Macrium trashed my backup drive. Another Bkup software?

[skyglider]

I'm not trying to persuade you to stay with Reflect Free, but you may be scaring other users unnecessarily.

Not trying to scare anyone into not using Macrium Reflect Free (MRF). Just reported what happened to me to see if anyone else chimes in that they had a working HDD become unallocated even if they didn't know why it happened.

If I had to guess, I'd say that your experience was rare. Possibly unique.

I had copied the MRF version 7 downloaded file from my Win10 PC to my new Win11 PC. When I installed MRF ver 7, it asked if I wanted to update it to the latest ver 7.xxxx. I clicked update and it did it. .... I'm wondering now if I should have installed version 8.xxxx as it may be tuned for running under Win11 instead of Win10.

 

[skyglider]

Why aren't you using Window 10 or 11 backup utility and letting it do scheduled backups at night while you are sleeping.? I do.

Because in many, many years, I've been using Macrium Reflect Free and it always restored backups perfectly. That was on my previous computers running Windows versions prior to Win11 though.

There are many people on dpreview who have been using MRF instead of the Windows backup utility.

 

[Chris Noble]

MACRIUM REFLECT FREE TRASHED MY BACKUP HDD:
Just built a new PC running Win11 Home, 24H2. I had backed up my previous Win10 Home PC's system drive using Macrium Reflect Free (MRF) to a HDD in a USB3 docking station.

Macrium Reflect Free is no longer supported by Macrium. You should definitely not use unsupported software.

One alternative for you to consider is Macrium Reflect. It works well and is quite reliable.

 

[Bobapingu]

After having being left with unusable backups time and again, due to apps and systems no longer being supported, I looked for a backup app that did a simple copy from one drive to another. The one I chose at the time was SyncBackPro. I'm still using it. It has become quite sophisticated over time, but I can still go into any of my backup drives and pull out any image with just drag and drop. I'm not saying it's the best or cheapest app but it's worth checking out.

 

[skyglider]

MACRIUM REFLECT FREE TRASHED MY BACKUP HDD:
Just built a new PC running Win11 Home, 24H2. I had backed up my previous Win10 Home PC's system drive using Macrium Reflect Free (MRF) to a HDD in a USB3 docking station.

Macrium Reflect Free is no longer supported by Macrium. You should definitely not use unsupported software.

Agree now.

One alternative for you to consider is Macrium Reflect. It works well and is quite reliable.

I would stick with MR if the one time perpetual license wasn't so darn expensive at $170-$180. I won't use subscription software, so MRF subscription model is out for me.

 

[Chris Noble]

MACRIUM REFLECT FREE TRASHED MY BACKUP HDD:
Just built a new PC running Win11 Home, 24H2. I had backed up my previous Win10 Home PC's system drive using Macrium Reflect Free (MRF) to a HDD in a USB3 docking station.

Macrium Reflect Free is no longer supported by Macrium. You should definitely not use unsupported software.

Agree now.

One alternative for you to consider is Macrium Reflect. It works well and is quite reliable.

I would stick with MR if the one time perpetual license wasn't so darn expensive at $170-$180. I won't use subscription software, so MRF subscription model is out for me.

... is losing my data.

 

[skyglider]

MACRIUM REFLECT FREE TRASHED MY BACKUP HDD:
Just built a new PC running Win11 Home, 24H2. I had backed up my previous Win10 Home PC's system drive using Macrium Reflect Free (MRF) to a HDD in a USB3 docking station.

Macrium Reflect Free is no longer supported by Macrium. You should definitely not use unsupported software.

Agree now.

One alternative for you to consider is Macrium Reflect. It works well and is quite reliable.

I would stick with MR if the one time perpetual license wasn't so darn expensive at $170-$180. I won't use subscription software, so MRF subscription model is out for me.

... is losing my data.

I'm thinking that the pay for versions of MR are up to date in supporting the latest versions of Win11. While the non supported free versions may not be.

 

[drj3]

MACRIUM REFLECT FREE TRASHED MY BACKUP HDD:
Just built a new PC running Win11 Home, 24H2. I had backed up my previous Win10 Home PC's system drive using Macrium Reflect Free (MRF) to a HDD in a USB3 docking station.

Macrium Reflect Free is no longer supported by Macrium. You should definitely not use unsupported software.

Agree now.

One alternative for you to consider is Macrium Reflect. It works well and is quite reliable.

I would stick with MR if the one time perpetual license wasn't so darn expensive at $170-$180. I won't use subscription software, so MRF subscription model is out for me.

... is losing my data.

I'm thinking that the pay for versions of MR are up to date in supporting the latest versions of Win11. While the non supported free versions may not be.

EaseUS Todo Backup, offers a perpetual license for $79 with lifetime updates for one computer or $39 yearly subscription fee. I have no idea how good Ease US is. The only negative I have seen is once you buy it, it is very difficult to get your money back if you decide you don't like it. They do have a free version, but it has limitations.

 

[XiaoDeer]

If you like free like me there's Clonezilla. You put the software on a USB thumb drive to make or restore backup images.

There's a variant called Rescuezilla that uses the same basic engine but has a slightly less ugly user interface.

Hasleo Backup is also free and you can make backups from within Windows. I have tested it and it seems to work well with a delightfully simple and intuitive user interface.

 

[drj3]

If you like free like me there's Clonezilla. You put the software on a USB thumb drive to make or restore backup images.

There's a variant called Rescuezilla that uses the same basic engine but has a slightly less ugly user interface.

Hasleo Backup is also free and you can make backups from within Windows. I have tested it and it seems to work well with a delightfully simple and intuitive user interface.

Can you automate full, differential and incremental backup or do you have to initiate each backup?

 

[skyglider]

I would stick with MR if the one time perpetual license wasn't so darn expensive at $170-$180. I won't use subscription software, so MRF subscription model is out for me.

... is losing my data.

I'm thinking that the pay for versions of MR are up to date in supporting the latest versions of Win11. While the non supported free versions may not be.

EaseUS Todo Backup, offers a perpetual license for $79 with lifetime updates for one computer or $39 yearly subscription fee. I have no idea how good Ease US is. The only negative I have seen is once you buy it, it is very difficult to get your money back if you decide you don't like it. They do have a free version, but it has limitations.

I've read good reviews for EaseUS ToDo and the perpetual license for $79 is reasonable. It is on my short list of backup programs to replace Macrium Reflect.

 

[skyglider]

If you like free like me there's Clonezilla. You put the software on a USB thumb drive to make or restore backup images.

There's a variant called Rescuezilla that uses the same basic engine but has a slightly less ugly user interface.

Hasleo Backup is also free and you can make backups from within Windows. I have tested it and it seems to work well with a delightfully simple and intuitive user interface.

I'm leaning toward testing Hasleo Bkup for my bkup program. Thanks.

 

[SecondTimeAround]

There is a choice of yearly or perpetual licenses, as well as a free version.

https://www.aomeitech.com/

Currently, the cost of a perpetual license is $69.95, or $89.95 for 5 licenses.

I've done many backups and restores (the majority of which were on my test/backup computers) over the years, and have had no issues.

 

[skyglider]

There is a choice of yearly or perpetual licenses, as well as a free version.

https://www.aomeitech.com/

Currently, the cost of a perpetual license is $69.95, or $89.95 for 5 licenses.

I've done many backups and restores (the majority of which were on my test/backup computers) over the years, and have had no issues.

Thank you for sharing that info.

 

[XiaoDeer]

If you like free like me there's Clonezilla. You put the software on a USB thumb drive to make or restore backup images.

There's a variant called Rescuezilla that uses the same basic engine but has a slightly less ugly user interface.

Hasleo Backup is also free and you can make backups from within Windows. I have tested it and it seems to work well with a delightfully simple and intuitive user interface.

Can you automate full, differential and incremental backup or do you have to initiate each backup?

Hasleo backup does all that. Personally I only tested the saving and restoring of a complete image. It only takes 5-10 mins for my system driver.

Differential and incremental backups are more complex and I always find myself asking "what could possibly go wrong?".

I trust simple

 

[Chris Noble]

Differential and incremental backups are more complex and I always find myself asking "what could possibly go wrong?".

I trust simple

What's simple is backing up (and verifying) what's changed since the last verified backup. Backing up the 90% of files on your computer that have not changed is an invitation for something to go wrong.

I trust simple... and smart ;-)

 

[rmexpress22]

You can try a different docking station to see if it'll read the hard drive. The likely case is that because your hard drive or dock had an issue, macrium froze because it couldn't read/write.

It's not like you're cloning a drive where the boot partitions get modified. What you are doing is no different than copying a picture of another file to an external hard drive. It's like saying that copying a jpg to your hard drive corrupted your drive.

Either way, your drive may still be salvageable.

 

[XiaoDeer]

What's simple is backing up (and verifying) what's changed since the last verified backup. Backing up the 90% of files on your computer that have not changed is an invitation for something to go wrong.

Ummm, like what?

I trust simple... and smart ;-)

I don't image my system drive very often. Even if I restored a 3 month old image, I just have to run a few software updates. I don't keep any of my data on the system drive.

 

[drj3]

What's simple is backing up (and verifying) what's changed since the last verified backup. Backing up the 90% of files on your computer that have not changed is an invitation for something to go wrong.

Ummm, like what?

I trust simple... and smart ;-)

I don't image my system drive very often. Even if I restored a 3 month old image, I just have to run a few software updates. I don't keep any of my data on the system drive.

My system drive is fully backed up at the beginning of each month, differentials once a week and an incremental on the other 6 days of the week in the morning.

If I try a new program and decide I don't want it, I can just restore the computer to that morning's backup. I don't need to worry about not being able to fully uninstall a program.

If a Windows update has a problem, I just restore the computer to the state before the update.

If the disk fails, I can quickly restore the operating system to a new disk without spending time updating program files and loading and updating Windows required by a three-month-old backup.

Having very recent backups just simplifies restoring a computer and saves unnecessary work.

An added bonus is that you can open any backup and retrieve any files that you may have accidentally deleted.

 

[jrsforums]

Any recommendations for a MRF replacement? I want to do whole drive image backups, not just file copy backups. And be able to extract files from the image backups. Thanks.

Well, you've just smacked into an inherent problem with the imaging approach.

I believe the best solution involves a combination of imaging and file synchronization.

But it all starts with good organization of your files. My system drive is for the OS and applications. I try to keep all of "my data" on a separate drive. And that includes my Thunderbird profile with all my contacts and saved emails.

I image the system drive from time time. And use file synchronization software frequently for all my data.

Even if the image of the system drive is damaged I can reconstitute a working system by downloading all the appropriate software. That might take a day but at least none of my data is lost.

Actually, I maintain a file by file copy of the system drive too. It can't be restored to a bootable system but... just in case I need a DLL or some settings/config file from C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\...

All of the file-by-file work is done by Robocopy invoked by some scripts to semi-automate the process.

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