Solved Backup Software suggestions other than ACRONIS

winjer · Oct 6, 2021

Thanks. I tried Macrium (free) some time ago, but since it didn't do file backup I went back to Acronis. I'll look into Macrium Premium.

Quandary · Oct 6, 2021

I make image copies of my drives with MR7. When Restore is selected, click on a backup image, select Browse Image, select the file, and then it can be mounted as a virtual drive. You then have access to the files and folders.

winjer · Oct 6, 2021

Quandary,
Thanks. I'll try that.

CannonRebel · Oct 6, 2021

EaseUS has worked well for my computers over the years. I've preformed many backup and restores with it, my computers are all encrypted with Veracrypt, previously I was using Bitlocker, never a problem with EaseUS.

PerpetualCycle · Oct 6, 2021

winjer said:
Thanks. I tried Macrium (free) some time ago, but since it didn't do file backup I went back to Acronis. I'll look into Macrium Premium.

Just to be clear, the Home Edition includes files and other good things like encryption.

cereberus · Oct 7, 2021

geneo said:
Just to be clear, the Home Edition includes files and other good things like encryption.

No it does not have encryption.

Its main features are

1) Incremental Backups

2) Macrium Image Guardian which prevents hackers tampering with online backups

3) File and Folder Backup

4) Rapid Delta Restore (instead of restoring full image, it restores by difference). This is very fast.

5) Rapid Delta Cloning - similar to Rapid Delta Restore i.e. you can update an existing clone by difference.

PerpetualCycle · Oct 7, 2021

cereberus said:
No it does not have encryption.

Its main features are

1) Incremental Backups

2) Macrium Image Guardian which prevents hackers tampering with online backups

3) File and Folder Backup

4) Rapid Delta Restore (instead of restoring full image, it restores by difference). This is very fast.

5) Rapid Delta Cloning - similar to Rapid Delta Restore i.e. you can update an existing clone by difference.

OH Yes it does. I am encrypting my backups and I have home. That is the major reason I bought it.

Just look here:

Feature Comparison Chart - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

knowledgebase.macrium.com

Do you have even the home edition?

Bree · Oct 7, 2021

cereberus said:
No it does not have encryption.

Yes it does.

cereberus · Oct 7, 2021

Bree said:
Yes it does.

View attachment 9178

I stand corrected. Looking at it, it is not obvious to me if the whole backup is encrypted or just the password to access backip is protected. It seems to me like the password only is encrypted?

edit: looked at help text, and it is clearly only the password that is encrypted. I guess there is no point in encrypting image backup of you get round password encryption.

PerpetualCycle · Oct 7, 2021

cereberus said:
I stand corrected. Looking at it, it is not obvious to me if the whole backup is encrypted or just the password to access backip is protected. It seems to me like the password only is encrypted?

edit: looked at help text, and it is clearly only the password that is encrypted. I guess there is no point in encrypting image backup of you get round password encryption.

How can a file be protected by a password if it is not encrypted? There has to be something for the password to unlock, right? The whole backup file is encrypted in Macrium with the passowrd. The password is the encryption key and it is also stored encrypted using your windows credentials. All encryption has some form of key or password that you use to decrypt.

PerpetualCycle · Oct 7, 2021

Bree said:
Yes it does.

View attachment 9178

As I already stated.

cereberus · Oct 7, 2021

geneo said:
How can a file be protected by a password if it is not encrypted? There has to be something for the password to unlock, right? The whole backup file is encrypted in Macrium with the passowrd. The password is the encryption key and it is also stored encrypted using your windows credentials. All encryption has some form of key or password that you use to decrypt.

You miss the point I am making - the password is stored along with the file and is obviously encrypted so a hacker cannot use a bit editor to see the password as as plain text. The file is already compressed and hence not directly readable.

Bree · Oct 7, 2021

cereberus said:
You miss the point I am making - the password is stored along with the file and is obviously encrypted so a hacker cannot use a bit editor to see the password as as plain text. The file is already compressed and hence not directly readable.

So is the file itself encrypted as well?

It would seem that it's just the password.

AES 256 bit encryption is the highest level of encryption available.

Option Description
Enable password protection Enables protection of your image files.
Encrypt stored passwords Passwords saved in your backup definition will be encrypted.

Macrium Reflect Default settings - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

knowledgebase.macrium.com

cereberus · Oct 7, 2021

Bree said:
It would seem that it's just the password.

Macrium Reflect Default settings - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

knowledgebase.macrium.com

Yep - that is how interpret it. Same info on V8 site as well.

PerpetualCycle · Oct 7, 2021

Seriously guys, you are both dead wrong. I am surprised you do not understand this, though Macrium doesn't explain this in great depth, and I believe you can use a password protected image without encrypting it as an option, which is not that useful and muddies the waters.

Enable Password protection does encrypt the data as it is being written to the backup image.

Password

Add password protection to the resulting backup files. Choose between standard, medium, and high encryption. Each increasing level of encryption will require a stronger password.

and

Backup Defaults - Knowledgebase 8.0 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

knowledgebase.macrium.com

and

Password protection of Macrium images

forum.macrium.com

You choose the level of encryption that macrium will use to encrypt the backup file. This determines the length requirement of the password, since stronger encryption requires a longer key.

Encrypting the password is something entirely different. If you don't choose to encrypt the password you use to encrypt the backup. macrium will store that password in plain text in the xml definintion files for anyone to see. Encrypting the password stores it encrypted and you use your windows credentials (key or password) to reveal the password if you forget it.

cereberus · Oct 7, 2021

geneo said:
Seriously guys, you are both dead wrong. I am surprised you do not understand this, though Macrium doesn't explain this in great depth, and I believe you can use a password protected image without encrypting it as an option, which is not that useful and muddies the waters.

Enable Password protection does encrypt the data as it is being written to the backup image.

Password Add password protection to the resulting backup files. Choose between standard, medium, and high encryption. Each increasing level of encryption will require a stronger password.

and

Backup Defaults - Knowledgebase 8.0 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

knowledgebase.macrium.com

and

Password protection of Macrium images

forum.macrium.com

You choose the level of encryption that macrium will use to encrypt the backup file. This determines the length requirement of the password, since stronger encryption requires a longer key.

Encrypting the password is something entirely different. If you don't choose to encrypt the password you use to encrypt the backup. macrium will store that password in plain text in the xml definintion files for anyone to see. Encrypting the password stores it encrypted and you use your windows credentials (key or password) to reveal the password if you forget it.

Ok fair enough but the knowledge base article does not actually say the file is encrypted but it is clear from the post threads it is. In the end, the knowledge base article is not well written, and can easily be misinterpreted.

PerpetualCycle · Oct 7, 2021

As for why you would want to encrypt your backup, it protects against:

1. Theft of removable media with offline backups on it
2. theft of backups stored on an online system that has been compromised.

In either case the thief could mount the image and hack away at your system at their leisure.

PerpetualCycle · Oct 7, 2021

cereberus said:
Ok fair enough but the knowledge base article does not actually say the file is encrypted but it is clear from the post threads it is. In the end, the knowledge base article is not well written, and can easily be misinterpreted.

Yes, I realize now it is not clear I agree, I just have been using it for a long while and was not aware of the sparse information available about it. And, there is apparently also the case you mentioned: password protected without image encryption, in which the password is encrypted and stored in the unencrypted image file and macrium software doesn't grant access to it unless you enter the password. This protection can be circumvented by macrium software that has been hacked to bypass the check for instance.

EDIT: I should add that the encryption is pretty fast. With it enabled I get about 200+ MB/s between SSD (128 bit encryption, I should go to 192). Modern processors include AES encryption instructions that help speed encryption up - another reason you might want a more modern processor for security performance.

jvickers · Oct 12, 2021

Well, everyone has convinced me to give Macrium Reflect a whirl. I bought the perpetual license. Acronis is just frustrating me recently. It seems to never do what I tell it to do - like back up my dadgummed hard disks.

In any event, I am over it. It has frustrated me for the last time. I figured you are all greater minds, so I'll make a switch.