Macrium and Truecrypt

Hello,

I really like Macrium. I back up my system to a month after I bought my computer regularly unless I add an important program. Love it! Makes me feel safe.

I also like Truecrypt. I keep my data on an external encrypted truecrypt drive.

I have been backing up my data on the drive by mounting it and copying it to another mounted drive.

Can I instead use macrium to copy the encrypted unmounted drive?

And can I use macrium’s ability to just update the changes from the last update even when encrypted?

Thank you!



cooldays

 

You can download a free edition of Reflect from this Macrium webpage if you want to try it yourself, but, encryption aside, it's unlikely that Reflect would even "see" an unmounted removable external drive as a backup source. External drives are no problem as backup destinations, but those classified by the OS as removable devices are doubtful at best as backup sources.

 

I just was wondering if macrium can copy the encrypted drive successfully even if it looks like its all gibberish because of the encryption. That would make life easier. Especially if I can do incremental backups instead of all my data each time which takes hours. I already have the paid version already. i should be able to do incremental backups.The question is do I have to mount the drive?I guess i should just try it.

 

Well, that would certainly "outrank" my opinion or anyone else's. You only need to look at Reflect's user interface to know whether the drive is selectable as a possible source for backing up or cloning.

 

cooldays,

Are you sure you want to keep using TrueCrypt?

http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net/

The following page isn't about Macrium but it may help with your plans for imaging encrypted drives. General principles.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=462

 

I would expect no. We use Macrium to back up a secondary internal hard drive with virtual machines on it. When we run an incremental or differential backup, ANY change to a file causes it to replace the entire file. So if a VM is 200 GB, the incremental will be 200 GB. I expect an encrypted volume to be the same. It would see one large encrypted drive and any change to it would cause it to create an incremental file the same size as a full backup. If it works at all it probably won't work like you hope it will.

 

Again, if TrueCrypt is not absolutely necessary and encryption is, BitLocker is currently supported by Macrium Reflect.

 

macrium sees my encrypted drive I will buy a new drive and try it.
why do I feel pressure to change from truecrypt... I love it! It has worked flawlessly for years for me and my business.

 

So far as I'm concerned, entirely apart from the encryption issue, the first key question was whether Reflect would even "see" the unmounted external drive as a selectable source for backup imaging or cloning. If it does, then some points offered by others about possible TrueCrypt security issues, about possibly unexpected incremental results and about Reflect's special BitLocker support may be worth your consideration. I don't think any "pressure" was intended by anyone. The choice is entirely your own, of course. Just trying to be helpful by providing some facts that do seem quite relevant -- to me at least.

 

hi
i agree , i did once with image for linux and veracrypt ,it was only a test , but i was to create an image and restore the image without issues
and i was able to boot the restored image
but in other cases i was not able to boot or fix it with the cd

 

The fundamentals of encrypted drive backup and restoration apply regardless of the particular encryption technology involved in any given case. In essence, the outcomes will vary dependent on the state of the drive involved in the backup and restoration process and on the operational methodology of the process itself. This Macrium KB article explains the various possible outcomes in greater detail.