Overwhelmed - Macrium Reflect

Froggie said:

I think "Shame on them" is a bit harsh. This issue only affects users here with unsupported versions of REFLECT. Macrium has no obligation to support those versions. Having said that...

I believe they will provide a fix regardless (they have done so in the past).

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I suppose it's in their best interest (financially) to not fix this and hope users will migrate to the new version. On the other hand, it would be good public relations.

If they do not fix it, I've found that the Hasleo Backup Suite Free software seems to provide the same level of backup, recovery, image mounting, etc. that MR does. UI is different but seems to have very similar functionality.

Scheduled Full, Differential, Incremental and Policy
No nag screens or other obvious Ads

YouTube video: Britec Tech Tips, Tech reviews BEST Free Disk Backup & Cloning Software Suite

Has Hasleo become or is it becoming the new 'go to' of choice for backup software?

Things do change over time and 15 to 20 years ago if it wasn't Acronis then it wasn't worth considering. We all know what happened there and Macrium took the crown and with good reason. Maybe this is another of those shifts. I certainly do not want to go down a subscription route for backup software (take note Macrium!).

Mooly said:

Has Hasleo become or is it becoming the new 'go to' of choice for backup software?

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All the time it's free, the punters who think software developers should work for nothing will be all over it.

Yes, there is a FREE version... but it has limitations (not many). There are also now PAID license versions (no SUBSCRIPTIONs).

Others (like Steve ) will tell you it's Chinese authored with a big BEWARE. I have used their products for over 12-yrs with no indication from their user community that their products are nefarious in any way.

I rarely have to browse an image but when I have to I want to be able to. As a work around, I had an old windows 10 vm (which I never use) working on another machine. I threw Macrium Free onto the vm and can browse the images I created in all my machines in Macrium 8.1
My God, it's getting like pulling teeth to accomplish stuff I've been doing for years. It shouldn't be this difficult. It really, really shouldn't.

I consider browsing backup images an essential feature. What if I only want to restore a certain file/ folder from a backup? There is no point in restoring the entire image only for a single file/ folder. Well let's wait whether or not Macrium fixes the driver issue. If they don't I'll look elsewhere, probably Hasleo. I generally cannot stand subscription software and I will certainly not subscribe to a backup software. I don't mind paying for software, developers need to make a living too. But a subscription? No thank you.

Froggie said:

Yes, there is a FREE version... but it has limitations (not many). There are also now PAID license versions (no SUBSCRIPTIONs).

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I was actually looking at Hasleo for curiosity and it seems that backup and restore of Bitlocker encrypted drives is not as straightforward as with Macrium where you essentially have nothing to think about or do. I was also surprised that there did not seem to be a single downloadable manual for Hasleo, at least not one I could easily find.

perhaps? On line rather than downloadable though. No idea what help comes with the product as I've not tried it.

And there is a way of downloading the above, though I've not used it for years.

@dalchina Thanks, I've actually seen that one. I really wanted a downloadable PDF to browse at leisure. There is a download button at the top which appears to give a url to a manual but I tried that earlier today and it just downloaded the application file to install the software when I tried it.

You can download part of a web site using e.g. this:

(assuming there's no robot security block)

- you then see it as it appears normally- just that everything's on your PC.

That's the old program I used then- I guess there will be something newer if needed- or it may just still work!

Thanks @dalchina

@Mooly

There isn't single PDF Guide for the Hasleo Backup Suite. Individual tutorial guides for each process/option can be accessed via the menu here: User guide for Hasleo Backup Suite and they can be saved individually using the 'print to PDF' option from your Browser. You could then keep them as separate PDFs (easier to manage if /when any are updated), or build your own complete or selective set in a single 'document' by merging them if required.

Here's another, also free, tho' a general search still points first to WinHTTrack

Thanks @LeLibran that's a good idea

I have trust in thsi post on the Macrium support site:
Patience...

Mooly said:

I was actually looking at Hasleo for curiosity and it seems that backup and restore of Bitlocker encrypted drives is not as straightforward as with Macrium where you essentially have nothing to think about or do.

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@Mooly ,

Actually, the latest Hasleo Backup Suite beta release (5.8.1.1) has greatly improved its Bitlocker capabilities. It is available for download from the Hasleo Forum, along with the release notes.

Hasleo Backup Suite is constantly evolving and being enhanced. The Hasleo Team is very dedicated. They aim to become a "first-in-class" imaging program. The number of significant enhancements since I first bought my Pro license less than six months ago is astounding.

Have a great day.

Regards,
Phil

Thanks for the info @garioch7 Hasleo may be something I look into further as Macrium 8.1 gets overtaken by new developments.

So, what do we have?
Update KB5083769 (April 14, 2026) for Windows 11 - blocks viewing backup files for Macrium 7.3 – 8.0 – 8.1

How will you view the Macrium backup if you have installed the KB5083769 update?

Method 1.
Do not install the KB5083769 update

Method 2 ( If you have installed the KB5083769 update}.
To view the backup, use the standard viBoot function of Macrium software:
2.1. Mark the viBoot function when installing Macrium versions 7.3 – 8.0 – 8.1
2.2 . Open the BIOS settings of the motherboard (when restarting the computer, hold down the "Del" button), and enable "Intel Virtualization Tecnology", save the BIOS settings.
2.3. Start –> Control Panel –> Programs and Components –> Enable or disable Windows components –> here enable (mark) all "Hyper-V" components and enable "Virtual Machine Platform".
2.4. Launch viBoot from a Desktop shortcut, open the disk copy (image) file, i.e. the XXXX.mrimg file) created by Macrium Revlect v7.x - v8.x.; now you can view or extract files from the backup (copy) of this disk.
2.5. WARNING: Before deleting the Macrium Reflect program, stop and then delete all your virtual machines! Otherwise, you will have to disable all Hyper-V components and then manually delete the remaining Macrium Revlect files and clean the Registry.

Method 3.(If you have installed the KB5083769 update),
Disable "Memory Integrity" and "List of vulnerable drivers" in the Windows 11 Security settings
In this case, you won't get the “Vulnerable driver” error.

NOTE (IMXO)
I think you are making a big mistake if you are using the Macrium to view and/or extract files from this backup.
Your disk backup is the last and most important means to recover data.
You can easily ruin your backup if you constantly read and extract data from this backup.

P.S.
I think Macrium ver. 8.0.7175 is the most reliable version of Macrium.
I never use the "disk backup view" mode, so "blocking disk backup view" does not matter to me.

oreyro said:

NOTE (IMXO)
I think you are making a big mistake if you are using the Macrium to view and/or extract files from this backup.
Your disk backup is the last and most important means to recover data.
You can easily ruin your backup if you constantly read and extract data from this backup.

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This sounds like urban legend to me. From where do you get such information, and what is it about accessing a disk file (which is all a REFLECT backup really is) that causes it to be dangerous. If this was the real case, Systems would be blowing up all over the place due to DATA errors being found in disk files... database apps would be dying in their tracks.

Just curious what the basis of this warning really is...