Windows 10: Windows 10 System Image

For Macrium Reflect rescue drive you only need 4GB. People seem to have the best luck with brand name generic USB 2.0 flash drives. I like SanDisk myself. If you want a more complete rescue drive like Kyhi's Recovery tools, you will want 8GB.

Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk

 

Thanks for that. Since I don't add or change files very frequently (mostly just web browsing), and since I want to keep things as simple as possible, how is this for a strategy: once a month or so just do a complete system image backup, nothing more and nothing less. I understand that if I had to restore it might be a month old but that's probably okay in my case. Anything wrong with that approach?

 

Nothing wrong with that plan.

 

Oh, just one more thing if you don't mind: could I put the cloned image from Reflect on an external drive AS WELL AS an area for weekly files only backup? Or would that require a separate drive just for the daily or weeklies? Just considering my options. If I did the daily or weeklies it would be nice to have them on the same external drive as the system image - just didn't know if it's possible. Thanks again for the pointers.

 

Yes, it is possible. Macrium Reflect just creates image files. You can store those files anywhere just like any other file.

 

@reelme. Just a note concerning your strategy. If you decide to make a complete system image just once per month, consider doing that on the Monday preceding the 2nd Tuesday of each month. MS schedules Patch Tuesday (they like to call it Update Tuesday) for the 2nd Tuesday of the month. Next one would be the 14th of February. That way, you are secure just before any major changes from MS or if something were to go wrong in the process. TC

 

Great advice Tomcat. I never knew that was their schedule. By the way, do most people just do a system image one time then do their regular backups thereafter? Just seems to me, I guess depending on how long a system image takes, that it would be simpler just to zap the entire thing. But I guess a lot of people are creating or changing files constantly. Thanks, I appreciate the help.

 

@reelme Are you actually running Windows XP? As it states in your system specs? Had to ask....

As far as the system versus "regular"....when Macrium backs up, it includes everything...the OS, your files, system partitions - everything. My backup is of approx. 50 GB which compresses down to about 33 GB and takes 10 minutes to completely backup and verify. To an external drive. I don't have it hard scheduled, although I could. I fire up the backup at the end of the day while I'm eating dinner, or something else. 10 minutes is not hard to find for something so important. I keep a rolling 10 day full complete backup, and weekly to another removal drive. There is an old saying you will hear many times on this forum... "You can never have too many backups" .

Something you need to be aware of with Macrium. You can "mount" (open with explorer) any saved image and look at and copy any file or files you want to anywhere. You're not stuck with having to replace everything with a complete restore. Complete restores put you back exactly where you were, but you can pick individual files/folders. Really no different than copying a file/folder from one area to another.

There are also lots of other methods for file saving/syncing, such as Windows File History (which I personally avoid like the plague), Sync Toy (fast, accurate, easy), and many others. A balanced plan for backup is in your best interest. Getting into the habit of backing up can save you lots of headaches and time, if you have a system problem.

Rambling a bit, but just trying to emphasize how important backups are. Hope this helps. TC

 

Hey Tomcat, the PC I just replaced was XP. My new one is Windows 10. I appreciate your pointers. I will try Macrium and do the full system backups regularly since they are so quick. Thanks.

 

Hey Navy LCDR and Tomcat, just to make sure I am super clear on this - I think I understand that unlike Windows 10 system image, in Macrium I can not only create a system image, I CAN ALSO use this image to extract (mount) individual files or folders if needed. Is that correct? If so, that makes my idea of just doing the system image periodically even more appealing since I wouldn't even need to back up any individual files. If I am repeating myself, sorry, just making sure before I commit to something.

 

Macrium can create a system image- that's the set of partitions needed for Windows.

Essentially it intelligently 'ticks' the relevant set of partitions when that's selected - you can see that before it starts.

Yes an image (set) contains everything on the partitions/disks selected and can be mounted and viewed as files/folders in file explorer.

If you have important docs updated more frequently than you update your image set(s) you may wish to use additional backup regimes- e.g. Windows file history or one of the many backup programs around.

Macrium Reflect v6 User Guide - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

 

@reelme That is correct. As I said in my post, you have the option anytime to mount any image any time and pull any file from it. Easy to do. It's a good choice.

 

Excellent, sounds good. In Macrium's guide, they said the following:

"With Macrium Reflect, you can clone your system disks to enable you to swap failed disks out of your system and get things back up and running again in minutes.
Cloning is often confused with imaging. The process is identical but instead of storing data to a file, it replicates volume contents and disk structures to an alternative device. When the cloning process is complete, the target disk is identical to the original and contains a duplicate of all volumes, files, operating systems and applications."

So, when using Reflect, should I image or clone? I thought they were the same until reading that. Which would allow me to do what I want?

 

For daily/monthly regular backups, you would use the imaging. Cloning is a special case and not for everyday use.

Excellent tutorial here:

Macrium Reflect - Backup and Restore

 

@reelme That is correct... Not that bit, you can mount a system image created by Windows 10's backup & restore, not that's any reason to use it - just saying, is all *Smile