Drive Imaging Software

stinger608 · Tuesday at 4:11 PM

So, most, if not everyone, knows that Macrium Reflect is no longer a free software. They only have a free 30 day trial now.

To me, it was one of the best drive imaging products available.

What is a good (great) alternative to Macrium Reflect and free?

If I have to pay, I'll most likely get a paid Macrium, however, I'd like to keep it on the free side.

RootinTootinPootin · Tuesday at 4:13 PM

stinger608 said:
So, most, if not everyone, knows that Macrium Reflect is no longer a free software. They only have a free 30 day trial now.

To me, it was one of the best drive imaging products available.

What is a good (great) alternative to Macrium Reflect and free?

If I have to pay, I'll most likely get a paid Macrium, however, I'd like to keep it on the free side.

still Macrium

I use the live CD version, forever free (winPE image)

stinger608 · Tuesday at 4:29 PM

RootinTootinPootin said:
still Macrium

I use the live CD version, forever free (winPE image)

Didn't know there was a live CD version.

Do you have a link?

RootinTootinPootin · Tuesday at 4:37 PM

stinger608 said:
Didn't know there was a live CD version.

Do you have a link?

the macrium software makes one for you.

QuietBob · Tuesday at 4:52 PM

The latest version of the free package can still be found around the net. If you have their downloader tool, you can snag it directly from Macrium servers.

They promise much faster backups and restores with the new version, but unless you do multiple drives per day I'd stick with the old one. It's not lilke it's going to suddenly stop working or sth.

A Computer Guy · Tuesday at 5:11 PM

Ouch. Subscription plan. I miss the days when you could just buy the one off version of anything without subscriptions.

68Olds · Tuesday at 6:05 PM

Acronis True Image for Crucial is an option if you are just imaging Crucial SSDs.

Acronis True Image for Crucial FAQs

Have all your questions about Acronis True Image for Crucial answered, the software suite which allows you to migrate and back up drive contents.

www.crucial.com

Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office for Crucial

www.acronis.com

Arctucas · Tuesday at 6:11 PM

Been using Acronis for about six years now, never had any issues.

Apophis_ · Tuesday at 6:23 PM

i switched to Veeam Agent a year ago, no issues sofar

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cvaldes · Tuesday at 6:57 PM

I've successfully used Acronis True Image, Macrium Reflect Free, and NTI Echo. All three utilities were bundled/free downloads with SSDs that I purchased. While Macrium Reflect Free has been discontinued, the downloaded installer works fine even on drives it wasn't bundled with.

There are one or two other disk cloning utilities that I've successfully used in the past but I can't remember their names. I reach for Macrium first these days since I'm most familiar with its user interface.

For Macs I still go to the old standby Carbon Copy Cloner again for my long-time familiarity with the UI.

stinger608 · Tuesday at 7:00 PM

68Olds said:
Acronis True Image for Crucial is an option if you are just imaging Crucial SSDs.

Don't have Crucial drives though. Dang it. LOL

cvaldes said:
While Macrium Reflect Free has been discontinued, the downloaded installer works fine.

Shoot, I might still have the downloaded free installer somewhere. LOL

cvaldes · Tuesday at 7:18 PM

stinger608 said:
Shoot, I might still have the downloaded free installer somewhere. LOL

I remember that there's some sort of product registration code for my copy of Macrium Reflect Free. I just typed it in the file that lists software keys. Always good to make a note of software keys with bundled utilities.

Another option would be to just put this in a plain text file and rezip the installer with this file.

Anyhow best of luck to you.

JoeTheDestroyer · Tuesday at 7:22 PM

Depends on the system. For windows, I just use Window Backup & Restore from the install media. For Linux, dd is sufficient.

stinger608 · Tuesday at 7:25 PM

Just found the old Macrium Free exe file @cvaldes :peace:

Tried it, and it worked like a champ!!

I now have it on my system and it seems to be working fine. Haven't done a image backup yet, but did create the rescue disk and opened the program.
All seems active and normal.

DaemonForce · Tuesday at 8:42 PM

For some reason I see a lot of Macrium questions in the wild and they're all from inexperienced WinPE users.
There are multiple versions of the software and they are all equally effective.
The boot media creates a Win11 based WinPE distribution for quick capture/apply routines even across LAN.
I have created and booted a default Macrium disc with the usual parameters:

If you are into manual integration and make a Win10PE copy, it does an excellent job of backing up a system image across the network.
The last time I did this from a VM. The only hangup is the nag for a license if you do it manually. The info is integrated into the Win11 boot image.

Restore works great too.

I'm sure there's better software out there but this does the job and doesn't take up a ton of space on a WinPE distro.
For context I used to do backups through WinImage. That is not a system backup software.
It's an antique disk image suite that used for making boot disks. I used it for chainload testing through CD Shell and other quick linux kernel hacks.
It's still preferred for disk images but I'm guessing you should stick to Macrium for quick- get in, save and reboot type of jobs.

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Drive Imaging Software

stinger608

Dedicated TPU Cruncher & Folder

RootinTootinPootin

stinger608

Dedicated TPU Cruncher & Folder

RootinTootinPootin

QuietBob

A Computer Guy

68Olds

Acronis True Image for Crucial FAQs

Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office for Crucial

Arctucas

Apophis_

New Member

Free Windows Backup Solution for PCs and Endpoints

cvaldes

stinger608

Dedicated TPU Cruncher & Folder

cvaldes

JoeTheDestroyer

stinger608

Dedicated TPU Cruncher & Folder

DaemonForce

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