Macrium Reflect

So it's probably a bug then I would think.

 

...and I will add the following (which now supports, a bit, of what I'm seeing)...

I run a File Replicator (Bvskup2) on my system to provide my needed DATA backup facility... much different than my imaging requirements. I added the Macrium v6 image folder to this process during the Macrium v6 testing phase. Macrium is doing its "crawling" thing on the hour, and the file replicator is checking Macrium's image folder for changes, every hour at the 10m past mark of that hour... this insures that the Macrium backup images are moved over to my long term backup, just a precaution.

Anyway, the file replicator logs every action that it takes for every file in a protected folder, and it also uses DELTA MODE (differences only) to make any necessary file changes that are being monitored (this makes the whole thing pretty quick).

Anyway, bottom line... the file replicator log sees NO CHANGES being made to that so called "crawling BASELINE" image (exactly what I'm seeing in Windows Explorer), and small changes (approximately 15-16mB) being made to each and every incremental in my Forever Incremental image chain (with no indication of changes being made at the Windows Explorer level for these files either). The fact that the REPLICATOR is seeing some changes for these incrementals means there's some other file attribute is being changed during this process that I can't see at the top level. That process is followed by the addition of a new incremental (which Macrium is producing at each and every run... as it should be).

So... based on the above observation, what the heck do you think Macrium is really doing during this FOREVER INCREMENTAL operation (c'mon now... get those brains a workin')? IS the BASELINE really changing but I can't see it through "Windows?" Should I even care about what I'm seeing?

 

As @twl845 has suggested, this apperas to be some sort of system configuration dependent bug/anomaly... the problem is that since what's going on here at the moment is not any sort of Macrium sanctioned ALPHA/BETA testing environment, there's no way to provide your feedback to Macrium directly.

If after the official release occurs the problem still exists, there might be a way. One of the problems with the Macrium forums is that you need to be a license holder in order to contribute there. But, as a TRIAL user, I'm not sure how to feed problems back unless there's a non-licensed support portal available. I forget whether it was offered, but if you can register as a TRIAL USER (after the release) there may be a way into Macrium with problems.

 

Froggie check the SHA1 hash of the baseline and after it is modified/merged check it again and compare the two hashes. Time stamps can be easily modified from a program (maybe Macrium uses the same time stamps of the xml?) but the size even 1 bit should be different. The SHA1 hashes will tell you what is really happening and if the baseline is really merged or not.

Panagiotis

 

How 'bout MD5 instead (I have that laying around)?

 

Have you contacted tech support? Seems like a reasonable thing to do to me.

 

I would suggest that any bugs or questions of a more esoteric nature (Froggie) be directed to Macrium support. I would assume they have very good support given the quality of their programs but it would be nice to get the answers to the questions as well as confirm the supports quality.

Just a suggestion.

 

Not really... since Selukwe is not even supposed to have v6 yet (unreleased at the moment). If Selukwe is one of those "special" Corporate UK users in play mode, I assume there's a way to feedback to Macrium.

 

I'd be happy to but that path doesn't exist yet. We're not even supposed to have this TRIAL version yet (it's unreleased at the moment... no SITE or BLOG announcement yet) so I sure don't want to rock any boats... at least yet.

 

Same thing (for this purpose).

Panagiotis

 

Ah, understood.

 

Never mind, I now have both... thanks!

 

For the time being couldn't you just set up whatever it will let you, and then edit the task in windows task scheduler? (ps I found when doing so I had to select 'Run only when user is logged on' before it would let me close the dialog box).

 

It might not be any real help, but I noticed you can see it doing its merges in real time in windows explorer - I've just been watching mine apparently move 48mb through each incremental in turn.

 

My TARANTULA MODE was set up just like yours from the beginning except I thought you said you DID NOT use the "Create a synthetic Full if possible" when you set yours up... I did CHECK that option. The reason I checked it is I wanted the BASELINE to crawl with the incrementals, not necessarily by number but by time so my whole FOREVER INCREMENTAL (BASELINE + 24 INCREMENTALS) setup would move along a timeline. This is how I read what FOREVER INCREMENTALs could do.

Indeed, if I look inside Macrium and view that chain, Macrium tells me that the 00-00 baseline file is moving along exactly as expected... its timestamp keeps moving up to where the previous incremental was and the previous incremental does disappear as expected (1-24, 2-25, 3-26, etc.). Inside Macrium all looks as expected.

BUT, outside Macrium there's a whole different thing going on. The BASELINE (00-00) image file attributes NEVER CHANGE, and as expected, my FileReplicator sees no change in the baseline so it makes no changes to its backup. The incremental sets (1-24, 2-25 as it moves along) also experience no changes in their file attributes <Create/Modify/Access/Size >as far as Explorer is concerned) but when I check the BEFORE and AFTER MD5 and SHA1 checksums (Thank you, Panagiotis, for the suggestion) of the entire chain following one of my hourly scheduled FOREVER runs, EVERY FILE (incl. the 00-00 BASELINE who's change is never seen by the replicator) has been changed.

I really can't consider this anything other than very "stealthy" things going on. I may just set up your ForeverIncremental without the synthetic baseline creation and see if I see what you're seeing. I read that setup as keeping the original baseline and allowing only the incremental group to crawl along the timeline.

 

Which I am not... But pls note that I'm not the only one who encounters a similar problem. If it's not a bug showing itself under some specific configuration then those of us affected by this could have some of our system configuration messed up, though my system seems to work flawlessly...

 

When attempting to change the backup configuration in the Task Scheduler manually setting it to Daily, it returned the Macrium error: "One or more of the specified arguments are not valid." The changed configuration could not have been saved. To me at least, this looks like the Macrium problem.

 

Where can I get hold of a copy of the v.6 beta?

 

See this post linked to below for a download link, I think there was an update but cannot find the link for it

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/macrium-reflect.356309/page-27#post-2455236

 

This post's SOURCE are constantly updated as the version changes... and this is NOT a BETA (but I don't know what to call it... clearly still in the ALPHA stage without an official BETA program).

 

Have you tried changing 'Run whether user is logged on or not' to 'Run only when user is logged on'?

 

Changed it now, but no difference.