I've discovered that creating separate partitions for the system drive images and user data files makes sense too. The batch job is actually a tad more complex than that because I also use SyncBackSE to synchronise my user data with the same external HDD before the USB switch turns it off. When the Macrium job ends the USB switch is turned off to take the external HDD offline. I actually schedule a batch job that turns on the USB switch, to power the external HDD on, it then waits 30 seconds for the HDD to come active, and then starts the full Macrium system disk image running. The power for the external HDD however, goes via a USB controlled switch so that the external HDD is powered on and online only whilst the Macrium image is being saved. I backup to an external HDD which is USB attached all the time.

I also have the Verify option turned on, so every image is verified immediately after being written. I schedule a full Macrium backup image of my system drive every night (I don't use incremental or differential backups - IMO these are just for improved speed of backup in a commercial environment, where availability is critical and backup time must be minimised) and I keep the most recent 7 images (so I can restore back to any day in the last week). I appreciate that this is an oldish thread, but I've been a Macrium Reflect user for many years now and some may be interested in the way I use it.? What happens if you want (or need) to exclude files from your image? This is it! You can run the backup you created now or uncheck that and let it run on the schedule you created. You can also hit the advanced options and choose the option to verify the backup image before or after every run of the backup schedule.

This is your summary to check if all is well and to your specifications. Explanation of Full, Differential backups: Incremental vs differential backup: what are the differences, and how do they compare? As shown above, I have 2 Full backups and 12 Differentials, you can set it up any way that fits your needs. Choose the location of the image file, preferably a separate or external drive. Some of the partitions contain the boot files for Windows.

Make sure each partition you want to image is checked like above. Then, click Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows. You will choose the drive and partitions you want to image.

Macrium reflect cloud backup