Solved Maybe this will help you decide victor in Acronis/Macrium debate

I read so many questions about which is the best backup software so I set about comparing the 2 most used ones, Acronis and Macrium, side by side. I do full backups only once a week. In my testing I used Macrium Workstation 8 and Acronis True Image 2021 to backup Windows 11. These are both paid pieces of software. I backed up the same data to the same backup drive using the default settings of both programs and I performed the backups within Windows rather than using recovery media. The write speeds were the same. Here’s what I found.

Amount of data to backup- 73gb

Acronis - total backup time 18 min. Backup file size 36.8 gb

Macrium – total backup time 20 min. Backup file size 47.5 gb

While both backups were running during the total backup time I visually observed that Acronis was in the backup stage 15 min and in the verify stage 3 min. On the other hand, Macrium was in the backup stage 10 min. and in the verify stage 10 min.

In a way, it’s like comparing apples and oranges since both programs use different algorithms while they are processing. If storage space for your backups is a major concern then Acronis wins since the backups are smaller. For me that’s not an issue. Neither is the 2 min. difference in total processing time. What stands out for me is that although Macrium doesn’t compress nearly as much as Acronis, it assembled the backup and wrote it faster. It then spent as much time verifying that its image was valid as it did writing it. Somehow that makes me feel more comfortable.

I used Acronis for years until it failed me a couple of times when I needed it. That’s when I switched to Macrium which I’ve used to restore probably 20 times without fail as well as restoring to dissimilar hardware. Acronis may be better now, but without knowing I won’t take the chance. It’s a personal choice what you choose to use, either one of these two or something else. The important thing is that you use something.

I use Aomi without any issues.

I have used Acronis for a long time and it failed me real bad few times. Then I switched to Aomei and have been using it for more then 5 years.
I never had a problem and it always did the job and was easy and simple to use. I am now so happy with it and so used to it that I don't feel the need to change! Unless something weird comes up or I learn that I am loosing something by not changing!

@glasskuter


I'd like to add that Macrium uses a LOT fewer processes and Services, to get the job done. :)

Macrium Reflect for the win. (Even though it's... British)




History...

Best/simplest backup software ever: Norton Ghost 2003 (wouldn't run on Win 7 so... bummer)





Used Acronis True Image for 8 years. Great program but seriously bloated. Heavy use of system resources.

Macrium Reflect is my go to backup software, currently. Light use of system resources. Does everything.






The bootable Rescue Media...

I've been using Acronis TI for years without issues. I use the free bootable ISO and have it (as well as disk-director and a bunch of other rescue-tools) installed on a bootable USB-stick.

I boot from the stick and create an image backup of my system partition once every couple of months. Never had a failure.

It's fast, reliable and cheap.

let me see... which licensing plan would I prefer.....

Free, with extra features by purchasing a lifetime licence, or no free version and an annual subscription?

No contest really

Hi,
Probably all imaging software will fail eventually even reflect using it in the os or at least reflect has failed me a few times os updates always screw something up and it's not good when they screw up imaging software.

Only thing needed is the winpe recovery media with drivers for the machine
Once you have that use it to create full images and restore them if you ever have to which by the way has never failed me mostly because the os is out of the picture.

Reflect app in the os becomes unnecessary unless you want to use some other features like incremental/.... backup but some features are exclusive to the paid version anyway.

Macrium for me, It is simple to use and never let me down. I have never tried anything else, why should I as Macrium ticks all the boxes for me

I used Acronis in the past and it worked well for me. Somewhere around Windows 7, I drifted over to Paragon and used that for most of Windows 7 and Windows 8. I found myself using Macrium Reflect free on Windows 10 for some of my secondary boxes at home.

I stuck with Macrium as so many others on this forum used it, and therefore I knew if I ran into trouble, I would have a lot of people on this forum familiar with the application. Used the Free version for years. A few months ago, I bought the 4 pack Macrium license and that is what I use these days.

Hi folks

This is so last century -- like those endless "Browser wars" . Just choose whatever backup does it for you -- if you believe in the numbers then on these forums Macrium wins by far -- but if something else works for you -- use it.

Any backup (that works) is better than none of course -- so many posts on these Forums where one would expect people to on the whole be more "Computer literate" than most often ask for help in fixing problems on their computers when a simple backup and restore (by any working means) would solve the problem in minutes rather than days etc.

You really can never have too much backup --however it's made --just make sure IT WORKS !!!! and of course test from time to time that recovery / restore works too. No point in running backups regularly for weeks on end only to discover that when you want to restore / recover you get "I/O error" / Backup file corrupt etc etc even though the original backups completed successfully. A lot never test the recovery process until its too late and then find ".... Houston -- We have a Problem ....".

Cheers
jimbo

I used ATI quite some time ago in Windows 7, till it failed to restore a backup. I then switched to Macrium and never looked back and will use it as long as I have a PC.

@glasskuter
Thank you for starting this thread. I've learned a good deal from reading the opinions on the software and the opinions on the thread.

A member here posted the other day that he had always made backups, but had never had to do a restore. I reflected (no pun intended) on that for a minute and decided that if I had to count the number of restores I've done on my several machines over the past few years, I'd have to take my shoes off to supplement my ten fingers.

Fortunately, I've never had a restore operation with a Macrium rescue disk and from a Macrium image fail. Never.

I didn't buy my MR licenses because I needed the features that distinguish Home from Free; I bought them because I am genuinely grateful to the developers for the quality of their software, and for the benefits I've enjoyed from using it.

Dan

I used Acronis for years -- and then, when I needed it the most, it failed me -- some error message about a drive letter not being assigned.

So, I switched to Macrium Reflect and it has saved me time after time, never failed me once.

It's no contest to me -- MR wins out.

Ghot said:

@glasskuter


I'd like to add that Macrium uses a LOT fewer processes and Services, to get the job done. :)

Macrium Reflect for the win. (Even though it's... British)




History...

Best/simplest backup software ever: Norton Ghost 2003 (wouldn't run on Win 7 so... bummer)

View attachment 13095



Used Acronis True Image for 8 years. Great program but seriously bloated. Heavy use of system resources.

Macrium Reflect is my go to backup software, currently. Light use of system resources. Does everything.

View attachment 13096




The bootable Rescue Media...

View attachment 13097

Click to expand...

I used Ghost before Norton bought it. IMHO, Norton ruined it.

Unless they do something to ruin it, Macrium will be number 1 on my list.

cereberus said:

Acronis is only free when bundled with a drive purchase

Click to expand...

Acronis free editions are free for separate download for anybody with Seagate, Samsung, Maxtor, WD, SanDisk, G-Technology brand disks fitted in / connected to their computers.

Details are provided towards the end of my ditty - File backup vs imaging, imaging utilities, backing up drivers [post #3] - TenForums

All the best,
Denis

So much of this is just personal preference - and I for one am fully happy with that.

I personally use, and have used for a long, Time Aomei Backupper Pro The UI is easily to use, but more importantly it works and has never failed me In backup or restore, I also use the file sync (in pro, not sure if it's in free), that I setup to sync an external drive with the internal drive every time it is connected to either my Desktop or Laptop, ( syncing my Images)

I would never tell anyone else what to use, but would explain what I use and why backups are important, and using a system you are happy with is a helpful thing for your security.

One thing that did surprise me was that a search I ran for Best backup software, showed a lot of software that I recognised from my years in the industry but only one out of the first ten lists/websites in the search that I checked, included Macrium Reflect. The only reason I can think of for this is that Macrium reflect is seen as a Disk imager/cloner rather than a backup system

barman58 said:

So much of this is just personal preference - and I for one am fully happy with that.

I personally use, and have used for a long, Time Aomei Backupper Pro The UI is easily to use, but more importantly it works and has never failed me In backup or restore, I also use the file sync (in pro, not sure if it's in free), that I setup to sync an external drive with the internal drive every time it is connected to either my Desktop or Laptop, ( syncing my Images)

I would never tell anyone else what to use, but would explain what I use and why backups are important, and using a system you are happy with is a helpful thing for your security.

One thing that did surprise me was that a search I ran for Best backup software, showed a lot of software that I recognised from my years in the industry but only one out of the first ten lists/websites in the search that I checked, included Macrium Reflect. The only reason I can think of for this is that Macrium reflect is seen as a Disk imager/cloner rather than a backup system

Click to expand...

Good points and information.

I use Aomei because it works and the interface is so easy to navigate..Using a backup tool is very important the key is finding one you trust and can navigate.. oh and will use on a regular basis. That's key for a backup to be effective, IMO.

Hi,
Forgot to say thanks for showing the system image file size differences

I'm an Acronis user cause it just works for my needs - simple backups and recovery without fail.

I've also cloned disks without issue. In fact, I cloned my Windows 10 disk from one NVME drive to another so I could install Windows 11 via Insiders program on one of the disks. Now that I no longer need that system to run Windows 11, all I had to do was change the boot drive in the BIOS to the cloned Windows 10 drive. Now I'm back on my original Win 10 drive via simple clone job :)

That said, if imaging were my primary concern, Macrium (done that). But since backup and restore is my main focus... Acronis.

And thank you @barman58 for bringing some clarity here

Peace