Macrium Reflect Free is being retired.
- Thread starter Murphy
- Start date
I am shocked and disappointed to found out Macrium Reflect will be no longer free after 1st January 2024.
I found Macrium Reflect Free the best disk clone software I been used it many time for about 5 years. Before Macrium Reflect Free, I been used Acronis True Image Home trial versions but now Acronis killed off True Image in 2020 and replaced it with Cyber Protect Home Office.
I may carry on using the last free version 8.0 or 9.0 if it will clone disk correctly and boot successfully but the last time I cloned disk and it failed to boot then I updated to latest patch version then cloned disk 2nd time and boot successfully. Version 8 after January 2024 will not support future Windows 10 and 11 feature updates and the next Windows 12.
I will not fork over £50 for version 10. I have to find free alternatives probably will use Samsung Magician's Data Migration to clone disk on Samsung SSDs or use AOMEI Backupper Standard and Hasleo Backup Suite to clone HDDs and SSDs. I rather pay £50 for gas or electricity instead!
Free Backup Software for Windows | AOMEI Backupper Standard
AOMEI Backupper Standard is the best free backup software and provides you easy backup & disaster recovery solutions for Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista and XP to protect your OS, hard drive and files.www.aomeitech.com
2024 Completely Free Windows Backup Software for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista - Hasleo Backup Suite Free
Hasleo Backup Suite Free is a completely free Windows backup software for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista and Windows Server that can help you back up and restore the Windows OSs, disks, partitions and files(folders) to protect the security of your Windows and personal data.www.easyuefi.com
I've always found AOMEI Backupper to be better than Macrium Reflect, but YMMV. In any case, another free alternative will come along in due course.
WinRAR?? Who's still using that? 7zip is where it's at.
"You will own nothing and you will be happy...."
Kids growing up today will own nothing in their own future. They wil not have a game collection, a music collection, a film collection, a book collection. Nothing.
"You want to have any of this? Then rent it from us...."
Yet another nightmare we're sleepwalking into.....
Soldato
I realise it's gone up in price now, back to £50, but for the "Home" licence, that's every year right? - not a one off?
It's a one off cost to purchase the current major version of the software. You then recieve 1 year of support. On purchase you're entitled to all upgrades for the life of that version, and then normally get a significant discount on the next major release.
Have been an owner for several years as I make daily use of the incremental backup feature.
Last edited:
Soldato
Thanks, I wasn't really sure. I think I just wait then, an alternative is bound to emerge from the ashes of Macrium Free, right?
Soldato
You dont need to wait, no need to purchase licenses. I pity all the fools who purchased license every year for backup software they didnt used daily.
I tested all free alternatives on VMWare, thought free AOMEI Backupper Standard was good, I tried it but found it no longer supported system disk clone so you will need to buy Professional license every year to use system disk clone feature. So I now no longer recommended AOMEI Backupper Standard. I tested MiniTool ShadowMaker and Hasleo Backup Suite to system disk clone to other disk and successfully booted Windows 11 from other disk. I am very impressed with MiniTool ShadowMaker disk clone interface was very simple with few clicks to clone disk and same thing with Hasleo Backup Suite. I now recommend these 2 free software and all SSDs free bundled software to clone disk as an alternatives to Macrium Reflect.
Best Free Backup Software for Windows | MiniTool ShadowMaker
As the best free backup software on Windows, MiniTool ShadowMaker provides enterprise-level backup for free. Download MiniTool PC backup software now.
www.minitool.com
2024 Completely Free Windows Backup Software for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista - Hasleo Backup Suite Free
Hasleo Backup Suite Free is a completely free Windows backup software for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista and Windows Server that can help you back up and restore the Windows OSs, disks, partitions and files(folders) to protect the security of your Windows and personal data.
Shame about reflect but the show goes on, I checked above recommendations and it looks like minitools free edition backup does not support encryption or backing up with the WinPE usb boot drive.
I can't actually see any restrictions for Hasleo backup suite, it just says completely free you can't even buy the product from the product listing since its free and it also says supports encryption and back up and restoring with its WinPE boot drive.
Oh and both support MBR or boot drive repair so it fixes the booting of windows properly after a restore which is handy when you have changed disk brands and sizes.
I have not used either but Hasleo has me sold since you can't beat free
I can't actually see any restrictions for Hasleo backup suite, it just says completely free you can't even buy the product from the product listing since its free and it also says supports encryption and back up and restoring with its WinPE boot drive.
Oh and both support MBR or boot drive repair so it fixes the booting of windows properly after a restore which is handy when you have changed disk brands and sizes.
I have not used either but Hasleo has me sold since you can't beat free
do they support compression and have bootable usb?You dont need to wait, no need to purchase licenses. I pity all the fools who purchased license every year for backup software they didnt used daily.
I tested all free alternatives on VMWare, thought free AOMEI Backupper Standard was good, I tried it but found it no longer supported system disk clone so you will need to buy Professional license every year to use system disk clone feature. So I now no longer recommended AOMEI Backupper Standard. I tested MiniTool ShadowMaker and Hasleo Backup Suite to system disk clone to other disk and successfully booted Windows 11 from other disk. I am very impressed with MiniTool ShadowMaker disk clone interface was very simple with few clicks to clone disk and same thing with Hasleo Backup Suite. I now recommend these 2 free software and all SSDs free bundled software to clone disk as an alternatives to Macrium Reflect.
Best Free Backup Software for Windows | MiniTool ShadowMaker
As the best free backup software on Windows, MiniTool ShadowMaker provides enterprise-level backup for free. Download MiniTool PC backup software now.www.minitool.com
2024 Completely Free Windows Backup Software for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista - Hasleo Backup Suite Free
Hasleo Backup Suite Free is a completely free Windows backup software for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista and Windows Server that can help you back up and restore the Windows OSs, disks, partitions and files(folders) to protect the security of your Windows and personal data.
Soldato
Yes both MiniTool ShadowMaker and Hasleo Backup Suite supported compression and has ability to create bootable USB or add it to Windows boot menu. Also MiniTool ShadowMaker supported mount backup image to let you to view files on File Explorer but Hasleo Backup Suite do not have mount backup image feature yet so developer confirmed it will add mount image feature in future version.
Backup Settings (Options/Schedule/Scheme) in MiniTool ShadowMaker - MiniTool
MiniTool ShadowMaker provides some advanced backup settings including backup options backup schedule and backup scheme. Here are the details.
Create Bootable CD/DVD/USB Drive with Bootable Media Builder - MiniTool
Learn how to create Boot CD/DVD Discs and Boot Flash Drive using MiniTool Bootable Media Builder.
How to Add or Delete Boot Menu with MiniTool ShadowMaker - MiniTool
How to add or delete a boot menu? With MiniTool ShadowMaker, it won’t be a problem anymore. If you are interested, this article will tell you how to do that.
Mount or Dismount Backup Images with MiniTool ShadowMaker - MiniTool
How to access your backup images? With MiniTool ShadowMaker, you can do that with the Mount and Dismount features. You can read this post and find answers.
How to create a bootable WinPE media with Hasleo Backup Suite?
A bootable WinPE medium can help you quickly restore Windows to a healthy state when the Windows system crashes, so it is very necessary to create a bootable WinPE medium in advance.
Add a boot entry in Windows boot menu to start WinPE restore environment?
You can add a boot entry for Hasleo Backup Suite in the Windows boot menu, so that you can quickly start WinPE to perform backup, restore, and clone operations. You can also remove the boot entry for Hasleo Backup Suite when you no longer need it.
Backup Options - Advanced backup settings of Hasleo Backup Suite
This article will introduce the Backup Options - the advanced backup settings of Hasleo Backup Suite in detail.
Man of Honour
I'm just thankful drive makers supply cloning tools that work perfectly. I will always be using Magician as a result really.
Soldato
Samsung Magician? I'd forgotten about then. Aren't a lot of those apps drive/manufacturer specific though? I'm going to check out the suggestions above, although probably stick with Macrium for as long as possible - especially for the convenience of the bootable USB features.
Man of Honour
Magician is for Samsung drives yes, WD have their own as do others. The upshot of Magician is it has everything in one, performance options, benchmarking, firmware, component status to check it's running at the right specs on the mobo etc etc.
Soldato
- Joined
- 14 Jun 2004
- Posts
- 6,430
clonezilla is another option to checkout.