Macrium Reflect 0, EaseUS backup 1.

Lamberto Vitali · Sep 20, 2023

pparks1 said:
You don't have to get a running OS up and going to restore an image. You boot from a recovery USB key with the software on it and you restore from that. Sure, you still need the software, but you need the software to perform the clone too.

So you're relying on a USB stick to boot. You don't need software for a clone. The clone is a bootable disk already, just put it in.

MiguelAngel11 · Sep 20, 2023

Why has always Macrium Reflect worked fine for me?. I'm not saying EaseUS is a bad product.

Lamberto Vitali · Sep 20, 2023

MiguelAngel11 said:
Why has always Macrium Reflect worked fine for me?. I'm not saying EaseUS is a bad product.

I think it must depend on the hardware. It works ok on the desktop I gave to my dad (i5 8600K), but it doesn't work on my (older) Dell server (R510). A google search shows many folk complaining Macrium doesn't work, but I can't find anyone having problems with EaseUS.

pparks1 · Sep 20, 2023

Lamberto Vitali said:
So you're relying on a USB stick to boot. You don't need software for a clone. The clone is a bootable disk already, just put it in.

But to make your clone, you had to have used software at some type. Be it Macrium, EaseUs, dd, ghost, etc.

I don't just keep a few extra drives sitting on my shelf ready to plop in when a problem arises.

There is nothing wrong with your method. There is nothing wrong with using EaseUs, or any other thing.

And I'm pretty sure that Macrium didn't build the free or home product to use with server hardware. You might get wacky results here.

cereberus · Sep 21, 2023

Lamberto Vitali said:
A PC failed, wouldn't start. I cloned a similar machine to a brand new fresh SSD using Macrium Reflect, and - blue screen "unable to find winload.exe". I tried cloning again using EaseUS, and it worked!

Macrium Reflect is broken, very very broken, it can't perform a simple clone of a Windows 11 system disk.

Yes, Windows is stupidly not finding the boot details on the only disk on the system, but we all know Windows is stupid. But there's no excuse for Macrium doing it wrong when EaseUS does it right.

For anyone reading this, DO NOT USE MACRIUM REFLECT, it does not work. USE EASEUS.

Macrium has wasted hours and hours of my time.

This is ridiculous. Your warning is based on one undescribed usage case.

I and many here have never had a cloning or image restore issue.

99% certain this is a case of PEBCAK i.e. user misunderstanding.

FerchogtX · Sep 21, 2023

Weird, I've even deployed a drive image from my HP laptop just now into a VM, no boot problems at all.
Cloning has many risks TBH, it's better to make a drive image and then deploy into the new SSD. I did that with my mom's PC to replace an HDD with a NVME, and that worked flawlessly (needed 3 failed boots and one into safe mode to get into windows tho, I missed using the fix boot problems option)

Bastet · Sep 21, 2023

It’s horses for courses, if cloning works then use that; if imaging works then that’s fine. My opinion fwiw is that imaging is better as I’ve read many horror stories of clones not booting even after running repair boot.
Breaking this down:
You’d still have to open the pc to swap the drives where as with imaging all that’s required is to boot from the recovery USB/software’s boot options then restore the image. During the swap you could damage the drive resulting in complete loss of data unless you also have an image of the drive. If an image fails to restore then I can use another image. If a clone fails to work & you don’t have an image backup then a user is stuck.

JohnnyFire · Sep 21, 2023

Lamberto Vitali said:
A PC failed, wouldn't start. I cloned a similar machine to a brand new fresh SSD using Macrium Reflect, and - blue screen "unable to find winload.exe". I tried cloning again using EaseUS, and it worked!

Macrium Reflect is broken, very very broken, it can't perform a simple clone of a Windows 11 system disk.

Yes, Windows is stupidly not finding the boot details on the only disk on the system, but we all know Windows is stupid. But there's no excuse for Macrium doing it wrong when EaseUS does it right.

For anyone reading this, DO NOT USE MACRIUM REFLECT, it does not work. USE EASEUS.

Macrium has wasted hours and hours of my time.

my frend my macrium works, the only issue is the pc and the mind....

BobOmb · Sep 21, 2023

“cloning a machine that wont boot” will fix the boot issue..?

there are several questionable details to this, including the bios boot order after cloning

It sounds like the original drive was failing which could have random results when attempting backups with any software.. even using the same software twice could yield different results on a dying drive

everyone is overlooking the part about the original system not booting

Winuser · Sep 23, 2023

BobOmb said:
everyone is overlooking the part about the original system not booting

The clone was from a similar computer that worked. I can see cloning the old drive to a new drive if you are replacing it. I cant see it as being an advantage if using the cloned drive as a backup. For some reason I see swapping the drives every time a file gets corrupted or a update fails for example as a pain. I'll stick with my images.

TairikuOkami · Sep 23, 2023

Lamberto Vitali said:
A google search shows many folk complaining Macrium doesn't work

Macrium has too many dependencies, like untrusted fonts, that is not good for a backup app, it does not work on my PC either.

jeffbeish · Oct 1, 2023

Macrium Reflect Free works fine. I just made an image of my drive the other day and had to do a restore yesterday and it worked perfect. Not sure what kind of updates the Free version needs since it appears to work great anyway. Last year I did a clone of the same PC drive and I use it for a backup for everything but Windows itself. I have been tempted to use the cloud backup MS provides but not sure someone will not take a peek in it' like Uncle Sam.

pietcorus2 · Oct 1, 2023

Macrium is the very best.............

TechnoMage2021 · Oct 1, 2023

Maybe in the Netherlands, but here in Florida, USA, I've been using GHOST since 1997, and it's never failed me.
It's not that, as a computer tech, I've not evaluated just about every backup program that's come down the pike since 1997, but I've just never found one that is as simple to use and dependable as GHOST. And it runs 100% separate from the OS (or data disk) being copied.
And even today, you can still download an ISO for a GHOST boot disk, for FREE.
KISS Mates!
TM

cereberus · Oct 1, 2023

TechnoMage2021 said:
Maybe in the Netherlands, but here in Florida, USA, I've been using GHOST since 1997, and it's never failed me.
It's not that, as a computer tech, I've not evaluated just about every backup program that's come down the pike since 1997, but I've just never found one that is as simple to use and dependable as GHOST. And it runs 100% separate from the OS (or data disk) being copied.
And even today, you can still download an ISO for a GHOST boot disk, for FREE.
KISS Mates!
TM

287

MitchAtHome · Oct 1, 2023

Don't know about cloning, never tried it - But MR has never failed me - just last week after a snag in the MS updates and I was back up and running.

jimbo45 · Oct 1, 2023

Bonkers and Bonkosity

Macrium Free even works cloning a Linux drive. What though you need to do in that case is just run a partition manager e.g Gparted to change the UUID of the partitions (doesn't destroy or change the data) and re-run genfstab to reflect new partition UUID's and reinstall grub so on boot the NEW disk / partition(s) is / are used as boot rather than the old one.

e.g

For Windows if any problem just re-install the bootloader -- bcdboot.exe

not sure why people have problems cloning disks with Macrium Free -- so far no probs whenever I've used it on any sort of system.

Cheers
jimbo

jeffbeish · Oct 1, 2023

TechnoMage2021 said:
Maybe in the Netherlands, but here in Florida, USA, I've been using GHOST since 1997, and it's never failed me.
It's not that, as a computer tech, I've not evaluated just about every backup program that's come down the pike since 1997, but I've just never found one that is as simple to use and dependable as GHOST. And it runs 100% separate from the OS (or data disk) being copied.
And even today, you can still download an ISO for a GHOST boot disk, for FREE.
KISS Mates!
TM

Maybe I can find it searching "Ghost Backup"?

callisto · Oct 1, 2023

I restored Win 11 many times and Win 10 more than a hundred times with another laptop using Macrium V7 and V8, and I have never ever had an issue. A Google search will show failing rate for any software given the fact that there are more than 1.5 billion Windows users in the world. Human error should be taken into account as well.

thecaretaker · Oct 1, 2023

Lamberto Vitali said:
A PC failed, wouldn't start. I cloned a similar machine to a brand new fresh SSD...

I always understood that Windows took note of the hardware installed.
At one time I seem to remember, if you replaced too many components in quick succession, Windows would deactivate and you had to ring Microsoft to explain what you were doing to activate it again.

Is this no longer the case?

I would have thought making a clone on a similar PC and installing the disk into another PC, no matter how similar is a recipe for disaster. At best, surely many of the drivers would be incorrect. Or have I totally misunderstood what you posted?