[SOLVED] Macrium Rescue USB ....

[Dylan Beckett]

Hello

I am curious, I know people talk about Macrium Rescue Boot USB sticks etc... but I have questions.
BTW this is for Win 11, but I assume everything will be pretty similar to Win 10 experiences?

Does the USB Stick need to be completely empty; or is it ok to install the Rescue Media on it amongst other files as long as there is enough room for it?

Do you need to Format it before you create the Rescue USB - and does it need to be formatted a specific way eg FAT X or NTFS etc?

Is there a minimum size Stick you need?


And more interestingly - Can you install it on an External HDD instead (Eg 1TB WD Passport)?
If yes - same questions as above but for EXT HDD's?


If I create a Rescue USB 'resource' let's call it.... on a USB Stick... can I copy that in file explorer onto another PC and leave it there in case I need to copy and dump it onto another new USB Stick later if the 1st one dies and I can't access my computer with Macrium on it etc? Dump it onto either USB Stick or Ext HDD etc.

Anything else I need to know about using this - never actually resurrected an image - and especially a little tense about the idea of reviving an image for a System Drive?


So - If I actually had a disaster and really needed to use the Rescue USB stick to resurrect an image of the System Drive...
Lets say my computer won't boot or something similarly wrong that I can't fix... I just shove in the USB, turn it on - then some prompts and then it clones the image I have on an Ext HDD which I've also plugged in?
Does it take long - eg 10-30 mins etc (mine is 200gb)?

Is it pretty fool proof or does it not always work?

I'm really anxious about having to use it one day as I assume you can't really do a dry run test can you?

I have a legit Windows 11 Key.... my understanding is that is tied to the motherboard...

With that in mind - Can I do a dry run by mounting a clone of my System drive on a Second internal drive?
Or is that going to make my PC Schizophrenic having two identical system drives with the same key?

Or would I just somehow TEMPORARILY Disable the Original System drive or change the boot order to do that as a test?
Any other ideas relating to this?


Also - Is it better to mount the clone of the system Drive within Windows while it's running if you are able to - or makes no difference?


Any other thoughts, tips, advice - I'm all ears!



Thanks for your time

 

[TerryLaze]

All of your USB questions are answered by the FAQ.
https://kb.macrium.com/knowledgebasearticle50210.aspx
You can then take an image of the usb with macrium and store it on any hdd or just create a new usb whenever you need it.
The important thing is to have the image of the 200Gb drive stored away somewhere safe.

Cloning and mounting your system disk won't be an issue but it won't tell you if that image is bootable but if you followed the instructions it should be.

 

[CountMike]

Hello

I am curious, I know people talk about Macrium Rescue Boot USB sticks etc... but I have questions.
BTW this is for Win 11, but I assume everything will be pretty similar to Win 10 experiences?

Does the USB Stick need to be completely empty; or is it ok to install the Rescue Media on it amongst other files as long as there is enough room for it?

Do you need to Format it before you create the Rescue USB - and does it need to be formatted a specific way eg FAT X or NTFS etc?

Is there a minimum size Stick you need?


And more interestingly - Can you install it on an External HDD instead (Eg 1TB WD Passport)?
If yes - same questions as above but for EXT HDD's?


If I create a Rescue USB 'resource' let's call it.... on a USB Stick... can I copy that in file explorer onto another PC and leave it there in case I need to copy and dump it onto another new USB Stick later if the 1st one dies and I can't access my computer with Macrium on it etc? Dump it onto either USB Stick or Ext HDD etc.

Anything else I need to know about using this - never actually resurrected an image - and especially a little tense about the idea of reviving an image for a System Drive?


So - If I actually had a disaster and really needed to use the Rescue USB stick to resurrect an image of the System Drive...
Lets say my computer won't boot or something similarly wrong that I can't fix... I just shove in the USB, turn it on - then some prompts and then it clones the image I have on an Ext HDD which I've also plugged in?
Does it take long - eg 10-30 mins etc (mine is 200gb)?

Is it pretty fool proof or does it not always work?

I'm really anxious about having to use it one day as I assume you can't really do a dry run test can you?

I have a legit Windows 11 Key.... my understanding is that is tied to the motherboard...

With that in mind - Can I do a dry run by mounting a clone of my System drive on a Second internal drive?
Or is that going to make my PC Schizophrenic having two identical system drives with the same key?

Or would I just somehow TEMPORARILY Disable the Original System drive or change the boot order to do that as a test?
Any other ideas relating to this?


Also - Is it better to mount the clone of the system Drive within Windows while it's running if you are able to - or makes no difference?


Any other thoughts, tips, advice - I'm all ears!



Thanks for your time

When you make Rescue USB from MR directly it will format it as it needs to and make it bootable using Windows PE. After it's made into Rescue USB you can use rest of it's capacity for storage. It doesn't take much space as it can also make a Rescue CD. You don't need to format it previously.
It should work with any windows version and BOOT in any PC that supports BOOT from USB (or CD). As it needs to be bootable you can't just copy USB's contents to another one but you can also download it's .iso file to anywhere and use it to make a bootable USB Rescue without actually having MR installed there.
Yes, you can make Rescue disk to any media you can BOOT from but same rule applies, it will be formatted at first use so make sure it's backed up.
To restore an image to different PC, there's an option to " Deploy to new HW". you can also restore image to different disk(s) on same PC without affecting any other drives and of course you would have to switch BOOT order to BOOT from that drive.
As for windows licensing/activation goes, all MS rules apply just as with clean installation. Depending on type of license (Retail or OEM) goes, you can transfer Retail type license to another PC but OEM may need special permission from MS.
Legally, MS requires separate license for any windows installed even on same PC but unofficially it tolerates it. A restored/cloned Windows on same PC but different disk should remain activated although technically it's not legal.