Macrium Reflect v10

Bree · Oct 22, 2024

BrianInEngland said:
I guess the 'primary' MAC address is the LAN, I bet if I disabled that I'd get a licence error.

Yep, that does it....

A perpetual licence for Reflect Home v8.1 doesn't care whether the Ethernet adapter is enabled or not.

BrianInEngland · Oct 22, 2024

Bree said:
Yep, that does it....

View attachment 113546

A perpetual licence for Reflect Home v8.1 doesn't care whether the Ethernet adapter is enabled or not.

So I'm guessing that the Virtual LAN driver installed with VBox changes the primary MAC address.
Macrium obviously changed the way activations work with version X

It's kinda funny that disabling the LAN doesn't throw a Windows activation error!

Bree · Oct 22, 2024

BrianInEngland said:
Macrium obviously changed the way activations work with version X

...or changed it for subscription vs. perpetual licences. If so a v8 subscription would also fail on disabling the Ethernet controller. I don't have one of those to check....

Froggie · Oct 22, 2024

I believe it all depends on configuration. With VMware I can "bridge" the VM (using a VM adapter MAC) or use the host's adapter's MAC. What matters is not whether the adapter is disabled or not... it matters whether it's even in the machine at all (bridged from a VM would only show the bridged adapter).

I don't know all the VirtualBox options available... I gave up on that a few versions back.

BrianInEngland · Oct 22, 2024

Bree said:
...or changed it for subscription vs. perpetual licences. If so a v8 subscription would also fail on disabling the Ethernet controller. I don't have one of those to check....

Macrium site says about

Froggie said:
I believe it all depends on configuration. With VMware I can "bridge" the VM (using a VM adapter MAC) or use the host's adapter's MAC. What matters is not whether the adapter is disabled or not... it matters whether it's even in the machine at all (bridged from a VM would only show the bridged adapter).

I don't know all the VirtualBox options available... I gave up on that a few versions back.

I installed it using Host-only networking and it de-activated Macrium licence.

Bree · Oct 22, 2024

Bree said:
...or changed it for subscription vs. perpetual licences. If so a v8 subscription would also fail on disabling the Ethernet controller.

Yes, Reflect Home v8 subscriptions also have the same issue.

it happened again after I temporarily moved my laptop to another dock (with its own Ethernet adapter). So it seems like Macrium is still incorrectly using MAC addresses as a unique machine identifier, though maybe with different logic—that's really disappointing if it's the case.

Wow. After reiterating to support for the third time that yes, I've disabled "use random hardware addresses", and explaining that the issue is that Reflect gets confused when I plug my laptop into a different Ethernet dock, they got back to me with:

> This is not a bug, but rather an issue with your hardware.
>
> While our development team is looking into this issue, we do not have an ETA on when any change regarding how our software handles licensing.

So this is a caveat anyone with a laptop should take into consideration if they're considering Reflect.

Repeat prompt to transfer license; Macrium Home v8.7675 Home 4-machine Paid License

forum.macrium.com

jimbo45 · Oct 23, 2024

cereberus said:
@Jimbo,

Running VX in a vm definitely requires a separate licence to that on the host.

However, it is rather pointless (for Hyper-V at least) running Reflect in a VM, as you can mount the VHD as a drive and simply backup from the Host.

Unless space is an issue, just copy vhdx using file explorer. You can zip the vhdx to save space.

Agreed -- and yes a VM as I said does need separate licenses for paid / licensed products.
I was trying to merely point out that changing a NIC is most unlikely (and I've never experienced it) to trigger a "significant hardware change" requiring re-activation / licensing. Even upgrading a CPU doesn't always request re-activation either.

If Reflect bombs out because of a change in your LAN address then IMO it's a SOFTWARE BUG whatever Macrium says - they just need to "fess up" and fix it. What use is backup / recovery software on your laptop if you can't use it on YOUR OWN LICENSED MACHINE (Caps intended) at another location -- you might have a backup on the cloud and due to some weather problems e.g Florida hurricanes etc you don't have network access at home and have to go elsewhere to work.

Mute point for me now as I don't use Macrium for imaging Windows any more - I use vhdx files and I've plenty of space so just save the whole vhdx file -- and if you have a small windows install with dynamic expanding vhdx files the chances are you only need to save a few GB which doesn't take long on modern hardware.

For data /archiving backups I use a different solution anyway. I've only used the Free version of reflect recently for "cloning a real Windows to a VM - updating and cloning back again" - and there are other methods to do that anyway.

Besides those who have Office/365 can get oodles of cloud storage space if they so desire for storing their critical data and with really fast internet increasingly available transferring files from cloud to local storage - even quite large ones doesn't take that long either even simply copying with File explorer !!.

O.T but still relevant - Macrium by going subscription IMHO has done this just at the wrong time -- the product is far less necessary now than it was previously and by doing bonkers things like making a change of LAN / NIC a trigger for new license -- well then it's on a one way trip to the crapper.

cheers

jimbo

BrianInEngland · Oct 23, 2024

jimbo45 said:
Agreed -- and yes a VM as I said does need separate licenses for paid / licensed products.
I was trying to merely point out that changing a NIC is most unlikely (and I've never experienced it) to trigger a "significant hardware change" requiring re-activation / licensing. Even upgrading a CPU doesn't always request re-activation either.

If Reflect bombs out because of a change in your LAN address then IMO it's a SOFTWARE BUG whatever Macrium says - they just need to "fess up" and fix it. What use is backup / recovery software on your laptop if you can't use it on YOUR OWN LICENSED MACHINE (Caps intended) at another location -- you might have a backup on the cloud and due to some weather problems e.g Florida hurricanes etc you don't have network access at home and have to go elsewhere to work.

Mute point for me now as I don't use Macrium for imaging Windows any more - I use vhdx files and I've plenty of space so just save the whole vhdx file -- and if you have a small windows install with dynamic expanding vhdx files the chances are you only need to save a few GB which doesn't take long on modern hardware.

For data /archiving backups I use a different solution anyway. I've only used the Free version of reflect recently for "cloning a real Windows to a VM - updating and cloning back again" - and there are other methods to do that anyway.

Besides those who have Office/365 can get oodles of cloud storage space if they so desire for storing their critical data and with really fast internet increasingly available transferring files from cloud to local storage - even quite large ones doesn't take that long either even simply copying with File explorer !!.

O.T but still relevant - Macrium by going subscription IMHO has done this just at the wrong time -- the product is far less necessary now than it was previously and by doing bonkers things like making a change of LAN / NIC a trigger for new license -- well then it's on a one way trip to the crapper.

cheers

jimbo

I know you love using your VMs but not everyone is as savvy with them as you!
Macrium works well for me, I don't need to mess around with virtual disks
If you move your laptop to another location the macrium licence would still be valid as it uses the primary MAC address, whether it be the Wifi connection or the ethernet port - I could take my entire desktop PC to another house and it will still have the same MAC address

Stigg · Oct 31, 2024

Who has taken advantage of the Macrium Reflect Halloween Sale this year?

Edit: I think the poor buggers are struggling too financially to offer it this year.

IownAmoneyPit · Oct 31, 2024

Stigg said:
Who has taken advantage of the Macrium Reflect Halloween Sale this year?

Edit: I think the poor buggers are struggling too financially to offer it this year.

More like a Trick and not a Treat as the Halloween Sale seems to have vanished into thin air before it even arrived. :lmao:

Stigg · Oct 31, 2024

IownAmoneyPit said:
More like a Trick and not a Treat as the Halloween Sale seems to have vanished into thin air before it even arrived.

Here is last years.

The Macrium Halloween Sale

You know what’s really frightening? Leaving valuable data exposed to ransomware, viruses, hardware failure, accidents and more.

www.macrium.com

They're locking threads on the Macrium forum now. Sad.

Macrium Reflect v10

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