Macrium Reflect vs Acronis  

storageman said:

Why do I do offsite backups - Answer = "Home fires". You never know. I keep 1 copy locally in a fireproof safe (3hr @2400 deg) and a second backup copy at my son's house. I figure the chance of both homes burning down at the same time would only occur if the EARTH gets hit by a meteorite and if that is the case, it won't make any difference.

I can easily build a new machine, but I can't easily build all of the data + Software.

Hi there
@storageman

I think You've got my point OK here. !!

Worrying about Malware on Home computers isn't the best reason for making Backups !!!!

Too much of the old A/V 3rd party industry --especially Malwarebytes etc for HOME computers is just selling unnecessary stuff.

Wasn't it a US president who said some while ago -- Not fear --but the fear of fear itself --or something similar --that's the only thing that's kept a load of the Domestic I.T security (usually rubbish) industry in business in C21. WD is MORE than sufficient on latest versions of W10 -- you aren't running XP or W7 any more --different problems !!!!.

IT Security for commercial cloud / work / Forum etc servers totally different ballgame --but Home Lan's --Bye Bye Malwarebytes, kaspersky, Norton and all the rest --was fine for W7/W8/W8.1 but on W10 --Bye Bye --not needed any more.

Again anybody running Malwarebytes on a HOME computer --please tell me what it picks up that WD doesn't do these days -- nobody ever answers that -- even those using THIS site " !¬!!!!!




Cheers

jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Again anybody running Malwarebytes on a HOME computer --please tell me what it picks up that WD doesn't do these days -- nobody ever answers that -- even those using THIS site!

I can tell you about the reverse happening. WD caught some PUPs for me that Malwarebytes missed.

Josey Wales said:

I know it happens but it shouldn't. What about those that subscribe to a thread and get email notification only to find off topic posts? This is the main reason I do not subscribe to any.

Hi there

the reason this happened was that someone posted that they took backps as a prevention against malware -- I merely replied that backups shoould be taken for all sorts of other reasons as a matter of course -- just taking backups only to prevent malware IMO was sending the wrong message to people who STILL don't take backups -- add having taken backups to test that the restores work -- Acronis failed that test with me in any case so Macrium was the solution here.

I think that should explain how the thread went a bit OT

Cheers
jimbo

larc919 said:

I can tell you about the reverse happening. WD caught some PUPs for me that Malwarebytes missed.

True, and in my personal tests, WD caught ransomware that MB completely missed...

xaccell said:

True, and in my personal tests, WD caught ransomware that MB completely missed...

I have had horrible experience with Acronis. It took weeks for them to admit that you can't restore a differential without every differential from the full to the present. OK, you can, but it involves clicking cancel dozens of times often more than a hundred. When I told people on the forum that all said "No, all you need is the full, otherwise what use would it be" they then checked and found it had been the case for years.I had a disk fail and tried to restore a backup. Despite no error when the backup was made and the fact that the backup passed validation it would not restore in W10, WinPE or Linux. I was told that the disk had an index problem when the backup was made so I was out of luck.You must move backups using Acronis so you can't have an off site copy and one in-house unless you copy yourself, in which case they don't guarantee you can restore - they ask if you used the tool, which won't copy, and when you say "no" you're out of luck.Their new tibx format is horrible it takes away many features.Backup conversion to VHD format is no longer possible. You can't convert a backup either full or full plus a differential to a VHD and then access or move it.Moving the backup through the Acronis True Image console is not possible. They have been telling customers never to move a backup set in explorer only ever with the console, now they say not to use the console, guess we'll find out why.Renaming local backups is not possible. It sounds trivial but when you set up a new configuration it chooses the name and if you forget to edit it, you're done.The backup mounting option is not present for the new backup format. You can't click on a backup, full or differential, and have it show up as a folder in Explorer. Actually, it's sneakier than that, you can but when you drag a file from it to a regular folder it changes the names of the folders up to the file to be "subdirectory-1"...The option "Backup reserve copy" is not available for backups in the new format.This is a handy feature where, after backup up it reconstructs a full backup for the day and puts it where you choose. I use this to make sure I have the equivalent of three full backups for each disk and use a script to trim the older ones which is very useful off site.The option "Removable media settings" is available for backups in the new format, but does not take do anyhting. That means you can select removable media for the backup target it just won't use it.Restoration from a manually moved .tibx (via Windows Explorer or other file management tools) is not possible, if all other .tibx - parts of the backup archive - were not moved too into the same folder, even if the moved .tibx contained a full backup (the term "full backup" here refers to the "full" backup type, as opposed to "incremental" and "differential" backup types).If you have a full backup and some differentials or incrementals and you copy them to a new place without using the console (recall you can't use the console - above) and you leave off a differential, even if you have the full backup it will not restore. So I'd recommend not to get Acronis. If you do then you'll end up with the "new" format which removes a lot of features though there is a work around to force the old format. I'm going to get a trial of Macrium and try it.I am not affiliated with any PC software company, I have no horse in this race just my fury at Acronis. My only explanation for how they remove features and have such an unreliable product is that they focus on the business market and consumers get what they cobble together.All that said, I haven't used Macrium so can't speak for its features

- - - Updated - - -

I have had horrible experience with Acronis. It took weeks for them to admit that you can't restore a differential without every differential from the full to the present. OK, you can, but it involves clicking cancel dozens of times often more than a hundred. When I told people on the forum that all said "No, all you need is the full, otherwise what use would it be" they then checked and found it had been the case for years.

I had a disk fail and tried to restore a backup. Despite no error when the backup was made and the fact that the backup passed validation it would not restore in W10, WinPE or Linux. I was told that the disk had an index problem when the backup was made so I was out of luck.

You must move backups using Acronis console so you can't have an off-site copy and one in-house unless you copy yourself, in which case they don't guarantee you can restore - they ask if you used the tool, which won't copy, and when you say "no" you're out of luck.

Their new tibx format is horrible it takes away many features.

Backup conversion to VHD format is no longer possible. You can't convert a backup either full or full plus a differential to a VHD and then access or move it.

Moving the backup through the Acronis True Image console is not possible. They have been telling customers never to move a backup set in explorer only ever with the console, now they say not to use the console, guess we'll find out why.

Renaming local backups is not possible. It sounds trivial but when you set up a new configuration it chooses the name and if you forget to edit it, you're done.

The backup mounting option is not present for the new backup format. You can't click on a backup, full or differential, and have it show up as a folder in Explorer. Actually, it's sneakier than that, you can but when you drag a file from it to a regular folder it changes the names of the folders up to the file to be "subdirectory-1"...The option "Backup reserve copy" is not available for backups in the new format. This is a handy feature where, after backup up it reconstructs a full backup for the day and puts it where you choose. I use this to make sure I have the equivalent of three full backups for each disk and use a script to trim the older ones which is very useful off site.

The option "Removable media settings" is available for backups in the new format, but does not take do anything. That means you can select removable media for the backup target it just won't use it.

Restoration from a manually moved .tibx (via Windows Explorer or other file management tools) is not possible, if all other .tibx - parts of the backup archive - were not moved too into the same folder, even if the moved .tibx contained a full backup (the term "full backup" here refers to the "full" backup type, as opposed to "incremental" and "differential" backup types).

If you have a full backup and some differentials or incrementals and you copy them to a new place without using the console (recall you can't use the console - above) and you leave off a differential, even if you have the full backup it will not restore.

So I'd recommend not to get Acronis. If you do then you'll end up with the "new" format which removes a lot of features though there is a work-around to force the old format.

I'm going to get a trial of Macrium and try it.

I am not affiliated with any PC software company, I have no horse in this race just my fury at Acronis. My only explanation for how they remove features and have such an unreliable product is that they focus on the business market and consumers get what they cobble together.

All that said, I haven't used Macrium so can't speak for its features.