Solved Latest Macrium Reflect updates

Haydon said:

Well, I hope so, but if it was all so benign, why the recent flurry of updates?

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Because we had a major update from V8.0 to 8.1 largely designed to improve performance of the backups.

I have tested Reflect against other well known tools, and it was certainly lagging behind competitors in backup speeds.

As I said, most of bugs are performance related. Providing the backup completes, there is not a single case to suggest the backup is not sound, and you can check that by doing a restore e.g. to a vhdx file, use viboot etc.

We always recommend that a user makes a backup before installing new software or upgrading existing software. The same applies to Reflect backups (deliciously ironic perhaps lol).

I do an image backup (full or incremental) before upgrading, then just do the update (keeping previous working iso as an insurance), then test it.

I think I have only seen one case in over 5 years where the restore failed, and even then I could use the previous restore.

The problem with waiting, is the new version may have fixed a bug that you have not necessarily yet encountered.
To me the "wait" attitude is wooly thinking.

No matter what I do, my philosophy is ALWAYS:

"Image Backup, do update, test it, revert if any issues".

" the recent flurry of updates "...................very slowly Im beginning to lose my faith in Macrium , begins to look like the MS-updates , with all these bugs and errors lately !

pietcorus2 said:

" the recent flurry of updates "...................very slowly Im beginning to lose my faith in Macrium , begins to look like the MS-updates , with all these bugs and errors lately !

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Did you read my previous post?

Long term users of Reflect know you get a flurry of updates after a major change (8.1 now) and things settle down.

Unlike MS, Paramount is only a small company and it is unrealistic to think they will pick up every (generally minor) bug. However, where Paramount scores big time over competitors is the speed it takes to fix bugs.

I will never use pox ridden Acronis again, as they would take months to fix a bug, and you often only got the fix if you paid for the upgrade.

Acronis sucks , only the versions of a few years ago are reliable.................

It's not a matter of losing faith, IMHO, it's a matter of how to best work with the way the vendor works.

With the way MS works, I wait for 3 years before I upgrade my production machine until things settle down. Although, I don't wait to upgrade my 'fun' machines.

With the way MR/Paramount works, and considering how important backup is, I would now wait until things settle down, probably less than 3 years

I always get the offers to update very soon, sometimes within the hour of the release, no problems so far, but the recent flurry of updates makes me wary, YMMV.

pietcorus2 said:

Acronis sucks , only the versions of a few years ago are reliable.................

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I use Acronis True Image 2021 weekly (at least, sometimes nightly) and I have had no problems with either backups or restores. I have a lot of experience with the restoration process since I like to tweak my system settings and behavior a lot and this often leads to functionality problems on the PC. So I perform Acronis restores quite often and I have had no problems to date.

I don't know why you think Acronis "sucks". Perhaps you could elucidate.

- bob

Also, MR/Paramount apparently works differently in different phases of the product development cycle. 'Get the bug fix out the door as quickly as possible' should really be the rare exception.

Adopting 'get the bug fix out the door as quickly as possible' as a matter of general policy throughout the entire product development cycle would be piddle poor management. No company would survive that.

Edit: I don't advocate long intervals either, monthly updates appears to be common and good

Haydon said:

Also, MR/Paramount apparently works differently in different phases of the product development cycle. 'Get the bug fix out the door as quickly as possible' should really be the rare exception.

Adopting 'get the bug fix out the door as quickly as possible' as a matter of general policy throughout the entire product development cycle would be piddle poor management. No company would survive that.

Edit: I don't advocate long intervals either, monthly updates appears to be common and good

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Nah - fix them fast is the best policy.

I see no reason to change the way updates are released.

You can skip updates if you wish if you find it too inconvenient - nobody is forcing you to update.

Problem with the naysayers is that they love to say "wait" but that is lazy and selfish really expecting others to do the "dirty work".

As I said, if you have a working backup, what is the risk of trying an upgrade, knowing you can revert? In the end it all comes down to time.

I am willing to invest time to ensure a quality product.

If naysayers cannot be bothered, then I will laugh my a##e off when they get screwed by a bug that has been fixed.

cereberus said:

Nah - fix them fast is the best policy.

I see no reason to change the way updates are released.

You can skip updates if you wish if you find it too inconvenient - nobody is forcing you to update.

Problem with the naysayers is that they love to say "wait" but that is lazy and selfish really expecting others to do the "dirty work".

As I said, if you have a working backup, what is the risk of trying an upgrade, knowing you can revert? In the end it all comes down to time.

I am willing to invest time to ensure a quality product.

If naysayers cannot be bothered, then I will laugh my a##e off when they get screwed by a bug that has been fixed.

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What I was saying was that MR/Paramount does have well-paced updates when things have settled down but not well-paced updates after a big revision.

And the reaction to the latter? Some people like to be on the bleeding edge, others don't, no need for name calling.

Me? Depends! For 'fun' the answer is yes, I am 'sometimes' on the bleeding edge. But for 'backup' the answer is no, I better not be on the bleeding edge.

Stigg said:

Has anyone tested v8.1.7401 yet?

Macrium Reflect Patch Details

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I installed it last night. My daily incremental for the system drive went fine and the weekly backup of the big guy on the router is chugging along fine.

Yes , did not encounter any bugs with this latest version ( so far ).............

Stigg said:

Has anyone tested v8.1.7401 yet?

Macrium Reflect Patch Details

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Installed update day it was offered. Have made a half-dozen or so backups, and the same number of restores, since then -- with no issues.

Just finished installing Insider Canary when this showed up for MR Free edition, I thought they said there will be no 8.1 Free ?

CountMike said:

Just finished installing Insider Canary when this showed up for MR Free edition, I thought they said there will be no 8.1 Free ?

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There is no 8.1 Free, looks like your Canary build has confused ReflectUpdater.exe into thinking you have v8.1 installed. On a 22621 retail build Reflect Free v8.0 still says there are no updates.

Well, it did install, doing backup right now.

CountMike said:

Well, it did install, doing backup right now.

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If it has installed v8.1, then check in 'Help > About Macrium Reflect' what version you now have. The only 'free' version 8.1 is the 30 day Home Trial version which after the end of the trial will only allow you to do restores.

Unlike v8.0 Trial which reverted to v8.0 Free at the end of 30 days, v8.1 reverts to a 'RESTORE ONLY' version.

Bree said:

If it has installed v8.1, then check in 'Help > About Macrium Reflect' what version you now have. The only 'free' version 8.1 is the 30 day Home Trial version which after the end of the trial will only allow you to do restores.

Unlike v8.0 Trial which reverted to v8.0 Free at the end of 30 days, v8.1 reverts to a 'RESTORE ONLY' version.

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Doing backup right now , will see when it finishes, About did show 8.1 but at top it say 8.0.7280
Checked About and it say 8.0.7279 wtf ?

CountMike said:

Doing backup right now , will see when it finishes, About did show 8.1 but at top it say 8.0.7280
Checked About and it say 8.0.7279 wtf ?

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Sounds like something, somewhere, has got very confused. Have you restated since the update (or not) to v8.1?

If somehow you have ended up with v8.1 Trial you may want to uninstall it and reinstall Reflect Free v8.0. You can still get the installer direct from Macrium using the Reflect Free Download Agent

Bree said:

Sounds like something, somewhere, has got very confused. Have you restated since the update (or not) to v8.1?

If somehow you have ended up with v8.1 Trial you may want to uninstall it and reinstall Reflect Free v8.0. You can still get the installer direct from Macrium using the Reflect Free Download Agent

Click to expand...

Bree said:

Sounds like something, somewhere, has got very confused. Have you restated since the update (or not) to v8.1?

If somehow you have ended up with v8.1 Trial you may want to uninstall it and reinstall Reflect Free v8.0. You can still get the installer direct from Macrium using the Reflect Free Download Agent

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Yeah, finished backup and restarted again and now About shows as it should, 8.0.7279 just as on top,