O.T. Macrium Updates

I started to do my backups today
and as usual I start with the 780
but near the end of the process I
saw this:

http://i66.tinypic.com/hwgy2r.jpg

I checked other files and they had the
same error. This is the first time I've
seen this and also the first backup with
the new 2TB HD.

So does this mean that all the previous
backups are useless?

Here's the completion of the 780 backup:

http://i66.tinypic.com/4i20k7.jpg

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I started to do my backups today
and as usual I start with the 780
but near the end of the process I
saw this:

http://i66.tinypic.com/hwgy2r.jpg

I checked other files and they had the
same error. This is the first time I've
seen this and also the first backup with
the new 2TB HD.

So does this mean that all the previous
backups are useless?

Here's the completion of the 780 backup:

http://i66.tinypic.com/4i20k7.jpg

Robert

OK, so the first picture is telling me to
"review what is in the XML file using Notepad".

It means when Macrium migrated your backup scripts
from version 5 or 6, to version 7, it messed up slightly.

The second backup completed. That means it did *something*,
but you'll have to check and see whether the expected
materials are in the backup file or not.

You can pretend to be doing a restore, by "Browsing" for
a file to restore from. Once you've selected a file, on
the right hand side of the Macrium window there should be
a "Verify" item. If you run a Verify, all that does is
verify the checksum of the backup. It doesn't create a
summary of what was done, or any other useful thing.

If you've backed up a single disk drive into the MRIMG file,
you can right click the output file and select the
"Explore Image" option from the top of the right-click
context menu in File Explorer. (In other words, this
time we're usng File Explorer and not the Macrium program.)
Without "using" anything in the window that opens, you can
admire the set of partitions captured. Say it had a
30GB and a 50GB partition, and you happened to know that
the disk you were backing up had a 30GB and a 50GB partition.
Then you'd know that both partitions made it into that
MRIMG file. That gives one way to review whether the
backup did something good or not.

But I'd also want to look at the XML file that you run regularly
to do your backups, to see where it's getting the digit "1"
as the name for something. There's probably a simple explanation
for what it is doing. And your newest version of Macrium isn't
handling it right for some reason.

When you insert multiple hard drives inside the PC, you upset
the disk order. The disk "1" today, might be different than the
disk "1" yesterday. Consider that possibility when reading the
XML file.

So, yes:

1) "Verify" - doing a verify confirms that the contents
of the backup are good. If you had a 30GB and a 50GB partition
in there, then you'd know the files inside were intact.
That could take an hour, with the disk in the enclosure.

2) "Explore Image" - allows noting the list of backed-up partitions
inside a particular MRIMG file.

3) Look at the XML file that defines the backup you just ran.
Check it in Notepad, for any syntax error that could give
something an errant name of "1" or whatever. See if the file
identifies disks by their serial number, by their volumeID,
or some other identifier. Disk1Partition1 isn't exactly
a clever way to select disks, and I expect there are some
other more precise identifiers in that file.

HTH,
Paul

I don't know if this matters but I
also noticed in your instructions you
previously gave me that in step 1 it
says Backup not Disk Image.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2vtv2uf.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/j7pw8j.jpg


Also I did not insert multiple drives
in the 780, I did the cloning via
external HD.

I'm verifying the latest backup to the
780 now.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I don't know if this matters but I
also noticed in your instructions you
previously gave me that in step 1 it
says Backup not Disk Image.

http://i68.tinypic.com/2vtv2uf.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/j7pw8j.jpg


Also I did not insert multiple drives
in the 780, I did the cloning via
external HD.

I'm verifying the latest backup to the
780 now.

Robert


When you select "Disk Image", that is for the
"backup" direction of transfer.

Using the options underneath the partition row,
you can select

Clone this disk: Makes direct Disk-to-Disk exact copy,
with no MRIMG file at all for later.
Wipes destination drive clean before copy.

Image This Disk = Backup: Takes the selected partitions on
the disk and stores them in a
MRIMG file, for later "Restore".

Later, when you want to Restore, you select "Restore" on the
top left of the screen, and the screen will be involved
with taking that MRIMG from the "Image This Disk", and
restoring it to some hard drive. Perhaps even restoring
it over top of the same hard drive it came from (when
there is malware on the machine). The Restore section
of Macrium, should also have a Verify option, to verify
the MRIMG file is internally consistent and not damaged
by any disk errors.

*******

If you prepare a brand new backup script while running
the Version 7, then it should work without throwing
an error.

I'd prefer you use the stuff that works, but if it's
too hard to figure out what Macrium is doing, just
prepare another backup ("Image this disk") script and
save it for running multiple times in future days. That's
probably as complicated as figuring out what
Macrium is doing right now.

Paul

I hope I did this right:

http://i63.tinypic.com/2lmm0du.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/33bmjhv.jpg

http://i67.tinypic.com/5u2qdj.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/2na1ieo.jpg

I had to go to the Admin Account for
the Explore Image.

Robert

http://i63.tinypic.com/243qaag.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/258t4e9.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/2qi5opv.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/ivle1l.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/20ueus7.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/drcopj.jpg

http://i68.tinypic.com/ieqsch.jpg

Robert

I understand all the instructions but I was
just relaying that I never see disk image
on my side, just Backup, it never says Disk
Image but I understand the controls etc are
below and I have all your instructions on strips
so I never get lost. Well, I hope not *L*

Robert

I also forgot to make a Rescue CD when I
installed the 2TB HD in the 780 but it
didn't prompt me to. So should I create
one?

Robert

In message , Mark
Twain writes:
I also forgot to make a Rescue CD when I
installed the 2TB HD in the 780 but it
didn't prompt me to. So should I create
one?

Robert

Do you mean the ordinary Microsoft rescue CD, or a Macrium one?

How did you "install" the 2TB? If by cloning, or restoring from an
image, then it wouldn't prompt you to make a Microsoft one, since as far
as Windows is concerned, it still thinks its running the same
installation of Windows as it was before. If you created a Microsoft
rescue CD the first time you installed Windows (or after buying the
machine new if it came with Windows preinstalled), that should still be
valid; if you didn't, it's probably not a _bad_ thing to have, though
not IMO of great importance provided you're making (external) images
from time to time.

If you've never made a Macrium boot CD (you did your cloning by running
Macrium from within Windows), then you most definitely should: IMO,
making that CD should be the _first_ thing you do when you start using
Macrium. If you've already made one, no need to make another just
because you've installed a bigger drive - it would be identical to the
one you've already got - though having a second one in case the first
suffers bit-rot does no harm.

JPG


visit 255soft.uk
--
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Mark Twain wrote:
I hope I did this right:

http://i63.tinypic.com/2lmm0du.jpg two 2TB drives, one is a backup drive

http://i65.tinypic.com/33bmjhv.jpg verify image (command)

http://i67.tinypic.com/5u2qdj.jpg verify image (dialog)

http://i63.tinypic.com/2na1ieo.jpg 56 minute run, OK

I had to go to the Admin Account for
the Explore Image.

http://i63.tinypic.com/243qaag.jpg Explore image (right-click context)

http://i63.tinypic.com/258t4e9.jpg System 3GB WinC 112GB

http://i64.tinypic.com/2qi5opv.jpg XML first part

http://i65.tinypic.com/ivle1l.jpg XML second part (notification)

http://i68.tinypic.com/20ueus7.jpg XML third part (sources)

http://i64.tinypic.com/drcopj.jpg XML fourth part (sources)

http://i68.tinypic.com/ieqsch.jpg XML fifth part (dest)

Robert

In the error message, the file

1-7-18 Win7 Pro Mrimg backup.xml

is the file the error message is complaining about.
That might be a backup command you created back in January.

It's possible Reflect 7 is checking the XML scripts.

Your photos show the XML script using a disk identifier.

There are (at least) two identifiers on disk

disk id="5A032C0C"1/disk

There is DiskID, at around offset 0x1b8 of the MBR.

There is also a VolumeID per partition, which is
also an 8 hex digit number. You can check the VolumeID
on each drive letter, like this.

cd /d C:
vol
cd /d E:
vol

Apparently, Linux fdisk will list the DiskID.

The syntax of that XML code for the disk, suggests
it's using a DiskID, and any time it refers to
Disk 1, it should be using that number.

In this example, you can see I just created an XML
definition, and I verified it by using HxD hex editor
as well as by using Microsoft diskpart "detail disk" capability.

https://i.postimg.cc/cHwy6yZP/diskid-macrium-uses.gif

If you replace a hard drive with another, in
Disk Management, when it asks you to choose MBR
or GPT, it's at that moment that a new (random) DiskID
would be written to the new disk. If the DiskID
is not unique in value, that's when one of the
disks goes to the "Offline" state. (If you make forensic
quality disk clones, the second disk will go "offline".)

Then, if some software is checking the XML file,
it might notice that the DiskID on the Disk 1
in the system now, doesn't match the DiskID in
the script.

But the syntax of the error message isn't that
helpful. It's not really pointing out or confirming
the theory.

Paul

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Mark
Twain writes:
I also forgot to make a Rescue CD when I
installed the 2TB HD in the 780 but it
didn't prompt me to. So should I create
one?

Robert

Do you mean the ordinary Microsoft rescue CD, or a Macrium one?

How did you "install" the 2TB? If by cloning, or restoring from an
image, then it wouldn't prompt you to make a Microsoft one, since as far
as Windows is concerned, it still thinks its running the same
installation of Windows as it was before. If you created a Microsoft
rescue CD the first time you installed Windows (or after buying the
machine new if it came with Windows preinstalled), that should still be
valid; if you didn't, it's probably not a _bad_ thing to have, though
not IMO of great importance provided you're making (external) images
from time to time.

If you've never made a Macrium boot CD (you did your cloning by running
Macrium from within Windows), then you most definitely should: IMO,
making that CD should be the _first_ thing you do when you start using
Macrium. If you've already made one, no need to make another just
because you've installed a bigger drive - it would be identical to the
one you've already got - though having a second one in case the first
suffers bit-rot does no harm.

JPG

He is making Macrium backups, and needs a Rescue disc
of a version equal to or greater than the software making
the backup.

Since he has upgraded both machines to use Macrium 7, then
the software really should have prompted to make new rescue media.
A version 7 Rescue disc should be able to restore version 7,
version 6, or version 5 backups. As far as I know. I've not
run into a situation yet, where that wasn't the case.

For SATA to SATA, or SATA to USB2, there's a good chance the
disc used in the 8500 would work on the 780. If add-on USB3
cards were used, it's not always a given that a particular
WinPE version used to build the Rescue disc would have the
driver needed. Maybe in that case, the disc from the 8500
wouldn't be the best choice for the 780. If the 8500 didn't
have USB3, there'd be no need for the rescue disc generator
to install the driver, then if the 780 had a USB3 card,
you might not be able to use the USB3 plug during a
restore.

If the CDs were CDRW, then no harm is done by erasing the
current disc for the 780 and using it to make a new Rescue disc.

I use erasable discs here for those, and I still have
a pile of them floating around (5 or 6). I sure hope
one of them works :-)

Paul

The Dell 780 was bought used through Staples

https://www.staples.com/DELL-780-Tow...akamai-feo=off


I meant a Macrium and yes I did make one previously
for the 750GB HD but thought I would need a new one for
the 2TB HD.

Robert

I use CDRW's but when creating the Kapersky CD
I had to use a brand new one even though I had
erased the information on the CDRW I wanted to
use. So in that application it didn't work.

So should I create another Rescue CD for the 780?

Robert

Are you saying that the 780 doesn't
recognize the HD?

I also had noticed this error on more
than one file from the 750GB backups,..
so could it of been a problem with the
750HD?

Is this also why it showed nothing on
the info/health tabs on the HDTune scan?

Robert

In message , Mark
Twain writes:

The Dell 780 was bought used through Staples

https://www.staples.com/DELL-780-Tow...4GB-Ram-750GB-
DVDRW-Drive-with-Win-7-Pro-64bit-Refurbished/product_1498887?akamai-feo=
off


I meant a Macrium and yes I did make one previously
for the 750GB HD but thought I would need a new one for
the 2TB HD.

Robert

If _all_ you've done is fit a bigger drive (using Macrium to do the
cloning or imaging), then I don't think you'll need a new one (assuming
you do have one0. If you have also upgraded Macrium to a later version,
then yes: Paul says a Macrium 7 CD ought to be able to use images
created with 5 or 6 as well as 7, but _forwards_ compatibility is rarely
guaranteed, i. e. if you've updated Macrium and then make a new image
with it (as you should be doing anyway from time to time of course),
then your old Macrium CD might not be able to use them.


Ever been frustrated that you can't *disagree* with a petition? If so, visit
255soft.uk - and please pass it on, too.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"The great tragedy of science, the slaying of a beautiful theory by an ugly
fact. - Thomas Henry Huxley