# Top five Disaster Recovery Mistakes

## 1\. Too few copies of your data

At times of data loss disaster, you will need to have more than one copy of your info and following the 3–2–1 backup strategy. So if you experience data loss or network failure, you’ll be able to restore lost data from another storage location.

Following the 3–2–1 rule means you will have at least three copies of your data. It is advised to have the original copy, and at least two backups in different storage formats, and keep at least one copy of your data offsite, to adequately protect your data.

## 2\. Forgetting that people are part of the equation

The most common cause of data loss is **human error**. Things like accidental (or negligent) data deletion or modification, or over-writing files; Improper installation or removal of files; Improper drive formatting or partitioning.

However, other common reasons for data loss are:

*   **Location-related** — a theft, fire, flood, earthquake in the place you store your data.
*   **File corruption** — Your data suffers a virus or ransomware infection, or software error.
*   **Hardware failure** — The storage devices that you are using can develop faults. They can overheat. They can be exposed to magnetic fields. They can suffer power outages or surges.

## 3\. Not backing-up the right data

Some home users are not really prepared for a disaster; even if they make backups occasionally. However even IT Managers, who are supposed to know better, also often forget to fully backup their data frequently enough. People just forget to backup or procrastinate, often they think it is an annoying chore do make a backup. With tools such as [Macrium Reflect you can schedule](https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW72/Scheduling+backups) your backups, so it should be easier to plan it.

You have to ask yourself — is the data being backed up the **right** data? Sometimes people have no idea of the value of their data until they lose it, or which data is crucial for their business, until the moment that is too late.

## 4\. Deficient Recovery Capabilities

The majority of people do not test their backups. This is something that we hear frequently, so when they attempt to restore from a backup after a data disaster, they discover that their backup schedule was too infrequent or missed out important files, or it was not stored in a secure location.

One of the reasons why we always recommend keeping more than one format of backup is that some formats can quickly become obsolete, like CD ROM or DVD. The alternative locations can be on a network server, a locally attached drive, or even a cloud “archive”.

## 5\. Poor Reporting Practices

When data-disaster occurs, people are often nervous about recording it, so it is hard to learn any lessons from it. If a ransomware attack happens it might go unreported by staff, out of fear they will be blamed.

If you have been a victim of ransomware, you should report it. Every report you make helps investigators build a clearer picture of the threat. If you are a company and you do not talk about a cyber attack that may cause adverse effects on your business regarding profit and customer trust.

Malware or ransomware can be mitigated only by regularly updating your software and backing up your information. Software updates close the digital holes that allow ransomware in and backups enable you to recover your data without being extorted.

In your disaster recovery plan, you should evaluate all the different ways in which the backup processes of the organisation could be broken and affect the continuity of your company. It’s about thinking about the worst that could happen and having a plan to avoid surprises.

Allow us to know more about your backup preferences at [#MacriumPolls](https://twitter.com/hashtag/MacriumPolls?src=hash), and have your say in our Twitter polls!

In your disaster recovery plan, you should evaluate all the different ways in which the backup processes of the organisation could be broken and affect the continuity of your company. It’s about thinking about the worst that could happen and having a plan to avoid surprises.

Disaster Recovery Mistakes You Don't Want To Make

Top five Disaster Recovery Mistakes

# A Buying guide for Backup solutions

Usually, end users are not aware of how important it is to do regular backups of their data until it’s too late. All of us at some point in our lives have lost important information. Nowadays it is crucial to have a backup solution, but how do we choose one? First, it would help if you understood what you need. Then you can find the solution to solve the problem. Consider the following aspects:

**How many computers?**

Personal or business use? If it for business use, how many workstations or servers do you need to backup? The volume of work you need to do defines the kind of tool you need.

**Do you have multiple computers?**

Are they all connected to the same server? Are they physically in the same location? If you need to control the backup of many workstations at the same time, you can use a console to manage all the license of the software in each machine and monitor the status of backups and the schedules, even if the computers are not in the same physical space. Also, do you need to set up all those computers with the same operative system and data, like with a master image? That is a deployment task, and you can do that with Macrium Deployment Kit.

Find out more about [Macrium Deployment Kit](/products/business/technicians/deployment-kit)

**Do you need continuous backup?**

Which kind of backup do you need? Do you need ad-hoc “snapshot” backups or you are planning to have scheduled backups?

**Which type of backup suits your needs?** Here you have some definitions:

*   _Full System Backup:_ Restore any computer to one point in time, and that includes all the data, applications and the operating system by creating an exact image of the machine.
*   _Differential Backup:_ A differential image stores the changes that have been made to the live system since the last full image. Subsequent differentials can be taken, but only one differential and one full are required to restore the system entirely.
*   _Incremental Backup:_ The main difference between incremental images is that they only store file system changes since the last image, either full, differential or incremental. The resultant backup set, therefore, consists of a full image and some incremental images which must all be present to restore the system correctly.

**Is the tool easy to use?**

The software should be easy and quick. Is the learning curve steep? Is it intuitive? Does the software have a knowledge base or manual? Is there a forum for users? Is technical support included? Will the technical support offered to cover my needs? It depends on you or your client, but in some cases, it is convenient to cover the cost of an excellent technical service just in case.

**How fast is it?**

How fast can you create a backup? How efficient is it, especially with extensive files, such as virtual hard disk (VHD) files?

**Thinking about extra protection**

Is your backup solution up to date? Do you have the latest version? How reliable is the tool? Always check the reviews; you can use forums and comparison tables to choose the correct option.

**Where will you store the data?**

Where do you want to store your data backup? In what formats? Which storage solutions are available? How many copies are convenient to have?

Could be an External Hard Drive or a Solid State Drive (SSD). Then you have small drives like a USB Thumb Drive Or Flash Drive, or even a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, that is also a local solution. And then there is Cloud Storage that allows you remote access to your data. We always recommend the 3,2,1 rule, that means to store in different formats and different locations.

**Does the tool have ransomware protection?**

Does it prevent or mitigate the risk of a ransomware attack? How effective is?

There are tools for mitigating ransomware once it has started to encrypt your data. Anti-virus software detects ransomware once you are infected. However, we recommend Macrium Image Guardian, which is a feature of all paid editions of Macrium Reflect and prevents ransomware from encrypting your Macrium backups.

Find out more about [Macrium Image Guardian](/mig)

**What about remote file access?**

Do you need remote access to the data? Do you need to restore an image of specific files in specific folders remotely? Do you need to download the data from the folder? Do you need to see and manage a repository of disk images (incremental or full)?

This defines the kind of storage that you will choose for your backups, and for managing them. You can use Macrium Site Manager; it is a central console to manage all your backup images and repositories. This will allow you to restore a specific image remotely.

Find out more about [Macrium Site Manager](/sitebackup)

**What about virtual machines and redeploy options?**

Do you need to create a virtual machine? Do you need to create a Virtual Machine Clone of an existing Windows hard drive? Do you need to move a full Operating System from an old PC to a new one?

With Macrium ReDeploy, you can restore an image to a replacement computer with dissimilar hardware or even create a virtual machine; a technique sometimes called Physical to Virtual or P2V.

**Is there a portable App option?**

Does the software allow you to create a bootable USB stick from which you can backup or restore your target PCs both online and offline?

To have a portable application running on a bootable USB stick to create an image of any workstation or server you need to work on, and restore it quickly whenever necessary is very useful. The Macrium Technicians License allows a single technician to image multiple PCs.

Find out more about [the Macrium Technicians License](/products/business/technicians)

**Are you prepared for disaster?**

Does the tool allow me to prepare yourself for disaster recovery? Can you schedule backups? Until you have not run your backup for a few days and need to restore a backup, you will not know just how useful your disaster recovery tool is. For that reason, it is better to start with a trial. Does the software have a trial edition? If it does, how long is the trial? That could define the tool you want to choose.

You can download a 30-day Trial of Macrium Reflect, which includes Macrium Image Guardian, for [personal](/products/home) or [commercial](/products/business/standalone/workstation) use.

buying-guide-for-backup-solutions.jpg

Usually, end users are not aware of how important it is to do regular backups of their data until it’s too late. 

Macrium Backup Solutions Buying Guide

A Buying guide for Macrium backup solutions 

Buying guide for Backup Solutions

# What’s new in Macrium Reflect 7.2?

Macrium Reflect 7.2 is now available! Macrium Reflect has been installed more than 7 million times worldwide and sold in more than 60 countries by more than 2000 resellers.

Macrium Reflect is the trusted endpoint backup solution for Home and Business, used worldwide to protect documents, data and Microsoft operating systems. Using advanced disk imaging technology your entire disk contents, including operating system and data, is securely saved in an easily recoverable backup file.

Available in four editions: Home, Workstation, Server and Server Plus for Exchange and SQL.

The new version is now available with new features, bug fixed, improved functionalities — these are the main changes:

### New Rescue Media builder includes Windows RE with WiFi Support

**_Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) — an alternative option to WinPE._**

Macrium has added a Rescue Media Builder (RMBuilder) application with support for Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) as well as the existing PE environments supported by Reflect 7.1 and earlier. WinRE supports WiFi and is available on most Windows installs without any further downloads.

_What happened before?-_ When you boot into WinPE some devices connected via wifi will not work as WinPE does not support drivers for them.

_What’s new?-_ WinRE supports wifi networks so you will be able to access your backups even if a wifi connection to your storage is your only choice.


![whats-new-in-macrium-reflect-72-2.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/whats_new_in_macrium_reflect_72_2_32023d8d94.jpg)


### New Changed Block Tracker driver with support for Windows Restart Persistence

**_New Changed Block Tracker (CBT) will speed-up incremental images even after a reboot._**

_What happened before?-_ CBT speeds up incremental and differential images by monitoring the changes to an NTFS formatted volume in real-time. With our original Changed Block Tracker driver enabled, the first incremental/differential image taken since Windows was restarted was performed using the traditional method and CBT could not track changes over a reboot.

_What’s new?-_ Now CBT will be able to monitor the changes to an NTFS formatted volume, even after a reboot.

Macrium has improved on this by reliably detecting whether NTFS volumes have been mounted without the CBT driver in the kernel stack. This applies to all Operating Systems that can mount NTFS volumes, including Linux. The operation of CBT has also been vastly improved by tracking changes in RAM rather than by flushing to disk. This also has a fail-safe method to reset the CBT index should a power failure or other problem occur. We’re confident that this implementation is class leading and robust.

![whats-new-in-macrium-reflect-72-3.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/whats_new_in_macrium_reflect_72_3_aff89025ce.jpg)

### New Macrium Image Guardian driver with additional features and streamlined operation

**_New Macrium Image Guardian (MIG)– more robust and secure._**

MIG is now Windows kernel only! Macrium Image Guardian has been improved to remove the dependency on a Windows service and we’ve added pop-up notifications when a blocking event occurs. The popup shows blocking activity as it happens.

![whats-new-in-macrium-reflect-72-4.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/whats_new_in_macrium_reflect_72_4_ffee5ce19e.jpg)

### The Free Edition can now be ‘converted’ to a Trial by taking any of the features not available in the Free Edition

**_“Activate 30-Day Trial” in Free Edition._**

Macrium Reflect 7.2 Free Edition will include all menu items for features that are missing from the Free Edition but included in the 30-Day Trial. If you select one of these features you will be given the option to activate a 30-Day Trial without an additional download. A further 7 days can be added to the trial period if needed.

After the Trial ends the Free Edition will be automatically reactivated. So then you will see that the full features are gone and you can either purchase to keep the features or you can continue with the free edition. The important thing is that you will not need to download the free version again.

### Macrium Reflect update notifications and downloads can now happen in the background

Recent history has shown that the current method of requiring Macrium Reflect to be running to alert of updates has proved ineffective. We’ve now added a systray icon in Window notification area to alert when an update is available to Macrium Reflect.

### New Warning and Cancelled backup completion results

We’ve also added the option for email notifications on Warnings as well as the existing Success and Failure results.

### Minor Enhancements

*   New — Mounting incomplete backup sets
*   New — Backup monitoring restriction
*   The default for password protection is now AES 128 Bit.
*   The ‘Delete’ functionality in Reflect is now available when ‘Browse for an image file’ is selected.

### Bug fixes

*   Backup Running Mutex
*   ReflectMonitor improvements
*   Server Plus — Large Exchange Backups
*   BitLocker drive without a drive letter

Find out more: [https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW72/New+in+Macrium+Reflect+7.2](https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW72/New+in+Macrium+Reflect+7.2)

You can download a 30-day Trial of Macrium Reflect, which includes Macrium Image Guardian, for [personal](/products/home) or [commercial](/products/business/standalone/workstation) use.

whats-new-in-macrium-reflect-72.jpg

Macrium Reflect 7.2 is now available! Macrium Reflect has been installed more

What’s new in Macrium Reflect 7.2?

# Machine Management and Support in Industrial Environments

Recently, at “Macrium Towers” in Manchester UK, I was discussing with the development team future features for our very popular Macrium Site Manager backup solution. We were reminiscing how in the past we would have been happy with a sale of 10 Server or Workstation licenses simply because standalone installations were our strength and we focused on supporting this kind of customer. Recently we celebrated a deal for over two thousand end-point agents, times have changed and so has the suitability of our solutions for many new and very large customers. On the other hand, one of our traditional markets is still going strong; Microsoft Windows based control systems.

## Industrial Strength Reliability Needed

We still sell large numbers of our Macrium Reflect and Server standalone licenses to companies who need a very stable and reliable tool that can run on machines controlling machines. Some of our historically largest customers in the oil and gas, manufacturing, food processing, and health sectors chose Macrium Reflect because they need a tool that they can install, configure and leave to run reliably and provide the recovery, cloning and ReDeploy capabilities needed when things go wrong. Some of these customers have many thousands of licenses, and recently the United States Military Services are deploying Macrium Reflect onto ships and remote facilities. Repeat purchases are frequent and growing in scale.

## Why Macrium Reflect?

The application of Windows based systems for the control of manufacturing or processing automation facilities began many years ago in the days of Windows 2000, however, the release of Windows XP in 2001 saw many companies rely heavily on this very popular version of the Microsoft OS for machine control systems. With Macrium Reflect supporting Windows XP and every version since, we have become the backup and DR tool of choice for machines controlling machines.

Next time you are at the dentists, getting an X-ray or MRI scan at your local medical center, filling your car up with fuel, or boiling rice on your gas stove, think that somewhere in the chain of supplying your gas or backing up the MRI Scans, Macrium Reflect is involved!

You can download a 30-day Trial of Macrium Reflect, which includes Macrium Image Guardian, for [personal](/products/home) or [commercial](/products/business/standalone/workstation) use.

Recently, at “Macrium Towers” in Manchester UK, I was discussing with the development team future features for our very popular Macrium Site Manager backup solution. We were reminiscing how in the past we would have been happy with a sale of 10 Server or Workstation licenses simply because standalone installations were our strength and we focused on supporting this kind of customer.

Machine Management in Industrial Environments

Machine Management and Support in Industrial Environments

# New features in Macrium Site Manager

There is a new Site Manager release available now, here are some notes on the changes you can expect to see.

#### Repository Remote Sync

In this release we’ve added the ability to synchronize a repository with a remote server or storage device on a daily or weekly basis. This works with SFTP servers, anything which can be exposed as a Windows share (such as Azure storage or an Amazon AWS Storage Gateway) or to a local path to support synchronizing a repository to a locally attached USB disk.

Remote Synchronization is integrated with repositories and can be configured in the repositories page below:

![](/no-image-to-display.jpg)

The synchronization integrates with the repository’s forecast, and synchronization progress can be monitored in the same way as any backup or restore operation in Site Manager.

![](/no-image-to-display.jpg)

The Site Manager server takes care of suspending backups during the synchronization and will only upload changed backup data to the server.

#### Configuration Backup

Users can now backup and download the Site Manager configuration — this will allow users to recover from the loss of a Site Manager server — just restore the configuration from the most recent backup! Site Manager will also automatically backup its configuration before the upgrade to ensure that there’s always a recent backup checkpoint.

![](/no-image-to-display.jpg)

This can also help users who want to deploy Site Manager across multiple sites — the first run wizard in Site Manager now allows users to upload a saved configuration to use.

![](/no-image-to-display.jpg)

#### Add Computer Changes

Since scanning the network for computers is unreliable and can take some time, the _Add Computers_ functionality has been changed so that users can add computers manually without waiting for the network scan to finish. We’ve also added the ability to populate computers from an Active Directory Domain instead of the scan.

![](/no-image-to-display.jpg)

![](/no-image-to-display.jpg)

Computers can now have custom descriptions added which can be used to add context above and beyond just the NetBIOS name of the machine.

![](/no-image-to-display.jpg)

#### Repository Improvements

We’ve added a new repository type — the Local Repository. Some users perform backups to storage attached locally to each computer for performance reasons, and this has been hard to manage in Site Manager. The Local Repository type allows these backups to be centrally managed and monitored without the additional step of exposing the local storage as a Windows Share.

As local storage is only accessible to the managed computer it’s attached to, repository features such as browsing and image opening are not available for these repositories.

![](/no-image-to-display.jpg)

We’ve also added the ability to name a repository instead of just using the repository path. This is most useful in cases where a repository has a very long path or is awkwardly named. All existing repositories will have their name set to their path so that existing users will see what they’re used to seeing.

![](/no-image-to-display.jpg)

#### Other changes

There are also a few minor updates and improvements!

*   Offline MAL license keys — these can be added in the same way as for Reflect
*   Updated instructions for Slack integration
*   Crypto improvements to HTTPS mode
*   A registry option to disable email sending for support purposes
*   Performance improvements to the Event Logs and Backup Logs system

You can download the new version of Site Manager [here](/sitebackup).

It includes a 30-Day Trial for 5 workstations and 1 server. Additional machines and trial period extensions are available on request. Existing standalone Reflect installations can be managed indefinitely.

There is a new Site Manager release available now, here are some notes on the changes you can expect to see: Repository Remote Sync, Configuration Backup, Repository Improvements and more

New features in Macrium Site Manager

There is a new Site Manager release available now, here are some notes on the changes you can expect to see.

# What is Automatic System Restore?

With Macrium Automatic System Restore you can easily return a Windows PC to a previously imaged system recovery point.

The main benefits are that the system restore is completed without any user interaction during the restore process. Using Rapid Delta Restore (RDR) recovery is fast! The BitLocker encrypted drives can be restored without requiring re-encryption after restore. The restore can be password protected to prevent accidental or unauthorised recovery.

If you’ve purchased a Macrium Reflect Deployment Kit License then to assist with deploying images, it may be desirable to automate the restore of a ‘Golden’ Image by adding the Macrium Reflect auto restore xml file directly to the Windows Image (WIM) file used by the rescue media or by a PXE deployment server.

Create your auto restore xml using your ‘Golden’ image by **simulating a restore and pressing ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Shift’ + ‘S’** on the **final restore wizard page.**

![automatic-system-restore-2.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/automatic_system_restore_2_b0954a4c87.jpg)

This dialog will prompt for options to automatically restore the selected image file at a later time using the Windows PE rescue media. When **‘OK’** is clicked a restore definition xml file will be saved.


![automatic-system-restore-3.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/automatic_system_restore_3_518b5df7d2.jpg)

Here you have some explanations about the different options that you have on this dialog:


![automatic-system-restore-4.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/automatic_system_restore_4_782de996b8.jpg)

If the image file is located on a network share then you’ll be prompted to enter the authentication details:


![automatic-system-restore-5.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/automatic_system_restore_5_7c1f4fc409.jpg)

#### How auto restore works?

Local drives are scanned (from A to Z) for a restore definition **‘macrium\_restore.xml’** file in each drive root folder. Macrium Reflect will use the first restore definition found. This can be any local drive, including USB flash drives or optical media.

The restore definition contains instructions to locate the image file to restore from and the target disk to restore to.

It is imperative that the correct image file is restored to the intended disk. To ensure that there are no nasty surprises after restoring, Macrium Reflect will use unique disk identifiers and sector offsets to match the source and target of the restore.

#### How locate the source image file folder?

The default behaviour is to read the image file specified in the **<file\_name>** xml node. However, It’s possible that Windows PE has assigned different drive letters to local drives, in this case, the following procedure is followed.

*   All local drives are scanned for a ‘Marker’ file that is created when the restore definition is saved. This Marker file has the following file name format: **‘Macrium\_restore\_{GUID}.txt’**, where the GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) is retrieved from the ‘**<search node>**’ in the restore xml.


```
<search guid="{0D6B46C4-A5ED-4578-A9C0-5539B0AB94A0}">Y</search>
```

```
<file\_name>D:\\backups\\auto\_restore\\4E855CB463979BC9-01-01.mrimg</file\_name>
```

*   If the marker file isn’t found in the **path** specified in the **<file\_name>** xml node, then all local drives are searched for the marker file in the same subfolder. If the marker file is found, then that folder will be searched for the image file to restore.
*   If no Marker file is found or is not specified in the xml, then all local drives are scanned (from A to Z) to locate any images in the folder specified by the ‘**<file\_name>**’ xml node that contains images to restore.

#### How locate the correct source image file?

The default behaviour is to read the specified image file in the folder in the ‘**<image\_file>**’ xml node. However, if **‘Restore the latest matching image in the same folder’** is selected in the Auto Restore dialogue then the following procedure is followed:


![automatic-system-restore-6.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/automatic_system_restore_6_890d76e299.jpg)

xml attribute **find\_recent=”Y”** is added to the **<file\_name>** xml node.

```
<file\_name find\_recent="Y">D:\\backups\\auto\_restore\\4E855CB463979BC9-01-01.mrimg</file\_name>
```

All **matching** backup sets are loaded in the image file folder and the most recent backup date is selected and used for the restore. A **matching** backup set has the same disk and partitions specified in the restore definition file.


![automatic-system-restore-7.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/automatic_system_restore_7_f4c50c9844.jpg)

A matching image file contains the same disk identifier and partition start and end sectors as well as partition number.

e.g, In this case, **Disk identifier** **3A177438–02D6–4DB6–9FCC-184F81DEE52A** and **partition number 1** with **start sector 2048** and **end sector 616447**

#### How locate the restore target disk?

The default behaviour is to select the target disk by matching the unique disk identifier specified in the **<target\_disk>** xml node. However, if ‘**Match target disk number if unique id not found**’ is selected in the Auto Restore dialog then the following procedure is followed:


![automatic-system-restore-8.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/automatic_system_restore_8_6d516fa615.jpg)

xml attribute **number\_fallback=”Y”** is added to the **<target\_disk>** xml node.

```
<target\_disk id=”3A177438–02D6–4DB6–9FCC-184F81DEE52A” number\_fallback=”Y”>1</target\_disk>
```

The restore target disk is matched on disk number if a disk cannot be matched using the unique identifier.

Download a 30-day Trial of Macrium Reflect for [personal](/products/home) or [commercial](/products/business/standalone/workstation) use.

automatic-system-restore.jpg

Easily return a Windows PC to a previously imaged system recovery point.

Macrium Automatic System Restore

With Macrium Automatic System Restore you can easily return a Windows PC to a previously imaged system recovery point.

What is Automatic System Restore?

# Creating a Technician’s USB Stick with Portable Application Support

The [Macrium Technicians License](/products/business/technicians) is designed for IT technicians or service companies who might maintain a large number of PCs and may want to back them up before performing maintenance or repair work. 

Without a Technician’s License, each time they back up a different PC they'd have to buy a new copy of Macrium Reflect. This is because the usual licensing arrangement is machine-specific. Using a Technicians License allows the technician to back up or image each PC using a single Macrium Reflect license.

## Portable Application Support Explained

Portable application support ships exclusively with Macrium Reflect Technician’s Licenses. With it, you can use a portable application running on a bootable USB stick to create an image of any workstation or server. And it allows you to restore it quickly whenever necessary.

It also enables a single user to image multiple PCs. You can make Macrium Reflect run as a portable application from USB Rescue Media. Portable mode Reflect is very similar to the Macrium Reflect environment you're familiar with.

## Creating a Workable Environment 

The USB stick also acts like a bootable rescue environment. You can use this to back up and restore licensed PCs. It enables you to image and recover unlimited servers and workstations, providing the software isn't installed on more than one computer at a time.

Typically, a technician would use the portable application or its accompanying PE environment to image their target workstations. This means Reflect needs only to be installed on a single PC and the portable application media created.

## How to Create a Technician’s USB Stick with Portable Application Support

1. Create a rescue PE environment, as explained in our knowledge base article on [creating rescue media](https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW7/Creating+rescue+media).

2. Select USB device as your target media and select a USB destination.

3. Check to create a technician’s USB drive with portable application support.

![creating-a-technicians-usb-stick-with-portable-application-support-2.jpg](https://strapistoragemacrium.blob.core.windows.net/strapi-uploads/uploads/creating_a_technicians_usb_stick_with_portable_application_support_2_0a39993d94.jpg)

4. Click finish

## Mission Accomplished

And that's it. You should now be the owner of a USB stick, featuring a portable app. This will be your key to creating an image of any workstation or server, which you can restore quickly when you need it most. All made possible using just a single Macrium Reflect license. 

Find out more about the Macrium Reflect Technician's License by heading over to our [dedicated web page](/products/business/technicians).

## Try Macrium Reflect for Free

Keep your data backed up and safe with Macrium Reflect - try it for free for [**home**](https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree#backup-and-recovery-software-for-home-pcs) or [**work**](https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree#business-backup-and-recovery-with-reflect-workstation) with our [**30-day trial**](https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree). 

[Download Your Free Trial](BUTTON_SUCCESS=/reflectfree)




creating-a-technicians-usb-stick-with-portable-application-support-1.jpg

In this blog post, discover how to make Macrium Reflect run as a portable application from USB rescue media. 

Creating a Technician’s USB Stick with App Support  | Macrium

The Macrium Technicians License is designed for IT technicians or service

Creating a Technician’s USB Stick with Portable Application Support

# How viBoot Provides Instant Disaster Recovery

There are many reasons to use Macrium Reflect as your primary backup. The software has earned its reputation as one of the best free backup, disk imaging and cloning solutions for personal and commercial use on the market.

However, viBoot is one of the best features of Reflect 7 that enables users to instantly, create, start and manage, Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines using one or more Macrium Reflect image files as the basis of the virtual machine storage sub-system.

Macrium viBoot was created to provide users with answers to crucial questions around their disaster recovery plan:

*   _Will your backup boot into Windows when a restore is needed?_
*   _Are new applications or updates safe to install?_
*   _How long would it take to recover data should a disaster strike?_

Macrium viBoot not only ensures you have an incredibly useful disaster recovery tool, but it also offers peace of mind that your live environment is entirely free from risk. We built viBoot on technology that enables you to instantly present a Macrium Reflect image file as a Microsoft Virtual Disk (.VHDX) file.

**Create a replacement virtual machine in minutes**

Within minutes, it is possible to have an almost identical replica of the computer that the image was taken running as a VM, allowing work to continue as though you were using the original PC. Macrium Reflect can add all the changes, made while the virtual machine session was running, to the existing backup set or a new backup set can be created.

**Verify the integrity of the backups**

In addition to its disaster recovery capabilities, Macrium viBoot can also be used to test the integrity of the backups. By creating and starting a virtual machine from image file(s), it is much easier to demonstrate precisely how the backups will function if the need arises to restore to new or existing hardware.

**Test upgrades before deployment**

Macrium viBoot can also be used to test applications and system upgrades before deploying them onto real hardware, without the risk of contaminating the live environment. Some customers have even performed a full update of their Windows 7 environments to Windows 10.

<a href="https://medium.com/media/2b55ee0304093c86c5dcded19e405df0/href">https://medium.com/media/2b55ee0304093c86c5dcded19e405df0/href</a>

**Main Features**

*   It is possible to start a Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machine from any bootable Macrium Reflect full, incremental or a differential image file stored locally or on a network share.
*   viBoot allows mix-and-match drives from various image files to ensure access to all data.
*   Business downtime caused by lengthy physical to virtual conversions or restore processes can finally be eliminated.
*   The software also supports UEFI and drives over 64TB in size.
*   viBoot is completely FREE and included in all editions of Macrium Reflect.

Disastrous IT upgrades have recently prevented TSB and Tesco bank customers from accessing their account. There are countless examples of how a company of any size can be brought to its knees when the inevitable IT chaos ensues.

However, viBoot offers a different ending to an increasingly common news report. Our customers know with confidence that a restore will work and also how long it will take to recover data. They can also complete application and system updates with full confidence.

You can find out more about here [Macrium viBoot](/viboot), or [contact us](/support) to learn how you can provide answers to important disaster recovery questions, before rather than after the inevitable IT disaster.

There are many reasons to use Macrium Reflect as your primary backup. The software has earned its reputation as one of the best free backup, disk imaging and cloning solutions for personal and commercial use on the market.

viBoot For Instant Disaster Recovery

How viBoot Provides Instant Disaster Recovery

# Site Manager Update - July 2018

There is a new Site Manager release available now, here are some notes on the changes you can expect to see.

### New Dashboard

The new dashboard which has been seen in our product videos already is included in this release — this not only looks better than the old dashboard, it allows widgets to be resized and managed more easily through drag and drop. It also includes some quick warning tiles at the top to focus backup administrators on any areas that need attention.

### New Look and Feel

As part of our ongoing programme to bring a more unified look and feel to the Site Manager, MultiSite and the Partner Portal, we’ve improved the UI in Site Manager — this is most obvious on the new dashboard, but the menus, tables and many other components have been updated.

### Opening Image Files

From the **Browse** interface in the repository view, image files can now be opened and explored. Any file from the file system can be downloaded in browser without leaving the Site Manager interface.

This feature is intended to help customers who just need a few files from a backup — for example when the boss accidentally deletes the company accounts spreadsheet!

### Improved Summary Emails

The daily summary emails have been upgraded to include more information — backups active at the time of email generation, computers which failed to start backups because they were offline, computers which have not been backed up for a user-configurable number of days and more!

This is intended to put enough context into the daily emails that an administrator can spot anything which is a cause for concern in their backup configuration quickly.

### Minor improvements

There are also a number of bug fixes in this release, including some improved handling of temporary internet outages when trying to validate licenses and some performance improvements too, mostly around the dashboard.

You can download the new version of Site Manager at no cost [here](/site-manager).

It includes a 30-Day Trial for 5 workstations and 1 server. Additional machines and trial period extensions are available on request. Existing standalone Reflect installations can be managed indefinitely.

There is a new Site Manager release available from July 2018, here are some notes on the changes you can expect to see.

Site Manager Update - July 2018

# How Many Backups Are Needed to Secure Business Continuity and Data Availability?

Technology is a crucial component in the day-to-day operations of every business. For many leaders, a disaster recovery plan is essential to ensure business continuity and data availability in the event of inevitable IT disasters such as hardware failures and cyber-attacks.

Traditionally, at the heart of any disaster recovery plan is backup storage. By creating copies of a data backup, IT departments are able to add an extra layer of protection from a data disaster, deletion or corruption. There are multiple scenarios where critical data can easily be lost, and it’s your responsibility to protect against every eventuality.

**What can happen?**

The loss of information could happen for many reasons:

● Human error — data deletion, modification or overwritting by accident or negligence.

● Location-related — leaving a device on a train, theft, fire, flood, or earthquake.

● File corruption — virus or ransomware infection or software error corrupts data

● Hardware failure — hard drive, CPU or controller failure

When a storage backup is created, the backup data is typically kept on a device or server; and is stored on local or remote storage. These backups can also be stored on a hard disk or a pen drive. The question that businesses are increasingly asking, is how many copies do they need to protect their company data?

**The 3–2–1 Approach Protecting Company Data**

Creating multiple copies protects your business from losing any critical data. The 3–2–1 backup rule is an effective strategy that instantly removes any single point of failure. The belts and braces approach ensures that you can overcome nearly any failure scenario without any drama.

**Keep at least three copies of your data**

One backup is a step in the right direction, but it won’t protect you from every eventuality. It is advised to have the original copy and at least two backups to fully protect your data.

**Keep the backups on two different storage types**

A combination of cloud services such as Dropbox and physical backup on devices like pen drives and external hard disks will protect your company from any single point of failure.

**Keep at least one copy of your data offsite**

Having two backup copies of your critical data on two separate storage types will protect against most scenarios. But, local disasters such as a fire or flood could potentially wipe out both backups. Always ensure at least one backup is stored offsite, this can be in a physical location or in the cloud.

**There are four types of backups**

**The Full System Backup:** Restore any computer to one point in time, and that includes all the data, applications and even the operating system by creating an exact image of the computer.

**Differential Backup:** A differential image stores the changes that have been made to the imaged file system since the last full image. Subsequent differentials can be taken, but only one differential and the full are required in order to fully restore the system.

**Incremental Backup:** The main difference with incremental images is that they only store file system changes since the last image, either full, differential or incremental. The resultant backup set therefore consists of a full image and a number of incremental images which must all be present in order to restore the system correctly. You can pick an Incremental to restore, Macrium Reflect will find the Full that it was based on (and any Incrementals in the “Chain” between the Full and the selected Incremental) and restore to the point-in-time that the chosen Incremental was made.

**File and Folder Backup:** a space-saving way to backup your working files, personal files and precious data. You can backup your Documents folder and save the backup as an XML file for easy re-running and scheduling. When you restore a file and folder backup, you can restore files to their original folder or restore the folder structure and selected files to a place of your choosing. Alternatively, if you want to restore individual files without their folder structure, you can mount the backup file as a drive, browse them using Windows Explorer and copy/paste them back to their original folder.

It’s not a case of **if** your company will be affected by hardware failures and cyber-attacks but **when**. However, it has never been easier to implement a disaster recovery plan that provides business continuity and data availability in the event of any IT disaster.

You can download a 30-Day Trial of Macrium Reflect [Home](/products/home), [Workstation](/products/business/standalone/workstation), [Server](/products/business/standalone/server), [Server Plus](/products/business/standalone/server-plus), or [Site Manager](/sitebackup).

how-many-backups-are-needed-to-secure-business-continuity-and-data-availability.jpg

A disaster recovery plan is essential to ensure business continuity and data availability in the event of inevitable IT disasters such as hardware failures and cyber-attacks.

How Many Backups Are Needed for Continuity and Availability?

Technology is a crucial component in the day-to-day operations of every

Your #1 resource for data backup, recovery, imaging and deployment insights and tips to help you develop your organisation's disaster recovery plan. | 2018

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