Macrium Reflect Free: does the MBR always get backed-up

Thomas B

New Member
Messages
12
Hello,

I have a question about Macrium Reflect Free, and dual boot...

I have two installations of Windows 8 (and Windows 8.1), on two separate SSDs. Let's call one SYSTEM1, and the other one SYSTEM2.

Let's say I have booted inside the SYSTEM1 Windows installation. Now I want to backup SYSTEM2, with Macrium Reflect Free. I load Macrium Reflect and select all available partitions on the SYSTEM2 disk (which are just two, the main one and a system-reserved one).
By doing like this, will also the MBR (Master Boot Record) of SYSTEM2 get copied inside the Macrium image-backup? In other words, will Macrium Reflect always copy the master boot record (if available), even if the selected drive is not the one from which Windows is currently running?
Or will the MBR get copied just with the option "create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows"? Probably not.

I'm interest about this because it would be useful to do a backup of the MBR (together with the partitions), in case a virus infects it.
Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I don't know about "always" but in the instances when I used it that way it did, I know that because i have a dual boot Win7 and 8 and it preserved the order.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Afaik they still haven't added "MBR only" backup. But one "trick" you can do, esp. if you reformatted the recovery partition, is do a backup of a small partition as a "dummy." Then "restore" it when you really just want to restore the MBR. When you restore the dummy partition it will ask if you want to restore the saved MBR. ;)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
You mean that you have a dual boot on two different hard disks?
Thanks.
Yes 2 different disks, Win8 on SSD and W7 on a HDD. I was experimenting with 8.1 (and had some troubles with it) so I had to restore Win8 partition few times ( with Safety Erase in between) and it returned MBR to the totally erased disk every time, otherwise it would not be able to boot from it, would it ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home made
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen7 2700x
    Motherboard
    Asus Prime x470 Pro
    Memory
    16GB Kingston 3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus strix 570 OC 4gb
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 960 evo 250GB
    Silicon Power V70 240GB SSD
    WD 1 TB Blue
    WD 2 TB Blue
    Bunch of backup HDDs.
    PSU
    Sharkoon, Silent Storm 660W
    Case
    Raidmax
    Cooling
    CCM Nepton 140xl
    Internet Speed
    40/2 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    WD
Yes 2 different disks, Win8 on SSD and W7 on a HDD. I was experimenting with 8.1 (and had some troubles with it) so I had to restore Win8 partition few times ( with Safety Erase in between) and it returned MBR to the totally erased disk every time, otherwise it would not be able to boot from it, would it ?

Did you create the Windows 8 SSD image-backup from inside Windows 7?
And later did you restore the same Windows 8 SSD image-backup from inside Windows 7?
Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I think you would be on the safe side if you made the image with the Macrium WinPE CD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
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