Is it possible to add password to Macrium Reflect image after it was created ? and how many incremental I should take before full backup ?

Is it possible to add password to Macrium Reflect image after it was created ? and how many incremental I should take before take another full backup ?

1. I don't believe it is possible to password protect an existing backup file.
2. The number of incremental backups in a chain is a matter of balancing risk (one of the elements of the chain becoming corrupt) which increases with each addition against the gains in disk space and time from the smaller backups. I personally use incremental backups very sparingly and prefer to use differentials as the chain is only ever 2. I do full backups every Saturday and differentials on all other days. Incremental backups are only done manually on special occasions. For instance my daily differential is timed to be just before the monthly Microsoft update on Patch Tuesday. I will do an incremental after the update so I don't have to redo the update if I need to restore. I will also take an incremental immediately before doing anything I regard as risky, or time consuming to unpick.

You really need to analyse your own needs and risks to come up with a plan for your situation.

I hope this is helpful.

William654 said:

Is it possible to add password to Macrium Reflect image after it was created ? and how many incremental I should take before take another full backup ?

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Check the second post in the link below by "jphugham" dated February 22, 2022. Maybe things have changed since then, but as of that date it appears you cannot add a password after the fact.


The answer regarding incremental backups posted by "kado897" is excellent.

I run a full on the first of the month, A differential every Monday & Incremental Tues to Fri. Never had problems.

Bastet said:

I run a full on the first of the month, A differential every Monday & Incremental Tues to Fri. Never had problems.

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That works too, the incremental chains are not too long.

Sir_George said:

The answer regarding incremental backups posted by "kado897" is excellent.

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I dont see this answer by kado897

William654 said:

....how many incremental I should take before take another full backup ?

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... to add to what @kado897 said, if you are scheduling your backups it is possible to use a strategy called 'Synthetic Full / Incrementals forever' in which the Incrementals are periodically consolidated into a new 'Full'.


It is also possible to manually consolidate your backup set.

I do a Full backup on Sunday, followed by daily incrementals

William654 said:

I dont see this answer by kado897

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It's 2. on post #2 Is it possible to add password to Macrium Reflect image after it was created ? and how many incremental I should take before full backup ?

William654 said:

I dont see this answer by kado897

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That was in post #2

kado897 said:

It's 2. on post #2 Is it possible to add password to Macrium Reflect image after it was created ? and how many incremental I should take before full backup ?

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I thought in the link he provided :)

Bree said:

... to add to what @kado897 said, if you are scheduling your backups it is possible to use a strategy called 'Synthetic Full / Incrementals forever' in which the Incrementals are periodically consolidated into a new 'Full'.

Retention and consolidation - Knowledgebase 8.0 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

knowledgebase.macrium.com

It is also possible to manually consolidate your backup set.

Standalone backup set consolidation - Knowledgebase 8.0 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

knowledgebase.macrium.com

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I have used that on a couple of File & Folder backups. It seems to work well. I chose a 14 incremental chain in this which is a bit more than I am comfortable with but I also use FreeFileSync for that to two different targets so with 3 backups I'm not too concerned.