There’s good news and bad news.
I’ve had several questions regarding the new version of Macrium Reflect. Those who’ve purchased my course wonder if it still applies (it does), and others wonder about my other Reflect videos as well.
Perhaps the most controversial topic, however, is the change in the pricing model. It’s a love/hate thing. I don’t love it, but I can’t say I hate it.
Let’s dive deeper.
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Macrium Reflect X
Macrium Reflect X introduces useful features like resumable backups, faster speeds, an open-source file format, and ARM support, but shifts to a subscription-only model that some dislike. The interface hasn’t changed dramatically, so my existing courses and guides largely remain applicable. I continue to recommend it, even as a subscription product. Backups are that important.
The good news
The number one concern is whether the new version changes how you use the program. It does not. In fact, to all outward appearances, the user interface has changed very little. So there’s nothing new to learn, and the vast majority of my videos and course lessons still apply.
Reflect X does add a few interesting features.
- Resumable Images and Write Failure Retry. Rather than starting over, Reflect can resume an interrupted backup even across a system reboot or other problems.
- Faster! Always welcome.
- Open source file format. To quote: “We’ve now opened up our .mrimgx & .mrbakx file format on GitHub, and provided the full source code for restoring all data.” (Note that this applies to the new X file format.)
- File filter. You can filter out specific files and folders, including those whose names match wildcard patterns, from being included in an image backup.
- Windows Copilot+ ARM Support. Version X is ready for the new generation of Windows PCs.
So, overall, it’s a decent upgrade with some nice, yet not compelling, additions to the product. If version 8 is working well for you, I see no reason to switch.
The bad news
Macrium Reflect is now sold on a subscription model. There is no longer a one-time licensing option.
The official reason is to continue to provide you with the latest and greatest product and support. While the justification is applied to their business product, it applies to the Home edition as well.
And that’s worth noting: Macrium Reflect’s priorities do indeed appear to be business and even enterprise-related. In my opinion, that makes their home product more likely to be reliable and fully featured. But it comes at a cost, and today’s cost is the subscription plan.
There was an important question I needed answered before I wrote this article: what happens if your subscription expires? What if you don’t renew? Will it keep working?
Yes and no.
The official response from their support channel:
Reflect will automatically fall back to restore-only mode, allowing users to access their data even after their subscription expires.
The subscription is required to continue backing up.
Do this
I’ve explicitly avoided pricing information because a) it’ll likely vary depending on your location and b) eventually it’ll change. That being said, I paid1 around $50 for an upgrade license for four machines for a year.
My opinion: totally worth it. Backups are important, and Reflect is a tool I trust.
But I also understand that not everyone can afford it, and not everyone is willing to sign up for yet another subscription. I get it, I do. Fortunately, there are alternative products you can use instead of Reflect.
Above all, back up. Use tools you trust, keep them up to date, and automate what you can, but back up.
Backing up is something I talk about a lot. Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.
Full disclosure
The folks behind Macrium Reflect do not pay me for my recommendation. They have no affiliate program, and I get nothing if you purchase their product. As I lay out in my recommendation disclosure, I recommend it because I’ve used it, I continue to use it, and I find it a good product worth recommending.
They did recently reach out to me and offer a discount code for you: Ask-Leo-25p (case sensitive) will provide 25% off Macrium Reflect X home purchases until the end of 2024. Again, I get nothing from sharing that with you.
All that being said, they were nice enough to send me some swag earlier this year, including, among a few other things, Macrium-branded bandanas for the Corgis and a coffee cup for yours truly. While appreciated, of course, that’s not what drives my recommendation. Making a good, useful product does that.
Podcast audio
Related Video
Footnotes & References
1: Out of my own pocket. As mentioned above, Reflect doesn’t subsidize me for my recommendation.
I’ve been using these guys’ disk imaging product since 2005:
https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/
https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-windows/
The imaging program has different variants (Image For Windows (IFW), Image for DOS (IFD), Image For Linux (IFL)) which all come with your basic purchase/download.
They also make a boot manager with disk partitioning tool. You can buy the boot manager/partitioning tool and disk imaging programs separately, but you’re better off to buy them all as the discounted bundle (see their main web page) because the license for the boot manager gives you full access to some options in their OS Deployment Tool Suite (which comes with the disk imaging program), including disk format conversion capability (e.g. MBR to UEFI; UEFI to MBR).
You can try any of their products for free for 30 days before purchasing.
The disk imaging program has been updated regularly with updates for a given “a” version happening perhaps 2 to 6 times a year (e.g. “a.u”, “a.v”, “a.w”, “a.x”, etc.). These regular updates are free for the life of the version which has been about about every 5 to 7 years (need to create and sign into your account to access).
About every 5 to 7 years, they’ve released a major version change (“b”, “c”) update that you then have to re-purchase. I started with version 2.x in 2005, then upgraded to version 3. in about 2013/2014. They released version 4. earlier this year. The major version changes are significant enough (at least when they went from version 2 to version 3) that the new major version wasn’t backwards compatible with the previous major version.
If you buy only one of their tools, you can still get a bit of a discount if/when you go and buy the other tool, but you’re still better off to buy the entire bundle up front.
I’ve found using Image For Windows reliable (although I’ve never had to restore from a backup). About 4 years ago, I started having backups that were failing during after-backup verification process. I contacted Terrabyte Unlimited tech support (which has been very helpful and responsive to me since 2005) and they said the problem was likely my computer’s hardware. I ran memory tests on my computer’s memory and eventually (after not immediately finding any issues), found some memory was failing. I ended up replacing some memory and I haven’t had any IFW backup failures since.
Overall, I’ve been happy with Image For Windows and with the vendor’s tech support. They have a series of online help articles and FAQ’s that have helped me sort out some issues over the years.
I’ve been using licensed versions of Macrium Reflect since Version 6. I was dismayed when Paramount announced that it was moving to a subscription plan, however I plan to keep Macrium Reflect and will pay the subscription fee. I have until March 2025 to do so.
I looked into alternatives to Macrium Reflect that were free to use and found them to be no match for Macrium Reflect. Easeus Todo Backup, Hasleo Backup Suite, and Seagate Toolkit (based on Acronis, I believe) all failed my expectations in regard to backing up and restoring images as they either didn’t support the backup schemes I use with Macrium or took much longer to perform a backup or restore. I used my C:\ drive, which has 388GB of data, with each. The alternatives took almost twice as long as Macrium to perform a full image backup.
A full image of all drives on one of my computers is 3.6TB.
I am still on free Macrium Reflect v7 which seems to work fine (I have not needed to test this in an emergency so far, knock on wood). I just want to backup my Win10 laptop. Do I need to upgrade? Thanks.
Having used Macrium Reflect since v3 or v4, I can say that the product has never disappointed me. As a Macrium Reseller Partner, I recommend and support my clients using Macrium Reflect. I have wondered just how long it would be before Macrium moved to a subscription model. Well, in my Macrium Reflect X partner seminars in September, it was pretty clear the decision had been made, for better or worse. I agree with Leo; if you use Macrium Reflect v8 in your home or business, you can continue using Macrium Reflect v8, but there will be a limit on future updates, which might or might not affect your decision to stick with Macrium Reflect v8. As Leo pointed out, Macrium Reflect X has some nice features, and the interface is relatively unchanged. Macrium wants to hang on to as many customers as possible, but the emphasis going forward is business customers. Business customers will all likely move to the subscription model. Backup is serious, and you don’t want to be hanging on to the older version unless you have specific requirements that can only be met by doing that. Macrium is accommodating those customers. In the coming months, I’ll switch my office computer backup to the Macrium Reflect X version. Move with the times or get left behind. The choice is yours.
For full disclosure, I think we need a pictures of the corgis in their bandanas ;-)