If you’re a novice and end up with a failed HDD and come to restore that image alone, you would find it will not boot! Nope, unless you use a Windows Install DVD to rebuild and re-instate the boot files (Windows Repair CD won’t re-create missing boot files repair and copy them, yes but create them, no). That is all well if you are an experienced user.
In my opinion, it should have detected that this was a system partition and the boot files are actually missing because they are on the hidden 100MB partition. Running Macrium, I selected partition “C” to backup. One very important factor to note though is on my test system I have a small 100MB partition created by Windows to contain the boot files, etc. Lastly, there are check boxes to run the backup now and also create an XML file for scheduled or on-demand backups. If you click on the advanced button you will then have the option to set compression level, Intelligent sector copy using the Windows VSS, or an exact copy (clone) and also split file size. This can be another hard drive (or even the same hard drive but different partition other than the one you intend to back up for obvious reasons) across a Network or straight onto a CD/DVD burner.
Select the partition and click the icon with the folder and drive above it, you will then be presented with a pop up window where you can select the backup location.
If you intend to mount and explore an existing image you have created, there is no reason this should run on start up.Ĭreating a backup is pretty straightforward. This can be safely set to “Manual” as the program itself will start this service. Macrium also installs an Image Mounting Service set to Automatic run upon Windows start-up (like most others do). Those are two major negative factors for me that can present problems if you come to do an emergency recovery and the software is not pre-installed. Also the WinPE recovery disk will not function correctly if the software is not registered. Upon clicking “ok”, an internet connection is required to authorize the serial number before you can start using the program. Macrium in my opinion is for the more advanced user rather than the novice as it does offer you more or less complete control over how you wish to re-instate your backup images whilst still being user friendly.Īfter installation, you will be presented with a registration pop up box that contains a serial key specific to your machine. Overall, the program does its intended job efficiently, however running into licensing validation issues can leave you with some serious problems in an emergency. Recovery options can be confusing for the novice user. Easy to use, fast and stable restore individual files works with Linux file systems clone hard drives including the working system partition schedule backups and great compression.