Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect  

Yes I've noticed that too. I guess it's down to the way compression works. Maybe empty sectors which are not copied.

Mooly said:

A peculiar observation I've noted with Macrium differential backups that I can not explain. If a differential backup always refers back to the base image as a reference, then we would expect each subsequent run of the program to give a backup file that is larger than the last. Mostly that seems to apply, however occasionally I get sequences that defy logic.

Logic remains :)

There are multiple factors behind why the size varies. Which sectors are copied as Kado said, has there been a lot of stuff in recycle bin and maybe a large Windows.old folder in previous differential which were cleaned before the next one, uninstalled programs and deleted files being bigger than those added, and so on.

A simple example: Differential backup contains two Windows 10 ISO images user forgot to delete before the backup from Downloads folder. Before next differential user deletes those, or moves them to an external disk, has not installed no new software and only created a few new documents.

In that case the later differential would be several gigabytes smaller than the one preceding it.

Logic: If changes made since last differential backup have decreased the used space on disks included in a new differential backup, the differential image made will be smaller than the previous one.

Yes, you can use MR exclusively. It's much better then native tools.

OldGrantonian said:

I'm a newbie here, but I've posted in SevenForums. I have a brand-new Dell Win 10 laptop. I'm not a techie.

Here is my question: If I use Macrium Free, will it eliminate the need for all the windows recovery stuff that I can see here:

- Control Panel > Backup and Restore > Create a system image
- Control Panel > Backup and Restore > Create a repair disc
- Control Panel > Recovery > Create a recovery drive

After 50 years of using Windows, I still don't entirely trust any native software related to disks, backups, recovery, or System Restore. I prefer to use third-party tools such as Partition Wizard.

As usual, I plan to delete the recovery partition in order to release disk space.

Yep, it sure does. It is pretty much the general consensus here, the Windows 10 own image backup and recovery is verrrrry unreliable to the point of uselessness.
I Have been using Macrium since Windows 8.1, and have also stopped using restore points(another useless recovery option in my opinion).
Being I use an SSD and have not only a Macrium USB, but also a recovery boot option on my SSD, if I nuke my system, it is only a matter of minutes before I'm up and running. My images are on a HDD, but after Macrium PE reads it into memory, the recovery goes very fast.

OldGrantonian said:

.
Thanks for both responses.

I'll start MF now.
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Try to keep your Macrium Reflect image's on a separate hard drive or better yet, a External Hard Drive if possible.
Best method is to use external HD , prices are pretty cheap for them these days. :)

Don't forget to create the Macrium recovery disk/USB and test it at least to the point of being able to boot and locate your images.