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Question

Macrium Reflect for disk imaging

Apr 15, 2014 12:29AM PDT

After a lot of research I chose Macrium Reflect (free) to create a clone of my C: drive. I bought a new hard drive and want to clone it monthly so if I have a hard disk failure I can just put the new one in and will have all my computer be identical to the day I did the image. (I am also backing up MyDocuments to a separate drive locally and to Sugarsync.)

I set up Reflect the way it shows in the tutorial and it fails repeatedly because something starts running in Windows7 during the process. Having done this a long time ago with Norton Ghost, I know that NG actually had you shut down the computer and it started in DOS mode so no other things could run.

So, my questions are these:

1) is it really possible to do a disk clone within Windows?

2) should I try it in Safe Mode?

3) what else can I do to ensure nothing starts running while the cloning is going on?

TIA.

Bob

Discussion is locked

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Answer
How I clone.
Apr 15, 2014 12:37AM PDT

Is by booting my cloning CD and then running the job/app/whatever to clone from the boot CD/USB. This way Windows is not running at all.

Examples I use are Clonezilla and Apricorn.

If you feel there is a flaw in Macrium, see if they have a support forum.
Bob

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Thanks for the reply
Apr 15, 2014 3:18AM PDT

I don't use Clonezilla or Apricorn so your situation is different from mine. I've been to the support forum and you can't post unless you have a paid version ($45). I'd like to see how well it works with the free version before paying.

I've read their documentation thoroughly and seen their tutorial videos and they all say it can be done within Windows. My questions here are these:

1) is it really possible to do a disk clone within Windows?

2) should I try it in Safe Mode?

3) what else can I do to ensure nothing starts running while the cloning is going on?

Given you do it from a boot cd I am guessing that your answer is that it CAN NOT be done from within Windows.

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1. You proved it doesn't work.
Apr 15, 2014 1:06PM PDT

2. You can try that.
3. Safe mode is a great idea.

I've read claims that it is possible for years but for me, I'd rather go with what works.
Bob

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Answer
Macrium Imaging
Aug 11, 2014 5:27AM PDT

Macrium imaging has worked perfectly for me. I have not tried cloning. Imaging uses the Volume Shadow Copy Service provided by Windows.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/vss-volume-shadow-copy-service

The Volume Shadow Copy Service makes the disk "read only" for a brief time and they take a snapshot of the files. Safe Mode should not be needed.