Solved Can I use same rescue media RE build on different PCs with different versions of Macrium Reflect?

Background before questions

I have two computers: -

• My main HP desktop PC, which is used daily and is the most important.
• My DELL laptop, which is a secondary device where not much changes.

Both computers currently have MR Free v8.0.7783 installed but I wish to support Paramount by buying 1 licence for £58 for my HP device. I do not feel like paying another £58 for my secondary DELL device.

I have two external bootable SSD rescue devices (SSD1 and SSD2) with ‘Windows RE 11 Build 22621 (64-bit)’ on them. I have two in case one fails so I want them both the same. I don’t want one SSD for HP machine and another for the DELL machine. I want them both to work on both machines (as they do now). Both SSDs contain the same images (for both HP and DELL) so they are both rescue media and image storage devices in-one.

Question1 - Is it correct to say that ‘Windows RE 11 Build 22621 (64-bit)’ on the rescue media is independent of what version of Macrium Reflect is installed on a computer?

Question2 - If I upgrade Macrium Reflect to v8.1.7784 paid-for version on the HP machine do I have to rebuild the rescue media or is it optional?

Question3 - If answer to Question1 is ‘No’ and I rebuild the rescue media via the HP machine then will it still work on the DELL secondary machine?

1. Yes.
2. No... but if you want any extra features available in the PAID license Recovery Media, you should. But there are license issues associated with using the PAID Recovery Media on other Systems.
3. If you use a newly PAID license generated Recovery Media, it should work on both... BUT see comment in item #2.

Q1 - not exactly. A Rescue drive is a combination of the WinPE/WinRE version and stored drivers.

More important that the RE/PE version, you may get driver issues if you build a Rescue drive on one pc and try and use it on another. NVME drivers are the worst culprit e.g. if you build rescue drive on a pc without an nvme, it may not boot on one with an nvme unless you specically add nvme irst drivers to the rescue drive.

It usually works the other way round as ssd drivers are pretty generic i.e. if you create drive on pc with nvme, it will usually work on one without nvme.

Q2 - as Q1 - it is always best to build a Rescue Drive on the pc it is meant to be used.

Q3 - answered above.

In the end, best practice is a rescue drive per pc, but if you want to avoid multiplw drives, test it on each pc.

I always create an iso on every pc, so I can create a usb drive if my "default" usb drive should fail on a pc - rare but not unknown.

Froggie said:

But there are license issues associated with using the PAID Recovery Media on other Systems.
3. If you use a newly PAID license generated Recovery Media, it should work on both... BUT see comment in item #2.

Click to expand...

cereberus said:

It usually works the other way round as ssd drivers are pretty generic i.e. if you create drive on pc with nvme, it will usually work on one without nvme.

Click to expand...

Thank you guys for the comments. My HP machine has an NVME drive and the DELL has a SATA drive.

It seems a minefield so I will consider whether to stick with the Free version so I can legally use either recovery SSD on either machine. I really like having two recovery SSDs that I can use on either machine.
I'll wait until the New Year to see if Paramount offer any more updates to the Free version before making a decision. I am prepared to pay £58 but £116 is too much to pay to get a legal solution especially as my DELL machine is only a secondary device, which I only make full backups every 3 months just to capture OS and app updates.

I'll call it 'Solved'.

Each year Macrium has a sale and you get four licenses for about $50 / £50.

I have three laptops and I use the optoion to add Macrium Reflect to the Windows boot menu. Each laptop has a different version of Macrium recovery. One laptop is 32-bit, two are 64-bit.

I have a 32-bit recovery on my USB HDD and will this boot all of my laptops.

kelper said:

Each year Macrium has a sale and you get four licenses for about $50 / £50.

I have three laptops and I use the optoion to add Macrium Reflect to the Windows boot menu. Each laptop has a different version of Macrium recovery. One laptop is 32-bit, two are 64-bit.

I have a 32-bit recovery on my USB HDD and will this boot all of my laptops.

Click to expand...

Not this year - the Black Friday deal was only on leases. No special offers on perpetual licences.