Windows 10: Acronis True Image vs Macrium Reflect

I was toying with buying a copy of Acronis true Image now that it is on sale, but I figured I'd ask for some thoughts before doing so.

Mainly, I'm looking for the ability to boot from CD/USB and create an image of a hard drive, for backup or recovery purposes. Then, if needed, I can restore the image or access it to extract file. I've used Acronis in the past to do this, but can Macrium handle this process? I have very limited experience with Macrium Reflect Free, and I have no need to use the software for "backup" purposes, in terms of backing up data or a running computer.

:)

 

What hard drive clone software works with Windows 10

I use Acronis True Image Home 2016 and Macrium Reflect 6 Free.

 

Windows 10 won't boot "Repairing disk errors this might take more than an hour to complete"

Do you know of any drive cloning software that will let me clone a partition to another partition? I tired using both Macrium Reflect Free and Acronis True Image Western Digital Edition.

 

Found this thread right after posting.

Backup/Recovery tools - Acronis vs Macrium - Windows 10 Forums

 

I would not use Acronis even if it's free. Was a long time Acronis user and quit using it since version 2009 once I found out it modified the MBR and put services that were hard/impossible to get rid of even if I uninstalled Acronis.
Acronis Leftover Drivers? | Knowledge Base

Macrium free is all you need to do backup/restore and you don't even need to create CD/USB to boot from, you can set up to either:

• Run as dual boot from HD/SSD with Windows
• Solved FYI: Setup Macrium Rescue to boot from an Internal/External USB HD/SSD - Windows 10 Forums

 

I had problems with Acronis software too as Post 3. Macrium Reflect has been fine for me.

 

+1 for Macrium Reflect (I have a paid version). I used to have Acronis, it failed me twice trying to restore, it didn't get a third chance.

 

Acronis saved me it the past. I lost my main drive and backups restored correctly. I was looking for something new so I checked out Marcium and so far I like what I see in the trial version. Interface looks clean and I will convert if I have good results of the checkout. I say give it a try and compare.

 

I purchased Acronis, which I used for a long while, then uninstalled. I now use Macrium free. It's lighter on my resources and easier to use.
Only wish that the Macrium full version was a bit less expensive. I wouldn't hesitate. Perhaps one day I shall invest.

 

Macrium will send you a discount code if you ask them nicely.

 

Hi there

@DeaconFrost

Was a long time user of Acronis (Paid version) until about 2012/2013 when they changed the GUI and made the whole thing hideously complicated with crazy activation schemes etc.

I don't know (or even care) how Acronis performs now as I've found Macrium FREE more than enough -- and even for Linux provided you use EXT3/4 it will even handle the Linux backup / restore quite nicely too -- doesn't quite work properly for Linux XFS partitions but for Windows Macrium seems to be the preferred choice of most members on these Forums with good reason.

Incidently when there IS a problem (very rare but can happen) if a W10- upgrade breaks it then Macrium seems to get a fix out pretty quickly. This has only happened once to me - I think when the Anniversary edition of W10 came out with a whole slew of updates too -- was fixed with a few days !!!!!

Stable, Cheap (i.e FREE) and reliable -- what more do you need from a Backup / Imaging program.

Note also even in the FREE versions you can "Mount" an Image you created and simply browse it like a standard HDD -- you can with File explorer simply recover any file(s) you want too.

Excellent program, easy to make bootable USB / DVD and optionally you can add a boot to your backup disk image giving you a fool proof "Bare Metal" restore with the restored image on the same media as the boot program.

There is a paid version - good for servers etc but for most HOME users the FREE version is more than sufficient --and Kudos to Macrium - Free users aren't ever pestered to BUY ("Go PRO£) the paid version when they use the Freebie.

There's also a feature you will probably need if you use hardware (or sometimes even Software) RAID - you can load the RAID drivers when creating your Bootable recovery media. This will be necessary in these cases when doing a stand alone recovery so Macrium can see the correct HDD's to restore to !!!.

From within Windows itself no probs as the drivers will already be in the Windows image.

Differences between Paid and FREE versions here -- FREE version probably sufficient for 95% of people on the Forum.

Macrium Reflect Free


Cheers
jimbo

 

Thank you for the write-up. Looks like you spent some time on this!

My company has purchased Acronis TrueImage 2017 and I've been using Macrium at home. Honestly, I don't see much of a difference, except I didn't pay anything. I think Acronis makes the process of creating boot media much easier.

 

Hi there @DeaconFrost

In Years of handling computers etc it always amazes me that businesses in general always seem to choose Software that a Home user or someone who knows what they are doing would NEVER in a million years even THINK of buying

For example nearly every corporate site I've been to in general has McAffee AV software -- Home users call it Mc AWEFUL (or things much less polite) and really wouldn't even THINK of loading it on to their own computers.

If your company has purchased ACRONIS 2017 and it works for you by all means go for it --I have no idea what it looks like now but in general if a company buys some software it's a good bet that BETTER alternatives exist. !!!

Just my cynical nature of course.

However ANY backup software is better than NONE provided it woirks reliably and you use it regularly.

Cheers
jimbo

 

For absolute 1000% reliability in backing up and restoring, the gold standard is StorageCraft ShadowProtect SPX, which is available for Windows and Linux. It is very expensive but has never failed me and I am sure it never will.

 

It depends on what you mean by easier. I was a long time acronis user and over the years always had problems with drivers on their Linux recovery system. They never keep it up. Most of the time I had go thru and create PE recovery disks. Most of the time it was painful and difficult. The last version I was using was 2015. I went to install it on my state of the art NEW built PC and proceeded to build a PE disk, to find out it was missing several INTEL drivers I needed to support the USB 3.1 Hardware. Windows 10 supports it and then I found out that Acronis uses a Win 8 SDK to build their PE systems. I'm now a really happy MR user, and building their PE recovery disks is a piece of cake (Even adding additional driver's easy to do). Oh and MR gives you a choice on which Windows SDK you want to use.