Windows 10 'repair' feature apparently prevents full restore inMacrum Reflect (Windows version)

I think this is a feature not a bug. Or maybe I did not do the restore correctly. What happened--and I've done many restores of hard drive image files since the days of Windows XP, using Norton Ghost, etc, is try to restore a HD image file using Macrum Reflect (latest Windows 10 version), after Win10 screwed up by shutting down (and/or some other reasons) prematurely, and the result was it would not load properly (very slowly) upon reboot. I tried "repair" to no avail, then I tried to restore using Macrum Reflect (Win 10 version). It has a confusing interface, but I did get all images files (master boot record, reserved, and the regular "C" partition) to restore from my "D" drive where the image resides. However--this is key--I knew the restore was not 'complete' because it loaded way too fast (was completed way too fast) though in general Macrum Reflect I found is a faster program than some other backup imaging programs. Sure enough, I got the 'recent' Windows 10 instantiation upon reboot, not the 'restored' version of Windows from a while ago when I backed up. So I think what's going on--just speculating--is that Macrum Reflect, working with Windows 10 and maybe Windows 10 'repair' feature, will just install the MBR--which is often corrupted and the source of problems--then, it waits and sees if that works, and, if the user does not insist on installing more, will stop. Or so it seems. Very strange that Macrum did not follow my instructions and restore the entire three partitions, just the MBR. Happily, Windows 10 works again, so I saved a week or so of data (which I had already backed up anyway in another place) which saved me time from doing a full restore.

Hope that makes sense.

RL

RayLopez99 wrote:
I think this is a feature not a bug. Or maybe I did not do the restore correctly. What happened--and I've done many restores of hard drive image files since the days of Windows XP, using Norton Ghost, etc, is try to restore a HD image file using Macrum Reflect (latest Windows 10 version), after Win10 screwed up by shutting down (and/or some other reasons) prematurely, and the result was it would not load properly (very slowly) upon reboot. I tried "repair" to no avail, then I tried to restore using Macrum Reflect (Win 10 version). It has a confusing interface, but I did get all images files (master boot record, reserved, and the regular "C" partition) to restore from my "D" drive where the image resides. However--this is key--I knew the restore was not 'complete' because it loaded way too fast (was completed way too fast) though in general Macrum Reflect I found is a faster program than some other backup imaging programs. Sure enough, I got the 'recent' Windows 10 ins
tantiation upon reboot, not the 'restored' version of Windows from a while ago when I backed up. So I think what's going on--just speculating--is that Macrum Reflect, working with Windows 10 and maybe Windows 10 'repair' feature, will just install the MBR--which is often corrupted and the source of problems--then, it waits and sees if that works, and, if the user does not insist on installing more, will stop. Or so it seems. Very strange that Macrum did not follow my instructions and restore the entire three partitions, just the MBR. Happily, Windows 10 works again, so I saved a week or so of data (which I had already backed up anyway in another place) which saved me time from doing a full restore.

Hope that makes sense.

RL


I've never had any strange behaviors from Macrium Reflect.
Whatever boxes I ticked, that's what it did.

To restore C: , you must:

1) Boot the Macrium Reflect boot CD. The program prompts
you to make one of those at some point.

2) Now, no Windows OS is running. Select the .mrimg file
from D:, tick the appropriate boxes for a full restore
and run it.

3) Exit the program. Your regular hard drive is a boot
candidate, and it should be able to boot.

That's called a "Bare Metal Restore", and the same procedure
would be used if your hard drive broke, you put a new empty
drive inside the machine (the new C, then booted the
Macrium CD and did a restore from D: onto the replacement
internal drive.

If you changed the partition definitions, between the day
you made the backup, and now, you'd have to be extra careful
during the setup of the restore. When using a backup program
like that, for least problems you should "freeze" making
changes to the size, number and location of the partitions.
If you do decide to do major maintenance work, throw away the
old backups and start a new set, just so there is no future
trouble.

Since you can right-click on the .mrimg file, select
the Macrium item from the right-click menu, you can actually
"mount" the backup partitions and examine the contents as
if they were a disk drive. That can be important, if you
wanted to see what was in there. Or, wanted to copy out
just a single file from the thing. So if you thought for
some reason the backup was "empty", you can actually look
inside it and check.

Paul

RayLopez99 wrote:
I think this is a feature not a bug. Or maybe I did not do the restore correctly. What happened--and I've done many restores of hard drive image files since the days of Windows XP, using Norton Ghost, etc, is try to restore a HD image file using Macrum Reflect (latest Windows 10 version), after Win10 screwed up by shutting down (and/or some other reasons) prematurely, and the result was it would not load properly (very slowly) upon reboot. I tried "repair" to no avail, then I tried to restore using Macrum Reflect (Win 10 version). It has a confusing interface, but I did get all images files (master boot record, reserved, and the regular "C" partition) to restore from my "D" drive where the image resides. However--this is key--I knew the restore was not 'complete' because it loaded way too fast (was completed way too fast) though in general Macrum Reflect I found is a faster program than some other backup imaging programs. Sure enough, I got the 'recent' Windows 10 ins
tantiation upon reboot, not the 'restored' version of Windows from a while ago when I backed up. So I think what's going on--just speculating--is that Macrum Reflect, working with Windows 10 and maybe Windows 10 'repair' feature, will just install the MBR--which is often corrupted and the source of problems--then, it waits and sees if that works, and, if the user does not insist on installing more, will stop. Or so it seems. Very strange that Macrum did not follow my instructions and restore the entire three partitions, just the MBR. Happily, Windows 10 works again, so I saved a week or so of data (which I had already backed up anyway in another place) which saved me time from doing a full restore.

Hope that makes sense.

RL


And I'm pretty sure now, I know what you did.

You booted Win10 on the hard drive (C: now running),
told it to overwrite C: (yikes!), the program could
not gain control to do the write, so it skipped
doing C: . And that's why it finished so quickly.

There must have been dialogs or warnings and such.

And if you have not made a Macrium Reflect boot CD
yet, make one now.

Just a guess,
Paul

On Sunday, October 25, 2015 at 7:43:12 PM UTC+8, Paul wrote:
RayLopez99 wrote:
I think this is a feature not a bug. Or maybe I did not do the restore correctly. What happened--and I've done many restores of hard drive image files since the days of Windows XP, using Norton Ghost, etc, is try to restore a HD image file using Macrum Reflect (latest Windows 10 version), after Win10 screwed up by shutting down (and/or some other reasons) prematurely, and the result was it would not load properly (very slowly) upon reboot. I tried "repair" to no avail, then I tried to restore using Macrum Reflect (Win 10 version). It has a confusing interface, but I did get all images files (master boot record, reserved, and the regular "C" partition) to restore from my "D" drive where the image resides. However--this is key--I knew the restore was not 'complete' because it loaded way too fast (was completed way too fast) though in general Macrum Reflect I found is a faster program than some other backup imaging programs. Sure enough, I got the 'recent' Windows 10 ins
tantiation upon reboot, not the 'restored' version of Windows from a while ago when I backed up. So I think what's going on--just speculating--is that Macrum Reflect, working with Windows 10 and maybe Windows 10 'repair' feature, will just install the MBR--which is often corrupted and the source of problems--then, it waits and sees if that works, and, if the user does not insist on installing more, will stop. Or so it seems. Very strange that Macrum did not follow my instructions and restore the entire three partitions, just the MBR. Happily, Windows 10 works again, so I saved a week or so of data (which I had already backed up anyway in another place) which saved me time from doing a full restore.

Hope that makes sense.

RL


And I'm pretty sure now, I know what you did.

You booted Win10 on the hard drive (C: now running),
told it to overwrite C: (yikes!), the program could
not gain control to do the write, so it skipped
doing C: . And that's why it finished so quickly.

There must have been dialogs or warnings and such.

And if you have not made a Macrium Reflect boot CD
yet, make one now.

Just a guess,
Paul

No, but thanks. I did use the Rescue CD. I think what happened is that due to SATA on my mobo constantly confusing C: and D: drives (the cables need to be switched and I need to play around with the mobo) that in fact something close to what you describe happened, in that there was an abortion. But, since I ran Windows Rescue before (to no effect), when the Macrum Reflect restore was aborted, the Rescue somehow kicked in, and 'fixed the problem' which stemmed from the system being prematurely shut down. Or I think so.

Keep in mind I've built from scratch many a system, done many a system restore (using several programs, even Clonezilla using Linux which is tricky but good), and if I have problems with Windows 10, imagine some hapless user. One reasons most people only use PCs as dumb terminals to view YouTube, and maybe, if they still work, to use Office for their data files and hopefully backup their data religiously. In short, Windows (nor any OS) is that stable.

RL