It can be useful to independently consolidate multiple files in a backup set into a single (or fewer) files. This helps to conserve disk space and can be used when archiving your backups to optimize the number of backups being archived.
Independent consolidations can be run without creating a backup or launching Macrium Reflect by running a small utility Macrium Image Consolidation:
Using Macrium Image Consolidation
Launch 'consolidate.exe' by double clicking in Windows Explorer.
Macrium Image Consolidation: is a standalone executable that does not require installing
| Area | Description | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enter the 'From' backup file for the consolidation process, or click '...' to browse. This is usually the Full backup, ending in '00-00.mrimg', but can be an Incremental file.
| ||||||
| 2. | Enter the 'To' file for the consolidation process, or click '...' to browse. This must be in the same backup set as 1. and must have been created after the backup in 1. Click 'Consolidate' to begin the consolidation process. | ||||||
| 3. | Basic information about the backup files. | ||||||
| 4. | The output Window. This is populated after clicking 'Consolidate' and contains detailed information about the consolidation process. |
Restrictions when choosing the 'From' and 'To' backup files.
Each file must be from the same backup set. See How backup sets are created and maintained for more information on sets.
The following is shown in the output window on error:From and To files are from a different backup set.
The 'To' file must have been created after the from file.
The following is shown in the output window on error:From file is more recent than the To file
The backup set cannot contain any Differential backups.
The following is shown in the output window on error:The backup set contains Differential backups