Disk cloning vs disk image on MaCrium


glasskuter said:
Something doesn't seem right to me that your image takes that long to make (and to restore) unless you have an exhorbitant amount of data or are using hdds both ways.

As a comparison, I can image and verify that image of all partitions of my system drive (nvme) with a size of 125gb to an external nvme in an enclosure in 6 minutes. I can restore that image in 4 minutes.

My storage drive is an external nvme in enclosure and is 100 GB in size. I can image that drive to another external nvme (in an enclosure) in 22 minutes. I've never had to restore that image. All my external nvme drives are through old usb 3.0.

By the way, Haselo Backup Suite Free images are comparable in time to Macrium. I use both Macrium 8.1 Workstation and Haselo and am gradually weaning myself away from the now unsupported Macrium which I love. It's hard to let it go but I can't afford to buy licenses for 4 computers every year. You might want to check it out rather than use Macrium 8.0 which is very old. Haselo supports BitLocker and UEFI Secure Boot functionality within its Windows environment and emergency recovery media.
Click to expand...
Will check out the Haselo. I backed up 950GB
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Wind 11 Pro 24H2 (Dev Channel)/23H2Beta (offl...2 Intel Xeon 5680120 GbMSI(Nvidia) GeForce GTX 970
OS
Wind 11 Pro 24H2 (Dev Channel)/23H2Beta (offline)
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Manufacturer/Model
DELL T7500
CPU
2 Intel Xeon 5680
Memory
120 Gb
Graphics Card(s)
MSI(Nvidia) GeForce GTX 970
Monitor(s) Displays
Dell S2719DGF
Screen Resolution
2560 x 1440 (155Hz)
Hard Drives
Samsung 2TB 870 (24H2 Device)
Samsung 1TB 860 (23H2 Beta)
PSU
Dell 1100W
Antivirus
Premium Malwarebyte, AdwCleaner (Malwarebyte)
jimhow4545 said:
It took 8 hours to clone. I remember it took only 2 hours to make disk image and 2 hours to restore.
Click to expand...
jimhow4545 said:
I backed up 950GB
Click to expand...
Cloning does seem slower than a backup then restore. My last clone was run from within Windows, cloning from the the laptop's internal SSD to a new SSD in an external USB 3.1 enclosure. The source was a 512GB SSD with about 280GB of data to copy over. That clone took two hours to complete.

1785961485210.webp
 

My Computers My Computers

System One System Two Other systems

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 HomeAMD Athlon Silver 3050U8GBRadeon Graphics
    OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23-R9VY
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD (from April 2026: 250GB EVO 850)
    Internet Speed
    150 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    UPDATE - 11 April 2026: due to lid hinges starting to break up this laptop has been retired from active duty. The OS with all software and files has been migrated to my System Seven in 'Other systems' to carry on as my general purpose 'main machine'.

    I've now clean installed 25H2 and used Garlin's scripts to update Secure Boot to CA 2023 and revoke the PCA 2011 certificates. It's new role is to test secure boot issues.

    Info for 2021-2026:
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October 2021 it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update, 24H2 on 3rd October 2024 through Windows Update by setting the Target Release Version for 24H2, and 25H2 on 30th September 2025 through Windows Update by setting the Target Release Version for 25H2.

  • At a glance

    Windows 11 ProIntel® Core™ i5-520M8GB(integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Latitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics card(s)
    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround.

    In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround.
    Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package.
    In-place upgrade to 24H2 using hybrid 23H2/24H2 install media.
    Upgraded to 25H2 by Enablement Package.

    Also running Insider Dev, and Canary builds and Windows 10 as native boot .vhdx.
  • My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro.

    My SYSTEM FOUR was a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e (1st gen) type 20DA, Celeron N2930, 8GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device. This has now been sold. It has been replaced by my System Eight.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 8GB RAM, 1TB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds (and a few others) as a native boot .vhdx.

    My SYSTEM SIX is a Dell Latitude 5550, Core Ultra 7 165H, 64GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, supported device, Windows 11 Pro 24H2, Hyper-V host machine. Updated to 25H2 on 30th September 2025.

    My SYSTEM SEVEN is a Lenovo Thinkpad T580, 1920x1080 touchscreen, Intel Core i7-8650U, 16GB RAM, 512GB NVMe SSD + 2nd 512GB NVMe SSD, a supported device for Windows 11. This is my current general purpose 'main machine'. The installed Windows 11 Home from my System One has been migrated to this machine.

    My SYSTEM EIGHT is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e (5th gen) type 20LN, Celeron N4120, 8GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, a supported device for Windows 11. Currently running Windows 11 Pro, plus Insider Dev, Beta, and Canary builds as native boot vhdx.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Solved New PC: Is Making a Disk Image No Longer Necessary?
2
Replies
38
Views
4K
AllenChicago
A
Is anyone using VMs, VHDs or VHDXs instead of disk images?
Replies
5
Views
479
Bree
Bree
Does Windows built-in backup disk image is any good ?
2
Replies
20
Views
6K
Bree
Bree
Solved Restore from disk image backup VS repair install , changes (?)
Replies
2
Views
871
Bug locker
Bug locker
Dual Booting & Disk Cloning
Replies
1
Views
1K
cereberus
cereberus

Latest Support Threads

Latest Tutorials

Back
Top Bottom