What Is an MRIMG File?

A Macrium Reflect disc image is a backup of a hard drive

By
Tim Fisher
Photo of Tim Fisher, Lifewire GM and Writer
Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University
Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the VP and General Manager of Lifewire.
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Updated on November 4, 2022

What to Know

  • An MRIMG file is a disc image that serves as a backup of a hard drive.
  • The Macrium Reflect backup software creates and opens this file.

This article explains what an MRIMG file is and how to use one on your computer.

What Is an MRIMG File?

A file with the MRIMG file extension is a disc image file created by the Macrium Reflect backup software for the purpose of storing an exact copy of a hard drive.

An MRIMG file may be built so that the files can be restored to the same drive in the future so that you can look through the files via a virtual disk on a different computer, or used to copy all the contents of one hard drive onto another.

Depending on the options that were selected when the file was made, it may be a full copy of a disk that includes even the unused sectors, or it might just hold the sectors that contained information. It may also be compressed, password-protected, and encrypted.

How to Open an MRIMG File

This file type is created by, and therefore also opened with, Macrium Reflect. Double-click the file to open it and browse the backup, or follow these steps to open it from within the program.

  1. Select Restore from the menu at the top of Macrium Reflect, and choose Browse for an image or backup file to restore.

    Selecting to browse for an image file in Macrium Reflect.

  2. Browse for the MRIMG file, select it, and choose Open.

  3. Select Browse, and then OK on the prompt, to mount the MRIMG file as a virtual drive in order to look through it and copy out specific files/folders that you want to restore.

    Macrium Reflect backup selection prompt

Dismounting an MRIMG file can be accomplished through the program's Restore > Detach Image menu.

To actually restore the contents of the MRIMG file back to their original location instead of just browsing through the virtual drive, select Restore to choose the destination.

You can not make any changes to the files that are inside an MRIMG file. If you're mounting it as a virtual drive, you can copy files out and even temporarily make changes to them (if you choose to make it writable), but none of the changes are sustained once you unmount the file.

Still Can't Open the File?

One of the simplest reasons for why a file won't open with a program that it should clearly work with is because the file isn't really in a format that's supported by the program. This might be the case if you've misread the file extension.

For example, at first glance, the MRML file extension looks a lot like it says MRIMG, but that file won't work with Macrium Reflect. MRML files are actually XML-based scene description files created and used by 3D Slicer to render 3D medical images.

The best thing to do if you've tried all of the above to mount or open your file is to make sure that it's really an MRIMG file. If it's not, then research its actual file extension to learn which programs can be used to open or convert it.

FAQ
  • How do I update my MRIMG backup?

    The best way to make sure you have the most up-to-date version of your files is to schedule automatic backups with the Macrium Reflect. You can set up Macrium Reflect to overwrite the backup file with your most recent changes.

  • What is Macrium Image Guardian?

    Macrium Image Guardian secures backups with a code signature, preventing unauthorized deletion or changes. The Image Guardian tool is built into Macrium Reflect.

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