Macrium Reflect Free Version

[Wally J]

A while back a variety of posts covered the deprecation of the free
version of Macrium Reflect with version 8.0.7279 as the last released
version.
A few days ago(Oct 12, iirc) a security update for the free version was
released 8.0.7690
1. Update via the Macrium Reflect 'free' 8.0.7690 program
2. Download the free installer stub(small 5526 KB file)
<https://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v8/ReflectDLHF.exe>
3. Download 8.0.7690 from a third party hosting site.
- Item (2) is the link to download the free version installer
- The terminology in the file name is(D-irect L-ink, H-ome, F-ree)
- The free installer when run will download V.8.0.7690
- The free stub installer version is 8.1.7675
- The free stub installer version only applies to exe file of the stub
installer, not the free version(8.0.7690) that will download when the
stub installer is run
- ****Do not change the name**** of the stub installer. The name is
necessary to have the option to download the free version(8.0.7690)
- Do remember when updating the free version to a later version number
to recreate new boot Macrium Reflect media

This is a purposefully helpful post, and yet, a tiny bit confusing to me.
I'm not sure what version to get and I'm not sure how the stub works.
Does the stub install or does it just download? Dunno. Doesn't say.
But I can check empirically so that _others_ don't have to wonder.

Also, what is this software anyway? (See below... ignorance can be cured.)

I'm sure most people will better understand Winston's purposefully helpful
post for two reasons, one of which is others may actually use macrium, &
the other reason is they likely also use web stubs (which I avoid).

However... in an attempt to add value and to learn from others...

I try to test all the free software suggested on this newsgroup.
Especially when the "last known good version" is being discussed!

The first step is downloading whose first step is creating a directory.
I only have a dozen directories for all software ever used on Windows.

OK. Step 1.
Where does Macrium Reflect belong in my organized software file system?

My software file system is organized by functionality.
My entire computer is organized by what things do.
What does Macrium Reflect do?

Dunno. Luckily ignorance can be cured (it's stupidity that can't).

Let's look it up. <https://www.macrium.com/>
"It's our business to protect your data."
"Find out more about Reflect8" <https://www.macrium.com/reflect-8>
It separates us next into "Home" and "Business", where I choose Home.
<https://www.macrium.com/products/home>
"Macrium Reflect Home
"The complete backup solution for personal use.
Protect documents, data and operating systems using advanced disk imaging
technology. Includes Macrium viBoot for instant Hyper-V virtualization
and Macrium Image Guardian."

Oh. OK. No wonder I don't use it. I have absolutely zero problem backing up
any of my data because I keep everything well organized where it belongs.

Nonetheless, since it's the last known good version, I'll put it into my
software archives under c:\software\database\backup\macrium
(note all names are lower case, none are more than 8 characters, & no
plurals are allowed unless they're part of the word, e.g., "news").

C:\> mkdir c:\software\database\backup\macrium
Name: ReflectDLHF.exe
Size: 5657976 bytes (5525 KiB)
SHA256: 655BEAAC6297189A2BD3EB7F51DABFAA38273DE9A5B4654FDAC4D62E18F3B1A5

Hmmmm.... I don't want to _install_ it; I want to download the installer.
What happens when I click on that stub? Does it download the installer?
Or does it install the program? Let's find out... so others don't have to.
When I doubleclick on ReflectDLHF.exe with the killswitch set to no
network, up pops "Macrium Reflect Download Agent" with three sections.

Select Installation Program
"Select Macrium Reflect software to download"
(o) Free <== set to "Free" by default (no other options available)
Download Location and Options
"Save to folder = C:\tmp\Macrium\" <== interesting default
[_] Run installer directly after downloading <== on by default, uncheck it
[Options]
Select Download Architecture
(_) 32 bit
(o) 64 bit
Select Download Options
(_) Reflect Installer and PE Components <== what's this?
(o) Reflect Installer Only <== this is the default
(_) PE 3 (WAIK) Rescue Components Only
(_) PE 4 (WADK) Rescue Components Only
(_) PE 5 (WADK) Rescue Components Only
(_) PE 10 (WADK) Rescue Components Only (Release 1607)
(_) PE 10 (WADK) Rescue Components Only (Release 1709)
(_) PE 10 (WADK) Rescue Components Only (Release 2004)
(_) PE 11 (WADK) Rescue Components Only
(_) PE 11 (WADK) Rescue Components Only (May 2023)
Registration Information
Name = N/A
Company Name = N/A
Download Information
Select Download: Reflect Installer Only
[Help][Download][Close] <== select "Download"

ReflectDLHF Error.
Failed to retrieve download information. Please try relaxing
firewall restrictions, disabling Anti Virus software, or
attempting the download in Safe Mode.

Macrium Reflect Download Agent
The download agent could not connect to the Macrium Reflect servers for
download options. The server name or address could not be resolved.

OK. So that's as far as we can go with the killswitch turned on.
Turned off the killswitch and connected to VPN.
Macrium Reflect download agent v8.1.7675
OS: v6.2.9200
Architecture: x64
Loglevel: 0
Acquire features file
Http fetch features file
Download Type: Free
Download option: Reflect Installer Only
Component count: 1
Downloading component: Macrium Reflect installer
Download file: v8.0.7690_reflect_setup_free_x64.exe from set: installer
To: C:\software\database\backup\macrium\v8.0.7690_reflect_setup_free_x64.exe
INFO: Http Status : 206
File system supports sparse files
Download successful
Component download complete
End of component download list

Name: v8.0.7690_reflect_setup_free_x64.exe
Size: 186007464 bytes (177 MiB)
SHA256: B2D1E4ED483D063C6474DFCF26E7F1A54FABFB577EABF8EFF85089277863FF6B

Normally, if I were to test the software, I'd set it up as the following
Archive => C:\software\database\backup\macrium\.
Install => C:\program\database\backup\macrium\.
MenuDir => C:\menu\database\backup\macrium\macrium.lnk
DataDir => C:\data\database\backup\macrium\.

Where I'd install from a temporary _copy_ of the installer
(since you never know if the installation counts installs).

Dropped the VPN & turned the killswitch back on (to no network).
Do you want to install = Yes
Version 8.0.7690 (64-Bit) Free
Welcome to the Macrium Reflect Free Setup Wizard.
It puts in a license key of 75-7CJR-RQRX-3DWH-AE22-NZU2-CD4KTNS
How do you intend to use this Free edition?
(o) Personal Use
(_) Commercial Use
I agree to the following
[x] This software is being installed for personal, non commercial use
only. Commercial use is strictly forbidden.
Use the following options to customize the Reflect install
[_] Install CBT (Not available in this edition)
[_] Install Image Guardian (Not available in this edition)
[x] Install ViBoot (Instant VM booting of Macrium backups)
[x] Install Desktop Shortcut
Install location = C:\Program Files\Macrium\Reflect\ (trailing backslash)
Change that to C:\program\database\backup\macrium\ (trailing backslash)

Completing the Macrium Reflect Free Setup
[x] Launch now
[Finish]

It's refreshing that a browser didn't pop up phoning home.
(The network is off anyway - but still - it didn't even try.)

The desktop shortcut gets copied, of course, to the menu folder.
C:\> copy "Macrium Reflect.lnk" c:\menu\database\backup\.
Target=C:\app\database\backup\macrium\Reflect\ReflectBin.exe
Startin=C:\app\database\backup\macrium\Reflect\

Always check for sneaky settings, e.g.,
MacriumReflect:Other Tasks > Edit Defaults and Settings > Update Settings
Update Settings > Software Update > Automatic Software Update Check
[x] Show a daily Windows notification when an update is available
[_]Send an email for the first notification
[x] Daily check for updates when Macrium Reflect loads
[x] Restart Macrium Reflect after patching
I turned all those off, of course (while I'm still off the grid).

Delete the copy of the installer (in case it got chewed up).
Windows+I > Apps > Apps & features > Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7690 Macrium
Reflect Free v8.0.7690 [Modify][Uninstall]
Press "Uninstall" Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7690
[x] Uninstall Macrium Reflect
[_] Remove definitions, settings and scheduled tasks
[_] Remove logs
[_] Remove Windows PE component files
[_] log

The only remaining confusion is to ask Winston what version I "should" have
gotten since he seems to have mentioned two versions but only 1 was there.

[Wally J]

Item (1) should read.
1. Update via the Macrium Reflect 'free' 8.0.7279 program

I'm confused to all hell because I didn't see _any_ option to download any
version _other_ than v8.0.7690 so can you help me (and others following me)
understand what I should have done differently to get version 8.0.7279?

Please see my extensively documented log file located in the archives at
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.freeware/c/yNCcMPcWi7M/m/wMqxNN52AAAJ>

[...winston]

Post by Wally J

Item (1) should read.
1. Update via the Macrium Reflect 'free' 8.0.7279 program

I'm confused to all hell because I didn't see _any_ option to download any
version _other_ than v8.0.7690 so can you help me (and others following me)
understand what I should have done differently to get version 8.0.7279?
Please see my extensively documented log file located in the archives at
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.freeware/c/yNCcMPcWi7M/m/wMqxNN52AAAJ>
Hi, Wally J.

If you don't have Macrium Reflect 8.0.xxxx installed, then there is no
real purposed of using the downloader to download 8.0.7690, use(run) it
to update the Macrium Reflect free software from 8.0.7279 to 8.0.7690

On the other hand, if you'd like to install Macrium Reflect Free vs
8.0.7690, then the downloader(ReflectDHLF.exe) can be used to download
8.0.7690..
...but to use it, the normal process in the past for the free version
was to initiate a download request from Paramount Software's web site
which then sends an email with a registration code and a valid link to
download the software. Upon use, the registration code is entered to
activate the license(assigned to that email address).
- If not having installed and registered in the past, installing the
product first time may require a similar registration sequence.
=> Unfortunately, I can't answer that because my installations in the
past have followed the normal process(request download, get registration
key and download link, download, install, register, use)...rather than
any other route.

[Wally J]

Post by ...winston
=> Unfortunately, I can't answer that because my installations in the
past have followed the normal process(request download, get registration
key and download link, download, install, register, use)...rather than
any other route.

Thanks for trying to explain the delta between expectations and reality.
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.freeware/c/yNCcMPcWi7M/m/wMqxNN52AAAJ>

My empirical results were that the stub link you provided downloaded and
installed what appeared to be a free-for-non-commercial use installer
(which was named "v8.0.7690_reflect_setup_free_x64.exe" for 64-bit).

I installed it without it asking for my email address but I didn't _use_ it
(as I deleted it after running it and checking a few settings check boxes).

So it seems to me, in my experiment anyway, that is _is_ a free version.
But I only installed it and clicked a few buttons & then uninstalled it.

Is it trialware?
Does it die in a week?

Or are you suggesting in your reply above had I actually tried to _use_ it
to make a backup, that it would have asked me to register with email?

[kelown]

 - If not having installed and registered in the past, installing the
product first time may require a similar registration sequence.

Just updated free v8.0.7279 to free v8.0.7690. The $80 premium Macrium
Reflect version is quite pricey. Do I need to take any special steps to
convert the free version to premium? I want to maintain the ability to
boot into the recovery mode.

Is there any free alternative to Macrium Reflect?

[Paul]

  - If not having installed and registered in the past, installing the product first time may require a similar registration sequence.

Just updated free v8.0.7279 to free v8.0.7690. The $80 premium Macrium Reflect version is quite pricey. Do I need to take any special steps to convert the free version to premium? I want to maintain the ability to boot into the recovery mode.
Is there any free alternative to Macrium Reflect?

Raymond.cc site appears to have been sold off.

http://www.raymond.cc/blog/10-commercial-disk-imaging-software-features-and-backuprestore-speed-comparison/

The archived version of the web page, doesn't have the choking collection of adverts.

I struck a couple items off because they're not practical or they are
actually Linux based (can't be run while you work in Windows). Because
of the Windows VSS capability, modern backup software can make backups
while you work from the C: drive. VSS is not needed during a bare metal
restore (because there is no C: and you're booted up on a RAMdisk)
and the WinPE lacks VSS subsystem.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220525005416/http://www.raymond.cc/blog/10-commercial-disk-imaging-software-features-and-backuprestore-speed-comparison/

Acronis True Image WD Edition / Seagate DiscWizard Price : Free <=== needed branded hardware, Seagate disk for Seagate version

Active@ Disk Image 6 Price: Free (Lite version)

AOMEI Backupper 1.6 Price: Free for personal and commercial use

EaseUS Todo Backup 6.5 Price: Free

Macrium Reflect 5.2 Price: Free

Paragon Backup and Recovery 14 Price: Free

Windows System Image / Win7 backup (Included)

AOMEI and EaseUS are two candidates. I use the free Paragon Partition Manager thing
(which only does Resize/Move for free), and haven't used their backup as far as I can
remember.

These require extensive testing, and I've only tested Macrium,
and apparently I haven't even kept up with the feature set there.

I've never used the Macrium PE on C: thing, and only use Rescue Media
controlled by the BIOS boot menu, for doing bare metal restores. I have
one Macrium rescue usb key, and four or five versioned Macrium CDs.
A Macrium 7 CD, should restore a 7 or 6 or 5 backup. If I made a backup
with 8, *maybe* a 7 CD would not support all the features. That's why
I have so many CDs.

The reason WinPE is so flexible, is when you boot it, it loads into
RAM Drive X: and no longer depends on media. If the "media" was actually
a folder on the C: drive, you could boot it up, it loads into X: and then
you could pave over C: . However, if the power went off in the middle
of the restoration, you might no longer have a coherent WinPE on the (paved)
C: drive to use. Separate boot media (I have that Macrium USB stick), when
the power goes off, you'd be OK to start the restore again when power
returns.

If you boot from a Macrium CD, then you can pop out the media, once the
WinPE desktop is painted on the screen.

*******

How the "Free" works on these, is a Full Backup is pretty well likely
to always be free. Because that's what "Windows 7 Backup" can do for
you, from the Control Panels item.

If you wanted Incremental backups (a space efficient method with
potential reliability issues if you "stack too many" incrementals),
that is generally a paid version. by teasing you with Full Backups
that work, they hope to get you to pay for Differential or Incremental
or Incremental Forever backup features.

At least one of the non-candidates, is more of a file-by-file backup,
and I'm not even sure what happens when you try and restore with it.
It (at least initially), appeared to be a demo program the developer
was working on as a fun thing. It appears a second version was created,
but it doesn't have the polish of the commercial ones.

Clonezilla, while it works, is an acquired taste. It really needs
a GUI. It is partially a script based thing that calls "ntfsclone"
and "extclone" or similar, to make images of a couple popular formats.
(It means they did not have to get their hands extremely dirty.)
It would lack features like fixing BLKIDs properly (so a clone would
boot independently of its master disk drive), and correcting boot menu
issues.

That's why this stuff needs such careful test by a prospective owner.
There are a lot of things you can screw up and ruin the experience
for the customer.

ALWAYS test your backup software, that it properly restores to a
blank disk, and that the blank disk boots by itself in the computer.
Do not take the word of a review article for this. It's your data!

In my career, I've had some comedic moments at work, when staff
discover that nobody tested the restore, and it didn't work.

This is why I have to insist you test this stuff. Experience.

Good backup software, will not back up a corrupted C: (use CHKDSK, try again).
Neither will it complete a backup, if the HDD has CRC errors (the right CHKDSK
invocation, can hide those for you in a scan). It's hard to have test media
available which is buggered just right, to do those test cases.

Paul

[Nic]

Post by Paul
Acronis True Image WD Edition / Seagate DiscWizard Price : Free <=== needed branded hardware, Seagate disk for Seagate version
AOMEI Backupper 1.6 Price: Free for personal and commercial use
EaseUS Todo Backup 6.5 Price: Free
Macrium Reflect 5.2 Price: Free
Paragon Backup and Recovery 14 Price: Free

re:

Acronis True Image WD Edition / Seagate DiscWizard Price : Free <=== needed branded hardware, Seagate disk for Seagate version

Active@ Disk Image 6 Price: Free (Lite version)

AOMEI Backupper 1.6 Price: Free for personal and commercial use

EaseUS Todo Backup 6.5 Price: Free

Macrium Reflect 5.2 Price: Free

Paragon Backup and Recovery 14 Price: Free

Can any of these make a useful bootable drive without an initial m$ environment? Stated differently will any of them work directly under Linux?

[Paul]

   Acronis True Image WD Edition / Seagate DiscWizard   Price : Free     <=== needed branded hardware, Seagate disk for Seagate version
    AOMEI Backupper 1.6                                  Price: Free for personal and commercial use
    EaseUS Todo Backup 6.5                               Price: Free
    Macrium Reflect 5.2                                  Price: Free
    Paragon Backup and Recovery 14                       Price: Free

  Acronis True Image WD Edition / Seagate DiscWizard   Price : Free     <=== needed branded hardware, Seagate disk for Seagate version
   AOMEI Backupper 1.6                                  Price: Free for personal and commercial use
   EaseUS Todo Backup 6.5                               Price: Free
   Macrium Reflect 5.2                                  Price: Free
   Paragon Backup and Recovery 14                       Price: Free
Can any of these make a useful bootable drive without an initial m$ environment? Stated differently will any of them work directly under Linux?

If they make Rescue CDs when you install them on Windows,
the Rescue CD might be of use on a Linux box, for "offline"
backups.

I can do that with the Macrium USB key. If I boot the Linux box
with the Macrium USB key, I can back up all the EXT4 partitions
on the Linux box. It will restore such that the drive boots,
but it is not using "intelligence" when it does that. It does
not understand GRUB, but it knows which sectors on the disk that
GRUB uses, and it restores those areas. It would not do anything
clever or useful, with the BLKIDs.

On Windows, it can change/randomize identifiers, then repair the
boot menu, so the thing boots again. The level of service on
Linux is different, I guess you could say, Macrium is closer to
a Clonezilla when working with a Linux disk.

The problem with moving Windows programs to Linux/WINE, is the
physical layer can be off-limits. I don't think WINE particularly
makes /dev/sda available to a Windows program. WINE does make
a Drive_C available to Windows programs, so they have an NTFS
file system to work with. But I don't recollect it being
able to make the raw disk layer available.

*******

For a quick test of physical layer access, you could use one
of these. Try these from your WINE launcher. The ZIP contains
a 32-bit program, the other file is a prototype 64-bit version.

http://www.chrysocome.net/download

dd-0.6beta3.zip 191 kb 2010-07-17 19:48-0700
ddrelease64.exe 2.3 Mb 2017-01-18 13:40-0800

And when you get it, you can try the equivalent of this in WINE.

dd.exe --list

and that will show the namespace of the storage.

This is the equivalent of /dev/sdb , stated as a Windows namespace.
That's an entire hard drive (Partition0 means a partition that starts
at sector 0 on the physical drive).

\\?\Device\Harddisk1\Partition0
link to \\?\Device\Harddisk1\DR1
Fixed hard disk media. Block size = 512
size is 37748736000 bytes

If that's what WINE showed as an output, when running that dd.exe
invocation, then it means a Windows-ecosystem backup program could
potentially run and be useful.

Otherwise, if a backup program starts up and immediately starts
scanning the namespace, it is going to die and exit, without
doing anything useful. There would also be the problem, that
WINE isn't going to have a working VSS for "freezing" copies
of partitions for backup (for "online" backups).

Summary: Your best chance of success or of getting value from a
potential Windows backup program, is to make its Rescue disc,
and do "offline" backups with it. You could make a Macrium
Reflect USB key for example, using Virtualbox on Linux and
installing a Windows (with no license key), installing Macrium
and using USB passthru to build a USB stick. That's about as
close to not getting my hands dirty, as I could get, for
prepping media. Making CDs that way, would be... difficult.
Some version of some VM hosting software, claims to be able to
operate a DVD writer in passthru, but I'll believe that when I see it :-)
Making USB sticks is more likely to work. Because I have done that.

Paul

[Nic]

Post by Paul

   Acronis True Image WD Edition / Seagate DiscWizard   Price : Free     <=== needed branded hardware, Seagate disk for Seagate version
    AOMEI Backupper 1.6                                  Price: Free for personal and commercial use
    EaseUS Todo Backup 6.5                               Price: Free
    Macrium Reflect 5.2                                  Price: Free
    Paragon Backup and Recovery 14                       Price: Free

  Acronis True Image WD Edition / Seagate DiscWizard   Price : Free     <=== needed branded hardware, Seagate disk for Seagate version
   AOMEI Backupper 1.6                                  Price: Free for personal and commercial use
   EaseUS Todo Backup 6.5                               Price: Free
   Macrium Reflect 5.2                                  Price: Free
   Paragon Backup and Recovery 14                       Price: Free
Can any of these make a useful bootable drive without an initial m$ environment? Stated differently will any of them work directly under Linux?

If they make Rescue CDs when you install them on Windows,
the Rescue CD might be of use on a Linux box, for "offline"
backups.
I can do that with the Macrium USB key. If I boot the Linux box
with the Macrium USB key, I can back up all the EXT4 partitions
on the Linux box. It will restore such that the drive boots,
but it is not using "intelligence" when it does that. It does
not understand GRUB, but it knows which sectors on the disk that
GRUB uses, and it restores those areas. It would not do anything
clever or useful, with the BLKIDs.
On Windows, it can change/randomize identifiers, then repair the
boot menu, so the thing boots again. The level of service on
Linux is different, I guess you could say, Macrium is closer to
a Clonezilla when working with a Linux disk.
The problem with moving Windows programs to Linux/WINE, is the
physical layer can be off-limits. I don't think WINE particularly
makes /dev/sda available to a Windows program. WINE does make
a Drive_C available to Windows programs, so they have an NTFS
file system to work with. But I don't recollect it being
able to make the raw disk layer available.
*******
For a quick test of physical layer access, you could use one
of these. Try these from your WINE launcher. The ZIP contains
a 32-bit program, the other file is a prototype 64-bit version.
http://www.chrysocome.net/download
dd-0.6beta3.zip 191 kb 2010-07-17 19:48-0700
ddrelease64.exe 2.3 Mb 2017-01-18 13:40-0800
And when you get it, you can try the equivalent of this in WINE.
dd.exe --list
and that will show the namespace of the storage.
This is the equivalent of /dev/sdb , stated as a Windows namespace.
That's an entire hard drive (Partition0 means a partition that starts
at sector 0 on the physical drive).
\\?\Device\Harddisk1\Partition0
link to \\?\Device\Harddisk1\DR1
Fixed hard disk media. Block size = 512
size is 37748736000 bytes
If that's what WINE showed as an output, when running that dd.exe
invocation, then it means a Windows-ecosystem backup program could
potentially run and be useful.
Otherwise, if a backup program starts up and immediately starts
scanning the namespace, it is going to die and exit, without
doing anything useful. There would also be the problem, that
WINE isn't going to have a working VSS for "freezing" copies
of partitions for backup (for "online" backups).
Summary: Your best chance of success or of getting value from a
potential Windows backup program, is to make its Rescue disc,
and do "offline" backups with it. You could make a Macrium
Reflect USB key for example, using Virtualbox on Linux and
installing a Windows (with no license key), installing Macrium
and using USB passthru to build a USB stick. That's about as
close to not getting my hands dirty, as I could get, for
prepping media. Making CDs that way, would be... difficult.
Some version of some VM hosting software, claims to be able to
operate a DVD writer in passthru, but I'll believe that when I see it :-)
Making USB sticks is more likely to work. Because I have done that.
Paul

Thanks Paul for the convoluted answer, so the short answer is NO, these
are windows m$ backup programs. I think I will stay with my hardware
backup system for now.

[Wally J]

Post by Paul
In my career, I've had some comedic moments at work, when staff
discover that nobody tested the restore, and it didn't work.

Paul,
What do these backup programs do that a basic copy won't do?
Me?

a. I copy my C:\data folder (which contains all data I care about).
b. I copy my C:\menu (so I can re-used the menu on another system).
c. I copy my C:\archive folder (so I have a copy of all installers).

What else do you really need for a backup if your purpose is to
set up a new system or wipe out the old corrupted system & renew it.

[Graham J]

Post by Wally J

Post by Paul
In my career, I've had some comedic moments at work, when staff
discover that nobody tested the restore, and it didn't work.

Paul,
What do these backup programs do that a basic copy won't do?
Me?
a. I copy my C:\data folder (which contains all data I care about).
b. I copy my C:\menu (so I can re-used the menu on another system).
c. I copy my C:\archive folder (so I have a copy of all installers).
What else do you really need for a backup if your purpose is to
set up a new system or wipe out the old corrupted system & renew it.

Here's an ideal:

Backup program runs continuously, copying everything to a backup device;
with no involvement from you, the user.

Computer dies.

You assemble a new computer.

Connect this new computer to the backup device and tell the device
"restore". Go away and have cup of tea.

Sit at new computer and continue work where you were when you were so
rudely interrupted by the computer failure.

[Shadow]

Post by Graham J

Post by Wally J

Post by Paul
In my career, I've had some comedic moments at work, when staff
discover that nobody tested the restore, and it didn't work.

Paul,
What do these backup programs do that a basic copy won't do?
Me?
a. I copy my C:\data folder (which contains all data I care about).
b. I copy my C:\menu (so I can re-used the menu on another system).
c. I copy my C:\archive folder (so I have a copy of all installers).
What else do you really need for a backup if your purpose is to
set up a new system or wipe out the old corrupted system & renew it.

Backup program runs continuously, copying everything to a backup device;
with no involvement from you, the user.
Computer dies.

Due to a ransomware worm....

Post by Graham J
You assemble a new computer.
Connect this new computer to the backup device and tell the device
"restore". Go away and have cup of tea.
Sit at new computer and continue work where you were when you were so
rudely interrupted by the computer failure.

And discover that data is encrypted too. Ransomware encrypts
EVERY connected drive you have access to, even cloud storage.

Which is why I do monthly full-disk clones with Clonezilla.
Daily data backups with FreeFilesync using external USB
drives, which I rotate.
The most I'll lose is one day's data.
So, I get to have that cup of tea.
[]'s
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012
Google Fuchsia - 2021

[Wally J]

Post by Graham J

Post by Wally J
What else do you really need for a backup if your purpose is to
set up a new system or wipe out the old corrupted system & renew it.

Backup program runs continuously, copying everything to a backup device;
with no involvement from you, the user.

That's exactly what I said, isn't it?
That rcync automation doesn't require Macrium.

What does Macrium do, that's truly useful, that rsync doesn't already do?

The question is why do we need a special program when something like rsync
will copy the critical directories (which are only your data, in reality)?

What does Macrium do that a simple copy of critical data won't already do?

Note: I'm well aware people don't organize their computers so they have no
idea where their important data is - so this question assumes people who
aren't stupid - who do know where their critical data is.

You only need a few things, IMHO, to "restore" a corrupted system:
a. your data
b. your installers
c. your customizations

What else could you need that you'd use Macrium instead of robocopy?

[Paul]

Post by Wally J
What else could you need that you'd use Macrium instead of robocopy?

Macrium is a permissions-smasher.

Robocopy is not.

Rsync is only good in a "linear universe". The C: drive is
not a linear universe. It's perverse.

Macrium gets everything off the disk, that you could reasonably
expect to get off the disk. Many other commercial backup
packages will do the same thing. They all use VSS (Volume Shadow Service)
to "freeze" a copy of C: while the OS is running and you want a backup.
Some files will not quiesce, and they are not captured. The search
indexer Windows.edb or Windows.db file, would be an example. Shadows
hiding in System Volume Information, should not be backed up either.

We can't tell what is on the disk, since no Windows utility
can access all of it with any authority.

Linux cannot traverse a C: partition one hundred percent, because
of custom reparse points. The "New style compression" in Windows,
used to report "I/O Error" in Linux, indicating it did not have
code for the Reparse Point it found. It is possible to disable
compression, but even if you execute the command for that after
a brand new install is finished, some of your goods have already
been compressed. Maybe turning off compression and doing a
Repair Install could fix that, but I haven't wasted the time on it.

The gentleman who was wiped out by ransomware, it took him three
months to restore the computers (small business man). He was
never the same after that. It took a toll. No backups worth a darn.
Didn't even have the license keys recorded as to which license
goes with which computer. it's for these people, we image systems
and try to get them to associate one backup hard drive, with a "box".

dd.exe will get all your files too. And, be slow about it.

Acronis and Macrium and the others, they usually include a "mounter",
so you have random access to the contents of a backup. Macrium also
used to have a converter, to convert an MRIMG into a VHD (for virtual
machine access), but they gave up on maintaining that. When you mount
an MRIMG, there is a tick box to turn off permissions, and then you
can get places in the file tree, that would normally not be easy to get to.

Paul

[wasbit]

snip <

The original posts by Winston are in
alt.comp.os.windows-10
alt.comp.os.windows-11

[Wally J]

- ****Do not change the name**** of the stub installer. The name is
necessary to have the option to download the free version(8.0.7690)

Yeah, no. I've got 8.0.6560. I changed the name /and/ I downloaded
v8.0.7690_reflect_setup_free_x64.exe with it. Unless they changed
something, you can definitely change the name.
(BTW this should be in alt.comp.freeware.)

As a matter of habit, all of us who have installed every app ever suggested
on these ngs would know to do a few things habitually when installing.

a. Always use a _copy_ of the installer (then blow away that copy).
(The reason is some... very very few... but some... chew it up.)
b. Always hit your killswitch icon in your taskbar when installing.
(If nothing else, this lets you know when installers phone home.)
c. Always keep a log of the installation and store that log with the
installer where your directories are unchanged over the decades...
C:\archive\database\backup\macrium <== this archives the installer
C:\apps\database\backup\macrium <== this is where it is installed
C:\menu\database\backup\macrium <== this is the shortcut to run it
C:\data\database\backup\macrium <== this is where backups go
Note: I never use more than 8 lower-case characters for folder names
& I don't use plurals (but added them here for readability).
c. As for a.c.f, neither of these newsgroups is archived by Google
alt.comp.os.windows-10 or alt.comp.os.windows-11
So the best bet, to ensure others benefit in the future, is to add
alt.comp.freeware or alt.comp.microsoft.windows

That way all your intensive helpful effort is leveraged to many others
who need it because they'll find this in a keyword search years from now.
<http://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.freeware>
<http://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.microsoft.windows>