Macrium Reflect Clone Windows 10 Recovery

I use Macrium Reflect to make clones.  I power down and remove the cables from the failed drive and replace the cables on the replacement cloned drive and then power back on.  It takes about five minutes including boot time.  No need to go through any recovery process and I have never needed to enter BIOS.  My OS drive is 256 GB, my clones are 256GB, 500 GB and 1 TB of different manufacturers.  All work.

Once I boot to the clone I remake the clone to the original drive and then reboot back to the original drive if I so choose.  I make a clone once every 3 or 4 weeks or after a significant software update.  Also I make a clone before installing new software.  I prefer not having to uninstall if I don't like the new software.

I have easy access to the cables.  I leave the side panel off the computer.  It's a fast and easy process.  Faster and easier than going through the image process. 

I no longer make images because the clone process is so easy.

Just a thought.  If you connect the USB WD flash drive to a USB connector and then enter the BIOS and then change the boot sequence to the USB WD flash drive?  Then boot to the USB WD flash drive and remake the clone back to the original OS drive?  It shouldn't be too difficult to try booting to the flash drive for proof of concept.

The MR restore  procedure should be identical for an image or clone.

Still puzzled what to do with a PC that will not boot or a PC that does boot and Windows does not show.

How does it boot from the MR Rescue Media USB ?

Beaker77:

How does it boot from the MR Rescue Media USB ?

Turn on your computer and immediately press the necessary Function key to get to the Boot Device Selection menu (on Dell computers, that is F12).  Select the MR Recovery USB.  It will boot into the MR recovery environment.  Once there, restore the clone from the other USB.

Personally, I agree with MoxieMomma.  System Images are the best approach.  The Macrium Reflect guru, @jphughan, concurs.

https://forum.macrium.com/40734/Preparing-to-restore-to-a-new-disk-is-it-better-to-image-or-to-clone-#

It is YOUR computer, so it is YOUR decision.

Have a great day.

Regards,

Phi

Beaker77:

How does it boot from the MR Rescue Media USB ?

 

Turn on your computer and immediately press the necessary Function key to get to the Boot Device Selection menu (on Dell computers, that is F12).  Select the MR Recovery USB.  It will boot into the MR recovery environment.  Once there, restore the clone from the other USB.

Have a great day.

Regards,

Phi

Thank you - most grateful. 

Image ? No thanks, a simple clone is just fine for me.

About 2 years ago my PC would not boot and I had it professionally repaired.  The engineer used my clone and it worked perfect. The PC display was 100% back to normal.

Edited by Beaker77, 24 March 2024 - 11:16 AM.

Beaker77:

You're welcome.  As I said, it is your computer, so your decision.  MoxieMomma and I were only explaining the other, more popular option for backing up a computer using MR.  To each their own.

Have a great day.

Regards,

Phil

When I was having issues with my Win10 PC I came here for help.  Due to members on this forum I got my machine running again saving a purchase of a new PC.  

Before running the proposed fixes it was recommended I make an image with Macrium Reflect.  To be safe I also made a clone.  Both the image and clone were made when the computer was limping along.

Before getting the computer working again it failed completely.  So as recommended I restored the image.  But unfortunately the PC still failed to boot.  I swapped in the clone and fortunately it booted!  However it was still limping along.

It took some time but eventually I got it working again using the tools recommended here. 

So in at least one unique situation a clone is better than an image based on my personal experience.  Images may be preferred in most cases but I would recommend also having a clone as a backup to an image.

Tools I used

 

When I was having issues with my Win10 PC I came here for help.  Due to members on this forum I got my machine running again saving a purchase of a new PC.  

 

Before running the proposed fixes it was recommended I make an image with Macrium Reflect.  To be safe I also made a clone.  Both the image and clone were made when the computer was limping along.

 

Before getting the computer working again it failed completely.  So as recommended I restored the image.  But unfortunately the PC still failed to boot.  I swapped in the clone and fortunately it booted!  However it was still limping along.

 

It took some time but eventually I got it working again using the tools recommended here. 

 

So in at least one unique situation a clone is better than an image based on my personal experience.  Images may be preferred in most cases but I would recommend also having a clone as a backup to an image.

 

Tools I used

 

Dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /StartComponentcleanup then press Enter

Dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /CheckHealth then press Enter

Dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /ScanHealth then press Enter

sfc /scannow then press Enter

 

Then run > DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth < again.

Let us know what it does.

 

Very interesting post. A complete system clone is ideal for me. When I initially created my clone a few years ago, It also created a definitions file, which I called My Clone. To update it every 3 weeks or so, I simply right click this file and click Run Now/Clone on the dropdown panel. This deletes the previous clone data and produces the new clone on my WD USB flash drive. Simple ! No messing around with imaging.

I do this for one purpose only, to have my complete system cloned in case of emergency. In my 20 years or so experience a very rare event indeed.

Edited by Beaker77, 24 March 2024 - 04:04 PM.

I must just add that I am retired and my computer usage is very low key. Online shopping, paying bills, emails, a few forums and general browsing.

3 weeks clone updating is fine for me, I have nothing to lose and simply want my system back in an emergency.