Macrium reflect free

Which of the following is better to create an image of the pc system,
1-Image all local drives of this computer or
2-Image create an image of the partitions required to back up and restore Windows.

I have been using the first and it seems to restore successfully but want to be sure.

 

The second option will restore your Windows installation but not the applications or other files you have on the drive. I use Macrium Reflect free also and always back up my local C drive using smart sector copy and high compression — use option 1.

 

Thank you both for confirming that I made a lucky guess.

Hi David

 

The second option will restore your applications and other files provided they were installed to/are kept on the system partition - usually the C drive.

 

Hi B
I chose the 1st option each of several times and everything recovered nicely. The second option, depending upon your build, says, "Create an image of the partitions required to back up and restore Windows."
I have one partition- C: as you probably know.
Option 2 may recover my system but for now I will stick with opt. 1 which has passed the test and thank you for the advice.

 

Out of curiosity and to confirm what I stated in my first post, I created 2 backup images of my C drive using Smart Sector Copy and High Compression in macrium Reflect Free..

Using Option 1 the .mrimg file size was 6,989,642 KB
Using Option 2 the .mrimg file size was 6,903,301 KB

Obviously, something is not imaged using Option 2.

 

It's your Docs, Music, Pics and so on that it has omitted. All your installed software is backed up along with Windows.