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

[Bob M]

Unfortunately guys an epic fail.

I booted from my Macirum Reflect 7 Disk and all was looking good except I couldn’t see the folder I had made to insert the Back-Up in on the target external usb Drive.

I could see the drive ok

Oh well, I’ll just back-up anyway.

Up pops a message: Your Target Disk is not formatted do you wish to format it?

Well it is formatted and has my Timeshift backups on it along with the folder I wished to place my clone in.

The only thing I can think of is the External disk is formatted ext4 and Macirum can’t read it?
I guess the question now is “What to do next”.

Sounds to me like you're trying to put the Image on a Flash Drive Formatted to Ext4 which will not work.

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

External HDDs come Formatted to NTFS which work just fine with both Linux and Windows...you can use any size HDD...2TB or larger...remember an Image can be over 100GBs...I use a Portable 2TB HDD as shown below...
https://i.ibb.co/184p8Gw/Screenshot-fro ... -23-16.png
Hope this helps.

Definitely not a flash drive Bob.

It's a brand new 1Tb WD Elements SE.

Here is a screenshot showing the Folder I wanted to put the cloned image in, the Folder with the Timeshift back ups in, and a lost & found folder with nothing in it. Where it came from I have no idea.

[img]WD Elements.png[img]

[bob466]

Definitely not a flash drive Bob.

It's a brand new 1Tb WD Elements SE.

Here is a screenshot showing the Folder I wanted to put the cloned image in, the Folder with the Timeshift back ups in, and a lost & found folder with nothing in it. Where it came from I have no idea.

That 1TB WD Portable Elements SE HDD comes Formatted with NTFS and will work just fine with Macrium...but you Re-Formatted it to EXT4...I think that's causing your problem.

What I suggest you do is...cut and paste your Timeshift Backups Folder to the Desktop...then Re-Format your 1TB Portable HDD back to NTFS which should fix the problem...then try again to create an Image and keep that HDD for Macrium Images only.

You can always Re-Format a Flash Drive to EXT4 and then cut and paste the Timeshift Backups Folder to it.

[bob466]

This is what an Verified Image in the Folder you Named looks like...
https://i.ibb.co/jv8p6Rw/Screenshot-fro ... -23-45.png

Hope this helps.

[Bob M]

Thanks Bob,

I think there is only one thing to tidy up now and that is: Will or Will Not Macrium clone to a external USB HDD that is formatted in ext4 format?

If it can’t be done, then that changes the whole playing field and we look at work-arounds like what you've already suggested.

[coffee412]

I have been reading thru this thread and have a quick question if you please,

Is MR faster at cloning one drive to another then using DD? I have about 10 workstations to clone the original mechanical hard drives (1tb) to new SSD drives. I figure with DD its going to take 8 hours to complete.

[AndyMH]

It should be. With dd you are going to copy the whole drive or whole partition irrespective of whether the blocks are used or not. Macrium should be intelligent enough to only copy used blocks, so quicker. It is also very easy to get the syntax wrong with dd and trash your drive. Macrium is a safer choice.

[coffee412]

Ok, So one more question please.

If your cloning one drive to another, Such in my case with a mechanical drive as source and a SSD as the target, Can you use the bootable rescue disk (USB) to do it? Or do you have to install it on every pc?

I just now made the bootable rescue usb disk and did a check with a spare laptop - Booted fine. However, I did not see an option to clone drives. So, It must be just to restore an image file?

To install on a computer I had to basically register the free version to install. They wanted my email address. Would I need different email addresses for each computer? (There are 10).

Thank you.

coffee

[coffee412]

Ok, So one more question please.

If your cloning one drive to another, Such in my case with a mechanical drive as source and a SSD as the target, Can you use the bootable rescue disk (USB) to do it? Or do you have to install it on every pc?

I just now made the bootable rescue usb disk and did a check with a spare laptop - Booted fine. However, I did not see an option to clone drives. So, It must be just to restore an image file?

To install on a computer I had to basically register the free version to install. They wanted my email address. Would I need different email addresses for each computer? (There are 10).

Thank you.

coffee

I figured it out. Tested on a VM making an image file. Yes, Its extremely fast. DD on a 1tb drive would be 8 hours. MR, Since it only copies used blocks took 1 hour. Extreme time saver.

What I really like is(correct me if Im wrong here) - apparently you can clone the active operating system. Big plus.

Thanks

[Bob M]

Ok, can I have a couple of final questions too please?

1: Is it confirmed that Macirum Reflect can’t clone to a folder on a External USB Drive that is formatted EXT4?

2: Can Timeshift work on a External USB Drive that is formatted NTFS?

3: Even if this can be done going forward, will the Restore function work going from NTFS to Ext4?

Cheers

Bob

[AZgl1800]

Ok, can I have a couple of final questions too please?

1: Is it confirmed that Macirum Reflect can’t clone to a folder on a External USB Drive that is formatted EXT4?

2: Can Timeshift work on a External USB Drive that is formatted NTFS?

3: Even if this can be done going forward, will the Restore function work going from NTFS to Ext4?

Cheers

Bob

No, it will NOT clone to a folder.
It clones an Image of a full partition(s) and will duplicate that on another HDD/SDD
MR does not care what OS resides in the partitions or what format they have.

Once you have a Rescue Disk / Thumb drive, it will boot any PC and make an image backup, or write and image to that PC.

You must, on the Windows PC, make sure to include the Optional Features that allow it to boot any PC, not just the one that the Rescue disk was made from.

On my Win7 PC, there is a checkbox for that feature.

[Bob M]

Ok, can I have a couple of final questions too please?

1: Is it confirmed that Macirum Reflect can’t clone to a folder on a External USB Drive that is formatted EXT4?

2: Can Timeshift work on a External USB Drive that is formatted NTFS?

3: Even if this can be done going forward, will the Restore function work going from NTFS to Ext4?

Cheers

Bob

No, it will NOT clone to a folder.
It clones an Image of a full partition(s) and will duplicate that on another HDD/SDD
MR does not care what OS resides in the partitions or what format they have.

Once you have a Rescue Disk / Thumb drive, it will boot any PC and make an image backup, or write and image to that PC.

You must, on the Windows PC, make sure to include the Optional Features that allow it to boot any PC, not just the one that the Rescue disk was made from.

On my Win7 PC, there is a checkbox for that feature.

What am I missing here?

You say that Macirum will not back up to a folder, and I believe you on the grounds that Macirum can't even see the folder I prepared for it.

However bob466's lead post says the following:

"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." (My Highlighting)

My humble opinion is that Macirum can't handle the USB External HDD because it has been formatted Ext4?

I would reformat the external HDD to NTFS if that would allow Timeshift to work still, but I have reservations there too.

[AZgl1800]

I don't think that I was clear enough.

I was meaning in that post, that it won't recreate a working image inside a Folder, e.g., a running bootable image.

As for Folders to store the Images, Oh YES....
and I have a bunch of those:

they are named for the PC make/Model.

Note that the filename also includes the type of Image Application that made that Image.
e.g., two of those was done with ReDo which will work, but is not totally reliable and I quit using it.

In this picture, every thing above the Dark Green highlighted folder is a Macrium Reflect Image of a particular PC or Laptop.

Inside each of those Folders I create a Text File with Specific Information as to what is on that PC, what OS it is, what applications it may have, anything that is germane to reminding me 5 years later as to what that image has buried inside it. and again, I name the Application that created that Image.
Macrium Reflect / ReDo / Clonezilla

[bob466]

Ok, can I have a couple of final questions too please?

1: Is it confirmed that Macirum Reflect can’t clone to a folder on a External USB Drive that is formatted EXT4?

2: Can Timeshift work on a External USB Drive that is formatted NTFS?

3: Even if this can be done going forward, will the Restore function work going from NTFS to Ext4?

Cheers

Bob

AZgl is correct...you can't Clone to a Folder but this Tutorial isn't about Cloning...it's about creating a System Image which is a very different thing and has many more advantages as I explained to you on another thread.

Forget Timeshift...DD...Clonezilla or EXT4 because these have nothing to do with this Tutorial. If you follow my Instructions you will create an Image that has everything that's on your HDD/SSD...including Timeshift snapshots...Virtual Machines...the OS and all Settings...it's that simple.

[coffee412]

<DELETED>

[AZgl1800]

I have never used the "cloning" option.

I have always made an Image and stored it to a folder.

i have never, ever, had a problem with restoring that image to a HDD or to a SSD.

I used it a lot over the past 20+ years.

[AndyMH]

Coffee412 - Just PM'd you on linux image backup.

[coffee412]

Coffee412 - Just PM'd you on linux image backup.

Got it. Thanx!

[coffee412]

I have never used the "cloning" option.

I have always made an Image and stored it to a folder.

i have never, ever, had a problem with restoring that image to a HDD or to a SSD.

I used it a lot over the past 20+ years.

Well, Considering I had the same issue when using DD its got to be some type of weird issue with these computers. Things Im thinking about are possible bios update needed for SSD drives or some software drivers causing issues.

Goes without saying -> I really hate windows.

[bob466]

I had the opportunity to try the free version of MR. I have 10 windows 7 boxes that need to be upgraded to 10. I also wanted to install new ssd drives in place of the old ones. This way if there was a problem with the cloning then I could stick the old drive back in and still bring the system up. The computers are all dell Inspirons with i5's and 8 gigs ram.

I made a rescue bootable MR flash stick and installed MR on the computer.
I did the cloning to the new ssd.
I then removed the old drive and booted from the new drive.

Problem I ran into was --> The new drive would boot to the windows login screen and then I would get a BSOD with error e1.

I put the old drive back in and went in to windows and turned off paging and also all virus software. Did it again. I had the same basic BSOD. I then put the old drive back in and booted it. It came up and told me that Windows 7 license was invalid and also it would not load the user desktop. It just sat at a light blue screen with "Invalid license".

I then tried to do an image backup outside of windows booting from the rescue usb stick. Then I restored to the new ssd drive. I got the same thing.

I realize that this is a linux forum and windows problems should be posted on some other forum. However, I wanted to mention this in case someone runs into this using MR.

Yes this is a Linux Forum and this is a Tutorial about creating an Image of a Linux System...so why are you posting about Windows problems.

Who cares about Windows problems...Stop Hi-Jacking this Tutorial and stop making false claims about Macrium too. I'll try my best to help people create a System Image with Macrium of their Linux System but I don't give a stuff about Windows or it's problems.


I've been using Macrium in Windows for years and the last 4 years in Linux and have never had any problems and it has never failed me...so if your having problems...it's your fault. If you want to complain about Windows...then I suggest you do it on the Windows Forum down the Road.

[coffee412]

Who cares about Windows problems...Stop Hi-Jacking this Tutorial and stop making false claims about Macrium too. I'll try my best to help people create a System Image with Macrium of their Linux System but I don't give a stuff about Windows or it's problems.


I've been using Macrium in Windows for years and the last 4 years in Linux and have never had any problems and it has never failed me...so if your having problems...it's your fault. If you want to complain about Windows...then I suggest you do it on the Windows Forum down the Road.

Your absolutely right. I have sinned! Honestly, I dont know what came over me. I must have the flu or something? I just cannot explain it.

I hate it too and I apologize for hijacking the thread. I have removed my offense in my post.

Forgive me.