Windows 10: How to simulate a disaster in order to test a Macrium backup?

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I have Win 10 Pro on a brand-new Dell Vostro.

I've reduced the C: partition, and used the resulting space to create an E: partition for my data.

I've installed all my usual day-to-day programs.

I've created a Macrium image of the entire disk, but without the E: partition.

I now want to test the backup image.

Question: What's the best way to simulate some disaster that would allow me to test the backup? Do I simply select the entire contents of C: in File Explorer, and press Delete? How about the registry?

I might as well do this now, rather than wait for a real disaster to occur. (I still have the Dell recovery partition. But I hope to delete that if Macrium works as expected.)
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:)

 

How to create a context menu to simulate keystrokes

Many thanks - there seems to be a lot of resources here, none specific to my needs I can find at present, but definitely a better place to look.

 

How to create a context menu to simulate keystrokes

Hi Matthew,

We acknowledge that you would like to have a custom program that you would like to use in your activities. Since this could be possible by using a third-party application or creating your own customized program. We would suggest posting your concern through
our MSDN forums for proper support. you can easily reach them by clicking on this

link.

Regards.

 

Best way is to recover the image you created to a spare disk, pull out the existing disk, replace it with the spare and see if it works. Reverse this when finished.

 

I agree with Railtech.
You don't want to simulate disaster recovery by creating a real one. By using an empty disk you are doing an accurate simulation of the worst case scenario without unnecessary risk. This confirms that you have followed proper backup procedures, the backup contains everything necessary, and that the backup media is good. And if anything should go wrong you have an easy recovery of the OS to it's current state. And you will have gained valuable experience.

 

A very good way to test it and end up with a performance boost as well would be by using your image to restore to an ssd and then use the ssd to replace the hdd in your system (Assuming your new system didn't come with an ssd to begin with.).

 

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Thanks for the response. I'm not a techie, so I have a few questions.

Assuming I had a spare disk (which I don't), where would that spare disk be during the restore? In a spare laptop? (Which I don't have.)

To me, that statement proves that the spare disk wasn't in my new laptop during the restore. So, where was it? (I feel like Sherlock Holmes *Smile )


And the final question is: When other people buy new laptops, do they buy spare disks at the same time?


Thanks.
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I have similar questions as for Railtech.

How will I have an SSD that "just happens" to work with my Dell Vostro?

During the restore, what will the harness be? Another Dell Vostro?

Thanks.
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Fitting an SSD to the Dell could well be the biggest leap forward in speed you could imagine. I did that 12 months ago to my Dell Vostro and to give an example, Macrium images the C drive in around 4 minutes (that's with around 30Gb of the C drive in use) and restores are just as quick.

Did you create the Windows PE restore environment using Macrium ? That allows you to restore from within Windows and covers 99% of disaster recovery. Its only the rare occasions when you need the bootable media.

 

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Thanks for the response.

What is the risk? Are you saying that if someone accidentally deleted their C: drive in Windows Explorer, they wouldn't be able to recover? Can you give me some links for that scenario please. (It happened in a company that I've been in - not to me *Smile . The Help Desk simply re-cloned the system partition, which is similar to what I'm planning to do with an image rather than a clone.)

Which of these three asserts would not be present as a result of a system drive wipe followed by an image restore?

BTW: I always image to two external drives independently. In other words, it's two separate Macrium backup operations. It's not a single Macrium operation followed by a copy from the first external drive to the second external drive.

I agree with that. But at what expense so close to Christmas? Fifty quid for a spare disk. plus the cost of a harness to recover to that disk. That's coming close to a week's pension *Smile

Thanks again.
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What harness? I have spare disks for both my laptops. It's a couple of screws to undo, pull out the original disk and plug in the spare. If you're talking about the metal frame around the disk, you could swap that from the original drive to the spare one. I don't bother for a laptop, the disk is a snug enough fit without it. For a desktop (the Vestro brand name has both) you'd need to do the swap, that's about four more screws.

 

@OldGrantonian
There are always risks. Sometimes people make mistakes when creating backups and they turn out to be of no value. Even experts make mistakes and you have made it quite clear you have limited experience. Backup media can fail. Multiple backups do reduce the risk but do not eliminate it.

None of these risks are great but they do exist. Experienced computer users prepare for things going wrong, no matter how unlikely that may seem. And on this forum and others I have seen so very many things go wrong. The suggested procedure may not be practical for you. But you did ask for the best.

 

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That sounds like excellent advice. But I'll need to wait till after Christmas

Yes.

I think I remember reading that in the User Manual.

The problem is that most people of my age used Unix long before Bill was born. So, it's tough for me to do anything to a disk from within that same disk - it feels like dragging my fingernails down a brick *Eek

Before Macrium arrived, I used a bootable Linux partition on all my laptops for disk operations. (A "mounted" drive is effectively a different disk.) I'll get round to that eventually on this new laptop - after I reply to all the generous volunteers on this forum.
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Ah, yes. Erm. Quite so.

Here are the original instructions: "recover the image you created to a spare disk, pull out the existing disk, replace it with the spare"

I always tried to follow written IT instructions exactly. That helped to prevent the RTFMS comment from appearing in my performance assessments.

So, here's how I interpreted the original instructions. The bits in parentheses are my mentally added bits:

Step 1: Recover the image you created to a spare disk (without saying where the spare disk is currently located).

Step 2: (Then) pull out the existing disk (from your new Dell Vostro)

Step 3: (Then) replace it with the spare (disk that you used in Step 1 to recover the image).

In fact, based on your own instructions, I now see that the original instructions were in the wrong sequence for a non-techie to follow. The techie wouldn't even notice that: people see "what they expect to see". You yourself had no problems understanding.

The original instructions should have been (keeping as close as possible to the original wording:

- pull out the existing disk, replace it with the spare, recover the image you created to a (that) spare disk

So, by moving the first instruction to the end, it's now obvious that the image is restored to the spare disk, which is now in the new Dell laptop. So, no harness is needed. All that would be obvious to the techie. (I'm using the generic word "harness" to identify whatever alternative hardware is used to hold the spare disk while it's receiving the restored image. It might have been another compatible Dell laptop, for example.)

Where I come from, anyone who mentioned that in the pub would be thrown out for disorderly behaviour and profligate spending *Smile

These are all excellent instructions. Thanks.
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You're welcome. I see from our respective flags that we speak nearly the same version of English. Probably why we understand each other better *Smile

Would I be let back in your pub if I confessed I get my laptops from Cash Converters?