Macrium Reflect

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

  1. Raza0007

    Raza0007 Registered Member

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    If you boot into the Macrium recovery environment and click on the "Macrium PE Explorer", you will notice a new partition labeled "boot", with a drive letter "X". This is temporary RAM drive created by Macrium from where it launches the WinPE OS. If you browse inside this boot partition, you will find a truncated Windows installation, with only Macrium installed inside the "Programs" folder and your system drivers. So, when Macrium launches from a partition with drive letter "X", it is supposed to launch the WinPE based GUI, not the full GUI..
     
  2. Raza0007

    Raza0007 Registered Member

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    Which third party boot managers would you recommend other than the Bootit Bare Metal Boot Manager?
     
  3. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Raza,

    I just did a Win7 C: to K: drive letter change. No problems.

    I used this script, setwindl.tbs. It's in TeraByte Operating System Deployment Suite Pro. TBOSDT. Unfortunately, there are no scripts in the free trial version. TBOSDT Pro is included with IFW, IFL, IFD and BIBM.

    http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/tbosdt.htm
     
  4. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    I use BIBM but I have used XOSL (free) in the past. I like it but it isn't as sophisticated as BIBM. If anyone would like me to post instructions on setting up XOSL, speak up.
     
  5. Raza0007

    Raza0007 Registered Member

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    I will give XOSL a try. I have never used a third party boot manager, and I needed one to test Macrium's restore to different sized partition or hard drive capabilities. I normally use the Windows builtin VHD and Windows own boot manager, but unfortunately only Windows 7 ultimate and enterprise can boot from a VHD. Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 Professional can also boot from a VHD normally. Just like a boot manager, when you boot from an OS installed inside the VHD, that VHD then becomes your C drive, and all other drives are bumped upwards. However, I would prefer a third party boot manager to make it simpler.
     
  6. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    OK. You asked for it....

    Get this one http://sourceforge.net/projects/xosl/

    xosl115.zip

    In Disk Management or with a partitioning app, create a 32 MB FAT primary partition. Label it XOSL

    Create a folder called TEMP in the partition. Unzip and copy all the files from the xosl folder into TEMP (ignore the manual folder)

    Boot from a Win98 boot CD. I suggest "Win98SEnoram_bootdisk.iso" from...
    http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html

    At the A: prompt type C: and press Enter

    type dir to confirm you are in the correct partition. You should see the TEMP directory listed

    type CD TEMP and press Enter

    type INSTALL and press Enter

    You are now in the XOSL setup

    Select Install XOSL and press Enter

    Select Install on a DOS drive and press Enter

    You should see "Install on drive : C " (third choice)(make sure it is your 32 MB partition if you have other FAT partitions)

    Arrow down to Ranish Partition Manager and use Page Down (or Page Up) key to select NO

    Arrow down to Smart Boot Manager and use Page Down (or Page Up) key to select NO

    Arrow down to Start Installation and press Enter

    Press Enter on Reboot System and remove the CD

    XOSL boots

    Click Setup

    Click Add

    Select an OS. Give it a Boot item name. Click Apply.

    Click Hiding. Select a partition you wish to Hide and put a tick in the Hide box. Do this again if there are more partitions to Hide. Click Apply.

    Click Save. OK, Close.

    Click Setup and do the same for another OS you would like to add to the Boot Menu.

    If the OS is not on HD0, put a tick in Swap drives before clicking Save.

    Now you are ready to choose an OS and click Boot.
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    To install another Windows OS, from a partitioning app create a primary NTFS partition and set it Active. Boot the Windows disk and install to the Active partition. I can't recall if you have to reinstall XOSL. Probably yes.
     
  8. Raza0007

    Raza0007 Registered Member

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    Brian thank you very much for the detailed steps, I will definitely install and test XOSL. I have bookmarked your post.

    You mentioned that XOSL is not as sophisticated as BIBM, can you explain a little more? How is it not as sophisticated? What feature does it lack that BIBM has? Are those features absolutely necessary?
     
  9. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Raza, BIBM was last updated a few weeks ago. XOSL is at least 5 years old. But for what you want to do, XOSL is fine. The advanced BIBM features don't apply to your intended setup.

    I'm doing this too on my test computer. There is a single Win7 partition of 20 GB on a SSD. XOSL was installed and setup. Win7 didn't boot. It did after a BCD edit. More to come.
     
  10. Raza0007

    Raza0007 Registered Member

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    I have a custom boot manager that allows me to boot into Macrium WinPE and Paragon HDM WinPE along with other OS. Will XOSL allow me to boot into Macrium WinPE?

    Though XOSL is apparently a dead project, I noticed that its port called XOSL-OW was last updated in 2013. Is XOSL-OW the same thing as XOSL?

    I will consider BIBM if XOSL is not being updated or stable, because peace of mind is more important than money.
     
  11. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Raza, I've no idea whether XOSL will allow you to boot into Macrium WinPE? BIBM will do this.

    I haven't tried XOSL-OW.

    Win7 was cloned twice to the SSD. I now have three Win7. Win72 and win73 were added to the XOSL boot menu and each Win7 was hidden from the others. The first Win7 loads into Windows, as before. The second two Win7 boot but don't get past the four glowing squares. The squares just glow and glow. It's something to do with hiding but I couldn't fix it.

    Both extra Win7 partitions have been deleted and I'm trying a Win10 install as the second OS. More to come.
     
  12. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Win7 but not Win10 booted from XOSL. I don't know what I did in the past. Maybe I just used several WinXP. But at present I don't want to see XOSL again.
     
  13. Raza0007

    Raza0007 Registered Member

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    It makes sense as the last version of XOSL was released not 5 years ago but in 2006! XOSL-OW was actually released in 2010.

    I do not think they are meant to work with anything above WinXP.
     
  14. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    You can try BIBM free for a month. See if it is suitable.
     
  15. Raza0007

    Raza0007 Registered Member

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    ^ Yes that is probably what I will have to do. Thanks for spending so much time on this.
     
  16. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Let me know if you need any help as the learning curve is steep. Easy once you understand what is happening.
     
  17. dagrev

    dagrev Registered Member

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    This has likely been covered but I didn't run across it. If you downgrade to the free version will it read and restore images made from the paid version? I assume so but wanted to ask. Thanks
     
  18. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Dagrev, the images are exactly the same... they will be processed just fine. Just no special features like INCREMENTALs, RDR (Rapid Data Restore) and the like.

    What does "downgrading" get you if you already own the license... or are you TRIALing the WORKSTATION version?
     
  19. dagrev

    dagrev Registered Member

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    Froggie, thanks for the confirmation. I'm at the end of my trial (10-3) and I'm seriously thinking of using the free version as my secondary backup to an external, and using another program once again for my main everyday backups to a second internal HDD. It was consistently fast but was not ready for Win 10 but soon will be. I'm just thinking over my options. To stay with the full version for speed will run about $60. The other will do that and I already own a copy.
     
  20. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Ahhhhhh... an AX64 user waiting for the weekend :D

    The Private BETA I've been playing with has performed very well... at least for me on a simple Legacy-MBR system. Hope yours runs as well... but I really do love Macrium REFLECT, especially its scheduling capabilities and its RDR feature (which I am using mostly for snapshotting).
     
  21. dagrev

    dagrev Registered Member

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    Yes brother and Amen! I too love the scheduling, but for $60 I can click and start one myself for that price! I do like Reflect and since new AX64 version will be at no cost to current owners of V2, I my consider paying the price. But I really don't need two programs that restore fast 99% of the time so I can't really justify the $60. The free version should be perfect in case the AX64 fails for some reason for a restore.
     
  22. technotron

    technotron Registered Member

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    Hi All,

    My forum membership ran out for Macrium's forums so I'm posting this here. I've found that incremental images will be branched off of differential backups when I try to delete files from the backup set. Trying to delete only the differential backup will select incrementals made after the creation of the parent differential. What does this mean?

    From what it looks like, incremental backups depend on the previous differential backups. If I happen to delete the differential backup, the data stored inside the incremental backups would be lost as well. In that case, it would be a disadvantage to delete differential backups that have incrementals branching off. I assumed incremental backups would only be based on either full or incremental backups. However, this image shows otherwise.

    http://i.imgur.com/9vOZcTR.png

    The image shows that selecting a differential backup will select branched incrementals as well.

    The two links below have conflicting or confusing tidbits of information. If incremental images only store file system changes since the last full or incremental image, then why the heck does deleting a differential backup delete incremental backups as well? It just doesn't makes any sense to me. Deleting the differential image should only affect itself sense incremental images shouldn't have anything to do with differential backups

    The only way this makes sense is if incremental backups were based off of differential backups like in a multilevel incremental backup scheme:

    full backup every month
    - this backs everything up. level 0 backup
    differential backup every 2 weeks
    - this back everything since the last full backup. level 1 backup
    incremental backup every day
    - this backs up everything since the last full, incremental, AND differential backup. level 2 backup

    This scheme makes sense if I go along with what the image is telling me. And I actually prefer it this way as well. Every source I read tells me that incremental images only work on full backups and other incremental images.

    http://kb.macrium.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50143.aspx
    {
    Incremental images are similar to differential images in that they require a full backup to be made first. However, the main difference is that they only store file system changes since the last image, either full or incremental. The resultant backup set will therefore consist of a full image and a number of incremental images which must all be present in order to restore the system correctly.

    Incremental images have the same advantages as differential images, but since they only store the changes that were made since the last full or incremental. They are always small and very quick to make, especially if done frequently.
    }

    http://www.macrium.com/help/v5/How_to/Backup/Disk_image_and_File_backup_archive_management.htm
    {
    If you select a Full image, then all subsequent differentials and incrementals will become invalid and automatically selected.

    If you select a differential then all subsequent incrementals will become invalid and selected.

    Should you already have a differential selected and choose to not delete a child increment then that 'owning' differential and increments prior to the selection will also not be deleted,


    You can safely delete any differential from a backup set if no incrementals have been taken from it, since differentials always reference the full copy. You can safely delete the latest incremental in a chain of incrementals if you no longer wish to keep it - however, you can not safely delete the source of the incremental (a full, differential or other incremental) as incrementals require the full chain to exist.
    As an example, in the diagram above a full backup has been taken, followed by a differential, then an incremental. Deleting the full backup would make the differential based on it invalid, and the subsequent incremental also invalid. Deleting the differential would invalidate the incremental based on it. So in this case, there are no backups that can safely be deleted.

    As another example, if we had a full, three differentials then two incrementals based on the last differential, the two earlier differentials could be deleted without affecting the latest differential, or subsequent incremental backups.
    }

    misc:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incremental_backup#Multilevel_incremental
     
  23. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    I would totally agree IF, you never make changes to your system or if you never use something like ShadowDefender. But if you do, then the new AX64 version loses it's speed advantage. I have tested the recent beta's for this.

    For example I take and incremental with Macrium and Ax64 and both are about the same. But then I go into ShadowDefender do some browsing and the exit shadow mode.
    Now Macrium restore is still as fast as always, but AX64, took the time of a full restore. Same with incrementals. Macrium took it's normal fast incremental, AX64 took the time of a full image. So for me, AX64 falls way short of the promise, while Macrium delivers.
     
  24. dagrev

    dagrev Registered Member

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    Thanks Peter. I greatly appreciate your insight and experience. I don't use SD and I'm not sure I qualify for making significant changes to the HD. I really do like MRv6. The only fault is $60+ for the cost. I like the speed, seemingly dependability, and scheduling and no tracking file with Reflect, but since I own AX64 I'm really having a tough time dropping another $60+. And with AX64 I do like the ability of choosing which snap to delete and having it simply merge the rest.

    I was still having some periodic large snaps 1GB+ with Reflect from day to day and at times those were taking 30 minutes or more at times. I noticed today that my system protection was turned back on when I upgraded to Win 10. Normally I turn that off so snaps are smaller. That should speed things up a little as well.
     
  25. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    You can generally find 20% off coupons which help with the cost.
     
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