I just downloaded and tested Macium (Home Trail), Aomei (Free), and EaseUS (Free) on my virtual machine, and made a system backup,
Backup time:
Macium 7:04
Aomei 6:35
and EaseUS 6:18 (winner)
Image size:
Macium 16.5 GB
Aomei 15.8 GB (winner)
EaseUS 19.1 GB
Then I made another incremental backup,
Backup time:
Macium 1:42
Aomei 3:02
EaseUS 1:09 (winner)
Image size:
Macium 2.09 GB
Aomei 200 MB (winner)
EaseUS 214 MB
Although I have not verified the reliability of the restore, there are already many doubts.
1. Macrium currently does not have a free version anymore, and even the trial version requires registering an account, strictly verifying the email address, and entering the verification code during installation before it can be used. The other two can be downloaded and used for free.
2. The interface of Macrium is really unfriendly, which made me confused several times during operation. The other two did not.
3. Macium's backup speed is not fast, and the incremental backup file is 10 times larger than the other two, which I think is completely unacceptable.
Why do so many people vote for Macium? Is there something wrong with my testing method, or has macrium changed so much in the last 2 year?
Hmm these tests do not match my general results.
Speed wise I always found Easeus to be slower (tested 2024 version a few days ago).
I do not understand why incremental should be so big on MRH [whilst others are so small (too small - I wonder if they are right).
Where Macrium Reflect Home blitzes compared with others is on restore with its Rapid Delta Restore (Free version of Hasleo has this).
Regarding gui, it is true the Reflect gui is perhaps less user friendly to beginners but I assure you it is far more flexible allowing to to change partition orders and sizes.
The main reason people used Macrium Reflect is its high reliability plus bugs are fixed very quickly (we even have had some fixed over major holiday periods).
None of the other tools offer such excellent customer support. Ok free users were not entitled to customer support but I have never saw a case where the paid version had a bug fixed without the free version also being fixed.
TBH most bugs are not directly related to backup and restore. The core part of the package is very reliable.
So it may not be the fastest, easiest (for beginners) to use but it has a great track record of reliability and customer support second to none.
None of the other tools have proper customer support anyway. Obviously, as tools are free, one can hardly expect anything else.
Only Acronis (paid) has proper support (but many including me found it to be poor often not fixing bugs until you bought next version).
Hasleo has quite an active user forum, and developers actively participate.
In the end, you have to look at the whole package not just a couple of random benchmarks. That is why Macrium Reflect is a firm favourite of this forum.
Regrettably, with advent of the free version no longer being supported, some users may take the view to change which tool they use.
If your only requirement (like
@Edwin LOL but I am not sure he is not joking a wee bit) is to do full backups of C drive only and full restores, then any of a number of tools is adequate.
However, the MOST important point is to select a reliable tool.
To this end, I reiterate what I have said many times:
Do not put all your eggs in one basket and use a secondary back up tool now and then in case something glitches with your primary backup tool.
I use MRH twice a week at least and Hasleo maybe every two weeks for C drive (and hidden partitions), accepting in worst case I may have to do some updates or reinstall a program or two.
My data is stored elsewhere and backed up different tools.
www.elevenforum.com
