Solved Macrium Reflect Ends free version

Badger said:

Yes, and it also just happens to be the 2nd most popular backup program used by this community.

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AOMEI is a good tool but it is rather inflexible in some areas. My biggest issue with AOMEI is as follows.

My main drive consists of

1) EFI
2) MSR
3) C drive
4) Recovery Partition
5) Data Partition.

I always image back up partitions 1 to 4 backing up partition 5 a different way as only data.

Problem is if I choose to a disk partition, it also backs up partition 5.

I can do a partition backup and backup partitions 1 to 4 in one go. However when I want to restore partitions, you can only restore one at a time whereas I want to restore all four at same time. It is a real pain having to restore one at a time.

The closest I can get to is to do a system backup which backs up partition 1, 3 and 4 in my setup but ignores partition 2. Of course partition 2 is not needed and never changes, so is not a big deal, and you can recreate it easily enough.

So not a major issue in my current setup BUT if I was to add another partition say partition 6 which I did want to backup in the image, I would only be able to use partition backup and restore one at a time.

Easeus Todo has the same design for its partition backups.

What is worse (in both) is you cannot do do a disk backup and just restore say 1 or two partitions.
Macrium Reflect does not make any distinction between disk backups or partition backups.
So, although maybe a little bit harder for beginners as user has to choose which to backup to some degree, but you have more flexibilty i.e. you can backup all partitions but select multiple partitions but not necessarily all of them to restore.

The other major weakness is reordering partitions is not that easy on AOEMEI or EASEUS, especially when cloning to different size drives.

With a few modest tweaks to AOMEI or EASUS, they could get pretty close to Macrium Reflect Free in terms of flexibility,

Regrettably, as Paramount are pulling out from the free version of Macrium Reflect, I do agree AOMEI is the next best option, but it is less flexible overall.

This is all good information. With the little bit of testing I have done I find nothing comes close to Macrium.
It is the only one I can use easily.

Existing Free Version users

In the end, a happy user of free Reflect version has 3 choices:

1) Continue to use final release beyond end of support date accepting one day it might break (low probability but not zero - many still happily use V7 for example).

2) Use another tool like AOMEI or EASEUS free version - ok for basic use but not as flexible as Reflect generally. These versions do tend to be easier for beginners though.

3) Buy a paid version of Reflect. They offer 20% discounts periodically and last few years on Black Fridays, you got 50% off and could buy a 4 licence pack for approx £50 (great deal) or a single licence for approx £25.

Of course no guarantee they will do this in future but as Free version ceases to be supported beyond next January, no need to make an instant decision i.e. wait till Black Friday, see what deal is offered and decide what to do then.

Virtually everybody on this forum who has bought the paid version consider it is a well worth investment due to excellent features such as Macrium Image Guardian and Rapid Delta Restore. In the end, the old adage "You get what you pay for" applies.'


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New users


Of course, it is a bit trickier for new users beyond EOL, as they will probably have to rely on 3rd party sites to download a free version. It will be harder to persuade a new person to buy a paid version of Reflect as they have have no experience of app and would be reluctant to pay.

I do not really buy the "there is a free trial argument" as it takes time to learn how to use more advanced features of Reflect proficently, and also it could be months before you really need to use it in anger.

In the end, the most crucial point with new users is persuading them to do image backups in the first place, and I guess these persons will end up using AOMEI or Easeus free versions (or other similar tools), and most will be lost to the Reflect "ecosphere" for ever.

I will Google or use the Macrium forum to learn about Macrium Image Guardian and Rapid Delta Restore now that I paid.
I do not know if they are an automatic feature or if you initialize them but will find out. This whole discussion about free vs paid came as a result of so many people using Macrium free and having to find a replacement. Ultimately, some will, but I feel most will be disappointed with other choices and pay. I think the sooner the better.

Maranna said:

I will Google or use the Macrium forum to learn about Macrium Image Guardian and Rapid Delta Restore now that I paid.
I do not know if they are an automatic feature or if you initialize them but will find out. This whole discussion about free vs paid came as a result of so many people using Macrium free and having to find a replacement. Ultimately, some will, but I feel most will be disappointed with other choices and pay. I think the sooner the better.

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You have to positively install Macrium Image Guardian. It simply prevents hackers accessing your image files. The only way you can access them to copy/delete them etc is to use the Macrium Reflect GUI. Once installed, you can turn it on or off.

I cannot remember if MIG is installed by default or if you have to select it, but it is easy to install by running the installer again e.g. if you chose not to install it originally.

Rapid Delta Restore (RDR) is an awesome feature. If you decide to restore a backup over an existing installation (provided partition layout has not changed), it (in effect) compares the image with the installation, and only restores the differences rather than the whole image.

It takes around 5 minutes typically to restore an image on my pc (with fast nvme drive) if RDR is off. With RDR on, it usually takes about 1 minute. RDR is on by default.

None of the Paid versions of the most common competitors have this feature, although a lesser known one (Casper) has a similar feature.

Ok thank you. Will get to it.

cereberus said:

You have to positively install Macrium Image Guardian. It simply prevents hackers accessing your image files. The only way you can access them to copy/delete them etc is to use the Macrium Reflect GUI. Once installed, you can turn it on or off.

I cannot remember if MIG is installed by default or if you have to select it, but it is easy to install by running the installer again e.g. if you chose not to install it originally.

Rapid Delta Restore (RDR) is an awesome feature. If you decide to restore a backup over an existing installation (provided partition layout has not changed), it (in effect) compares the image with the installation, and only restores the differences rather than the whole image.

It takes around 5 minutes typically to restore an image on my pc (with fast nvme drive) if RDR is off. With RDR on, it usually takes about 1 minute. RDR is on by default.

None of the Paid versions of the most common competitors have this feature, although a lesser known one (Casper) has a similar feature.

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Yes, as I recall MIG is installed by default.

Good job I have a lifetime free licence for EaseUS then! Courtesy of this forum. I've been very happy with it. Piece of cake to use as well.

I will stay with Macrium free until the time down the road when MS comes out with a new version that is incompatible with it. As long as it works fine without any new updates, I'll stay.

Macrium Image Guardian and Rapid Delta Restore - I am glad cererberus put me on to these. I also like that Macrium has bases in the USA .

Another one bits the dust, like they say nothing good last forever, oh well. I guess I will give this one a try now and see how they are

2023 Completely Free Windows Backup Software for Windows 11/10/8/7 - Hasleo Backup Suite Free

For some reason windows 11 gave me a warning not to install for what ever reason but I ignored and when installed anyways, seem to backup pretty good, to each, them own