Looking for a Replacement for Macrium Reflect Free

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for recommendations for backup software to replace Macrium Reflect Free in the near future.

Creating system images still works for now, but mounting images has become much more difficult since Microsoft added the psmounterex.sys driver to the Windows 11 driver blocklist. I expect these issues to become even more common in the future.

My requirements for a replacement are:

• Full system backup with subsequent differential backups
• Ability to mount backup images and access individual files
• Option to exclude specific folders from the backup
• Free to use
• Ability to restore a system backup to different hardware/another SSD

I could live without the last feature if necessary.

So far I've tested Hasleo Backup Suite Free and AOMEI Backupper Pro.

Unfortunately, the free version of Hasleo doesn't allow users to define their own folder exclusions. That makes it unusable for me, as the backup ended up being more than twice the size of the one created with Macrium.

AOMEI Backupper Pro doesn't even offer folder exclusions for system backups. That option is only available for file backups.

Are there any other programs that meet these requirements and are worth trying?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Haselo Backup Suite Free

justswitch said:

Unfortunately, the free version of Hasleo doesn't allow users to define their own folder exclusions.

Click to expand...

Yes you can even in free version.

Click the drop down arrow on the far right of filter type which will give you more options one is folder path.



Select folder path then click on the folder icon on the far right and you can select a folder.

I am going to try open source Rescuezilla on a Ventoy USB stick; since in the event of a crash where even the recovery partition is locked, the bootable USB is said to allow recovery with either an saved image of clone.

While I don't normally do a full system backup, I have been using Hasleo Free to backup the important files and folders on my system for almost the past year. Every time I needed to reinstall and restore the files, I've had zero issues with Hasleo regardless if it was a full restore for a clean install or just a folder or two for files that I needed.

KevTech said:

Yes you can even in free version.

Click the drop down arrow on the far right of filter type which will give you more options one is folder path.

View attachment 175420

Select folder path then click on the folder icon on the far right and you can select a folder.

View attachment 175421

Click to expand...

No, this is not working. You just made only the first two steps. The third step is to click on "add your filter to the list".
And then at the buttom a text appears that you can't add personal filters in the free version of Haselo Backup Suite.

justswitch said:

My requirements for a replacement

• Ability to restore a system backup to different hardware/another SSD

I could live without the last feature if necessary.

Click to expand...

For me, that is the most important feature of a backup program. If it is not able to restore an image of a failed SSD to a new SSD, it is worthless. If you're looking for a free solution, I would go with Hasleo. I looked at AOMEI free and others and didn't really care for them.. For me, I place a very high value on my data. I use a Macrium X 4-pack subscription at 1/2 price, which is currently $49.99 per year, which amounts to $1 per month per machine.

"............the backup ended up being more than twice the size of the one created with Macrium........."

Somewhat surprised to hear that. I used free Macrium for over 10 years and have been on free Hasleo for about a year.

In my experience, full Hasleo images are roughly 75 percent of the size of Macrium images. I use the default compression levels. My most recent Hasleo image file is about 27 gb, representing a C partition of 60 to 70 gb. An equivalent Macrium image would have been circa 35 to 40 gb.

Do your files contain an unusual concentration of particular file types? My images do not contain any personal data files....just system files and various installed applications. I'm just trying to understand why we have different experiences.

@Fishmill
Macrium has set folder exclusions that's why the backup is much smaller.
In Hasleo Free I can't set folder exclusions and so it's just a complete system backup which needs much more space.

justswitch said:

Macrium has set folder exclusions that's why the backup is much smaller.
In Hasleo Free I can't set folder exclusions and so it's just a complete system backup which needs much more space.

Click to expand...

What folders were you excluding with MR, and how would you deal with them not being restored if a recovery was performed? Is it possible to move them to another drive. That is what I did with my OneDrive folder that was in \user\OneDrive.

Your decisions come down to paying for the Home version (a couple cups of coffee) or having a larger Full backup (maybe once a month). If there is activity with those folders that cannot be excluded then the Incrementals could be larger, but then maybe they are important and should be backed up.

justswitch said:

And then at the buttom a text appears that you can't add personal filters in the free version of Haselo Backup Suite.

Click to expand...

Yes I see that now.
If it is important to you then just pay for home as it is half price right now.

justswitch said:

@Fishmill
Macrium has set folder exclusions that's why the backup is much smaller.
In Hasleo Free I can't set folder exclusions and so it's just a complete system backup which needs much more space.

Click to expand...

In Hasleo (free), you can change the "compression" used when making a backup.
Try a compression about midway between full compression and no compression.

Consider buying Reflect X unless you are fond of free Chinese software

Quandary said:

What folders were you excluding with MR, and how would you deal with them not being restored if a recovery was performed? Is it possible to move them to another drive. That is what I did with my OneDrive folder that was in \user\OneDrive.

Your decisions come down to paying for the Home version (a couple cups of coffee) or having a larger Full backup (maybe once a month). If there is activity with those folders that cannot be excluded then the Incrementals could be larger, but then maybe they are important and should be backed up.

Click to expand...

Excluded are the folder Steam, Dropbox, Google Android Emulator, a folder with programming stuff and a personal folder where I put in large files I'm working on like video files that are not needed in a backup.
The excluded folders and the files in it are not needed in a backup because I can download them again or they are already saved somewhere else too.
I just have one SSD in the system and I don't really want to mess with the current partition scheme. It's already parted into a three system boot system.
A private Win11 Pro installation, a Win11 Pro for college and a Linux test system.

@Ghot
I had already set the settings to the highest compression level, if that's what you mean. I do that for all the backups I create.

@ Steve C
I'm not a fan of Chinese software either, but unfortunately, Macrium Reflect is no longer available for purchase. I avoid subscription-based software entirely.
That's a trend I don't want to support.


Thanks for all the replies so far. It looks like I'll have to stick with Macrium Reflect Free for the time being.
For Hasleo, I'd need one license for my desktop PC and another one for my laptop. That would cost €94 for two lifetime licenses. For about the same price, I could get the Family Pack instead, which would obviously be the better option than buying two individual licenses.
Unfortunately, as a student I can't just spend €94 on software, so I'll have to wait a bit longer.

Hasleo Bachup Suite is free, you do not need the paid version. This is for enterprise customers and offers very few additional features.

If you were to temporarily make those folders 'hidden', they would be excluded from the Hasleo backups.

I'm sure AI could write a script for you that would mark any desired folders hidden, perform a Hasleo backup and then mark them as not hidden. ChatGPT has written many scripts for me. I can view the New York Times, Washington Post and TheTimes without pointless stock photos, images and videos, and I can enter °C and °F into any text box with ease; all thanks to AI-generated scripts.

kelper said:

I'm sure AI could write a script for you

Click to expand...

Speaking of scripting, while it is not a free product, I have become a huge fan of Drive Snapshot.


It doesn't have a fancy UI, just a very basic UI. Where it excels is in scripting and command-line usage. If you want to script backup operations, this is an absolute killer app. Yes, there is a learning curve, but at least for me, spending some time to get to know it is absolutely worth the time spent.

I have scripts setup for a number of my systems that allow me far greater flexibility than then standard scheduling found in many backup programs.

NOTE: Yes, I am aware that some programs like Macrium reflect allow you to easily convert your backup definition files into a script as well. For that reason, I still use Reflect on my most important systems, I just wanted to point out this program because I don't see it mentioned frequently but I find it to be such a great tool. It's especially good on a rescue disk because all that it requires is a single .exe file and it will work not only within Windows but from Win RE or Win PE recue media as well. It makes no registry changes and is fully portable.