Restoring a Macrium image after full format

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by allizomeniz, Oct 1, 2017.

  1. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    My hard drive has started developing a few bad sectors which have prevented Macrium Reflect from completing backups, so I'll run Checkdisk and that fixes it. I'm thinking about doing a full format to see if that'll repair the bad sectors but there are a couple of things I'm unsure of. I made a backup today with Macrium set to "Intelligent sector copy." If I format, should I still be able to restore that image, or should I make another one and use "exact copy?" Or something else? Thanks.
     
  2. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    allizomeniz,

    I'm not sure what you mean by "full format". Can you describe what are you planning?
     
  3. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    Hi Brian, a full format of the C partition where the bad sectors are. By "full" I mean as opposed to "quick." Those are the two main methods as I understand it.
     
  4. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    allizomeniz,

    Thanks. I don't think the "formatting" of the partition is helpful but the checking for bad sectors could be. I do the following as it leaves the data accessible. From an Admin Command Prompt...

    chkdsk C: /r

    Also, you can check the disk with the manufacturer's diagnostic software. eg WD Data Lifeguard, SeaTools, etc. If Macrium can't complete backups it is unlikely chkdsk will repair the disk.
     
  5. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    I normally run Check Disk from My Computer>Local Disk C>Properties>Tools; and I enable "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors." Does that do the same thing as chkdsk C: /r?

    Whatever it does, Macrium works again after I run it. But I don't know if it's actually repairing the bad sectors or just flagging them so they're ignored.

    I read that in some cases formatting can restore bad sectors so they can be used again. It's not foolproof but I thought it might be worth a shot. I just don't know if I'll have a problem restoring my backup image; I'm definitely not formatting till I'm confident on that front.
     
  6. Arvy

    Arvy Registered Member

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    @allizomeniz -- It is possible to tell Reflect to ignore bad sectors (see this KB item) but it's best to run chkdsk /r first as Brian K suggests. Also, you may need to assign a "drive letter" to some "unlettered" partitions on that physical drive in order to run chkdsk on all of them that are included in the backup operation.

    __
    P.S.: Running chkdsk /r checks and attempts to recover bad sectors. Without that /r option, it only attempts to correct logical errors.
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2017
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Win10 doesn't do /r from that Tools menu. I'm not sure about earlier versions of Windows.
     
  8. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    Does MR restore to different hardware? Because sometimes testing, formatting etc. kills a failing HD.
     
  9. allizomeniz

    allizomeniz Registered Member

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    Thanks all for the suggestions. I'll probably leave well enough alone for now. :thumb:
     
  10. Arvy

    Arvy Registered Member

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    If your drive "has started developing a few bad sectors", I'm not sure that it would be wise to "leave well enough alone" for any amount of time. At the very least, if you're not in a position to replace it immediately, you'd certainly want to ensure that you have the best backup image that you can get from it, even if chkdsk /r can't correct the problem and you have to tell Reflect to ignore those bad sectors.
     
  11. MarcP

    MarcP Registered Member

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    I've used MR to upgrade laptops for the past 5 years. I upgrade every year or two approx. No problems so far.
     
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