How To Create a System Image With Macrium Reflect Rescue Disk In Linux Mint.

[bob466]

When I switched to Linux I wanted to create a System Image as I had done in Windoze...I soon discovered I could use Macrium's Rescue Disk to do just that. You need to download Macrium Reflect Free software from here...
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details ... ition.html or here...
https://filehippo.com/download_macrium_reflect/ to a Windoze Machine or Win Virtual Machine and install it.

Once installed...open software then click...Other Tasks menu and Create Rescue Media and follow the instructions. I'm using a Rescue Disk for this Tutorial but you can create a Flash Drive too.

Please Note These Instructions are for a Computer with One HDD...if you have multiple HDDs make sure you select the correct HDD.

1. Plug in your External HDD and create a Folder and name it eg Mint Backup 18.3 and date it.

2. Boot to Rescue Disk and click...Backup... click...Image Selected Disks. The first HDD is your Source… should be marked as...MBR DISK 1 ext Active (All Partitions on this HDD must be ticked)…including the Unformatted Logical Partition.
The Second HDD is your External HDD...Remove the Tick for this HDD.

3. Go down to...Destination...click box with three dots...Double click your External HDD and Select your Backup Folder...then click...OK...and click...Next.

4. click...Advanced Options...click...Auto Verify Image and place tick in Verify Image or Backup File Directly After Creation Box...click...OK.

You will now see a Summary...now click...Finish...the Image will now be created to your Folder.

Restore System Image.

Plug in your External HDD and Boot to Macrium Rescue Disk...on the right-
hand side...click...Browse for an Image File...in...Look In...from the drop down Menu...click your External HDD...Select your Backup Folder and click...Open.

Your Image will appear as a number eg 17ca805cd10 etc click it and click...Open...now click...Restore Image...Next...Finish.

If after clicking ...Next...you’re asked to...Select a Disk to Restore...it will be the top one MBR Disk 1...click it...then click...Next and Finish.

Your HDD will now be Re-Imaged...please note it’s Important that the HDD to be Re-Imaged is the only HDD Connected to the Motherboard...just like when you Install an OS...Re-Imaging the wrong HDD is not good.

How long it takes to create a System Image and Restore depends on how fast your Computer is and size of the Data.
This is an easy way to Backup your entire HDD including your Virtual Machines and has a nice GUI too.
Note: Macrium works well on either HDD or SSD...you can create an Image of your HDD and put it on your SSD...not a problem and Booting to Macrium Rescue Media is very quick...enjoy.

[deepakdeshp]

clonezilla works fine to take and restore image.

clonezilla.org

[bob466]

clonezilla works fine to take and restore image.

The Idea of this Tutorial is to show people an easy way to create a System Image...especially for those coming from Windoze. After all it's a WinPE but works great in Linux...it's all about freedom of choice...use whatever is best for you.

[catweazel]

clonezilla works fine to take and restore image.

That may be true but not everyone likes clonezilla. Besides, the tutorial is about Macrium Reflect, not taking disk images in general.

[RavingLoony]

Thanks for this. I already use MR on Win10 so already have the full up to date product (had to use it the other day as the most recent update trashed my disk s/w wise). I suppose the only thing is you can't set up a schedule. I also assume that creating an image on an NTFS volume is irrelevant because MR rescue stick is creating an image and is agnostic about what form that image is stored in?

[bob466]

Thanks for this. I already use MR on Win10 so already have the full up to date product (had to use it the other day as the most recent update trashed my disk s/w wise). I suppose the only thing is you can't set up a schedule. I also assume that creating an image on an NTFS volume is irrelevant because MR rescue stick is creating an image and is agnostic about what form that image is stored in?

You're welcome...
A schedule isn't needed because you have to create a System Image manually and the software doesn't run in Mint either...only the Rescue Disk. As for NTFS/Ext4...doesn't matter...you're creating a System Image of a HDD that's already formatted.

[Pierre]

Many Thanks for writing that Tutorial,, Bob

it's always great to have the instructions for using the Macrium Reflect Rescue Disk.

[sylvia2406]

Thank you Bob. I'm going to have a go at following your tutorial tomorrow. I'm too knackered at the moment after spending about 7 hours to do a simple backup.

I first used redobackup which was a dismal failure because it failed 5 times creating a usb bootable disk and on the 6th attempt it said succeeded but the usb bootable disk it produced could not boot up and produced an error saying "a disk read error occurred" followed by some strange symbols.

I then tried clonezilla. Boy, what a slog. I succeeded in the end after downloading all the pictures from the clonezilla tutorial page and followed the pictures as reference because the quaint (unintelligible) language used on some screens was beyond my comprehension.

I am used to Macreum Reflect because I have used it for years on my Windows systems, so I hope I have a less frustrating day tomorrow.

Thank you.

[AZgl1500]

I too am a Macrium Reflect user, two decades now, and it always works.

[sylvia2406]

I followed Bob's instructions to the letter and, yes, Macrium Windows PE did boot up.

However, it did not see my external hard drive that I wanted the image saved to. I tried multiple times, and thinking it was a USB 3 driver issue I created a personal wim file containing the whole of Windows 7 WinPE_FPS directory. This was overkill I know but I did not know what driver/s to select so I got them all. (C:\ProgramData\Macrium\Reflect\WindowsAIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPS)

Then in the Windows 7 terminal I entered:
Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\ProgramData\Macrium\Reflect\WindowsAIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs /index:1 /MountDir:C:\mount

This appeared to be acceptable and went through so I went back to Macrium to make the WinPE iso. At this stage Macrium informed me they had to download 274MB of files from Microsoft so I allowed that.

The resulting DVD image booted up fine but Macrium still could not see my USB3 drive. I pointed it to the driver files on the CD but although I believe they were the correct ones (same number that Macrium was asking for) Macrium seemed unable to use them.

I really am out of my depth here so if anyone has any suggestions I would be very happy.

[bob466]

I followed Bob's instructions to the letter and, yes, Macrium Windows PE did boot up.

However, it did not see my external hard drive that I wanted the image saved to.

Macrium sees every HDD connected to your System...Internal and External. Step one says...Plug in your External HDD and create a Folder...did you do this ? Did you leave the External HDD plugged in when you Booted to the rescue disk ? If you did...Macrium will see it.

My External HDD is 3TB...USB 3 and partition is GPT (Guid Partition Table) and my Computer port is also USB 3...OS is Cinnamon 18.3 works just fine. You could have a problem with the USB port or the External HDD...change both and see if this works.

[sylvia2406]

Thank you Bob. After reading your reply I tried another couple of times with no joy. The only thing Macrium PE could see was the Linux Mint partitions and the CDRom drive containing WindowsPE. When I searched the "alternate locations" it could only see something called BootX which did not contain my Macrium folder.

Because my Dell Inspiron 3000 (3567) was not cooperating I decided to try another machine.

I used my HP Elitebook 2570p and it was successful. Exactly as your tutorial described. I was so happy.

Now I have the job of investigating why the Dell would not work. It has three USB ports and they are all USB3. Perhaps something in the BIOS needs changing but so far I can't see what it can be.

If anyone has any thoughts on this I would be grateful because the Dell is my main machine.

[bob466]

I used my HP Elitebook 2570p and it was successful. Exactly as your tutorial described. I was so happy.

I'm glad you had some success...I don't understand why you can't get the same result on your Dell. Does your External HDD mount and open on the Dell ? Sounds like Dell doesn't like the External HDD if it wont mount...I've never owned a Dell Computer or had this problem so I'm only guessing.

Have you tried another External HDD on the Dell...might work. You need an External HDD because the System Image you create would be larger than any Flash Drive. You say Macrium Rescue Disk boots on the Dell and sees your Internal HDD...sounds like the Boot Order in the BIOS is correct.

[sylvia2406]

I have at least half a dozen external USB hard disks and tried them all. WD Elements USB3, WD My Passport USB3, Sandisk Sata SSD in USB enclosure, Samsung Sata mechanical in USB enclosure and others too. Linux Mint sees them all and automatically mounts them.

The only thing I can think of is that Macrium WinPE did not have the correct USB 3 drivers drivers for the Dell Laptop. I only just found out during my investigation into it, that it has an i7 KabyLake processor. I ordered the laptop from Dell earlier this year, and it came with Ubuntu 16.04 installed on it. I didn't care much for Ubuntu so I installed Linux Mint on it and it runs brilliantly and every external hard disk or thumb drive is always recognised by Linux Mint.

Another thing I noticed about this Dell Laptop is that a CD will always boot up into WinPE, but it's give and take whether a USB bootable stick will. Sandisk thumb drives always boot, but Kingston and Toshiba won't. I have other cheapy no-name ones that won't. I make them all the same way and Macrium never reports an error so this is another confusing thing. I really don't think it's a setting in the BIOS because some will boot and some won't. The BIOS setting is on Legacy.

Well, I have put the Dell aside for now because I have now ordered an Intel_nuc-kit-nuc5i3ryk and I did my research because I didn't want any 6th or 7th generation Intel processors again like KabyLake and SkyLake in case that was the cause of the problem. But what do I know? I can only guess really because I have found no answers.

[AZgl1500]

Kernel: 4.13.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia


I have Used Macrium Reflect on Windows machines for two decades...

Tried to get Virtualbox/Win7/Macrium Reflect to see my USB flash drive which I wanted to create a bootable stick for imaging purposes.

Argh!
even though VB/Win7 recognises the flash drive in File Manager, Macrium Reflect does not.

any thoughts on this?

[sylvia2406]

I can only reply as a newbie. I seem to remember being told that either linux or virtual box could see a flash drive but not both at the same time.
But i don't know how it gets removed from Linux so that virtual box can see it.

[bob466]

I can only reply as a newbie. I seem to remember being told that either linux or virtual box could see a flash drive but not both at the same time.
But i don't know how it gets removed from Linux so that virtual box can see it.

VirtualBox has nothing to do with this Tutorial...Macrium sees Physical Drives not Virtual ones. Have you tried to create a System Image of your HP ? If so did you see at the end...Image Created Successfully ?

You said the Rescue Disk doesn't see the External HDD on your Dell...have you tried creating a rescue Flash Drive ? I have a Lexar 4GB Flash Drive USB 2 with Macrium 7 Rescue and it works just fine.

Being a newbie especially using software you've never used before is hard and mistakes are common but it does work...keep trying.

[sylvia2406]

VirtualBox has nothing to do with this Tutorial...Macrium sees Physical Drives not Virtual ones. Have you tried to create a System Image of your HP ? If so did you see at the end...Image Created Successfully ?

You said the Rescue Disk doesn't see the External HDD on your Dell...have you tried creating a rescue Flash Drive ? I have a Lexar 4GB Flash Drive USB 2 with Macrium 7 Rescue and it works just fine.

Being a newbie especially using software you've never used before is hard and mistakes are common but it does work...keep trying.
Linux For Ever...Windoze Never
Top

I wouldn't use Virtual Box to install and use Macrium. I never have. I only use virtual box for audiobook apps.

What I cannot do on my Dell is see any external USB drives after booting my computer up with the Macrium Rescue disk -- it's the same result whether I used a bootable cd/dvd or a flash drive -- Macrium WinPe cannot see any external USB drive but using the same boot-up media on my HP Elitebook it can see the external USB drive. Still not fathomed that out so I have given up on the Dell and put it aside for now.

Today I installed Windows 7 on my new Intel NUC. The install went well with no thanks to Microsoft who don't seem to provide any drivers at all now. How others manage to install Win 7 if they have no CD/DVD drive and no PS/2 ports for the keyboard and mouse I do not know. Luckily I think the Intel NUC has the drivers in the BIOS because I had no problems using a wireless USB3 keyboard and mouse during installation. Immediately after the win 7 install I looked at device manager and loads of devices had exclamation marks and were not working; Graphics, network adapters, Chipset, Universal Serial Bus, Bluetooth, Sound. Thank god for Intel who had all the Win 7 drivers for it that I had pre-downloaded in readiness. I remember when you didn't have to go hunting for drivers because Microsoft had them and downloaded and installed them during installation for you. I think it's a ploy by Microsoft make things hard for users so that they change to Windows 10. Many users, I fear, will do just that.

Tomorrow I am going to install Linux Mint 18.3 on the drive so it has a dual boot option.

[Alvin]

Thanks to all for the many helpful answers!
Alvin

[AndyMH]

Thought I'd try Macrium Reflect today - playing around with backup utilities to see if there is anything I prefer over what I already use. Downloaded and installed into win10 on a spare T430. Created a rescue iso, burnt to usb with the mint usb writer - no joy, wouldn't boot (tried on two different T430 laptops). So burnt to CD in win and that wouldn't boot either. Only thing left to try is with a separate usb DVD drive instead of the built in drive (it's a 'brand new' second hand T430 one day out of the box) or maybe trying to burn to usb with mkusb instead of the standard mint tool.

Any thoughts, and can you do a backup from the rescue CD (without this, it would be a waste of space for me)?