Should I settle on Acronis True Image (paid version) or Macrium?

tfwul said:

It is about imaging ... and Macrium Reflect Free.

As for backup of files (included in the MR paid version) one may need to consider that MR is storing the files into 1 backup file.

No doubt this has its pro's.

However, personally, I prefer files be backed up as single files, so I can easily access them with Explorer or the like.
I don't need to mount a backup-file first and also I don't have to depend on 3rd party software (MR), i.e. I don't MR installed
to restore a file.

It is just a matter of preference and consideration before buying Macrium Reflect.

Just my 2 cents.

Imaging is about backing up the operating system including mbr information and the hidden files that you cannot copy directly. This is so if disk fails or gets corrupted, pc is recovered to its EXACT state at time of making image. The FREE version of Reflect is perfectly capable of doing this and is perfectly adequate for most users.

It is NOT about making backups of DATA although it can be used for that. Some do it anyway for convenience. When just backing up data with Reflect (paid version), it is essentially just the same as putting files in a zip file (and you can do that anyway without buying paid version of Reflect).

So in simple terms:-

Keep OS+Progs on one drive.

Keep data on another drive.

(Regularly) Backup OS drive using Macrium Reflect Free using Full or Differential Backups as desired.

Backup Data drive any way you like that works for you e.g. File History Backup, simple use of File Explorer, copy files to zip file to save space, use Macrium Reflect Free, use robocopy batch files, 3rd party tools etc. etc. etc.

tfwul said:

It is about imaging ... and Macrium Reflect Free.

As for backup of files (included in the MR paid version) one may need to consider that MR is storing the files into 1 backup file.

No doubt this has its pro's.

However, personally, I prefer files be backed up as single files, so I can easily access them with Explorer or the like.
I don't need to mount a backup-file first and also I don't have to depend on 3rd party software (MR), i.e. I don't MR installed
to restore a file.

It is just a matter of preference and consideration before buying Macrium Reflect.

Just my 2 cents.

The paid version of Macrium includes additional features, one of which is File and Folder backup. This is like a sync or robocopy function - all data is in its original form and can be accessed without using the program.

I really fail to see why people would use imaging apps to do file and folder backup apart from convenience?

The only minor plus perhaps is to save space but you can use a zip file instead.

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
Not sure I understand this part
OS alone is about 35gb's lol you'd want everyone on a paid plan of onedrive ?

On one drive ie same drive not ONEDRIVE - lol!

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
Not sure I understand this part
OS alone is about 35gb's lol you'd want everyone on a paid plan of onedrive ?

One drive, Thrash, not OneDrive.

Not that I keep my OS and Files on the same drive.

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
I love typos they are fun drive

what typo?