Bringing in the new year with a backup

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As the year 2022 closes give yourself a new year’s resolution to make a backup. One that ensures that anytime you read about ransomware, hard drive lo
[See the full post at: Bringing in the new year with a backup]

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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KP, kandb, AlphaCharlie, KWGuy, krism, TechTango, SueW, Rob F, lmacri, Alex5723, Matador

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I have created a full backup this morning using Acronis.

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Did you try to restore, like she said?

Mark

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I have tried and even restored in the past. No need to test after every image backup (full backup twice a month, incremental every day).

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It’s always good to be sure.

Mark

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@Mark, other than having two identical hard drives, backing up the primary drive, and then restoring to (and then using) the secondary drive, what would you recommend as a safe way to do a test restore? Other than the way I have listed above, I don’t know of any way to safely and actually test a restore.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM

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As she demonstrated in the restore video.

Mark

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Once you have established that a given backup program works reliably for you, you can relax a bit… it’s nice to be sure, but when someone creates a backup every day, that’s a lot of extra work to do a test restore each day as well.

I’ve restored using Veeam many times by now… maybe a dozen. It has never failed. I can’t be sure the next time it won’t, but my odds are quite good, I think!

 

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Cybertooth

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Thanks for the videos. I’ve just downloaded the free trial and doing a backup of my laptop. Will do my PC next.

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I use EaseUS Todo Backup Professional on my two desktops and laptop.  Every Sunday morning at 12:00AM EaseUS is set to take a full image backup of C: drive on each machine.  With every EaseUS release I create a WinPE disk.  Every month before installing the monthly Windows updates I use EaseUS to create a clone of my C: drive.  Have booted into the WinPE disk and restored fine and booted into the clone fine.

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last time I checked, EaseUs would not do a mixed windows/linux system. Correct me if I’m wrong.

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I do a clone about every 30 days and have it set to back up every day.

I also use Easeus todo Backup 2023.

Have used it for many years.

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So you’re saying I should do my annual backup now, while I’m thinking about it? 😉

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SueW, Cybertooth

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rotflm_o

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Susan, you mentioned in the backup video that some people like to have a separate hard drive for their data. Besides making backups simpler, there are three important benefits to putting your data on a separate hard drive:

1. If your data drive is the house shared data drive, it will keep all network access to that drive separate from your primary hard drive.

2. If you have to reinstall Windows, and the reinstall involves having to reformat the drive, you won’t have to reformat your data drive.

3. Accessing your software and your data from two separate drives can be a lot faster than if they are both on the same drive, because all access is simultaneous rather than one thing at a time. (With the advent of SSDs, this isn’t as big of an advantage as it used to be.)

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I’ve been making image backups for well over 10 years and switched to Macrium Reflect a year ago. I love Macrium. Full recoveries are easy and fast. I make a weekly full backup and an incremental or differential daily.

For those just getting started with the image backup habit, obsess with it and get proficient. I have two M.2NVme drives for my desktop machine and I swap them every 6 months to maintain proficiency.

For peace of mind, I it’s the single most important thing I do.

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kandb

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One of the “nice” things about the one-month-behind monthly update process is that I always take a (Macrium) backup image before, and then after the update process. (WuMgr).  I also try to take an image about halfway through the month. That seems to pretty much cover me. I also periodically copy these images to off site backup.

I’ve used Macrium for MANY years. It has saved my buns MANY times.

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From these comments, sounds like Macrium Reflect is the favorite imaging s/w.  It’s the only one I’ve used and I’m comfortable with it.

But, sadly, during today’s backup I got a popup advising that Macrium Reflect Free is being retired end of 2023.  Initially, I figured it just affected my W8.1 computer which is now EOL.  But, further research indicates otherwise.  Paid version is expensive and over-kill for the features I need.

Any recommendations on similar free imaging programs?

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If something is free you are the product.  Always keep that in mind.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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KWGuy, MrJimPhelps

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Not sure your analogy applies in this situation, but message received nonetheless.

I initially assumed that Macrium’s pricing was based on an annual subscription basis.  But, having done additional research, this may (hopefully) be in error…and changes my perspective.

Your are , of course correct, and I thank you for your response.

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Macrium always has a big sale during Black Friday/Cyber Monday.  Usually it is 50% off, also for upgrades. If you can wait until November 2023 and until then use the free version, you will save a lot of money.

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KWGuy

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Thanks, Pim, for your excellent and timely advice!  I did not know that!  Considering I am responsible for five computers needing Macrium, waiting for a 50% savings works for me!  Until then, the free version will be just fine.

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Pim

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KWGuy wrote:

Any recommendations on similar free imaging programs?

This post has some suggestions.

cheers, Paul

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kandb, KWGuy

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What is your current recommendation Paul, what is your go to backup solution?

Cheers

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I used to use Aomei, but changed to Macrium because of Veracrypt and I wanted advanced functionality – and I am a “techie”.

If I were a more “normal” user I would use MiniTool ShadowMaker – easy, all the features you could want, free.

cheers, Paul

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I used to be a techie, but now I’m not – it’s too much work! 🙂

Mark

 

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from ghacks:

Paramount Software UK Limited plans to provide security updates for Macrium Reflect Free until January 1, 2024. No further updates will be provided after that date. Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7167 was the last release to receive bug fixes, compatibility updates and features. Users of the free version may continue to use it, but they are on their own when they run into issues.

So I could continue to use a program that has worked well for me but isn’t being updated, or, I could look for something else that is as good for free. (or I think pay them $69 for a single computer license (but I frequently backup/restore across laptops/computers.) )

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Macrium has a 20% off sale at the moment; good until Jan 3rd (tomorrow). I’m thinking of buying the 4-device licence, which will cover our household.

EDIT: the sale seems to have disappeared today (2nd). I was pretty sure the banner said until 3rd Jan when I looked yesterday. Oh well!

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Matador

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Sorted it. The 20% off link is no longer on the Macrium website, but is still accessible via a banner ad in the software’s top toolbar. I’ve just bought my 4-pack licence before it disappears!

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I’ll wait until Black Friday, 11/24. Last year I believe it was 50% off and with updates ending for the Free version Jan 2024 you can bet they’ll be discounting a license to entice those users to buy in.

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Susan
What version of Macrium reflect do you recommend for a home user?
What version of Macrium reflect do you recommend for the office?

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Follow the advice from the Macrium or Acronis website, it’s very straight forward .

* _ the metaverse is poisonous _ *

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For home Macrium home.

For the office I actually have each workstation using the Macrium agent and the site manager and back them up to a NAS.

Scheduling Centrally Managed Backups – Macrium Site Manager 7 – Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

You install the agent on each workstation, install the site manager on a server with lots of drive space and then put the workstation licenses in the site manager.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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Kathy Stevens

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What are the advantages of say, Macrium Reflect vis-a-vis using the system imaging backup capability included within Windows 10 Pro with a recovery drive? Is there greater ease of use, reliability and/or functionality with the third party software? Just soliciting some opinions.

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Macrium Reflect (or, indeed, almost any third-party system imaging software) will give you vastly greater flexibility and more options. For example, Windows’s built-in system imaging creates the new image in the same folder as where you did the last (previous) image, overwriting what you already had there. It doesn’t offer a choice of where to put the new image. If you want to keep multiple backups, it’s a clunky process of renaming the existing image folder before creating the new image.

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oldfry

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I may be off base here but I would not feel insecure running an old ‘not supported’ Macrium Reflect. It (I hope) is not connecting to the web and just runs. Now as SB uses an agent to take care of backups for a business I would be more concerned.

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I have to purchase licenses for each workstation, you can’t use the free edition to use the agent backup to a nas.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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The backup software sometimes needs updates to work with changes that Microsoft introduces with feature releases.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady

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kandb

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Susan, you did it again! Provided a valuable service for all of us. I’ve used Acronis True Image for full backups since 2017, Windows system restore, system image backup and file history before that in an effort to have a sense of security should something go wrong with the operating system or the bad actors get in. I recently downloaded Macrium free to road test and will be trying it soon. Thank you for your efforts and hard work and your soft voice is so pleasant!

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I have posted a request for help for Paragon over on Backups-other. Can’t extract a file. Thanks! (solved there)

But – Where do I best ask Paragon BUR questions?

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Thank you Susan for posting your video using Macrium. I’ve been looking for some time for a backup software that is “idiot proof” ….me being the “idiot” !

I intend to use a 1TB external HDD for my backups but have a question regarding the Rescue Media Settings option.

Would there be any issues if I chose the “no boot menu” option ? I just prefer to boot straight to desktop when starting my PC.

Many thanks again for both videos.

Best wishes for 2023 to you and all forum members.

David

 

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I have been using a bootable flash drive for rescue. It works very well.
Be sure you verify that it boots successfully to the Rescue environment of the backup software if you choose that method.

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Coldheart9020, PDX5802

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Does the Macrium Reflect rescue media (boot menu and/or flash drive) need to be updated when periodic  updates are issued?  I try to keep my rescue media “sort of” current, but not at the same frequency of the program updates.

Thanks!

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No, but I do anyway. The updates often include fixes for problems in Macrium. They give you a change list so you can check if anything is important to you.

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Where to best ask free Pargon BU R questions?

eg I notice paragon under windows takes 4 min to backup M.2 to 58GB and paragon under recovery stick takes ~8 min and yields 62GB. Macrium takes ~6-8 min and yields 62GB.

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krism wrote:

notice paragon under windows takes 4 min to backup M.2 to 58GB and paragon under recovery stick takes ~8 min and yields 62GB. Macrium takes ~6-8 min and yields 62GB.

I’m not sure the question. It’s not a contest. Use a backup program with which you are comfortable and works effectively for you.

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Actually, it is: If I have a choice between a program that takes 10 minutes, and one that takes 20 minutes, all other things being the same, I will choose the faster one. My time has value to me.

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Seemed odd that a backup of the same SSD would result in different sizes from the different programs, and that one situation was almost twice as fast. Wondered why.

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krism wrote:

backup M.2 to 58GB

Restore this backup to another disk – assuming you have one – and compare files / folders.
Or, if you can mount the backup as a disk drive, run TreeSize free on it and compare with C.

cheers, Paul

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The difference seems to be that some backup page file while some do not. Thanks.

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FYI: I’m still installing Reflect version 6 free on machines and it works just fine. Of course you don’t have some of the fancy bells and whistles but it is reliable. Of course it only does Images!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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geekdom, krism, SueW

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Yeah, I think there is a lot to that. (meaning we could probably use it long after it is “retired”.)

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krism wrote:

Seemed odd that a backup of the same SSD would result in different sizes from the different programs, and that one situation was almost twice as fast. Wondered why.

I use Paragon and can answer those questions.

Question 1: why the different sizes?

When you run Paragon from Windows, it only backs up the “Windows partition” on the drive.

When run it from the Recovery USB, it backs up “all the partitions” on the drive.

Question 2: why the different in how long it takes?

Discounting the fact one of the operations creates a larger backup (+4GB) and “assuming“, like me, your backups are kept on an external USB drive.

When you run Paragon from Windows, it can use the “Windows” USB drivers to communicate between the source and destination which allows it to use the max USB speed the USB port/device supports.

Unless you specifically included the required “high speed” USB drivers when you created the Rescue disk (a very complicated process to get right), when you run it from the Recovery USB, it has to use a “default” USB driver to communicate between the source and destination which doesn’t allow the “max speed” USB connection.

Just FYI…

When I run Paragon from Windows on my PC, it takes ~5 mins to create a 32GB backup containing my Windows partition.

When I run it from the Rescue Disk, it takes ~10 mins to create a 36.5GB backup that contains all 3 partitions on my Windows drive (the Windows partition, the EFI partition, and the Recovery partition.)

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krism

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Many thanks for that @alejr ! Another question that stumped me. when I create a backup under windows (I tell it to do the “disk” and it does the 5 partitions on the disk, 2 NTFS and 3 win system partitions), then IT knows about it, but when I boot the recovery stick, that can’t find it. If I create a new recovery stick, THEN it can find it. If I do a backup under the recovery stick, then the app under windows can’t find it. What am I doing wrong? THANKS!!!!! (do I have to create the recovery stick with ADK? I’ve been using extant windows.)

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You’re not doing anything wrong, the issue is the record of a backup (Paragon refers to them as archives) is saved at the location from where the Paragon app was run to create it.

i.e. if you make a backup using Paragon from Windows, the record of that archive is saved in it’s “Windows” database and vice versa.

When you create a “new” Recovery USB. it knows about the archives created with the Windows app because its “Windows” archive database gets copied to the USB.

BTW, there’s “suppose” to be a way to add an archive to the database, regardless of how it was created, but I’ve never been able to get it to work properly.

In my case, I use the Paragon “Windows” app to create my weekly backups and only use the Recovery USB to either:

• Restore a backup if I mess something up and Windows stops working properly.

• Make a “just in case” backup right before I upgrade to a new version of Windows (i.e. 21H2 to 22H2) because it can copy everything without anything actually being “in use” by Windows.

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krism

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So, unfortunately, if I make periodic backups under windows, and then for some reason win fails to boot, there’s no point in trying the recovery stick because it can’t see any of the backups I made under windows. So of what use is it?  Or,  again, “what am I missing?”. How would I restore one of those backups made under windows if win fails to boot?

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Kris,

When you use the recovery stick be aware that all the drive letters may change.
You may have to search to find the drive that contains the Image file. I’ve never had a problem finding the Images whether made in Windows or from the recovery USB.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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krism

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I am able to “see” the backups. They are still on “G” for me, in /paragon/xxx/yyy,yyy,yyy

But I can’t get them to show on the timeline so that I can restore them. Again, what am I doing wrong? THANKS!!!!!

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While viewing the Backup Timeline screen, all the way at the bottom under the Restore Button you’ll see the following note that indicates it’s possible to “add” a backup from another location.

However, as I pointed out above, I’ve never been able to get it to work for me. Of course, YMMV.

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I install Paragon. I create backup at 5:32. I create recovery stick using my windows(NOT ADK). I create another backup at 5:44. I boot to the paragon recovery stick. It only shows the first one on the timeline:(note, clocks are off here by hours because computer clock is at GMT and win is at EST.)

but they’re both there:

But if I try to select the second one:

If I try to import a backup:

So I see no way for this to be useful. Unless, when win is down, I somehow resurect win, create a new recovery stick, and then boot to it and then restore the last backup

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Looking at the top of your next to last screenshot, you’ll notice it indicates you need to select a .pfi backup index file you want to import and what you selected was the folder it’s in not the actual file itself.

BTW, I never get those errors.

When I select a .pfi file I want to import, the process “seems” to complete just fine but the backup I just added never actually shows up in my Timeline!

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That’s because when I click on that folder it does NOT expand and show the pfi file. Perhaps you could do that for me using recovery stick and take a picture of it so that we can see it.

You never get those errors. How did you set up your backup folder?

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I copied the backup folder G:/paragon to G:/paragon2.

I booted to the recovery stick and tried the import backup and pointed to

G:\paragon2\Job-202301041727274 (note that folder contains 2 backups)

This worked, but on the timeline I only had the LAST backup.

This all seems horribly obtuse. how do people restore?

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Practice Environment for the Restore Process

One worry with the back up process, is the restore. We don’t want to try the restore to ‘bare metal’ because what if it fails; so here is a solution if you have the necessary hardware resources.

I will only outline a solution if someone want to add in, all the details to do it. I did a quick search on the forum and didn’t see anything like this.

Practicing on a Virtual Machine (VM)
1) install a VM like VirtualBox
2) download a Windows ISO ie. Windows 10 or Windows 11, to install on the VM
3) download and install the backup software you like to use, like Macrium Reflect 8
4) make a small practice backup and save it
4) practice the restore process on the VM (using the small practice backup) so you are familiar with the restore process

I suggested this because I do should it.

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I simply backed up with Macrium as well. I assume test will go bad and if it does, simply restore the Macrium backup and done.

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alejr wrote:

When you run Paragon from Windows, it only backs up the “Windows partition”

Really? How do you restore from failure without the other (small) partitions – Windows install generally has 3 partitions, EFI, Windows, recovery?

cheers, Paul

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Never actually had a “complete” drive failure.

Normally, I use the “Windows only” backup to restore a few files if I “accidentally” deleted or changed them. The few times I’ve needed to actually restore the whole “Windows only” partition were when I changed something that really messed up how Windows functioned after it rebooted, and it’s worked just fine to put things back to how they should be each time.

The last time I actually used the Rescue USB was back in July when I upgraded my Windows SSD to a larger one and, in that case, I make a full image backup using the Rescue USB and then used that image to “clone” my old SSD onto the new one (Paragon even let me “extend” the main Windows partition so it filled up the extra space on the new drive without messing up the other 2 partitions.)

If I ever do suffered a drive failure, I’d use the last “Image” backup I made to restore the drive and then use my last “Weekly” backup to update the Windows partition.

Just FYI, on my system the 3 partitions are Windows, EFI and then Recovery not EFI, Windows and then Recovery. That’s because it was originally Win7 Legacy/MBR (2 partitions) when I upgraded it to Win10 and I only changed it to UEFI/GPT (3 partitions) using Windows built-in mbr2gpt.exe utility after I upgraded my SSD.

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alejr wrote:

Never actually had a “complete” drive failure.

Therein lies the basic problem. I back up because I assume a catastrophic failure will occur, like drive dies and I have to slap in a new SSD. I have yet to see how paragon can recover in that situation.

The paragon/english/recover forum is littered with folks asking questions and getting no answer.

Shadowmaker could be useful but afaict it doesn’t restore single files.

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krism wrote:

doesn’t restore single files

The SM manual indicates you can restore individual files and mount images so it looks like it does. I’ll test it when I have the time and confirm.

cheers, Paul

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krism

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krism wrote:

Shadowmaker could be useful but afaict it doesn’t restore single files

ShadowMaker free happily restores single files from an image backup.
Mount the image from within SM, open Explorer, find the file you want, copy and paste.

Another tick in the box of capabilities from a free, easy to use backup utility.

cheers, Paul

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krism

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Susan:

Just watched the videos re: using Macrium Reflect. Outstanding…just the info I needed.

I note that you are an advocate of using the boot menu rescue media option.

Question: Does this boot menu require updating after each and every Macrium update?

Thanks and keep these tutorial videos coming!

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No need to update either of the recovery mechanisms unless there is a fix that you need on your system. If you do a major version update (8 to 9) then you would update.

cheers, Paul

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KWGuy

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So 21H2 to 22H2 will require a boot menu or recovery stick update?

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KWGuy

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Matador wrote:

So 21H2 to 22H2 will require a boot menu or recovery stick update?

No.

Upgrading Macrium to new version may require creating new USB boot stick.

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Each Macrium Reflect update has a list of associated Release Notes. If applicable, the notes will indicate the need to create new recovery media. My personal preference is to create new recovery media with each new Macrium update.

Regards, Phil

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I finally got aomei backupper std recovery usb to boot so that is another easy-to-use one available to me though I would have to spend $53 lifetime to get the pro if I want file extraction from full backup. Everybody wants money! We didn’t realize what we had with Macrium free!!!

Probably cheaper to restore the whole partition to free space on ssd and extract file on the very rare chance that I only need one file……

edit: The same is true for shadowmaker.

- Thinkpad P15s Gen1 20T4-002KUS, i7-10510U, UEFI/GPT, 16GB, Sammy 500GB M.2.
others...
- Mint Cinnamon 21 current, Win 10 22H2. WuMgr. HP laserjets M254dw & P1606dn, Epson 2480 scanner.

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It looks like Macrium Reflect Free 8 is still offered:
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree#

Carpe Diem {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1778 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox114.0b8 MicrosoftDefender

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In a change for me, I installed my old licensed easeus todo v9 workstation (backup). It offered me bundle: v14 todo and v17 ptn mgr for $55 so I grabbed it. Done. I will use Macrium free in parallel. (NOTE the isos for the PM didn’t work so easeus chat gave me link for both PM and todo isos which work.) (I assume they check if you are licensed.)(todo mounts partitions from a backup image like macrium so you can easily grab a file.)

- Thinkpad P15s Gen1 20T4-002KUS, i7-10510U, UEFI/GPT, 16GB, Sammy 500GB M.2.
others...
- Mint Cinnamon 21 current, Win 10 22H2. WuMgr. HP laserjets M254dw & P1606dn, Epson 2480 scanner.

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