Whether to switch from Macrium Reflect (MR) to Hasleo Backup Suite (HBS)

I know there are other threads on Hasleo Backup Suite but this is a specific query regarding HBS not supporting external SSDs for Emergency Disks.

I have been using MR (Paid versions) for almost 5 years but I am considering moving to HBS due to Paramount not fixing the issue with being unable to mount images since Microsoft updated Windows 11. Questions that follow aren't a gripe at Paramount but about HBS before I make the swap: -

With MR I used its Rescue Media to create two 500GB bootable external USB SSDs. This created a 2GB FAT32 partition on each SSD and the remaining 498 GB is formatted NTFS for image storage. The SSDs both boot successfully and I can access the images on the NTFS partition. This means I only have to plug in one device for booting and access to images.

I have two external SSD devices in case one becomes corrupted.

I understand the HBS does not support external USB SSD devices for creating Emergency Disks. HBS only supports external USB sticks up 32GB formatted FAT32. This means having to plug in two devices to restore an image. The bootable USB stick and the USB SSD containing the images.

Q1 - Is this correct?

If so then this is an inconvenience imo compared to MR. Some may think nothing of it but it is putting me off moving to HBS. Maybe I’m over reacting to a small detail but I find it very easy to need just one device rather than two.

Q2 - Is my strategy of needing just one device (I have a second device in case the first one fails to boot) for both booting and storing images as safe as needing two devices?

Well... I've looked just outside of your imaging application box a bit (the app being responsible for both the emergency media generation and producing a format necessary for image storage as well) and came up with VENTOY, a multi-BOOT solution.

It allows for the multi-BOOTing of almost every ISO ever made (and most of the WIMs contained within the ISO itself), a separate partition to store all those BOOTing requirements AND another separate partition (use as you wish) for the storage of your images (or anything else you may require on that storage media). It can produce UFDs or USB-based SSDs.

In my case, all my "external" BOOTing requirements are contained on that device (imaging, partitioning, diagnostics, etc.) and BOOTing device mgmt is accomplished by nothing more than replacing the required ISO/WIM file... the device does not need to be rebuilt.

Probably one of the best solutions for multi-BOOTing (or in your case, BOOTable devices and imaging storage). I've used it for years now without issue...

wiganken said:

I understand the HBS does not support external USB SSD devices for creating Emergency Disks. HBS only supports external USB sticks up 32GB formatted FAT32. This means having to plug in two devices to restore an image. The bootable USB stick and the USB SSD containing the images.

Q1 - Is this correct?

Click to expand...

I don't use a one disk solution, but I have a 512GB FLASH Disk on my video controller mini-PC that is formatted NTFS for the Hasleo Backup and it works fine. I didn't bother having it bootable as I have a Hasleo recovery disk for several computers.