From: G6JPG@255soft.uk   
      
   On 2025/12/20 2:3:32, Hank Rogers wrote:   
   > J. P. Gilliver wrote on 12/19/2025 5:35 PM:   
      
   []   
      
   >> I was thinking of suggesting the same (I use Macrium Free, but for this   
   >> purpose at least there's probably not a lot of difference between the   
   >> alternatives); I have my Macrium on a DVD, but a USB would work too.   
   >>   
   >> But it requires a third storage medium of sufficient capacity to store   
   >> the image, which the OP may not have. (Well, a bit smaller - Macrium   
   >> will offer compression when making the image; I don't know if the   
   >> alternatives do.)   
   >>   
   >   
   > I'm pretty sure you can store the image on the macrium rescue USB drive.   
   >   I haven't done that in ages because I use faster usb drives (nvme in   
   > usb3 enclosures) instead of putting it on the rescue drive which is   
   > usually a USB3 flash drive.  So the rescue drive is mostly to boot   
   > without running windows, but I think there is no problem also putting   
   > the image file on it IF there is enough room, and if you're happy with   
   > the slower speed.   
      
   Macrium will happily put the image file anywhere you tell it, including   
   on the same "drive" as the Macrium itself if it's writable; my concern   
   was that the OP might not have anywhere with enough room. (And my   
   Macrium is on a DVD, so not writable.)   
   >   
   >> But if you _do_ have somewhere big enough to store the image, I'd agree   
   >> - doing it when Windows isn't running "feels" less error-prone. (And you   
   >> don't need two SATA connections.)   
   >>   
   >> Make sure - whether you're cloning or imaging - that it copies/creates   
   >> _all_ the partitions that are on the source drive; there will be the   
   >> main C: partition, but also one or more hidden ones (100M in size or   
   >> less). I don't profess to know what they all do, but in order for   
   >> Windows to boot, they need to be there. (The cloning or imaging software   
   >> _may_ make all that transparent.)   
   >>   
   >>   
   But see Paul's post about Cloning with Macrium, rather than Imaging;   
   I've never played with that, so know little of it. If that's possible,   
   and easy, then obviously it's the way to go, as you don't need somewhere   
   to store an image, and it's almost certainly quicker, too, as you'd just   
   be doing one copy, not two. (I use it for backup.)   
   >   
   (I also have partitioned my drive, so I use D: for all my data, which I   
   backup by a different means [FreeFileSync]; my C:, which stores the OS   
   and all installed software but little else, is on this machine about   
   75G, of which I currently have 14.4G free, so imaging that doesn't take   
   long.)   
   --   
   J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf   
      
   Ask not for whom the bell tolls; let the machine get it   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)