O.T. Missing Folder/files

I uninstall the 3.0.12 VLC and ran Smart scan again
and this time passed with flying colors, well I passed
all (3) scans and then they say I'm still unprotected on
the last scan so I need to buy premium.

When I finish the mrimg back-up I'll check the other
backups and see if there's any error's that I can see.

Robert

I kind of thought this would happen, after the mrimg backup I went
back to see if any of the mrimgs had any errors and of course they didn't
show up. Apparently only while making a Mrimg do the errors show.

So what I did was pretend to start a mrimg backup to access all the Mrimgs
with errors then I just closed Macrium without going further. They all have it
back to 8-21-19 except for the one I just created. I didn't check the older mrimgs
although I could if you want.

https://postimg.cc/XB0wq709

Robert

How is it possible to have a clean mrimg backup
today when all previous mrimgs had the error?
The one I did on 5-10-21 completed successfully
with no issues so I don't understand it? Obviously
all the other completed successfully also otherwise
I would of contacted you but I guess I didn't notice
the error before?

In any case, it still doesn't explain how I could create
a good mrimg from a bad one. I'm thinking if I check
tomorrow the error will be there. If not, then I have (1)
good mrimg for the 780.

I sure didn't expect all this to unfold from the backspace
key not returning to the previous web page e.g. the boot
menu problem, the mrimg problem. the Avast Smart scan
/VLC etc. I thought it would be an easy fix and we could
move onto cloning. It still might be if it's the keyboard itself.

Talk about an 'E' ticket ride ! *L*

I still have all the hd's in boxes waiting to be cloned to
Win 7 Pro for the 780 and 8500.

Thoughts/suggestions?
Robert

Robert in CA wrote:
I kind of thought this would happen, after the mrimg backup I went
back to see if any of the mrimgs had any errors and of course they didn't
show up. Apparently only while making a Mrimg do the errors show.

So what I did was pretend to start a mrimg backup to access all the Mrimgs
with errors then I just closed Macrium without going further. They all have it
back to 8-21-19 except for the one I just created. I didn't check the older mrimgs
although I could if you want.

https://postimg.cc/XB0wq709

Robert



OK, thinking about it again, your backup XML definition
file is like this. It is referencing two disk drives,
and currently there is no Disk1 in the machine.
(The MBR sector gets backed up, without you asking.)

Partition0 Partition1
+-----+---------------+-----------------+
| MBR | C: | System Reserved | Disk0 Partition0 and Partition1
+-----+---------------+-----------------+

+-----+---------------+-----------------+
| MBR | ??? | Partition1 | Disk1 Partition1
+-----+---------------+-----------------+

What probably happened, is there were two drives
in the machine, the internal drive and the
external drive, and somehow, the partition
on the external "1 1" got included in the
backup definition.

That's my guess.

By looking at the XML file with a text editor,
you can verify what it says. Compare the info
in the backup definition, to your knowledge of
what's in the machine right now.

That will at least put your mind at ease,
as to what the backup program is attempting to
do, but the physical configuration does not match.
It's ignoring the non-existent animal.

Paul

Robert in CA wrote:
How is it possible to have a clean mrimg backup
today when all previous mrimgs had the error?
The one I did on 5-10-21 completed successfully
with no issues so I don't understand it? Obviously
all the other completed successfully also otherwise
I would of contacted you but I guess I didn't notice
the error before?

In any case, it still doesn't explain how I could create
a good mrimg from a bad one. I'm thinking if I check
tomorrow the error will be there. If not, then I have (1)
good mrimg for the 780.

I sure didn't expect all this to unfold from the backspace
key not returning to the previous web page e.g. the boot
menu problem, the mrimg problem. the Avast Smart scan
/VLC etc. I thought it would be an easy fix and we could
move onto cloning. It still might be if it's the keyboard itself.

Talk about an 'E' ticket ride ! *L*

I still have all the hd's in boxes waiting to be cloned to
Win 7 Pro for the 780 and 8500.

Thoughts/suggestions?
Robert

It's not really an error as such.

In Macrium terms, an "error" is when the backup
process drops dead, and does nothing.

The message in this case, is a "warning", that the
backup done, isn't as "extensive" as the XML specification
defined. But if the XML calls for a non-existent disk,
Macrium just carries on the best it can, and
processes the drives that do exist. Thus, you
still have a good backup, just with the partitions
of one drive in it.

Whatever excessive backup request that is in the XML
file, it's just being ignored. Rather than causing
the entire backup process to drop dead.

Paul

When you get to comparing files with a text editor
that's a bit beyond me. I wouldn't know what to look
for or what's in my machine. What would really put
my mind at ease is to resolve the problem.

Isn't there a way to correct this so that I can create
a clean Mrimg so that we can proceed with creating
clean clones with Win7 Pro?

Hmmm I'm wondering now about the Windows 10 hd's
we created whether they have this same problem?

Thoughts/suggestions?
Robert

Is it possible that the XML error could be related to the
backspace key problem?

Robert

Robert in CA wrote:
Is it possible that the XML error could be related to the
backspace key problem?

Robert

No.

The information in question would be additional
lines that for some reason, don't belong there.

Here, I just made up a backup definition in Macrium, which
means the definitions are highly likely to align with
the actual disk. This is just to illustrate what the
file contents look like. On Windows 7, the path is
going to be different. Maybe searching for a "Reflect" directory
would be a start. I gave my backup_name a unique title, to
help me find mine.

C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\My Documents\Reflect\OneSample.xml

...
!-- The source of the backup --
source
!-- The following applies to Disk Images only --
image_entry id="1"
!-- disk is the 1 based index of the disk to be imaged --
!-- id is the disk signature and is used in place of the disk index if specified --
disk id="13796CED"1/disk
!-- partition is the 1 based index of the partition on the disk --
partition1/partition
/image_entry
image_entry id="2"
disk id="13796CED"1/disk
partition2/partition
/image_entry
image_entry id="3"
disk id="13796CED"1/disk
partition3/partition
/image_entry
image_entry id="4"
disk id="13796CED"1/disk
partition4/partition
/image_entry

So the syntax seems to be

disk id="13796CED"1/disk partition1/partition

and that means for some reason the partition indexes
are offset or something. Your file is claiming there is no
Partition 1 on the disk any more.

Disk Management (GUI) and diskpart.exe (Command Line)
can tell you things about disks. In this case, we
want "diskpart.exe" from an Administrator Command Prompt.

This picture shows me checking whether my disk has
the partitions I think it has. And my disk does
have a Partition 1, so the Macrium definition
would not be whining that it is missing.

Check out your disk and see what it says. The word
"Exit" is used to quit.

https://i.postimg.cc/mrLsTmjP/using-diskpart-exe.gif

If I were to delete Partition 1 in that example,
then the next time I run "OneSample" in Macrium as
a backup, it's going to give the error that you saw.

Paul

I gave it a try

https://postimg.cc/8FbGsJbB

https://postimg.cc/gxFbDqSH

https://postimg.cc/34bPDg0p

https://postimg.cc/4nD0k46J

https://postimg.cc/zbLx643b

I still have half a dozen older 2019 Mrimgs that we could
try if you wanted to. I wish there was a way to tell if they
were good or not without going through the process.

I'm now also thinking how messed up the 8500 might be
but one thing at a time. It might be OK.

Robert

Robert in CA wrote:
I gave it a try

https://postimg.cc/8FbGsJbB

https://postimg.cc/gxFbDqSH

https://postimg.cc/34bPDg0p

https://postimg.cc/4nD0k46J

https://postimg.cc/zbLx643b

I still have half a dozen older 2019 Mrimgs that we could
try if you wanted to. I wish there was a way to tell if they
were good or not without going through the process.

I'm now also thinking how messed up the 8500 might be
but one thing at a time. It might be OK.

Robert

All looks normal there.

Nothing so far looks anomalous.

*******

When you're doing a backup, you go to that list
of backup definitions and select one.

It's a file by that name, which you'd need to search for
on C: that would be the XML file, and you need to look in
the file with Notepad or Wordpad. You saw my sample of
lines I copied out, which is the section of the file
that picks what to back up.

!-- The source of the backup --
source
!-- The following applies to Disk Images only --
image_entry id="1"
!-- disk is the 1 based index of the disk to be imaged --
!-- id is the disk signature and is used in place of the disk index if specified --
disk id="13796CED"1/disk
!-- partition is the 1 based index of the partition on the disk --
partition1/partition
/image_entry
image_entry id="2"
disk id="13796CED"1/disk
partition2/partition
/image_entry
image_entry id="3"
disk id="13796CED"1/disk
partition3/partition
/image_entry
image_entry id="4"
disk id="13796CED"1/disk
partition4/partition
/image_entry

The disk would not be selected, if the "disk id"
did not match. The "13796CED" number is stored in
the MBR sector, and it's an identifier that applies
to the whole disk.

I'm sure if you find that file, something is going to
stand out as a mistake :-)

Paul

I'm trying to find the file but man it's difficult. I don't know
where you looked but I have no idea where to look on C: and
I'm opening all the folders looking and finding nothing. So
I tried to do a search on XML

https://postimg.cc/n9HWwjHL

then I tried XML Validation and it found nothing.

https://postimg.cc/JGYFPzS1

I thought of using Agent Ransack to look but it hasn't found anything.
I used XML Validation -Error -'disk''1''partition'1' is not valid- as
the file name.

https://postimg.cc/VdJgsBH8



Thoughts, suggestions,
Robert.

Robert in CA wrote:
I'm trying to find the file but man it's difficult. I don't know
where you looked but I have no idea where to look on C: and
I'm opening all the folders looking and finding nothing. So
I tried to do a search on XML

https://postimg.cc/n9HWwjHL

then I tried XML Validation and it found nothing.

https://postimg.cc/JGYFPzS1

I thought of using Agent Ransack to look but it hasn't found anything.
I used XML Validation -Error -'disk''1''partition'1' is not valid- as
the file name.

https://postimg.cc/VdJgsBH8

Thoughts, suggestions,
Robert.

Look under "Disk Image" in Macrium Reflect, then "Backup Definition Files".
Those are file names in the list. The list has:

File Name Path
--------- ----

We can use one of your old pictures for inspiration.

https://postimg.cc/XB0wq709

The word "activated" in Agent Ransack, might dig up the first file.
It depends on which file you've been using, as to what word
would make a good search term. For the second one you could
try "1-2-20" as a search term, as I don't think the hyphen is
part of regex or something, and Agent Ransack probably won't
get confused by that.

Once you open the file with Notepad (and not Internet Explorer like
Windows wants to do it), you can search in Notepad for

"The source of the backup"

to find the beginning of the section with the list of
what is to be backed up. You can see how the entries
have "balancing" declarations, the closing indicator
using the "/" . The "/image_entry" closes off the first stanza.
Notice the extensive usage of "comments" in the form of !-- .
The first stanza has three comment lines, the comments not
being needed for the second stanza.

image_entry id="1"
!-- disk is the 1 based index of the disk to be imaged --
!-- id is the disk signature and is used in place of the disk index if specified --
disk id="13796CED"1/disk
!-- partition is the 1 based index of the partition on the disk --
partition1/partition
/image_entry

image_entry id="2"
disk id="13796CED"1/disk
partition2/partition
/image_entry

It is saying, quite plainly, that it uses the "disk id" field,
to identify a disk by name, in preference to the numeric ID
(which varies according to what SATA port or SATA cable is
used). The order of discovery might depend on cable order, so
the 1 part might not be as accurate. It assumes you went
around swapping disk cables, but it also assumes the
disk is still in the machine ("13796CED" which is the diskID
of the disk in my machine used to make up an example to show you).

Now, on your screen, if you go back to Reflect and select
"Disk Image" "Create a backup", the current value of the
"disk id" of your disks is shown in the graphic display
there, for each drive. So the current values won't seem
a mystery.

I hope this is sufficient for you to "verify" the text in
the XML, aligns with the graphic screen contents
(the "current situation").

You can make a brand new fresh backup definition if you
want. Part of the purpose of checking the file out, is
so you can understand in your own mind, what change you
made that threw it off. It's better for you to see it,
than for me to keep making bad guesses :-) You have the
evidence, I don't.

Paul

I think I did it although I don't understand it.

https://postimg.cc/PNNX1w1S

https://postimg.cc/7f0yNMhn

https://postimg.cc/gXnCL31R

Robert

I still cannot wrap my head around this.

As far as I can tell I still have an error and a bad 780 OS and if
I create another Mrimg backup it will also have the error as well.
If we created Win7 Pro clones they also will have this error.

Is there no way to remove this error so I can have a clean Mrimg
backup?

Robert

Robert in CA wrote:
I think I did it although I don't understand it.

https://postimg.cc/PNNX1w1S

https://postimg.cc/7f0yNMhn

https://postimg.cc/gXnCL31R

Robert

OK, now go back to the main screen in Macrium and
see what the disk ID looks like in the picture.

Each prospective disk to be backed up, shows a Disk ID
in the GUI where you operate those tick boxes.

See if it matches "5A032C0C" hex.

You can edit the XML file, and change the
instances of 5A032C0C to match what the current
drive value is. Then save. The numbers are hex,
so valid values are 0123456789ABCDEF and not any
other characters.

I'm only suggesting this, to make the error go away.
I think your backups are likely to be OK. You can
double click an MRIMG file and have a look at it
for restoration purposes, to see if it matches
your setup or not. The Disk ID on the backup probably
does match the Disk ID of the disk it's going back onto.

Paul