Macrium Reflect Free is Going Away

⏰ Macrium has announced end of life for Macrium Reflect Free. Here are your alternatives.

⏰ The death of Macrium Reflect Free
Reflect Free will get no further updates after 12/31/2023. If you’re using it, your options are:

Upgrade to the paid version. (My recommendation, if your budget allows.)
Keep using the free version.
Switch to a free alternative such as EaseUS Todo.

Chapters
0:00 Macrium Reflect Free
0:50 The timing!
1:40 Option 1 Upgrade
2:15 Image Guardian
3:40 Option 2 Continue with Free
5:02 Option 3 Jump ship
5:20 EaseUS Todo
5:55 The most important thing is that you back up and keep backing up.
6:30 Macrium Reflect Course

More Ask Leo!

#askleo #macriumreflect #backupsoftware

[RickBlaine]

I've used MR (free and paid versions) for over ten years on my MSW machines and it has NEVER let me down.

[TheLifetraveler]

I kept the free edition. I noticed they were trying to get me to update the version, for a pay version. The old Macrium Reflect still works fine.

[mrljgibson]

Even the newest mini hacker can get around windows file protection, if you want to keep you backups safe then use an air gap, keep them unplugged from your computers and network until needed.

[ericturner]

What I've never understood is why people even play the updating game with disk imaging software.

I know a collegue with a laptop that uses WIndows 11 and has True Image 2014 installed on it and a friend uses True Image 2017 on his Windows 10 laptop (and family members computers). The local computer shop even uses old Symantec Ghost software and have done so for many rarely need updating and if it wasn't for the introduction of uefi / gpt. I bet stinking old imaging software would still work today.

[richard]

I've been a very happy Macrium Reflect user for years but recently had a the following issue : RESTORING FROM THE BOOT USB RESCUE DISK COULD NOT DETECT THE PRIMARY C: DRIVE MAKING IT USELESS. I turned my laptop upside down trying to resolve this (deleting/recreating partition; reinstall of Windows 11; nothing worked ! The problem was not with Macrium, but with Acer/Intel. There is a driver provided on the Intel site called "RST Raid driver". Issue solved !

[nlbv]

The free edition turned me on to Macrium.
And in fact I was so grateful for its features and it's server version having a functional 30 day trial that worked - that I not only bought it but have got nearly 100 clients to buy for workstations and servers
over the past few years.
I still like to use free for mainly friends/family and recommendations.
I'm very sorry to see the free edition go away.
I do not think that home editions paid or free include redeploy.
Which I have needed far more often in small or home scenarios than I have needed in business.

[BigA]

I might have been tempted to buy Macrium Reflect until reading one of the comments stated that there was an annual charge associated with ongoing use of this program. I don't believe in annual charges - once I buy a program, that's it.

[eminusipi]

I used the free version to move files from the spinning HD to a blank NVME SSD. Worked great!

[drescherjm]

I was using AOMEI for years but the free version does not seem to be able to write to a NAS anymore (tested on multiple machines). I switched to EaseUS which works similar and the NAS destination works.

[martinzamudio]

I do not have to worry about macrium. I have never used it. I have been using CLONEZILLA for years, it's free and it does everything I need. Cloning disk to disk, backing up from disk to Image, restoring full system backup from Image, etc. etc. CLONEZILLA is all you need, you just have to learn how to use it.

[basspig]

I used the trial version of macrium reflect to clone a mechanical hard drive onto a solid state hard drive a Windows 11 system. Unfortunately the resulting Drive did not work in fact it made it impossible for the system to boot into the windows recovery mode so I had to pull the drive out of the system and put it in a USB Docking Bay and operate on it externally from another operating system.

[SupersMan]

I agree that Macrium is definitely worth paying for. I bought the home 4 pack as well.

[len]

i started sing Reflect free about 10 yeats ago. Switched to Aomei Backupper free, as I find it more straightforward to use, then switched to Backupper Professional, for the backaup to different equipment, the "bare metal" backup.

[ussmillerco]

Let me help you out here. If you have macrium free, your golden on your legacy device you already installed it on....but once you get a new machine, well here the solution....before you toss out your legacy free installation, go to your windows program file folder, and look for copy it and it’s branch files to your usb go to your new windows machine ( I went from win 10 to an 11 machine), and drop that file into the same folder (program files). Then once there, open and drill down into that macrium file, and find the reflect application exe file, open it....voila reflect lives again. Make a desktop shortcut and start menu shortcut....and sit back and savor you beating the man! Your welcome!

[Kovaelin]

Is the old version available anywhere?

[eurodudenj]

Thanks for this excellent comparison of the various options, including the nuances and pros and cons.
One question - I assume that disk images created by Acronis are in a proprietary format in that I assume they cannot be read by ANY of the alternatives such as EaseUS ToDo, Acronis Cyber Protect (formerly known as True Image) or Clonezilla? I am pretty sure the answer is no, but just asking to be sure...

[colt]

Has Macrium Reflect Free done away with the free download? I can't find it on the website.

[PeterPan-qioc]

Leo, i use the paid version and i like it so far....still learning the feature sets. Two quick Question - i have a schedule setup (definition file) to run monthly full system image and daily incremental back ups. Does macrium software automatically know when to start itself to begin the automated backup schedules or do i have to remember to start the software on that day/hour? And if i do daily incremental backups, am i leaving my external HD plugged into the computer 24x7? how do you do it? thank you for all the timely useful content you put out

[jorgejuan]

HI thanks for the video. I downloaded Macrium reflect after watching one of your videos and the problem I have is that it allows me to make an ISO file of the rescue media to boot from DVD to rescue a HDD but I doesn't have a Thumb drive option is there a way to create a rescue thumb drive with Macrium reflect?
Thanks again; any help will be greatly appreciated.
Figured it out. I had to eject the thumb drive and plugged it in another USB port and it showed up.

[thebluerook]

I just bought version 8 for my new system because I try to support companies that sell a product that I use. However, I have had version 7 on my old system for over six years. (Paid $35 for it.) I am no longer entitled to support but the program works just fine.