Macrium Reflect

Cerawy said:

I am using aomei backupper right now, but i want to try macrium reflect. Is it a lot more difficult to use than aomei backupper, and what are the advantages of using it?

Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition


Quickie Macrium picture guide...
Macrium Reflect and Bootable Rescue Media, pictures...


Macrium Reflect User Guide...
https://updates.macrium.com/reflect/...user_guide.pdf

Macrium Notes:
1. A full OS image backup will be approx. 1/2 the size of the total "used space" on the C:\ drive.
2. Backing up takes about 75 seconds for every 20GB of "used space" on the C:\ drive.


Full tutorial...
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect

As for advantages... you can have both programs installed at the same time... to compare.

The reasons I personally think Macrium is better... are fantastic customer support, and the fact that you can do almost anything with it... or make it quick and easy. I especially like it's "Fix Boot Problems" tool. Others, I sure are impressed with different things.
I'm sure you want a straight compare list, but I don't think you will find one, or get one. At best you'll get a list of people saying, well I like that or I like that other thing best.

You can pretty much see the differences by reading the features blurbs at the two software's websites.

It's hard to answer which is better, because we don't know what things YOU are looking for in backup software.
It's like trying to answer which is better, a Chevy or a Ford. All the answers you get will be opinion, and the only opinion that will really count for you... is your opinion.

Cerawy said:

I am using aomei backupper right now, but i want to try macrium reflect. Is it a lot more difficult to use than aomei backupper, and what are the advantages of using it?

Reflect's gui is not as intuitive for beginners, but it does not take long to overcome that learning curve. It's gui is certainly more flexible in reordering partitions, resizing them for different size drives etc.

One of its key features is viboot which enables you to directly mount an image as a virtual machine.

Also its ability to fix Windows boot problems is a plus.

One slight negative is the free version does not allow incremental images like AOMEI's free version.

For experienced users, I would say Reflect's flexibility and proven reliability is the primary decider.

When it comes to the paid versions, I find Reflect is superior - particularly its Rapid Delta Restore. Also, their customer support is really good.

Having said that, AOMEI's paid version has ability to synch folders which is handy to some users.

So overall, probably not a lot between them, but AOMEI is still somewhat "New Kid on the Block". Macrium Reflect has a long track record of reliability (many years), which is why it is the most favoured tool by many users on this forum.

Cerawy said:

.... what are the advantages of using it?

I agree with every point @cereberus made in post #3.

I have been using Macrium Reflect for four years now, on half a dozen or more PCs. For the first few years I used Reflect Free, then I purchased a 4-pack of licences in one of their 50% off Black Friday deals.

I have now lost count of the number of times I've done a restore. For me the main advantage has been its 100% reliability.

Cerawy said:

It seems a bit less simple to use, than aomei backupper. What should i do, to create a backup file that i can restore windows with?

This is simply done using the Reflect menu option "Create an image of the partitions required to backup and restore Windows". If you want to backup data on other partitions then you will need to add those to the backup.

There are plenty of Youtube videos if you care to search. I found these for you:
Webinar: How to image a disk with Macrium Reflect - Part 1 The Basics - YouTube
Restoring a System Image with Macrium Reflect - YouTube

There's a huge help file, but more for reference than a practical guide.

Whereas Aomei (free) offers file backup and incremental imaging, MR (free) only offers differential imaging.

It does perform a very useful CRC check on the integrity of data to be imaged which has helped me detect early drive failure. Not all imaging programs do this.

The paid version includes a lot more, and some notable advanced features.

Steve C said:

This is simply done using the Reflect menu option "Create an image of the partitions required to backup and restore Windows". If you want to backup data on other partitions then you will need to add those to the backup.

Well, i just did that. I will try to see if i can do a recovery of windows, to see if it works. It asks me if i want to build a rescue media and add a boot menu to it. Should i just do that? Also, i have the backup on my usb memory stick, i hope that it won't delete anything on it?

Thank you for your - er- reply.

It asks me if i want to build a rescue media and add a boot menu to it.

You are conflating two separate things.

a. Creation of the bootable medium (which will wipe whatever's there)
and
b. The option to create a boot entry on Windows (which is not essential).

Cerawy said:

Well, i just did that. I will try to see if i can do a recovery of windows, to see if it works. It asks me if i want to build a rescue media and add a boot menu to it. Should i just do that? Also, i have the backup on my usb memory stick, i hope that it won't delete anything on it?

You do need a Reflect USB rescue disk to boot from to restore an image. Having the boot menu option is useful but not essential.