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razz

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As I've always said one is never to old to learn............well razz, many thanks for the two on demand malware scan software ZAM & SAS which I've not heard of. I supose one gets set in one's ways and just keeps rolling along. So I shall take a look at these two apps as one can always add to one's layerd security. So thanks Cobber.  :)  :)

Always With Kind Regards

Tasgandy

"one is never too old to listen & learn"

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well razz, many thanks for the two on demand malware scan software ZAM & SAS which I've not heard of.

 

Hi Tasgandy, glad to be of service  :)   When you've checked them out, let me know what you think.

 

More info regarding ZAM can be found in this post:  https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/648740/zemana-anti-malware/

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Re your pm razz, I don't answer stuff like that any more via pm because only one person benefits, and also because of the countless hours I've wasted in the past doing that, but I'll add a few more words here than I planned to, based upon your pm, which should help you and anyone else new to, and maybe struggling with Macrium. Bare in mind part of this this is based upon Macrium 5.0.

 

Testing a Macrium Rescue USB stick.

 

Many computers won't boot automatically from a USB stick. You need to access the "Boot Menu", usually by pressing the "Esc" (Escape) key as soon as the computer starts to boot.

 

As long as a USB stick is already plugged in before booting, it should show up in the Boot Menu. Just use the arrow keys to select it and hit enter. Your PC should now boot from that stick. This would need to be done each and every time.

 

I personally only ever use a Macrium Rescue CD. As long as it's kept in a jewel case and looked after, it won't fail the way a USB stick could. I don't trust USB sticks as I mentioned above, but it's all personal choice.

 

File and Folder backups:

 

Although I have a pro version (5.0) I never use Macrium for those types of backup.

 

However, if you intend to make regular Macrium Images, remember that an Image is also an "accessible" backup of all the files and folders contained on the drive/drives you Imaged. You simply mount your Macrium Image as a drive by right clicking on it. In the right click context menu you'll see two entries, "Explore" and "Restore".

 

These entries only appear when you click on an Image, and a Macrium entry also appears in the "Open with ..." context menu section.

 

"Explore" mounts the Image as a drive. It will be given a drive letter and will appear in "My Computer" as a drive. Open it and copy files/folders out of it like any other drive. "Restore" is self explanatory. Use it if you've messed up your computer other than it failing to boot, and you just simply want to go back to the pre-Image state.

 

Finally, a couple of basic points.

 

When setting up Macrium to make an Image, once you choose which drive or partition to Image, and which location to save the Image to, look out during the move to the next screen for the "Advanced" options. In Macrium 5.0 this isn't glaringly obvious ...

 

post-8751-0-15944000-1499542367_thumb.jpg

 

The important advanced settings are shown in the top half of that screen and should be set as shown, in particular the highlighted ones. They probably already are by default.

 

If not click on "Advanced" and make sure that "Intelligent Sector Copy" is chosen which will Image only used space. Not Imaging empty space keeps the size of the Image down.

 

And the most important of all, make sure "Auto Verify" is selected. Never make a back up Image without verifying it automatically afterwards. NEVER, EVER!

 

And just as important, NEVER, EVER try to restore an Image without verifying it first. If an Image fails during the restore process, you are completely screwed unless you have at least a second backup.

 

I have (only once) had an Image fail a verify (I always keep more than one), but I've never had a verified Image fail during a restore. I've restored so many Images over the years that I have absolute faith in an Image that's passed a verification prior to restoring.

 

And finally, make sure you do a proper test by going through the entire process of restoring an Image right from the initial stage of booting with the Rescue USB or CD, right to the point of finding and loading the Image and choosing the restore location. You can stop short of actually doing the restore.

 

Don't wait until you have a drive/system/software failure to do this for the first time. If and when you have a real need to restore an Image is not the best time to be "flying blind" with an important procedure like this. Make sure you know what comes next and an Image restore will be a piece of cake.

 

Questions re the set up of the GUI in anything other than Macrium 5.0 I can't answer as I'm sure cosmetic changes have been made over the various version changes.

 

And I can't really advise about file and folder backups as I don't really use anything in particular on a regular basis. I back up on a regular basis but not always in the same way.

 

Hope that helps.

:)

Edited by DennisD
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I personally only ever use a Macrium Rescue CD. As long as it's kept in a jewel case and looked after, it won't fail the way a USB stick could. I don't trust USB sticks as I mentioned above, but it's all personal choice.

 

Our laptops don't have a CD drive, thus I'll backup onto a USB drive (i.e. not a stick).

 

Dennis, thank you so very much for your great post.  I so very much appreciate the time and effort you have spent helping me with this.  To be sure I will never lose the info you've provided, I copy & pasted your post into my word processor and took a snip image of your image.  You never know if this post gets lost in cyberspace someday.   :)

 

I'll be trying the image backup, according to your guide, tomorrow.  It'll be great to finally get this done.  Thanks again mate!   :)

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