Is there another Software besides Macrium Reflect?

Helmut said:

I tried various free ones for just a simple HDD image. They would all do the job of making an Image, but it was other factors that fell down.

The notes are as follows, which is not up to date.
1. Easeus ToDo
Bootable rescue CD/USB does not work, too many items in Startup.
2. Aomei
Linux boot discs don't work, can't browse files within image.

Have to correct you here, Aomei has BOTH Linux, and has a WinPE recovery disk capablity.
3. Paragon free
Tricky to use, easy to make a mistake, leaves junk when uninstalled.
4. Acronis WD Ed
Cannot install despite having a WD drive in the system, useless. Hardware limited.

Of course all these may have been updated or may not be available now, but I did actually use them with the minimal features required. No paid for versions were used.

I settled on using:
5. Macrium Reflect free, but that was not easy to use at first, but it has gotten better.
Still occasional problems with Boot/rescue media, Windows PE/RE based ones, both the CD/USB Rescue Media, part of that I guess is the PC/Laptops concerned.

It really is what works reliably for you with your hardware, not my opinion, suggest you try them out yourself, that is what I did.
If you want a paid for version with more facilities, then it is still worthwhile to see if the basics work.

I just needed to get the above straight. I use both Macrium as primary and AOMEI backupper as secondary in my backup procedures. Macrium has demonstrated a quick repair on every issue that was created by windows, AOMEI, has a limited structure on correcting problem with Windows changes. They do fix their problems quite rapidly but they all require a re-install of the product. However in my mind by doing this, they create more problems by releasing new versions, instead of patches. This requires licenses users to re-install the product instead of providing a patch for those owners.

Difficult to test the new version since to maintain the License, it overlays the original. I run a VM for a single purpose of testing these fixes that require a re-install.

storageman said:

I just needed to get the above straight. I use both Macrium as primary and AOMEI backupper as secondary in my backup procedures. Macrium has demonstrated a quick repair on every issue that was created by windows, AOMEI, has a limited structure on correcting problem with Windows changes. They do fix their problems quite rapidly but they all require a re-install of the product. However in my mind by doing this, they create more problems by releasing new versions, instead of patches. This requires licenses users to re-install the product instead of providing a patch for those owners.

Difficult to test the new version since to maintain the License, it overlays the original. I run a VM for a single purpose of testing these fixes that require a re-install.

----------------------
Many thanks for telling your experience.

Try3 said:

I do not use Macrium Reflect but there is a guide in this forum at
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - TenForumsTutorials

You can also get a user guide from Macrium Reflect v7 User Guide with pdf download and, while you are there, you can look around their extensive 'knowledge base' help system.

---

I use free versions of Acronis True Image for WD ["Acronis True Image WD Edition"] / Samsung-Seagate ["DiscWizard"] / Maxtor drives {fitted in the computer or merely connected through USB}.
- I have no problems with Acronis True Image.
- I once tried Macrium Reflect [free] but I had to download almost 1GB in order to create its boot USB and that annoyed me.

Denis

----------------------------
Great Help, Guru Denis. It may seems to take much time than reading all bible. Thank you!! Until january, I suppose Genie9 I will get. Acronis last version paid people say it has a learning curve.

Try3 said:

I once tried Macrium Reflect [free] but I had to download almost 1GB in order to create its boot USB and that annoyed me.

Yes, it was the Windows PE (WADK) kit that you had to download from Microsoft in order to create the WinPE boot environment. That changed in version 7.2 and it now by default uses the WinRE environment. It gets that from your PC's own recovery environment, so nothing has to be downloaded any more. An added bonus is that WinRE supports using your WiFi, so the boot media can now connect to you network by WiFi if needed,

Your link to the Macrium Knowledge base is out of date, yours was for version 7. This is the link for the current version 7.2, which can also be downloaded as a pdf.

Macrium Reflect v7.2 User Guide - KnowledgeBase v7.2

I downloaded Macrium several months ago and followed Kari's excellent tutorial (see post #14). I've used it several times since and has already been stated here, while it has a steep learning curve the basics of creating an image and restoring it are very easy.

Its been updated to new version ; 7.2. 4398............made a boot-CD and backup of OS ...........only 5 minutes for 14,5GB , with verifying !