Macrium Reflect

archives larger than acronis

100% CPU when backing up on P4 2.8GHz,
computer slows down a lot,
computer less responsive
unlike Acronis

Cleanup old images with Macrium Reflect Free Edition & Delage32 Macrium Reflect Free Edition (http://alternativeto.net/desktop/macrium-reflect/) is the best free disk-image-application for 32+64 bit Windows XP, Vista, and Server 2003/2008, but it is not able to clean up old backups automatically, as the full edition of Macrium Reflect or the commercial products Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost do. For the automatical cleaning up of old backup files with Macrium Reflect Free Edition to prevent the hard disk from being overfilled, you need additional the free application http://alternativeto.net/desktop/delage32/

Cleanup old images with Macrium Reflect Full Edition (Prize €35.24 incl. VAT) In Macrium Reflect Full Edition there is a "Disk Space Management" function included: http://screencast.com/t/YjgxMjI0N With this disk-management function, you only can automatically delete backup-images older than .... days, but not delete images, if the backup-harddisk is full more than .... GB or percent. On http://www.macrium.com/help.html you can read in the paragraph " Advanced Settings - Disk Space Management": "Disk space management allows you to automatically purge the destination directory of old backups to make space available for the latest. If a Full backup is removed from the destination directory then all linked incremental and differential backups will also be removed as these are now invalid".

Macrium Reflect Free Edition is able to make very fast and reliable images of Drive C with Vista or XP 32 or 64 bit or with Windows 7 during running Windows, because using Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS). Very easy you can make a bootable Linux based Rescue CD with Network access for restoring system backups, if running operating system is damaged. You can also restore single files or folders, but backup only the full drive C. In my opinion it is as good as the best commercial applications for this purpose, but it is free for personal use. Since 3 years I use Macrium Reflect with Windows XP and Vista 64 bit to the most full satisfaction and have restored the operating system succesfully already a few times. I like and recommend Macrium Reflect more than the best commercial applications, which I have used 3 years before. I do not know, why a private user, who does not have Windows 7 (1), should pay for a backup solution, which cannot be better than Macrium Reflect. (1) http://alternativeto.net/desktop/windows-7/

You can also restore single files or folders, but backup only the full drive C.

I concur with the reviews below. This app is a must have and its free! Acronis does not have a free version. Differential backups can be used if you buy the full version. I typically don't need that feature so Im happy withe free version and a rescue boot disk.

Macrium Reflect Free Edition is able to make very reliable images of Drive C with Windows OS during running Windows because using vss volume shadow technology. Very easy you can make a bootable CD for restoring system backups, if running operating system is damaged. In my opinion it is nearly as good as Norton Ghost, but it is free for personal use.

Disadvantages of Macrium Reflect compared with Ghost:

• No backups of single files or folders, however restoration of single files and folders from a complete disk backup.
• No automatic cleanup of old backups, no limitation of the size of all backups together.