Optane m10 and Macrium Reflect Free

[Cziv]

Hello.

I have read here several questions (and some answers) about Macrium Reflect Imaging restore and Intel Optane M10.

Still there is no real answer, i mean no official one.

If i have a FULL image of the disk (Optane Partition included) with Macrium Reflect and a boot recovery made by Macrium, can i safely restore the image if things go south ?

Also what exactly is stored at the "end" of the drive by Optane/RST ? Why at least 5+ mb are needed to be free ? I ask that because Macrium doesn't backup any of this unallocated space. So if Optane stores things in there, what will happen after a restore ?

I read some answers to disable Optane from a drive and them image it. But this is not easy to do, because most image and backups happen scheduled in daily/weekly/monhly basis.

Thanks

[AlHill]

I use Macrium on my nuc with optane. When I do a backup, I disable the optane, take the backup, and re-enable the optane. THen, I never have to worry about the HDD or the optane going bad or getting roached.

It is no trouble disabling and enabling the optane.

Doc

[Cziv]

@Al.Hill​ 

Sure this is the safest way. I wrote so myself.

But doing this manually each and every day (as i do) makes no sense. I can't ask this at Macrium forum, since they only allow registrations for Paid versions. Also you must disable to backup BUT also remember to disable to restore. A bit complicated ...

What i could do is try it myself, after having a backup stored. But the developers of Optane should know if it works or not. Because it is the same with Macrium, with Acronis etc etc. Same questions.

[Cziv]

Also, an image with Macrium can be "mounted" for view (and if selected to modify). Will that work with an Optane+disk image ?

Why can't we have an official reply about it ? Optane is SO HARD to install and setup and now so many questions without answers, that i doubt if this technology will be adopted by anyone but ITs.

[AlHill]

Well, for recovering files accidentally deleted, no problem.

But, what do you do when the HDD or the optane physically fail? If you have to backup every day, you may want to change your procedure to separate your data from the system drive, or whatever setup you have.

One of the problems with optane is the lack of trust of the configuration. When it works, it works great. When it fails, or the config is corrupted, that is when the frustration sets in.

Doc

[AlHill]

I think you need to test out the scenarios yourself. I have my procedure, and am happy with it. I would not trust much more.

Doc

[LeonWaksman]

1. I have prepared Disk Image with Optane Memory disabled (like Al is doing). This is backup of complete system. With Optane enabled, some part of the O.S. is copied to Optane memory. So, if you make disk backup with Optane Enabled, it is not complete system backup. In case of Optane memory failure, you will loose boot.
2. For daily backup of my data I'm using Windows File History function. You may use for this Macrium Reflect if you prefer. If I'll loose Optane memory module, I'll will restore My HDD from full backup. Then I will restore my data from File History Backup and reenable Optane on the new module.
3. If you want to perform test how the full backup with Macrium Reflect and Optane memory works, first disable Optane, perform full backup of your HDD with Optane disabled. Next restore system from backup taken before this test, with Optane enabled and see if it works (I'm not sure it will). If it will not work, restore your system from the backup taken with Optane disabled and enable Optane again.

Leon

[Cziv]

I started a test myself. I disabled optane from my disk. But then i was told that a disk needed to be taken care when in Windows Disk Manager and i was promted to select gpt or mbr for the Optane "disk", I did nothing.

So the question is what to image with Macrium ? And what to restore ? Include the Optane disk (it shows like a disk when disabled) or not ?

Very complicated procedure, i must say.

[LeonWaksman · Accepted solution]

Hi @Cziv​ 

Once the Optane Memory is disabled, you need take backup only of your HDD. This backup will give you possibility to restore your HDD in case that Optane Module fails. Important, please verify that the Optane is disabled after rebooting your computer. You may see the state of Optane in the Setup tab of Intel Optane Memory application. The contents of Optane Memory Module need not to be backup, since it is rewritten during reactivation of Optane Memory.

Leon