Macrium Reflect USB Rescue Options

[CLiNT]

If your using Macrium Reflect as a backup imaging solution and are looking to create bootable rescue media for a
laptop, or any other computer that specifically does not come with a CD/DVD drive, then I have two articles here that I have tested that will get the job done.

These article are simple enough for the novice to follow.

A rescue disk, in this case a USB stick configured to be bootable, is a means of effecting a recovery from a previously made
Macrium image in the event your computer becomes unbootable in the normal way and you cannot otherwise recover without a restore
to factory state or clean install.

These rescue USB sticks can be created in & for the free versions of Macrium from version 4.2 up to version 5.


How to Create a Bootable Rescue USB Flash Drive for Macrium Reflect (Linux)

This first article from the Windows Seven forums has created a very decent and easy to follow linux based USB recovery option. Although the Linux
option is far simpler to make, not everyone's hardware will be supported, even so, I would recommend folks try this one first, because it
is so easy to make and only takes a few minutes. This will probably be workable for most users needs.


Macrium Reflect Windows PE Bootable USB stick (Version 4 and up)

This second article, hosted on Macrium's support site, involves making a bootable Windows PE USB recovery flash drive. It is somewhat more involved
in that one has to download the large Windows PE component from Microsoft. For me it was well over 1 GB, but the final image was something
like 170 MBs. The Windows PE recovery USB flash drive is relatively easy to make and the article is simple and concise to follow with few snags.
The hardware on my laptop precluded using the Linux based rescue disk, so this is the one I am using as a bootable USB rescue disk.

These recovery media will be especially usefull if you have a light weight laptop that does not come with a CD/DVD drive and you want to install
or experiment with different operating systems and partitions while maintaining a viable warranty. If the imaging is done properly, this will
allow you to preserve and put everything back the way you had it from a fresh factory install standpoint.

This will be the method I will use when Windows 8 comes out. You could actually use it now with the beta version of windows 8 and recover
your previous setup as needed with little effort.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________

The only software you will need above and beyond your free version of Macrium Reflect will be this little Linux gem:
YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator 0.0.6.0
It's quite simple to use and safe to download from the above link. (same as in the article)
It's a stand-alone executable that does not require an installation.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________
Things that go without saying:
Your computer must be able to boot to USB
You must read the articles in their entirety
Your USB 3.0 port may not function in bootmode as it would otherwise while Windows is running.
On my setup the only thing that works on the computer's USB 3 port while booting is the USB rescue stick itself,
and it was trial and error figuring this out.
You must test it by creating an image & doing a restore job on your system.

[Xircal]

Most of the major AV firms have an option to create a rescue disc such as Avira and Kapersky Labs for example.

• Avira AntiVir Rescue System (takes you to the main Avira "tools" site)
• Kapersky Rescue Disk

You can also use this site to create an operating system rescue disk, or combine all your AV rescue utilities on to one USB or CD/DVD drive. http://www.sarducd.it/

All of these are free.

[CLiNT]

USB Rescue disk Screen shots:
Backup 002.JPG
The Yumi Grub4DOS bootloader is strarting up
__________________________________________
Backup 003.JPG
Select your boot rescue ISO
__________________________________________
Backup 004.JPG
The Windows PE component starting up
___________________________________________
Backup 005.JPG
And then you come to Macrium startup screen
___________________________________________
Backup 006.JPG
Now you are ready to begin your restore.
The screenshot above is your typical partition setup on an X220 Thinkpad
with a single SSD, I added the storage partition myself.
The drive in the lower portion of the Macrium screen is the External drive where the images are stored.

I took the 170 MB image created in Windows PE and plugged it into Yumi, thereby
combining them. You should be able to boot & have your hardware recognized no matter what
setup your running.

When all is said and done, if you are making a rescue USB flash drive, make certain that it works by actually testing it
by doing a full image restore.
It will make little sense to create one of these and not fully test it, only to find out when you are in serious need that there is a problem.

[Dick-Y]

Clint:
Thanks. I use Macrium, and had already created the Macrium Rescue environment on my system (and tested it.)
Now, thanks to your pointing to the Windows Seven Forum and mentioning the Yumi tool, I have the Rescue capability set up on my Corsair Flash Drive.

I've tested it and it works like a charm.

Thanks again,
Dick