting. But whereas that can of course be changed in Windows, I don't know about WinPE. And I'm not sure if using the legacy bootloader option above would improve the situation, since that comes from an era where WinPE didn't have scaling at all. But it might at least give you a workaround of allowing you to select a lower resolution.

 

jphughan
Hmm... UEFI GOP is MS's diversion against WinPE, of course.
It is not necessary to create and run a flash drive with Macrium Rescue to learn about the choice of screen resolutions for this program.
It is enough to start Windows in Safe Mode and see how many (one or more) resolutions your computer screen supports.
If the screen supports only one resolution, it means that the "UEFI only" and "CSM -- Disabled" modes are set on the motherboard.
Now, if you set the "UEFI + Legacy" and "CSM -- Enabled" mode for the motherboard, then there will be support for different screen resolutions when launching a flash drive with Macrium Rescue..

Question:
1. Is it possible to backup/restore if you switch this motherboard modes?
For example: backup in "UEFI only" mode, and recovery in "UEFI + Legacy" mode, etc.
2. Also, in this case, will users who use ReDeploy have problems?

 

Not sure you’re correct on the assertions in your first paragraph, but don’t have enough concrete information myself to debate you on it. But I will note that if you set “UEFI+Legacy”, that would automatically enable CSM (which is necessary to provide Legacy support) — but it would NOT guarantee that you’ll boot in any specific mode. So if Rescue Media on your system only supports a single resolution when booted in UEFI mode, then even after setting “UEFI+Legacy mode”, it would still be possible to boot that Rescue Media in UEFI mode — and in that case, you would likely still have only one resolution option since you still booted in UEFI mode. The key difference is that “UEFI+Legacy mode” gives you the additional option to boot from Rescue Media in Legacy BIOS mode, which on your system may give you additional resolution options. But simply enabling “UEFI+Legacy mode” won’t guarantee that you’ll boot your Rescue Media in Legacy mode. You’ll have to make that choice if you want to at least potentially see different behavior on display resolution options. Or you can enable “Legacy Only” mode to force BIOS boot mode if your system supports that option.

To answer your other questions, the only aspect of Rescue Media that is influenced by boot mode is the Fix Boot Problems wizard (not ReDeploy). The fixes attempted by Fix Boot Problems are determined based on how the Rescue Media itself was booted, not the state of the target disk and Windows partition. I’ve suggested to Macrium that they change this, because some users have gotten stuck trying to fix a UEFI Windows installation using Rescue Media that was accidentally booted in Legacy BIOS mode (which is a hazard of having systems configured for UEFI+Legacy mode!), but for now that hasn’t changed.

But apart from wizard, everything else about Rescue Media will work the same way regardless of how it was booted.

 

I tested Windows 10 21H2 x64 and 3 different motherboards:
very old: Gigabyte EP45-DS3L(Legacy only),
old: Gigabyte Z77-HD3[(Legacy only) or (Legacy + UEFI) or (UEFI only)]; CSM Enable only(for all)
modern: MSI 650[(Legacy + UEFI + CSM Enable) or (UEFI only + CSM Disable)]

This is good information, thank you!
Thus, .. before backup, you can not change the operating modes of the motherboard, and you should always leave a note where to write (1)System Version, (2) Macrium Version (3)Name and operating modes of the motherboard, (3)Type of HDD(or SSD).
This information is necessary to restore the System.
For example;
1. Windows 10 21H2 x64 (AHCI), (UEFI only)
2. Macrium Free 7.3.5672 x64
3. MSI B650 motherboard, (AHCI), (UEFI only), (CSM - Disabled)
4. HDD 2Tb WD Gold - 01YCBB4

hmm.. then I do not know what to do with the "UEFI Only" + GOP "filter"... probably - to do nothing...
The best thing is the enemy of the good

 

This doesn't say very much without sharing results from the tests, but that isn't really important.

I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion based on what I wrote. But no, that is not correct. So I guess I'll try again.

The only time it matters whether you boot in Legacy BIOS vs. UEFI mode is when you want to run Fix Boot Problems. For all other operations, including backups, restores, and ReDeploy, it does not make a difference. Reflect will work exactly the same way. So there's no problem with changing the motherboard mode before performing a backup.

None of that information is necessary to restore the system, with the possible exception of AHCI vs. Intel RST/RAID mode. But even there, ReDeploy would be able to help address a settings change there -- although if you made a backup of a system configured for AHCI mode and switched it to RST/RAID mode, you might need to manually provide a driver.

For everything else:

1. You don't HAVE to know the Windows version in the backup in order to restore successfully.
   
2. The Reflect version doesn't matter very much either, except in some cases where using an older Reflect version to restore a backup created by a newer version might be a problem.
3. Legacy vs. UEFI isn't important to note down either, because if the Windows disk is MBR, you know it needs to boot in Legacy BIOS mode. And if the Windows disk is GPT, you know it needs to boot in UEFI mode. Reflect shows the source disk's partition layout type above the partition map, even for image backups. Again, if you need to run Fix Boot Problems, you'll need to boot Rescue Media in the mode that matches the Windows disk. But even then, you don't need to note this down when making a backup because you'll be able to determine this information based on data available in the image when you restore it.
   
4. Storage device details aren't essential either, but here again, the model of the disk is shown in the partition map of the image anyway, so you don't have to capture that information separately.

Here's a screenshot from an image restore wizard showing the partition layout type and storage device info. You can also see this under the Existing Backups tab by selecting an image.

 

Thank you. Yes, it is good that the Macrium program is able to restore in difficult conditions of System configuration changes (AHCI, UEFI, CSM, etc.) after Backup.
I have long made my choice in favor of the Macrium program, but I prefer not to change the System configuration after Backup, I prefer minimal risk.

 

I didn't see any mention of fixes for the problem I had with "X/10". The problem was with Macrium X + BIOS/MBR disks using rescue.iso to image and restore. They worked fine if doing a 'delta' restore over existing install, but if you restored them to a new blank or "cleaned" disk, the result was booting into a BSOD with something about "no boot files found". I guess it did not backup/restore the MBR section or something? Either way, not good!

I am afraid to even mess with Macrium any more now. Considering the new subscription payment scheme, I guess I don't really care anyway, because "Homie don't play dat". Hasleo seems like the better solution now anyway...and you can't beat that $0.00 price.

 

Yeah, my subscription for Macrium is due next month and I won’t renew it. Hasleo is indeed a very good replacement, you mention it is $0.00 but as you probably know it will not stay like that.

 

My last ISO created with it will! Like Macrium v8. Thing is v10 and Hasleo have better speed and compression now than Reflect v8.
Yeah, we'll see what they do though. If they sell it for a decent price, with no rent-an-app-subscription B$, don't bloat it all up like Acronis did, or add "bundle-spy-ware" I'll buy it.

 

Should have read dat: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/macrium-x-not-happy.455365/ SRT, Nov 2, 2024

Went back to Version 8 it works great no subscription needed (after many frustrating hours).

 

When doing my weekly image back up, I now see extra local disks as shown on the attached pic.
I am almost certain that previously it only showed the main C drive (number 3) and number 1 (the No Name drive about a quarter full). As you can see, it now shows two other drives (2 & 4) both full. It is possible that it showed number 2 before but number 4 is certainly new. Anyone any idea what this means and if it is an issue? What seems odd is that 2 and 4 are both showing full but only 4 is shown in red.

I am using Macrium 8 Free with Win 11 Pro and have not changed any settings. However Win 11 did do a Quality update within the last week (KB5051989). Could this be a factor?

Any help or reassurance would be most appreciated.

 

I can’t tell you why, but MR needs to backup all those partitions in order to recover the OS without any problems. In my case there are 6 partitions although only :C would be required to backup. I think it is normal but wait for the real experts to chime in.

 

Thanks for your help. Just seems odd that up to now there has only been the C drive showing but now there are the four partitions.

 

When using GPT partitioning vs Legacy MBR (which just has a single partition):

1. is the EFI (System/boot) partition.
2. is the MSR (shows "full" because it is un-formatted space, probably completely unused)
3. is Windows
4. is a Recovery partition I assume, nearly full NTFS format, so red. It's usually labeled "WinRE"?

I do manual partitioning when I install and avoid the "Recovery" partition. That way Windows just creates a hidden Recovery Folder on the Windows partition itself. I have no idea why Windows requires an MSR (Microsoft Reserved) partition, but it does.

Why you couldn't see them before, I have no idea. I always can and they all need to be included in a backup image! I believe you could boot and run fine without the Recovery one, but if problems occurred later, you would not have the files to fix it? I'm not exactly sure what actual "recovery" files are in there.

Viewing my Windows "Recovery" folder from Linux, presumably your "Recovery" partition contains the ~same stuff:

 

Thanks DG for the explanation - it is much appreciated. I can't say I understand everything but it is very helpful to know that I should back up all the partitions.
I've not managed to access my recovery folder but imagine it contains much the same as yours and, in my case, is probably best ignored!