Macrium Software - News and Articles

How to use DiskRestore to restore a disk image

2010-03-29T14:48:30.632+01:00

Macrium Reflect DiskRestore

DiskRestore is a utility to quickly restore Macrium Reflect disk images. DiskRestore provides the following benefits over the conventional Macrium Reflect restore process:

Multiple partitions (whole disks) can be restored at the same time
Partition placement is exactly the same as the original imaged disk.
Disks can be restored with a few mouse clicks.
Windows PE integration enables automatic/unattended restores.

The normal Macrium Reflect restore process is a partition based restore. This enables control over partition size and placement. This flexibility comes at a cost and the restore wizard can seem overly complex for some restore tasks, plus you are restricted to restoring a single partition at a time. With DiskRestore you simply select the partitions you want to restore and click 'Restore'.

Get DiskRestore

DiskRestore .msi installer. This is required to run in Windows and integrate with Windows PE - download

DiskRestore Executable for BartPE - download

Note: To run DiskRestore directly from the Windows PE rescue CD just take the 'File' > 'Disk Restore' menu option in Windows PE; there's nothing to download. You must be running Windows PE v2.1.2733 or higher.

How do I use it?

Start DiskRestore and click the '...' browse button to select your image file.

By default all partitions included in the image will be selected and the target disk will also be the same as the disk originally imaged.

In this example we are restoring a Windows 7 system. Both the 'System Reserved' and C partitions are selected.

Click 'Restore' to start the restore process.
If your restore target disk cannot be *overwritten then you will receive the following dialog, if not then the restore will begin.

*If a disk partition contains system files then the disk cannot be dismounted and restored. In this example we are restoring both the 'System' and 'Boot' partitions for Windows 7.

Automatic Boot - This option is only available if you have installed the Macrium Reflect Windows PE component and enabled the Windows boot menu. If selected, you only have to restart your computer and Windows PE will automatically boot.

Unattended Mode - If selected, the restore process will begin and complete automatically. The main use of this feature is to enable recovery of remote systems where you don't have physical access to the PC.

Click "Run from Windows PE".
If your image file is stored on a network share then you will receive the following dialog. Enter your network logon credentials so that Windows PE can access and read the share.

Click 'OK' to continue.
You will now receive a restart dialog.

Click 'Restart Now' to initiate the restore process.

Note: To integrate with Windows PE you must have purchased Macrium Reflect and installed v2.1.2525 (or later) of the Windows PE rescue CD .

Command line options

DiskRestore can be run from a batch file by using the following command line options:

Usage DiskRestore [options]:

Generic options:
-h [ --help ]         produce help message
-g [ --GUI ]          display the the GUI interface
-u [ --Unattended ]   when combined with GUI will start and complete the
                        restore with no user interaction
--reboot              reboot after restore

Operation options:
-r [ --restore ]      restores an image to a disk
-d [ --describe ]     describes disks and partitions in an image file

File options:
--imagefile arg       full path and name of the image file
--password arg        password protecting the image file
--netuser arg         network share user name
--netpass arg         network share password

Restore options:
--sourcenum arg        source *disk number [default 1st disk in image]
--sourceid arg         souce disk identifier [default 1st disk in image]
-p [ --partition ] arg list of partitions to restore, e.g. -p 1 -p 2
                         [default - all]
--targetnum arg        target *disk number
--targetid arg         target disk identifier
-v [ --verify ]        verify image before restoring
-e [ --continue ]      continue on errors

*Note: Disk Number refers to the number displayed in the Windows Disk Management console and the DiskPart utility not the number that is displayed in Macrium Reflect. Macrium Reflect disks are numbered from 1 DiskRestore numbers the same disks from 0.

Examples:

To display the image information of file 'e:\80794226B5928CAE-00-00.mrimg' and information on locally attahed disks

diskrestore.exe "e:\80794226B5928CAE-00-00.mrimg" -d

Example output:

File name:   e:\80794226B5928CAE-00-00.mrimg
Backup Date: 17/01/2010 10:58
Image ID:    80794226B5928CAE

Disk 5 [FF346F5E] - Samsung S2 Portable <596.162 GB>

Drive     Type     Start       End   Size      Used      Free
1 [M:] Primary      1024 625130495 174.00 MB 907.12 MB 3.284 GB

Local Disks

Disk 0 [000139F3] - ST3500320AS SD15 <465.762 GB>
Disk 1 [4C832380] - SAMSUNG HD501LJ CR100-11 <465.762 GB>
Disk 2 [0000F9D8] - SAMSUNG HD501LJ CR100-11 <465.762 GB>

To restore all the partitions in image file 'e:\80794226B5928CAE-00-00.mrimg'

diskrestore.exe "e:\80794226B5928CAE-00-00.mrimg" -r

To restore the first partition in image file 'e:\80794226B5928CAE-00-00.mrimg'

diskrestore.exe "e:\80794226B5928CAE-00-00.mrimg" -r -p 1

To restore all the partitions in image file 'e:\80794226B5928CAE-00-00.mrimg' to a different disk with Disk ID '0000F9D8'

diskrestore.exe "e:\80794226B5928CAE-00-00.mrimg" -r --targetid 0000F9D8

Troubleshooting

The image file is part of a backup set...

It's only possible to use DiskRestore if all parts of the image are in the same directory. If you have saved an image to multiple DVDs then copy the contents of each DVD to a single directory and try again.
You are creating a clone disk...

You are restoring an image to another disk and the original is still attached to your PC.

A restored image will update the unique Disk ID ( Disk Signature ) of the disk that is being restored to. This will result in duplicate IDs if the original disk is still attached. When Windows mounts the restored disk it will update the Disk ID to make it unique. For this reason the restored disk will not be mounted after the restore process by DiskRestore.

Note: The Disk ID plays a crucial part in the Windows boot process and changing it will probably result in your OS being un-bootable. If a restored partition contains a Windows OS then you should remove the original disk before attempting to boot with the cloned disk attached.
The target disk is too small...

The destination disk is too small to contain the partitions being restored. The restored partition(s) are placed in exactly the same location as the original. If the start and/or end of a partition is beyond the reported size of the destination disk then you will receive this error.
Windows PE is not installed..

To use the automatic restore feature you must have purchased Macrium Reflect and installed the Windows PE component.
The installed Windows PE version must be updated...

You must have Windows PE v2.1.2525 (or newer) installed to use the Windows PE automatic restore feature. Click the 'Updates' button in the Macrium Reflect CD burn wizard to update your installation.

Note: You can also manually run DiskRestore from BartPE or from an earlier version of Windows PE. Just run DiskRestore once booted into the rescue environment and repeat the steps above to restore your image.

Announcing ImgToVHD

2010-03-22T21:49:57.4350225+00:00

18th March 2010

ImageToVHD is a new utility to convert Macrium Reflect disk images to Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format. VHD files can be used with MS Virtual PC, MS Hyper-V and Sun Virtual Box.

ImageToVHD is currently in beta and can be freely downloaded. For more information and download please see here. http://www.macrium.com/blog/2010/03/16/HowToCreateAVirtualMachineFromAMacriumImageBackup.aspx

How to create a Virtual machine from a Macrium image backup

2010-03-16T14:10:57.156+00:00

How to create a Virtual machine from a Macrium image backup

ImgToVhd is a utility that creates VHD files from Macrium backup images. These can then be used to create a bootable virtual machine facilitating quick access to a failed machine whose repair would be time consuming or not possible.

We have created a utility, ImgToVHD to enable the conversion of a Macrium backup image file to VHD files (one per disk). The VHD file(s) can then be used as the storage component of virtual machines from Microsoft (Virtual PC and HyperV), VMWare and Oracle/Sun (Virtual Box).

This enables a previously backed up machine to be reincarnated as a virtual machine. A significant use of this is to quickly regain access to a machine that has suffered a fatal hardware failure.

Please note that this is beta quality software. It is being released to the public for evaluation purposes only. No guarantees are made for its quality or fitness for purpose. Use is not recommended in a production environment.

Feedback is welcomed as this will help us improve the quality and utility of this tool and this blog post. Comments are currently enabled for this post - constructive comments will be helpful to both us and the other users of this tool.

Please take care to ensure that you are not breaking the terms on any licences by running a virtual machine from a backup image.

Get ImgTOVHD

You can download ImgToVHD from here.

Invoke the downloaded msi as per any other installer.

ImgTOVHD Usage

ImgToVHD offers both a GUI and a command line interface.

If you wish to use the command line interface, ImgToVHD --help will emit some instructions.

The ImgToVHD user interface is straight forward.

Firstly, you will need an Macrium image file - a file and folder backup file will not work here. If you wish to create a bootable VM from scratch, and not just add a disk to an already bootable VM, then the image will need to contain an image of both the active and the windows system partition. Typically the system partition is also the active partition.

You will need enough spare disk space to store the resulting VHD file. If you have selected all the partitions from the source image and the image is compressed, then the resulting VHD file size is likely to be rather larger than the source image as VHD files don't support compression and have a larger sparse granularity than the image files. Calculate the sum of the used space of the selected partitions and ensure that you have slightly more free space than this for the VHD file.

Once you have selected a source image, a list of disks will be presented to you. Select from this, the one in which you will to convert to VHD and then you will be presented with a list of partitions. Select as many of these as you require.

There are three options that are best left unselected unless you understand the consequences.

Remap partition table. In the case where not all the partitions are selected or backed up in the first case, this option only include those selected partitions in the partition table. This doesn't effect extended (logical) partitions. If you don't remap, partitions not included in the VHD creation or the original backup will appear as RAW in the disk management console. Remapping can prevent Windows XP from booting.
Reset disk ID. This will definitely result in a non-bootable VHD. It is useful only if mounting the VHD on the machine containing the original disk.
Continue on errors. If there are errors in the source image, and this is checked then the VHD creation process will continue. However, the resultant VHD file is guaranteed to have missing data. Dependent on the location of the errors, the image might or might not be usable.

Once the disk, partitions and options have been selected, hit convert. The conversion process will probably take a significant period of time due to the large volumes of data handled. Now would be a good time to consider a hot beverage of your choice.

There are a number of caveats to be aware of. Of particular significance is the fact that the VM is likely to represent a significantly changed hardware environment from the original machine.

Windows OEM licensed installs, typical for retail machines delivered with the operating system preinstalled, do not allow a change in the motherboard.
The HAL and mass storage drivers might not match the those presented in the virtual environment. This may prevent Windows from booting. See here for further details on how to reconfigure Windows XP. Virtual Box enables some flexibility in the hardware environment so it can be made to match the original hardware.
Don't mount/attach this image on the original machine if you plan on booting from it as Windows will detect the duplicate disk ID and will change it, invalidating the BCD disk references.
The vhd file size must be limited to 127GB if you wish to use it with Virtual PC.
If the vhd is being created on a FAT32 filesystem, the creation process will fail if the created file size is greater than 4GB. This is a due to a limitation of FAT32; though the vhd specification supports splitting across multiple files, ImgToVHD doesn't currently support this feature.

Using the vhd with Virtual Box

Virtual box comes in two flavours, an open source edition (missing RDP and USB support) and a commercial version that is free for evaluation or personal use.

Configuration is quite straightforward. Note the following instructions refer to version 3.14.

From the main window, hit new to create a new VM which will launch a wizard.

Select the OS to match the OS to be virtualised as below.

The next wizard page (not shown for brevity) allows you to specify base memory. Chose a value that matches what is required for your virtualised OS, bearing in mind that there must be enough memory available on your host machine.

To specify the vhd you have created with ImgToVHD as a hard disk, you first have to add it to Virtual Box using the Virtual media manager by clicking on the yellow folder icon.

Click the Add button and select your vhd file, the hit select. Repeat this process for each vhd file you have created.

All being well, you should now have a working VM. Hit the start button and your old machine should now appear in a window on your host.

If it fails to boot, then you might have a kernel/Hal/Mass storage driver miss-match issue.

VirtualBox enables various hardware environment options to be configured. Hit the settings button to edit your VM. Select the system item on the left. Things to try are enabling the IO APIC (motherboard tab) and 1/multiple CPU's and disabling PAE/NX features (processor tab). Also, consider reconfiguring the vhd as a SATA device if that's how the original machine was configured.

Using the vhd with Hyper-V

Hyper-V is a hypervisor based virtualisation system. It only runs on x64 Windows Server 2008 and requires hardware assisted cpu features.

To create a VM, select 'New Virtual Machine from the Hyper-V Manager. Chose location, name and base memory size the new Virtual Machine Wizard.

When you get to the connect Virtual Hard Disk page, select 'Use existing virtual hard disk' and chose your previously converted vhd file.

Complete the wizard and start the VM. All being well, the VM will boot. Unlike Virtual Box, there is no flexibility to change the virtual hardware options - if it doesn't boot, the OS booting options / HAL etc will need to be reconfigured.

Note: If an error regarding incompatible sector size is raised, it does not refer to the VHD file as indicated, but the disk upon which the vhd is stored.

Using the vhd with Virtual PC

The process is similar to the hyper V configuration again specifying the generated vhd file an existing disk.

The only caveat is the 127GB disk size limitation, as previously noted.

Note that you must use imgToVhd v1.0.2597 or later.

Using the vhd with VMWare Server

VMWare Server lacks the flexibility to use vhd files as a virtual disk file and you are required to use vmware's own vmdk file format. Unfortunately, VMWareConverter will only convert complete vm configurations not individual virtual disk files.

The starwind V2V converter has been found to work well and is available cost free from here...
http://www.starwindsoftware.com/converter

Once you have a vmdk file, the process of generating a virtual machine is similar to that discussed above. Note, be careful to chose the correct hardware connection for the vmdk i.e. ide or scsi. The correct choice will depend on source machine configuration.

Conclusion

We hope you find this tool and blog post useful.

The intention is for this blog to grow. Specifically, expect instructions for use with VMWare and Virtual PC to follow.

ImgToVHD history

v1.0.2544 - First beta release.
v1.0.2586 - Correct XP partition alignment problem.
v1.0.2597 - Improve Virtual PC 2007 compatibility

How to Create a Windows PE Rescue CD

2010-02-14T14:41:45.5+00:00

How to Create a Windows PE Rescue CD

In this tutorial I'll take you through the steps required to build a Macrium Reflect Windows PE rescue CD. The Windows PE rescue CD is only included with the purchased version of Macrium Reflect and is a separate download. The first time you attempt to burn this CD the installer will be automatically downloaded.

Why do you need a rescue CD?

This is a good question. The simple answer is because Windows won't let you access all the files on your hard disk. Windows uses both the RAM (main memory) and the hard disk during normal operation. Many of the thousands of files in your Windows system directory are open and running to keep your PC humming along. You can't simply replace them with a different version because they may be loaded into memory and inaccessible from the disk. The only way you can freely access every part of your system partition is to start your PC with another operating system that loads entirely into RAM.

Enter Windows PE. This is licensed from Microsoft and has greater flexibility than the other rescue environments. You can add missing drivers to the Windows PE build to enable access to RAID volumes and include drivers for unrecognised network interface cards (NIC).

1.	Start Reflect, take the ‘Other Tasks’ menu option and select ‘Create a bootable Rescue CD’ The wizard opens and In the wizard window, select ‘Windows PE 2.0' and click ‘Next’.

The Windows PE component isn't supplied with the Macrium Reflect installer and is an additional 100MB+ download. Make sure you are connected to the Internet, and click ‘ OK’.

Note: To ensure that Reflect is not blocked by a firewall you may need to add www.macrium.com to your firewall allowed list,

If you receive the following dialog then you have already downloaded the Windows PE installer. Somewhere you will have a file WinPEInstall.exe (32 bit version) or WinPEInstallx64.exe (64 bit version) depending where you saved it. Running this executable will install Windows PE. To reinstall, double click the existing WinPEInstall... file.

Note : You only get one download as each copy requires a license from Microsoft. You can order another copy by clicking on the 'Purchase download' link.

3.	In the next window you select where you are going to save your download. You may want to create a new folder titled ‘Reflect Download’ or ‘Windows PE Download’. The folder ought to be in a location where you can easily find it. Click ‘Save’.

4.	After downloading the installer will automatically start....’.

5.	After installation, return to the .‘Create a bootable Rescue CD’ wizard, select 'Windows PE 2.0' and click 'Next'.


6.	Put an empty or erasable CD or DVD in your burner and click 'Finish'. Note: It's better to use non-erasable CD-R or DVD+/-R media. This tends to be more reliable than RW media for booting.

Note: If your CD burner has problems creating the disc, you can save the image to a special file called an ISO image file. Click on the CD/DVD burner drop-down list and select 'Create ISO image; file'. You can then use any burning software that you have on your PC to create the rescue CD. Click ‘Finish’ to save, the .iso file. It is usually saved to the folder with the Windows PE download at step 3. Then Burn this .iso file using your CD/DVD burner as ISO image.

You should now have your Rescue CD ready to restore an image. Keep the rescue CD in a safe place

You should boot your computer with the rescue CD to make sure it can see all your drives including the backup location. If your disks aren't detected by Windows PE then you may need to add drivers to the Windows PE build and create a fresh CD. You can find additional information on this here: http://www.macrium.com/webhelp/Adding_Drivers.asp?nohead=y

Macrium Reflect Version Comparison Table

2010-02-12T15:10:07.843+00:00

Comparison of the Versions of
Macrium Reflect

The following table compares the free version and the full paid version of Macrium Reflect.

Note: The 30 day Trial version of Macrium Reflect does not include the Windows PE rescue CD. Macrium Reflect Additions works with Macrium Reflect but is a separate product and is purchased separately.

Feature	Free Edition	Full Edition	Full Edition plus Additions
Windows 7, XP and Vista (32 & 64 bit) compatibility
Disk Imaging
Access images with Windows Explorer
Scheduler
XML backup definitions
Linux Rescue CD
BartPE Rescue CD plug-in
Network support
CD/DVD writing support
Windows Server 2003 & 2008 (32 & 64 bit) compatibility
File and Folder backup
Differential disk images and backups
Incremental disk images and backups
Disk Space Management
VBScript Generator
Email notifications
Password Protection
AES Encryption
Auto Verify Images
Run programs before or after backup
Shut down PC after backup
Windows system event log support
Windows boot menu
Technical support by email and forum access
Commercial/Business use
Windows PE Rescue CD with RAID support
Create an Image using Windows PE/Bart PE rescue CD
GPT disk compatible
Hardware independent restore.

Links to 30 Day Trial, and Purchasing web pages: 30 Day Trial, Purchase Macrium Reflect, Purchase Macrium Reflect Additions, and Purchase Macrium Reflect and Additions Bundle. The Additions link pages also contain more information about the Additions product. Or to compare product prices click HERE.

Personal users only (Not Business/Commercial users) can also use the following links: Purchase Household Full 4 License Pack, Purchase Household Full 4 License Pack with Additions or use the Free version.

Note: If you upgrade from 'Free' to a 'Full' license you must uninstall the Free version first. You can remove Macrium Reflect Free by taking the 'Add/Remove Programs' (XP) or 'Uninstall programs' (Vista/7) in the Windows control panel.

For a list of Tutorials on using Macrium Reflect, including how to Create a Disk Image, click HERE.

How to Backup Files and Folders using Macrium Reflect

2010-02-09T21:33:07.579+00:00

How to Backup Files and Folders
using Macrium Reflect

File and Folder Backup: A file and folder backup is a useful way to backup your working files, personal files and any precious data. Unlike many other backup solutions Macrium Reflect can even backup open/locked files by using Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS).

In this tutorial I’ll take you through the steps to create a full backup of your ‘Outlook pst file’ (an e-mail file) and save the backup definition as an XML file for easy re-running and scheduling.

Note: If you wish to backup your Operating System, Do Not use a File & Folder Backup, you must use an Image Backup. You cannot restore Windows Operating System files using a file and folder restore. A File/Folder backup is not suitable for Windows Operating System files.

1.	Start Macrium Reflect and within the 'Backup Tasks' options select ‘Backup files and folders into a…’ to start the backup wizard. The backup Wizard starts. Click on ‘Next’.
2.	In the next window leave the option as ‘Full’ (the other options are Incremental and Differential, but these are covered later). Click on ‘Next’.
3.	You can now choose the folders(s) you wish to back up. Note: Folder selections are recursive. This means that all folders underneath the selected folder are included and any new folders in the future will be automatically included. So, if you backup your 'Documents' folder then any new folders you add underneath 'Documents' will be included when you run the backup again. You can select multiple folders, in this example I have just selected my outlook data folder. Click on ‘Next’ after making selection.
	Note: in selecting the Outlook folder I had to show hidden folders before I could find the Outlook folder as it was hidden. To show hidden folders: Open Windows Explorer: then in Windows 7 or Vista select '*Folders and Search Option' in the Organize* Tab or in Windows XP select '*Folder Options' in the Tools* menu. Now select the View Tab and scroll down if necessary so you can select 'Show hidden files folders (and Drives)'. While you are in this Tab it may help later if you also display file extensions :- Remove the tick against '*Hide extensions for known file types'. Click on 'Apply' and then 'OK' (just 'OK' in XP). Close 'Windows Explorer*'.
4.	Having selected the folders, in the next window we select the files needing to be backed up within the folders. You can use standard DOS wildcard formatting to select files to include and exclude. Multiple selections must be separated by a semi colon. e.g, .doc; .xls Other examples are shown below:

Example	Meaning	Example	Meaning
*.doc	All .doc WORD files	*.jpg	All jpg files
*.xls	All .xls Excel files	.	All files
Letter2010C.doc	File name: *Letter2010C.doc*	.doc; .xls; *.jpg	WORD, EXCEL and jpg pictures
*.pst	Outlook e-mail file	.doc; .docx	All WORD files

	See here for a list of most common file extensions. In wizard window below all .pst files were chosen by entering '.pst'. Normally we leave exclusions and ticks unchanged at defaults but in this case remove the tick against 'Exclude Hidden Files and Folders*' as .pst files were within hidden folders. Click on ‘Next’
5.	The next window enables the destination of the backup to be selected, you need to select one of three options (a), (b) or (c):
(a)	If you select ‘Local Hard Drive’ click on ▼ to get a drop down menu where you can search partitions, external hard drives, memory sticks (flash drives) etc to save your backup, you can also create a new folder there if needed.
(b)	If you select ‘Network’ you can search for another PC or Network Attached Storage etc. to save the backup.
(c)	If you select ‘CD/DVD Burner’ you can select which Drive to save the backup. Leave the Backup file name unchanged. Click on ‘Next’ to finalise backup process.
6.	The next window shows backup selection. Click on ‘Finish’ to start backup. If you have chosen CD/DVD burner you will be prompted to insert disk.
7.	In the next window you should enter an XML file name for the backup definition. Using this XML filename you can easily find it the XML Tab if you either want to re-run the backup without going through the wizard again or want to schedule the backup. Now click on ‘OK’.
8.	The next window below shows progress while backing up the file(s) and folders. When backup is complete click OK to close the small completion window and also close the progress window.
	*File & Folder Backup now Complete* *Now the Task is Complete,* if you wish, you can look at the log, there is a 'Log' Tab in the main Reflect window to check what you have done. In the next tutorial I'll show you how to backup only the files that have changed since this full backup was made, by creating an 'Incremental Backup'. References: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Show-hidden-files http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/hiddenfiles.mspx