Managing Backup Files
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      1. Macrium Reflect LTSC
      2. Imaging, Cloning, & File and Folder Backups
      3. Managing Backup Files

      Verifying Backup Files

      - What is Backup Verification?

      - Selecting Backups to Verify

      - Verifying Backups

      What is Backup Verification?

      When backups are created, an MD5 hash is created for each block of data after it is read from the source disk, and before it is written to the destination disk, and then stored in the index of the backup file. When a backup is verified, each block has the MD5 hash recalculated and compared to the hash that is stored in the index. If any of the recalculated hashes are different from the hash that is stored in the index of the backup, it indicates that the data in the backup has changed since it was read from the source disk during backup creation; this is also known as backup corruption.

      Selecting Backups to Verify

      Backups can be verified through the 'Existing Backup' tab of Macrium Reflect. The 'Image' or 'File and Folder' tab should be selected depending on the type of backup that will be verified:

      Macrium Reflect will search recent backup locations for backup files and display them on the 'Existing Backups' tab. If the backup that will be verified is not currently visible in the 'Existing Backups' tab additional paths can be searched by using the 'Edit' button:

      In the window that opens, enter the path to the backup and then select 'Add to list'.

      After selecting 'OK' any backups found in the path will be displayed in the 'Existing Backups' tab.

      Alternatively, backup files can be found using Windows Explorer by selecting 'Browse for an image file...':

      In the Explorer window that opens, navigate to where the backup file(s) are located, select the backup that will be verified then select 'Open':

      The entire backup set will then be displayed on the 'Existing Backups' tab.

      Verifying Backups

      Select the backup that will be verified, then select 'Verify':

      In the window that opens, additional options for the verification can be specified:

      Option Description
      Automatically attempt repair

      If this option is selected and corruption is detected in a data block included in the backup, the current live file system is checked to see if it contains the original data. If the original data block is found then the image file is repaired by replacing the corrupt data.


      If this option is not selected and corruption is detected and the current live file system contains the original data then the following message box is shown to either cancel the verification or repair the data:
      image2020-3-17_11-52-14.png
      Select 'Repeat for all' to repair subsequent blocks automatically.
      Verify just this Incremental/Differential

      Since incremental and differential backups are appended to previous backups in the backup set, data may need to be restored from multiple backups when restoring the selected backup file in the future.

      By default, all the relevant data from previous backups in the backup set will also be verified to ensure that the selected incremental/differential backup can be restored. If this option is selected, only the selected incremental/differential backup will be verified.