Phil22 I beg to differ. The image that Macrium makes will show only one backup file where ever it is being saved to. Provide both partitions are checked when starting the backup both will be included in the single backup file. If you use the menu to 'mount' the backup image both drives will be shown.The OP is confused because in all likelihood the Reserve partition is not shown on his desktop along with his C drive and any other partitions or drives he may have because it is 'hidden'.

• New Hard Drive System Reserved

For some unknown reason when I installed Win 7 the installation chose to make the drive visible and allocated 'H' as the drive letter.When he uses Macrium for his backup Macrium sees the drive and provides a box to place the check mark along with the C partition, both boxes must be checked in order for the backup to be successful. Trust me I have done this many times and all my backup restorations have been successful.minuan you say that no file is appearing on your external drive!

My backup files are shown like this: D685F8AC848D895D-00-00.mrimg. I leave Macrium to allocate the image name.

The system reserved partition has to be a primary partition, if your new system reserved partition is a logical drive, you can convert it to primary partition without data loss first. Then, you have successfully moved system reserved partition to another drive. If drive letter d: exists then it probably can be viewed using windows explorer If you can find disk management ( via control panel or Google) you can see if d: is located on SSD or hard drive Without a lot more info it is difficult to say more Is this a laptop or desktop What make & model? Did it come with ssd? Or did you fit it. The Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR) reserves space on each disk drive for subsequent use by operating system software. GPT disks do not allow hidden sectors. Software components that formerly used hidden sectors now allocate portions of the MSR for component-specific partitions.

Do you have any files like this on your backup drive? If I 'mount' this file it will show both drives because both are included in the one backup.It appears from your second posting that you may have selected only the Reserved partition for backup. This serves to show that double posting on a single issue only serves to confuse.

Stick to this posting.There is an excellent tutorial here:You ask how you can see the contents of the image, under the 'Restore' drop down menu there is an entry 'Explore Image' click on it and follow the prompts. The process is dead easy! If you have further questions fire away here or PM me.message edited by Ewen. Ewen, I am not tech proficient so I am not sure what you are saying. What are the partitions (yours H & C) and how do I access them in macrium?

It seems as if when I do a backup in macrium no file appears on my external hard drive, to me it almost seems as if it is blocked. AS I said in my first email I had previously backups on this external hard drive using Microsoft and easeUS todo and I cannot access those are they still there? I go into Start then Computer click on the E Drive (external hard drive) and all I get is the System Reserved 100gb words nothing else. Phil22 I beg to differ. The image that Macrium makes will show only one backup file where ever it is being saved to.

Provide both partitions are checked when starting the backup both will be included in the single backup file. If you use the menu to 'mount' the backup image both drives will be shown.The OP is confused because in all likelihood the Reserve partition is not shown on his desktop along with his C drive and any other partitions or drives he may have because it is 'hidden'. For some unknown reason when I installed Win 7 the installation chose to make the drive visible and allocated 'H' as the drive letter.When he uses Macrium for his backup Macrium sees the drive and provides a box to place the check mark along with the C partition, both boxes must be checked in order for the backup to be successful. Trust me I have done this many times and all my backup restorations have been successful.minuan you say that no file is appearing on your external drive! My backup files are shown like this: D685F8AC848D895D-00-00.mrimg. I leave Macrium to allocate the image name. Do you have any files like this on your backup drive?

If I 'mount' this file it will show both drives because both are included in the one backup.It appears from your second posting that you may have selected only the Reserved partition for backup. This serves to show that double posting on a single issue only serves to confuse.

Stick to this posting.There is an excellent tutorial here:You ask how you can see the contents of the image, under the 'Restore' drop down menu there is an entry 'Explore Image' click on it and follow the prompts. The process is dead easy! If you have further questions fire away here or PM me.message edited by Ewen. In normal circumstances the Reserved drive is 'Hidden' and you wont see anything on it and neither will you see the drive. I'm beginning to lose track of what you are trying to achieve here.Leave the drive alone, don't write anything to it. It really is of no importance to you as the user. Follow the post I have posted (#6) and you should be well on your way to using Macrium.

The Reserve partition is part of your W7 install and is of no use to you at all! The drive uses about 35mb of space and all you will see on is a 'Temp' folder.message edited by Ewen. Does Macrium delete all existing file on the external drive before performing the backup? As I have said I cannot see anything on that drive that was there before I attempted the backup.

All I get when I click on the drive is that message System Reserved. Your answer really has helped and I am going to follow the thread you gave me, but first I have to reinstall Macrium.

I chose to delete when I was having so much concern about using it. I have not written anything to the drive as I hoped my old data is still there somehow, but it would be nice if I could access it. Ewen, I really appreciate all you have sent to me, but I am not clear on what you are telling me. This drive (Toshiba) is where I do my backups to so I would think I would have to write to this drive. So what are the 2 drives that you are referring to backup to?The C: drive on my computer is 80gb of which more than 40 are in use, I am not sure if I have enough room to do a backup to this drive.

If there is room, how do I transfer the data to the Toshiba once the backup is done if I am not supposed to write to it? As I have asked before how do I see what is on the Toshiba since all I get is System Reserved when I do a directory on it?Please bear with me as I am a basic computer user trying to understand. I may be slow but I am working at understanding.

I'm not familiar with much of the software, hardware, or backupproceedures involved here, but I think I see the communicationsproblem. Minuman is saying that the 'System Reserved' partitionshows up on the external drive he is using to store backups.

Thatwould be the backup copy of the partition made by the backupprogram. Ewen thought it was the original 'System Reserved'partition. That is the one that is best left untouched. It is almostcertainly on the C: physical drive.- Jeff, in Minneapolis.

Ewen,Once again please forgive me for what I am about to ask. I really appreciate the detailed response to my issue. I will attempt to follow it if there is no other recourse. However, I was hoping not to get into macrium again, in fact I have deleted it off my internal hard drive. I really do not understand this software and would like to find a simpler one to do what I am trying to do.

In fact, I have purchased an new internal hard drive to make sure I have a backup available, which I need to do a total backup operating system and data.However, I want to make these 2 external drives accessible for backups so to make your response easier I will list my?s with numbers and you can respond accordingly.1. Is there no other way to gain access to these 2 drives without using macrium, i.e. Removing the system reserved from them?2.

If the answer is NO, will I be able to access these hard drives for backups and restore not using macrium after I have followed your instructions?3. Will I be able to see the backups I had on these 2 ext. Hds that was there before I used macrium or is that lost?

I obviously have not written anything to these drives since this process began.4. Can you recommend software that is easier for a neophyte such as myself to use to do for backups and restores that will mirror everything I need on my internal hd? I intend to create a backup for the internal hd I just bought and I want to be sure everything is on it if my current one goes bad.

The current one seems as if it is beginning to go at least form what I know.Hope you are having a great weekend. I think it is Sun. Where you are where as it is Sat. Here in Colorado.angelo. Angelo,As I hinted at before, I know nothing about Macrium other than what hasbeen said here.

From what has been said, it looks like Macrium wouldprobably be fine for your needs. You just didn't get it to work the way youwanted on the first try. But whatever program you replace it with shouldbe fine, too.You don't need Macrium to remove the files, folders, and partitions thatMacrium created. However, if Macrium did create actual partitions, notjust files and folders, then you will need to take some extra steps todelete the partitions. Ewen or someone else should be able to guideyou through those steps.Since the backups you had before using Macrium are not now visible,they were probably wiped out. Attempting to recover them is unlikely towork and unlikely to be worth the effort unless they contain really valuabledata.- Jeff, in Minneapolis. Hi minuman hopefully we can clear up a few misconceptions you may have.In the first instance there is no way 'System Reserved' will prevent you from accessing your external drives.

If in fact you have an entry with that name it may be as a result of an error you have madeIn answer to your questions:1. Is there no other way to gain access to these 2 drives without using macrium, i.e. Removing the system reserved from them?No. The backups have been made in Macrium format and you will need that programme to open them.2. If the answer is NO, will I be able to access these hard drives for backups and restore not using Macrium after I have followed your instructions?Of course you will.

Your external drives can be used in the normal way for the storage of all sorts of data including your Macrium back-ups3. Will I be able to see the backups I had on these 2 ext. Hds that was there before I used macrium or is that lost?

I obviously have not written anything to these drives since this process began.Yes you will but those back-ups can only be accessed by the programme that made them. In your position I would delete ALL the Macrium backups you have made and start afresh.To assist you I have made two videos which are available at the links below. I had to make two videos because it takes 17 minutes to back my drive up and I am sure you would not want wait through that plus my upload would have been huge!Macrium Video-1:Macrium Video 2:The videos are not quality perfect mainly because lost track of my scripting so there are some unexplained pauses.

But bear with meRegards.message edited by Ewen. Ewen,It really looks to me like you are not understanding minuman's problem.Although I'm not at all sure I understand it, either.He apparently had two separate computers backed up on one externalhard drive. When he then tried to make another backup on that samedrive, using Macrium for the first time, he inadvertantly wiped out theexisting backups when Macrium created a new partition on the externaldrive labeled 'System Reserved'. Whether Macrium actually backedup any data or not is unknown.

It is pretty clear, though, that it deletedthe two existing backups.- Jeff, in Minneapolismessage edited by Jeff Root. Macrium does not create partitions and neither is it capable of deleting partitions it only makes an image of existing partitions. The System Reserved partition is created by the install process in Windows 7 and later. Have a look at the two videos I have posted links to which will indicate the process. The OP is thoroughly confused and conflicting opinions are not helping him.

I have two computers and I save images to on 500gig HD into appropriately named folders and I have no problems at all.My advice to minuman was to clear all the old Macrium backups and start afresh and if he follows my tutorials he will have no problems.EDIT: It occurs to me that minuman may have inadvertently created the partition himself although it is hard to see how he would have done this without being aware of it. The other alternative would be to format the entire external drive provided there is not other important material on it and start completely anew. I understand his problem completely because I found myself in the same situation when I first installed Win7 and at that time there was not much information available regarding this strange new partition that users suddenly found on their system. No matter what back-up system he uses he will always have the Reserved Partition to deal with and it will have to be included in the image that is made.message edited by Ewen. Ewen wrote: My advice to minuman was to clear all the old Macrium backups and start afresh and if he follows my tutorials he will have no problems.You also told him that he would be able to access the two backupshe made before he started using Macrium.

But it is pretty clear thatMacrium wiped those backups out. You need to acknowledge thisconflict and either explain how the files can still be there or retractyour assertion that you understood minuman's situation. EDIT: It occurs to me that minuman may have inadvertently created the partition himself although it is hard to see how he would have done this without being aware of it.It seems obvious that Macrium created the partition, if it is a partition.All we know for sure is that Macrium put it on the drive, and it is labled'System Reserved', just like the partion Windows creates.

It may bea partition, a folder, or a file. That's why I asked minuman to tell usthe details.- Jeff, in Minneapolis. Jeff here is a quote from an earlier post of yours As I hinted at before, I know nothing about Macrium other than what hasbeen said here. From what has been said, it looks like Macrium wouldprobably be fine for your needs.Until minuman provides the information required I suggest you continue with advice to him.

Macrium did not wipe those back-ups out unless he used the same name on his latest backup as he did previously and then he would have been warned that this was about to occur.I do understand his problem and have no intention of retracting that assertion unless another helper can explain to me the error of my ways and then I will happily retract.Regards. Ewen,I thought I sent you a long reply on 8/18, but it doesn't show so maybe I forgot to click on Submit.Anyways I tried to follow the video in 21 above. I got into Macrium. I got as far as the screen which showed what I think (because it is so hard to read) you (?) (the narrator) enters, I think,is 'M: window7 64bit(tower)' in the folder area of the screen in Macrium where you specify a backup. Above this place in 2 outlined areas are references to the c: and e: drive, which are checked.

The e: appears the same way as it does on my computer that it is 'System Reserved'. The problem is I have no more external hard drives to use since both of mine have System Reserved on them. I think if I plugged a new hard drive into the USB port it would show as e: or f: with the System Reserved designation even tho it has never been part of this morass I find myself in.

New Hard Drive System Reserved

So how do I do what the youtube video is trying to explain to me and does this change the my external hard drive from system reserved to something usable that I can work with.Can you help with this? I am lot.Thanks, Angelo.

Angelo,I am at a loss to explain how both your drives are 'System Reserved', If you click on them is there any information showing at all?Your external drives have not been rendered useless. They can still be used.

My suggestion here is to format both drives (ntfs) and start again. Once you have two 'clean' drives we should be able to get somewhere.What concerns me is that you may not have understood the video tutorials clearly. Did the process explain clearly enough what steps you should follow?Lets get your external drives cleaned up to make sure that there are no partitions on them and we'll start again. Once that has been done I'll create a simple point by point schedule (easy to understand) and we'll succeed! Angelo please stop posting questions on the same subject to new threads.

Other helpers have no idea of your problem and any suggestions they make will only confuse the issue. Stick to this thread and we will get there!In another thread you mention that Tom's Hardware told you to sign in before you could post and that is because you are a member of this forum computing.net and not Tom's Hardware.I realise that you are impatient to get things sorted but we need to get a few things sorted out first. If there is something you don't understand say so and we'll get to the bottom of it.I check this thread sometimes three times a day so please stick to this one.

Jeff Root is also keeping an eye on this one and between us we'll sort things out.message edited by Ewen. Ewen,I was having trouble seeing my replies to you on Tom's Guide and started new discussions because I thought something had happened to my contacting you.This morning I was going to ask you if I could reformat or wipe the external hard drives and if that would restore them to their original operation protocol. Does it matter which way I do it?

I do not have wipe software, but I have access to it if that would be better.I am with you that this process has gone on long enough and as I have said I am in the process of purchasing a new internal hard drive and cloning my existing one. Can I please ask you to explain that process to me i.e. Backup and restore to this new hard drive and is Macrium the best software to do the cloning?I am sort of reticent to use Macrium to perform this process since we have had such difficulty getting the issues resolved.have a good day, angelo. Ewen,A reply to my earlier reply. I took a chance and did a format on the ext.

I only formatted the System Reserve Partition on the drive. Now the system knows this drive is there, but I cannot access it when I click on Computer from the Start menu. Not being tech knowledgeable I am guessing that I deleted the FAT table. If this is the problem how do I gain access to the whole drive? When I went into formatting the drive letter was there (F:) and it showed 458gb of storage space available.any help please.angelo.

Something is badly amiss here. Provided the box for C: and the box for System Reserved (whichever drive letter is allocated) are ticked Macrium will make ONE back-up with a file namel (for example) F6EA9967FF0CC972-00-00.mrimg which is Macrium's default method of labelling.This is a short way to check its contents: double click on the file name and a small window appears in which you can allocate a drive letter to both C: and the System Restore. I always allocate letters at the end of the alphabet so as not to interfer with already allocated letters. Both drives will now appear in 'MY Computer' and the contents will appear for checking or copying. It really is that simple!If a partition has appeared then it has been made by means other than Macrium.

Ewen, Once again I had problems this AM replying to you using Tom's Guide. I wrote a reply to your latest thread and pressed submit and it said I was 1 step away which has happened before and I never seem to be able to submit it. So I am repeating it again.I have no access to the external hard drive thru the usual means. Nothing appears when I go into Start, Computer for that drive. I can find it when I use System, Control Panel (can't remember the next step) anyways it shows that it is there, but does not me to access it thru that process either. When I did the format on the external hard drive I used Microsoft's built in format routine on the partition labeled System Reserved. That partition looked like it was no longer there after the format.Does this mean the external hard drive is unusable now forever?

As I said, isn't there something right at the beginning of a hard drive that if is not there you cannot access the drive? Since I do not think it was corrupted and usually there is a backup on the hard drive itself if the first of these 2 what for lack of better term is a 'table' could this hard drive be made to accept data. Please let me know because I will have to get another external hard drive if necessary. Tom's Guide is affiliated to Computing.net, you are a member of computing.net and you should always post here and to this thread in particular.Now look at Jeff's post #35 this will take you to Computer Management. In computer Management you should see your C: drive and sharing the same boxed area is System Reserved and this is exactly as it should be and it will be shown as Disk 0. Under no circumstances should you remove the 'Reserved' partition because you will render your system un-bootable.In a boxed area beneath that should be a second boxed square labelled Disk 1and provided your external drive is connected to your computer it should be shown here.It should be shown as one complete partition with no divisions.

Provide this is the case then right click the drive and you will see a number of options, select 'Format' and follow the prompts. Format the drive as 'ntfs' and allow the format to allocate a drive letter.Once you have done that you should have a clean formatted and usable drive. Come back here (NOT TO TOM'S GUIDE) and tell us what you have achieved. Once we have a clean formatted drive we can start from scratch.

This problem has been worrying me with respect to the partition that Macrium may have made on your external drive. Did you at any time attempt to restore a back-up to the external drive?Two things may have happened here (1): you made a back-up and backed up only the System Reserved partition. (2): you restored the back-up to your external drive and in these circumstances Macrium would have created a partition named 'System Restore' and it would have been the only partition on the drive. The rest of the external drive may very well have been unusable although I'm not sure of that.On the off chance that this is what has happened format the drive according to Jeff's instructions in #35 and if there is anything you don't understand in this respect please say so and I'll make a tutorial for you using a spare drive I have here.message edited by Ewen. Ewen,I hope this reply goes because it seems Tom'Guide allows them and sometimes it comes back with your 'almost done' and yo have to log in which I try to do but then cannot fine the msg I typed.I want to sinceely thank you for all you have done about this issue. Harvey county dept of revenue hours ks. I did exactly as you suggested and formatted both external hard drives.

I actually backed up all my data on the bigger one using Microsoft backup thru Control Panel. I had problem with Microsoft backup in XP Pro when I converted to Windows 7 operating system. As I recall Windows 7 would not read the Pro backup. Given I do not intend to install a new operating system I hope this is okay. If you know of any reason not to trust the MS backup please let me know. If you have a backup other than Macrium to recommend please let me know.

My trust of Macrium in minimal.Here is my email: raminuti@fastmail.fm. If you want to communicate without tom's Guide please do so that way. I will then perhaps have your email to reply to.If you are ever in the US in the Denver, CO area, please contact me and we could get together if you have the time,angelogmessage edited by minuman.