Macrium Reflect Home Edition 8 review
Priced at $105.
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Recommended
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We recommend backup software with a CHOICE Expert Rating of 80% (very good) or higher.
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CHOICE Expert Rating
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The CHOICE Expert Rating consists of backup score (30%), restore score (30%), ease of use score (30%) and support score (10%).
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Backup score
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Backup performance is the average time taken to perform a disk image using the default settings for compression and backup type. This score makes up 30% of the CHOICE Expert Rating.
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Restore score
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Restore performance is the average time taken to restore our disk image using the rescue disk environment. This score makes up 30% of the CHOICE Expert Rating.
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Ease of use score
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This score is weighted at 35% for backup ease of use, 33% for restore ease of use, and 32% for rescue media ease of use. The ease of use score makes up 30% of the CHOICE Expert Rating.
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Customer support score
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This score makes up 10% of the CHOICE Expert Rating.
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Price
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Recommended retail price as of September 2021 in Australian dollars. Some prices may differ depending on the exchange rate.
- $105
- Version tested
- 8.0.6161 (UEFI)
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PCs supported
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The number of PCs that the software can be installed on simultaneously.
- 1
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Subscription required
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Whether the purchase of a subscription is required to use the software.
- No
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Free version available
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Whether there is a totally free version of the software available. Note that free versions will lack the full functionality of the paid version.
- Yes
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Free trial offered
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Whether the software comes with the offer of a free trial.
- Yes
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Upgrades
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Upgrade policy/eligibility.
- Yes, for purchased version
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Other backup types
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Additional backup schemes offered, if any, apart from the standard incremental, differential, continuous, full and image, clone and network backup options.
- None
- Website
- macrium.com
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Full backup
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This will duplicate all of the files and folders on your computer. A full backup is time consuming, but it's the required first step, even if subsequent backups only add the new or different files added to the hard drive since the full backup (see incremental backup and differential backup).
- Yes
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Incremental backup
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This backs up files that have changed or been added since the previous backup, while leaving unchanged files untouched. It requires less time and space than doing a full backup each time, and also gives you the option to roll back to earlier versions of files, but takes longer to do a full restore than with a differential backup.
- Yes
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Differential backup
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This duplicates all files since the full backup, with the differential backup file growing each time. It takes longer than an incremental backup but a full restore only requires the full backup plus the differential backup file.
- Yes
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Continuous backup
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Also called real-time backup, this saves every change made to your files as they happen, keeping the backup files continuously up to date.
- No
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File and folder sync
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The software can synchronise data in two separate folders, making sure that the contents are identical.
- No
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Whole disk image
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This will duplicate all of the files and folders on your computer to to an exact replica 'image' file.
- Yes
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Partition image
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This will duplicate all of the files and folders on a disk partition to an exact replica 'image' file.
- Yes
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System image
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This will create a copy of the system drive in one click, saving it to an exact replica 'image' file.
- Yes
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Disk clone
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This lets you create an exact replica – or 'clone' – of one drive to another drive, without the need for a disk image.
- Yes
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Encryption
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Protects the backup set by encrypting it and using a password.
- Yes (optional, not enabled by default)
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AES-256 encoding
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Whether the encryption provides industry standard strong AES-256 encoding.
- Yes
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Scheduling options
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The various types of pre-set backup schedules offered.
- Daily, weekly, monthly, time-based; configurable based on backup plan
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Rescue media creation (USB stick)
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Creating a bootable USB stick for restoring backup images.
- Yes
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Rescue media creation (CD/DVD)
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Creating a bootable optical disc for restoring backup images. For Genie9, the built-in rescue media creation utility did not work; Genie support sent us a link to another program with which we were able to make a rescue DVD.
- Yes
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Back up to network
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Saving the backup set to a network location such as a NAS (network attached storage) drive.
- Yes
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Restore partition image
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Restoring a previously-created exact duplicate (image) of a disk partition.
- Yes
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Restore whole disk image
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Restoring a previously-created exact duplicate (image) of the whole disk.
- Yes
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Restore individual files and folders
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Restoring individual nominated files and/or folders.
- Yes
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Able to mount disk partition images
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Can mount image of a disk partition. This is useful for examining imaged files for comparison with existing files before restoring them.
- Yes
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Universal restore
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Can restore a backup set to a different computer configuration than the one it was created from.
- Yes
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Restore to new/blank drive
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Restoring a backup image to a new or blank hard drive.
- Yes
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Used sector backup
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Only backs up disk sectors that contain data.
- Yes
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Sector by sector backup
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Backs up all sectors on a disk, whether they contain data or not.
- Yes
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Cloud backup capacity
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The amount of internet-based 'cloud' storage available.
- No
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Online knowledgebase
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Whether the program offers a searchable knowledge base for online assistance.
- Yes
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Email alert
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Whether an email is sent when a backup is complete or fails to complete.
- Yes
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Live chat
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Whether the program offers live chat online for user help and assistance.
- No
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FAQ
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Whether the program offers an FAQ (frequently asked questions) section for user support.
- Yes
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Forum
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Whether the program offers an online forum for getting help and assistance from other users.
- Yes
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Tutorials available
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Whether the program offers tutorials to help learn how to use it.
- Yes
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Built-in manual or help files
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Whether the program has a built-in manual or help files for user assistance.
- No