Many thanks for the information about this macrium reflect product… I found the version on Downloads.com to be freeware and not to require purchase after 30 days (maybe they’ve changed it).
Anyway – I have one question…

Let’s say I have two hard drives, one master and one slave and that I install this macrium reflect on the master drive and use it to copy the ‘C drive’ image – in entirety (100%, not compressed) and that I store this ‘C drive image’ then on the slave drive. So that if I happen to be unlucky (again) and find a virus has srewed up everything on the master drive one day – at least I will have this ‘back up’. All well and good, but – will this ‘C drive image’ be sufficient to boot on its own from the slave drive? Probably not – I’d probably have a copy of the ‘C drive’ but in a certain condition which would not work without the original program (macrium reflect) installed and running in an os already in order to then restore the original image? But if (as I have suffered) the master becomes so corrupted that it either doesn’t boot or the files are all screwed – I’d not really have much benefit anyway of having the ‘C drive image’…? I’d not be able to access it.
I did think that the only sure and secure way of (using XP only by the way) of ensuring an easy return to the os – would be to actually install the os twice on the pc, once on the master and then to disconnect that and then one for the slave, then disconnect the slave and reconnect the master again – thereby leaving the ‘available os’ on the slave just in case I’d ever need it.
I have a spare, small (20Gb) slave hard drive exactly for this purpose and my plan was to use this macrium reflect software to give me the clone of my XP os – so that I always have the back up. But on first study, it appears I’d be no better off using macrium reflect because if I can’t access the program – I can’t get it to restore the os ! Kind of a catch 22…
Or maybe I have missed something?

I have two issues, as follows:

#1: Running MR 30-day eval (V4.2.2098)on WinXP and using Western Digital 1TB external HD to store images. Imaging works fine as does the verify image process. I have also checked that the Restore CD (Linux-based) works and does see the images on the external HD. However, when attempting to Browse an image (from the Restore Tasks submenu), after correctly locating and enabling the image in the Backup Selection screen, the program identifies a non-existent Drive Letter (letter “H” whereas the external HD is letter “G”). Consequently, when clicking OK on the Backup Selection screen, the error message displayed is: “The system cannot find the path specified.” How can This be corrected?

#2: Running MR free edition on Lenovo X61 laptop running Vista Basic Home edition, and as above, using the Western Digital 1TB external HD to store images. The imaging operation works fine as does the Verify and Browse image operations (contrary to issue #1 above). However, the Linux-based Restore CD, although it mounts properly, does NOT recognize the external HD where the image is located. Of course, the Windows PE option for the Restore CD, specifically for Vista and providing a greater range of support, is NOT available in the MR free edition. Is there any work-around to get the Restore CD to recognize the external HD?

Many thanks… you guys are awesome!

Hope this helps.

I just started testing the free version along with paragon’s free version to see which I will end up going with primarily.

For free one really can’t complain too much. Too bad there weren’t a few more options available in free like incrementals but again for free can’t complain.

Don’t know if anyone can answer this for me or not, since I can’t ask in their form(I don’t have paid version).

I have win7 premium and the way the pc came it has 1 500gb drive. But it appears in macrium as:

disk1 x
1 system active 100mb x
2 compaq(c:) primary x
3 factory_image(d:) primary x

I am guessing the 3 factory_image(d:) is for restoring the pc back to original status.

I am wondering what the usual suggestion for imaging a setup like this would be?

Should I only be concerned with 2 compaq(c:) and the 1 system 100mb or just compaq(c:)?
Should I back up each individually to their own image files?
Or should I back up all of these into one image file?

Same with restoring if I backup all 3 into one image file is it possible to restore all 3 contained in the 1 image file?

Just want to make sure I understand this and get a handle on it first. I’ve used other backup imaging in the past but didn’t have all these options, and/or there was only 1 partition to choose from which made it much easier.

I just did my first backup with Reflect today: 191GB from my PC over to a disk connected to my MacBook. It took 6 hours and 15 minutes…for a comparison, 180GB to the same disk using Windoze Backup took 9:45.

So far this looks like a nice product. I like being able to browse into the image file. The notes Macrium have on copying to new hardware look good also.

Been waiting for a freebie Ghost replacement for years and, while this is the closest I’ve seen, looks like the wait continues for a one step solution.

• differential backup (it’s very useful for this kind of peace of software)
• Built-in ability to create a rescue CD or bootable USB Flash drive
• Linux/DOS bootable recovery environments
• Automatic data exclusion
• Backup to a network
• Hot backup
• Enough featured for the home user but not overwhelming

Also, Macrium has one major bug that I couldn’t face it with – it cannot restore an image from a larger hard disk to a smaller one, even if your backed up data is less than that of your destination disk’s capacity.

After formatting, I installed all the programs and updates, then did an image of my HD and saved in a folder on drive “C”, then created my DVD Recovery for Linux, enabled in the BIOS to boot from a DVD, and restored my image, put the image did not come as it was before the original state ..

Note: When I finished creating the image, I deleted some programs and folders to see if it restored to its original state which left more to my surprise did not come the files I had deleted, even though the files were only for testing same! ..

OBS: Quando eu terminei de criar a imagem, eu deletei alguns programas e pastas para ver se realmente restaurava para o estado original que tinha deixado, mais para minha surpresa nao veio os arquivos que tinha deletado, ainda bem que os arquivos era só para testes mesmo!!..