I'm preparing to install a new version of Windows 10. I've created the Macrium rescue disc and I want to be certain that the type of backup I'm doing with Macrium will be acceptable to restore from using the rescue disc. I've take screen shots of the image options for the daily backup I'm using. I don't have a way to display the xml definition file in a nice format, otherwise I would send that.




Thanks.

Looks like you're backing up every partition on your disk, so the backup would be usable.  Now you just have to test boot your Rescue Media to make sure that it actually loads properly and that it can see both your source disk and the location where you store your backups so that you can use it to perform a restore if necessary.

As a side note, one easier way to show what you're got in your image backups for future reference would be to go to the Restore tab in Reflect, select one of your backups in that list, and then capture a screenshot of the partition map that will appear above the backups list.  That graphic shows the contents and partition layout of the selected backup.

I don't know the F-key sequence to boot from the rescue disc. I tried F12 but that didn't work.
thanks.

Judging by the DellSupport partition it’s a Dell system, in which case assuming it isn’t a PowerEdge server, F12 is the correct key to access the one-time boot menu. It’s the key Dell has used across their desktops and laptops for more than a decade. Try pressing repeatedly from the moment you power on the system without waiting for the display to activate if you haven’t already. If that doesn’t work, try holding Fn and pressing F12 if your keyboard is set to have the F keys default to their multimedia functions rather than their F key function. I can’t remember whether that mode is enforced even at boot time. If it still doesn’t work, maybe try an external keyboard if this is a laptop?

Another thing to try that works on Dell XPS desktop towers like the ones I've used for a few years now is to hold down F12 when the Dell logo comes up on reboot.  Keep holding it down until you get prompted to choose a boot device.  Or the Windows logon screen appears, which means the F12 didn't work for that function.


Also, try it multiple times.  Sometimes, Dell systems "forget" you've pressed the F12 key or held it down.  Had it happen to me earlier today.  The 2nd restart attempt and holding down the F12 worked.

The reason I tap the key repeatedly rather than holding it down is because if memory serves, the system disregards the key if it's held down too long, and even if I'm incorrect in my memory of that, the system usually ends up making an obnoxious noise when a key is held down for too long.

I've noticed on the Dell XPS desktops, pressing the F12 key repeatedly is highly unreliable to bring up the boot menu.  Holding it down has a higher success rate.  And, you're right.  In the old days of PS2 keyboards, holding a key down did cause the system speaker to beep.  It doesn't do that on mine, but I've not used an old style keyboard for a long time.  And, on my wireless keyboard, holding down the F12 key doesn't produce annoying beeps.

From Dell 3668 service manual. This is about using F2 to get into BIOS which would be an alternative to boot order and the cautions may apply to the F12 key assuming it is the correct boot order key.

Entering BIOS setup program
1. Turn on (or restart) your computer.
2. During POST, when the DELL logo is displayed, watch for the F2 prompt to appear, and then press F2 immediately.
NOTE: The F2 prompt indicates that the keyboard is initialized. This prompt can appear very quickly, so you must
watch for it, and then press F2. If you press F2 before the F2 prompt, this keystroke is lost. If you wait too long and
the operating system logo appears, continue to wait until you see the desktop. Then, turn off your computer and try
again.

If you want extra assurance that you can access your image after doing the test boot of the rescue disk do a Verfiy on the backup. This will demonstrate the backup can be read into memory and the numerous checksums can be correctly re-calculated.

Seek, rearranging the boot order and then changing it back later just to boot from USB temporarily is less convenient than using the one-time menu and also isn’t an option on UEFI systems, at least Dell UEFI systems. The path to the bootloader file on a temporarily attached USB device wouldn’t have been registered into the system’s UEFI firmware, so the USB device wouldn’t appear in the boot order list at all. By comparison, the options in the one-time boot menu include devices that have a bootloader file at \EFI\Boot\Bootx64.efi, which is a standard path defined in the UEFI spec, but at least on Dell UEFI systems, the only boot order options for locally attached storage that appear are those that have been formally registered. This is typically done by the OS installer, and it’s also why people who clone their existing disk to a new one in an enclosure and then install that new one internally can’t immediately boot from it on a UEFI system — until they run Fix Boot Problems.

Fair enough, even though I mentioned going into BIOS my first intent was to indicate the appropriate time to push the F key.
I don't seem to have much problem going into my ASUS motherboard BIOS and booting from within but it isn't a Dell.
I defer to you since I don't really do it that much so my memory may be faulty.