Macrium Reflect 8 Update Discussion

cereberus said:

I am betting the web page has a typo and it should say V8 Free. How could they revert to an earlier version. It does not make sense.

It makes sense because Macrium has stated the free version of Macrium 8 won't be released until 90 days after the paid version was released.

cereberus said:

I am betting the web page has a typo and it should say V8 Free. How could they revert to an earlier version. It does not make sense.

I don't know. If you try to update V8 Free it tries and fails to reinstall V7 Free. So you end up with a non updateable V8 Free. The only way to get back is uninstall and reinstall.

cereberus said:

I am betting the web page has a typo and it should say V8 Free. How could they revert to an earlier version. It does not make sense.

No it really does (should) revert back to v7 at the end of the trial. First its key should revert to the v8 Free key (same as the v7 Trial did) but then the next check for update will say that updates are available, but not tell you what they are.



New Macrium Reflect Updates [2] - post #1756


Then if you download the 'patch' it turns out to be the v7 Free installer.

kado897 said:

I don't know. If you try to update V8 Free it tries and fails to reinstall V7 Free. So you end up with a non updateable V8 Free. The only way to get back is uninstall and reinstall.

I had that leaked copy of the v8 Beta running in a VM, and got all the subsequent updates up to and including the 'downgrade' patch on the release of v8. It successfully installed v7 over the existing v8 to return it to v7 Free, retaining all the settings and definition files.

So the v8 to v7 downgrade mechanism has been tested by Macrium and shown to work. The fact that it doesn't currently work (when run, the installer says that a newer version is installed) is more likely to be a bug in the current v7 installer which no doubt Macrium will fix shortly.

Bree said:

No it really does (should) revert back to v7 at the end of the trial. First its key should revert to the v8 Free key (same as the v7 Trial did) but then the next check for update will say that updates are available, but not tell you what they are.



New Macrium Reflect Updates [2] - post #1756


Then if you download the 'patch' it turns out to be the v7 Free installer.




I had that leaked copy of the v8 Beta running in a VM, and got all the subsequent updates up to and including the 'downgrade' patch on the release of v8. It successfully installed v7 over the existing v8 to return it to v7 Free, retaining all the settings and definition files.

So the v8 to v7 downgrade mechanism has been tested by Macrium and shown to work. The fact that it doesn't currently work (when run, the installer says that a newer version is installed) is more likely to be a bug in the current v7 installer which no doubt Macrium will fix shortly.

Thanks Bree. That makes sense.

Bree said:

No it really does (should) revert back to v7 at the end of the trial. First its key should revert to the v8 Free key (same as the v7 Trial did) but then the next check for update will say that updates are available, but not tell you what they are.



New Macrium Reflect Updates [2] - post #1756


Then if you download the 'patch' it turns out to be the v7 Free installer.




I had that leaked copy of the v8 Beta running in a VM, and got all the subsequent updates up to and including the 'downgrade' patch on the release of v8. It successfully installed v7 over the existing v8 to return it to v7 Free, retaining all the settings and definition files.

So the v8 to v7 downgrade mechanism has been tested by Macrium and shown to work. The fact that it doesn't currently work (when run, the installer says that a newer version is installed) is more likely to be a bug in the current v7 installer which no doubt Macrium will fix shortly.

See this from Macrium Forum

cereberus said:

See this from Macrium Forum

Interesting, Martin. Thanks. That seems to shed a clearer light. Nothing like right from the horse's mouth!

cereberus said:

See this from Macrium Forum

Well, as I said the Beta v8 did revert to v7 Free.

I have in fact previously tested taking v8 Home back to v8 Free by removing the installed key. The problem is that the next check for updates shows an 'update' (no description) as available ....



Macrium Reflect 8 Update Discussion - post #375

...which if you download it turns out to be the v7 Free installer, which then refuses to install.



Macrium Reflect 8 Update Discussion - post #465


My guess is that Macrium originally intended to downgrade the v8 Trial to v7 Free at the end of 30 days, as they did successfully for the v8 Beta. It still states that on the download page for the v8 Trial.


Macrium Software | Reflect Free

But rather than fix it so that works as originally intended, they've decided not to bother fixing it and said you can keep v8 Free instead.

One small problem with that is that v8 Free currently won't be able to get any updates, at least not until v8 Free gets officially released. Until then it would presumably keep trying to download the v7 'patch' that fails.

Bree said:

Well, as I said the Beta v8 did revert to v7 Free.

I have in fact previously tested taking v8 Home back to v8 Free by removing the installed key. The problem is that the next check for updates shows an 'update' (no description) as available ....



Macrium Reflect 8 Update Discussion - post #375

...which if you download it turns out to be the v7 Free installer, which then refuses to install.



Macrium Reflect 8 Update Discussion - post #465


My guess is that Macrium originally intended to downgrade the v8 Trial to v7 Free at the end of 30 days, as they did successfully for the v8 Beta. It still states that on the download page for the v8 Trial.


Macrium Software | Reflect Free

But rather than fix it so that works as originally intended, they've decided not to bother fixing it and said you can keep v8 Free instead.

One small problem with that is that v8 Free currently won't be able to get any updates, at least not until v8 Free gets officially released. Until then it would presumably keep trying to download the v7 'patch' that fails.

Maybe it depends on how you installed it, and where you got executable from. Matbe the version you are using was a Beta version?

For sure if you download the version from site, it is the most upto date version (I have installed it).

We will know anyway once 30 days pass. In the end, if ot works ok, no big deal waiting till 30 days have passed.