I have paid for Macrium Reflect V7; installed on my current Dell laptop.

I have been sent, by Macrium, a free upgrade to V8. V8 now downloaded so V7 no longer valid.V8 tested and backups working as expected.

I have bought a new Dell laptop with the following improvements CPU i3 to i7, RAM 8GB to 16GB, SSD 256GB to 512GB and screen 15" to 17" over my old Dell laptop. Both are Windows 10 Home. I have not even opened the box containing the new laptop so any advice on what I should do before using Redeploy welcomed.

I assume I can use Macrium Redeploy to start the new laptop working exactly as the old, just faster. I have a spare 256GB SSD to use as an intermediary if necessary.

I think I need a Windows PE rescue SD (what size; have 32 -128GB available) and then Redeploy? Note Help says: (There is a link to a video on creating a Windows PE rescue CD at the bottom of this page) there is not!! How do I create the SD?

The partitioning on the new laptop will be identical to the current setup. Both the old and new will only have the C: drive on the installed SSD. All other drives/partitions are on external USB drives; these will be connected to the new laptop via the docking station currently connected to the old laptop.

The reason I am asking is that I have never done anything like this before. It does seem like an easy way to do a very complex job; Reflect can cope with all the hardware changes!

One of my backups is backup the Windows 10 system to an 256GB SSD (not the spare SSD mentioned above).

Any advice or encouragement please?





The old laptop will be relegated to less intense duties, but will still need backup software; will use some old software as my payment only covers one V7 now upgraded to V8

You'll need a Rescue Media USB flash drive, not an SD card.  Even something as small as 1GB should be fine.  To create it, open Reflect on your current PC, then click the Create Rescue Media button in the upper-left corner.  Choose the flash drive as your target, and click Build.

In terms of how easy this is, that depends a little bit on whether your old laptop uses Legacy BIOS or UEFI booting.  Open Reflect and check the identification of the disk that contains your C drive.  Does it show as an MBR disk or a GPT disk?

If it's MBR, you'll have to follow some extra steps.  But if it's GPT, should be as simple as booting your new laptop from your Rescue Media flash drive, and restoring your old laptop's backup onto it.  Some Windows 10 environments don't even require ReDeploy, so you could actually try booting your system without it to see what happens.  If it fails, just boot into Rescue Media again and run ReDeploy (no need to run the restore again), and then possibly run Fix Boot Problems.

However, I would strongly encourage you to back up your laptop's current state before you proceed.  Just in case it goes wrong, you might find it convenient to be able to restore your new laptop to its factory state rather than being left with something that doesn't work at all.  Rescue Media is capable of creating backups, not just restoring them, so you can simply boot your new laptop into Rescue and run a backup that way -- no need to install Reflect on it before restoring, in fact no need to even boot it into Windows at all.

On Dell laptops, if you want to boot from an alternate source, press the F12 key repeatedly during initial startup to access the one-time boot selection menu.  As long as your Rescue Media flash drive was plugged in when you first powered the system on, you should see an option to boot from it.

One additional item that's worth noting.  You say that the only partition on the laptop's internal storage will be C.  A typical Windows installation has one or more hidden partitions in addition to the C partition.  If you are not already including those in your current backups, make a backup that includes them, because some of them are necessary to boot Windows properly, and therefore if you ever want to restore onto an empty disk (or a disk that will be completely overwritten), a backup that only contains your C partition will not result in a bootable system without jumping through some extra hoops.  Your image backups of the disk that contains your Windows partition should include ALL partitions on that physical disk unless you have a very specific reason for excluding some of them, such as Data partitions that you manually created and might want to back up separately for some reason.  So make sure you have a backup of your old laptop that includes ALL of the partitions on its Windows disk, and if you choose to make a backup of your new laptop's factory state before restoring onto it -- which I strongly recommend -- make sure that backup includes all partitions on its disk as well.

+x

 

jphughan - 19 May 2021 8:45 PM

You'll need a Rescue Media USB flash drive, not an SD card.  Even something as small as 1GB should be fine.  To create it, open Reflect on your current PC, then click the Create Rescue Media button in the upper-left corner.  Choose the flash drive as your target, and click Build.

In terms of how easy this is, that depends a little bit on whether your old laptop uses Legacy BIOS or UEFI booting.  Open Reflect and check the identification of the disk that contains your C drive.  Does it show as an MBR disk or a GPT disk?

If it's MBR, you'll have to follow some extra steps.  But if it's GPT, should be as simple as booting your new laptop from your Rescue Media flash drive, and restoring your old laptop's backup onto it.  Some Windows 10 environments don't even require ReDeploy, so you could actually try booting your system without it to see what happens.  If it fails, just boot into Rescue Media again and run ReDeploy (no need to run the restore again), and then possibly run Fix Boot Problems.

However, I would strongly encourage you to back up your laptop's current state before you proceed.  Just in case it goes wrong, you might find it convenient to be able to restore your new laptop to its factory state rather than being left with something that doesn't work at all.  Rescue Media is capable of creating backups, not just restoring them, so you can simply boot your new laptop into Rescue and run a backup that way -- no need to install Reflect on it before restoring, in fact no need to even boot it into Windows at all.

On Dell laptops, if you want to boot from an alternate source, press the F12 key repeatedly during initial startup to access the one-time boot selection menu.  As long as your Rescue Media flash drive was plugged in when you first powered the system on, you should see an option to boot from it.

I've been trying to get a bootable VM of my backed-up W7SP1 drives, to no avail. What is weird is viBoot works fine, but Macrium Redeploy on reimaged VHD doesn't - 7B failure every time.

I just noticed they are MBR disks...would you be so kind as to walk me through the extra steps to get it working? Viboot won't allow me to copy the VHDs to use without it, and I need someway to boot this VM without having to drag Reflect and the image along every time I use it.

The concern over MBR disks only applies if you'll be restoring onto a system that will be booting in UEFI mode, which uses GPT disks.  Macrium has a guide for that process here.  But I don't see the purpose of doing that because when using a VM, you can choose whether you want a VM that boots in Legacy BIOS mode or UEFI mode, so as long as you choose the former, you can carry on using MBR disks.

In terms of what you're trying to do, I would have expected that if you wanted to restore a Reflect image into a VM independent of viBoot, you would either a) boot the VM into Rescue Media and run the restore and ReDeploy within the VM environment, or b) attach the VHD to your host system where you have Reflect installed, restore into that mounted VHD, then attach that VHD to your VM, then boot the VM into Rescue Media to run ReDeploy.  But it seems that isn't working for you.  Unfortunately I don't know what a "7B" error is or even precisely where you're encountering it in the process.  You also didn't specify your hypervisor or the configuration of your guest VM.

Hopefully this helps, but if not I would suggest that you create your own topic to discuss this further in order to avoid hijacking this existing thread that was created to discuss an entirely different scenario.

+x

 

jphughan - 19 May 2021 11:25 PM

The concern over MBR disks only applies if you'll be restoring onto a system that will be booting in UEFI mode, which uses GPT disks.  Macrium has a guide for that process here.  But I don't see the purpose of doing that because when using a VM, you can choose whether you want a VM that boots in Legacy BIOS mode or UEFI mode, so as long as you choose the former, you can carry on using MBR disks.

In terms of what you're trying to do, I would have expected that if you wanted to restore a Reflect image into a VM independent of viBoot, you would either a) boot the VM into Rescue Media and run the restore and ReDeploy within the VM environment, or b) attach the VHD to your host system where you have Reflect installed, restore into that mounted VHD, then attach that VHD to your VM, then boot the VM into Rescue Media to run ReDeploy.  But it seems that isn't working for you.  Unfortunately I don't know what a "7B" error is or even precisely where you're encountering it in the process.  You also didn't specify your hypervisor or the configuration of your guest VM.

Hopefully this helps, but if not I would suggest that you create your own topic to discuss this further in order to avoid hijacking this existing thread that was created to discuss an entirely different scenario.

I wasn't trying to hijack the thread - what you said was pertinent to my issue, so I hoped it was relevant. I think the Macrium iso was UEFI based - I'll have to check later.

For OP: when I tested my home backup of W10 virtually by doing the same process I described above, it worked without needing to use any of Macrium's tools. From what I've seen and read, W10 is a lot more forgiving in that regard. So while not guaranteed, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't run into boot issues even without Macrium Redeploy.

Just to reiterate what you need to do: create a Macrium recovery USB - that will be the ISO you use as your bootable media (equivalent to windows recovery you are used to). Use this menu to restore your backup, and afterwards if you have boot problems, boot back into the recovery manager and use the "repair windows boot" and Redeploy options.

Reflect ISOs always support Legacy BIOS booting.  And as long as they are built with WinPE 4 or later, they will also support UEFI booting.

"A typical Windows installation has one or more hidden partitions in addition to the C partition"

My Reflect system backup has 6 operations backing up all partitions, including the hidden ones. So I should be ok with that?

The old laptop disk is GPT. I assume that the new, later model,  one is the same.

" I would strongly encourage you to back up your laptop's current state before you proceed." I assume you mean my new laptop's current state before I use the rescue USB stick? I will use Control Panel > Backup and Restore (Windows 7) > Create a system image > onto my spare 256GB SSD.

Just to confirm when I boot from the USB stick will all my system settings be brought forward from the old laptop i.e. I will not need to reinstall all the software again (I realise that I may have extra processes if a license on the old laptop is only for a single use; say before using on new laptop make sure old laptop is deactivated for that software)

I have an 8GB USB stick available.

I am trying to make sure I am doing everything correctly and even understanding what I am doing.

OK, I'll just throw in my 2 cents here too.  I've done what you are doing - many times.  I have 6 PCs of my own running full MR and I have MR Workstation  on quite a few PCs at work too.  A few of these Pcs are a PITA to setup or have very tricky hardware or software that takes a lot of time to reinstall.  So a weekly backup takes care of that.  

One caveat that's already been pointed out is that if the OLD laptop happens to be MBR / CSM boot then you need to address that first.  Many new Dell PCs will not boot MBR / CSM mode. So you need to convert the OLD laptop to EFI booting first.  Other's have pointed out where to look to do this.  

Next PREP the old laptop.  It doesn't take much.  What I like to do is run a SFC check on it ( sfc /scannow ).  If it finds and corrects anything then reboot.  If it cannot fix the issue then you might be stuck right there.  Imaging your NEW laptop form an OS that is having problems will likely cause issues down the road.  You may be better off starting with a fresh new OS.  

After that run a chkdsk on the C: drive ( chkdsk /x c: ).  reboot and let it run.  If all is OK proceed.  If not then try and fix the issues before your image the new laptop.. 

You are in an ideal situation, same brand and similar hardware.  First of all on the OLD laptop, get a USB HDD or SSD of sufficient size to back up your old laptop and the new laptop.  Create a rescue media and boot to it and make sure it can see the SSD / HDD on the old laptop.  You can even back up the OLD laptop while booted to the rescue media.  Do a FULL backup of the old laptop.  However you do it, make a good FULL backup of the OLD laptop's entire drive.  

Now get out the NEW laptop.  Boot with the rescue media and verify that IT can see the SSD on the new laptop.  Newer PC hardware uses the Skylake chipset and I've found that the standard SATA drivers from older hardware will not show the new computers SSD.  If this is the case then you have to do a bit of work.

If the OLD laptops rescue media does NOT see the NEW laptops SSD when booted with it, then you need to release the MR license and UNINSTALL your MR from the OLD laptop - unless you have a spare license for the PAID MR, if so use it. instead.  Then setup the NEW laptop as it came from Dell.  Install the MR and license it.  Create another recovery media on the NEW laptop.  This media should see the NEW laptops SSD just fine as well as the OLD laptops SSD too.  Test it to make sure.

Now, make a FULL backup of your NEW laptop just as it is.  Either use the installed MR or the NEW rescue media.  Create a backup to your USB drive.  This wil get you a point where you can get back to should this entire process screw up. Now release the MR license and uninstall MR from the new laptop. 

I've had great success moving Windows 10 from on computer to another.  It sometimes takes some prep and a few downloads. First off, I've not had much luck swapping Win 10 on Dells default SATAT control setting or RAID.  Most often I have to swap it to AHCI mode in the NEW computers BIOS.  The RAID drivers are a PITA to get sometimes, and older drivers will load but not work.  I really see no benefit to the Intel RAID ON  controller setting in a straight single SSD setting, so changing it to AHCI makes zero difference.  

So, boot to the NEW MR rescue media, point it to the OLD laptops last MR FULL backup and restore it to the NEW laptops SSD.  Before you exit do 2 things.  For the heck of it I use the FIX BOOT ISSUES on the MR rescue media just to make sure the units BCD is all set.  Then I use the Redeploy tool.  You need to point the redeploy dialog to the new laptops NVME / AHCI controller drivers.  these you download from Dell.  Unfortunately it's confusing as to what drivers you need.  I buy business class Dell computers, so Dell provides a DEPLOY cab file for them, these are rather large CAB files that contain that models drivers.  If you can get it, download it and pull the contents out to your USB drive.  Point the  Dell redeploy dialog to it by using the ADD button on the first dialog.  Then click the NEXT button (I thing that's what it is).  It will find a few controllers and try and find the drivers for them in the location you pointed it to earlier.  If all works OK then the devices that show will turn GREEN in the dialog and push them into the disks OS.  Then click NEXT and click the ENABLE AHCI MODE in the check boxes.  Then reboot.  If all works as planned it will show Win 10 booting for a few seconds, then show a LOADING DEVICES text at the bottom, it may reboot a few times.  With any luck you will be sitting at the desktop of the new laptop from the OLD OS.

Now you need to get the rest of the drivers.  Like I sad I get the dell Deploy Cabs and have them on hand.  I go to the DEVICE MANAGER and look at the UNKNOWN DEVICES and update the drivers for them one at a time by pointing them to the Dell deploy CAB contents. You need to at least get the NIC up and running.  If your Dell model doesn't have a deploy cab then download and install  the Dell SupportAsssist.  and install it.  Run it and check for driver updates.  Usually it finds a bunch, download, install them and reboot.  

Like I said, I've updated the computers that I have Macrium reflect installed on many times.  One PC at home have done this to at least 3 times.  Once moving a Windows 7 OS (which is not as tolerant as Win 10 of moving).  Then I later upgraded to Win 10.  I then swapped to a new computer and moved Win 10 like above.  Then about a year later I had a chance to get a better PC and did the same again.  All 3 times worked fine.  

Sometimes it's just better to start afresh, sometimes the OLD OS has so much stuff installed and tweaks that it is easier to do this.

Anyway, good luck!

+x

 

athegn - 20 May 2021 10:33 AM

"A typical Windows installation has one or more hidden partitions in addition to the C partition"

My Reflect system backup has 6 operations backing up all partitions, including the hidden ones. So I should be ok with that?

The old laptop disk is GPT. I assume that the new, later model,  one is the same.

" I would strongly encourage you to back up your laptop's current state before you proceed." I assume you mean my new laptop's current state before I use the rescue USB stick? I will use Control Panel > Backup and Restore (Windows 7) > Create a system image > onto my spare 256GB SSD.

Just to confirm when I boot from the USB stick will all my system settings be brought forward from the old laptop i.e. I will not need to reinstall all the software again (I realise that I may have extra processes if a license on the old laptop is only for a single use; say before using on new laptop make sure old laptop is deactivated for that software)

I have an 8GB USB stick available.

I am trying to make sure I am doing everything correctly and even understanding what I am doing.

Given that you have Reflect, I'm not sure why you're want to use the Windows 7 system image function.  As I said, you can simply boot your new laptop into Rescue Media -- which you'll have to do anyway in order to run a restore onto it -- and use Reflect to perform a backup.  The Windows 7 system image utility is pretty awful in terms of its limitations.

Yes, restoring your old laptop's image onto your new laptop will bring your entire OS environment over, which includes applications, settings, etc. -- assuming they're all installed on your C partition, which it sounds like they are.  But as was just mentioned, you will LOSE all of the drivers and utilities that came pre-installed on that new laptop, so you will need to redownload those.  Since you've got a Dell system, the most efficient way to achieve that would be to install Dell Update and run that in order to grab any drivers that will need to be added/updated on the Windows environment you just restored in order to make it fully functional on your new hardware that it has never seen before.  ReDeploy only focuses on getting your system to boot, so it won't take care of all of those.