Backup Software

[Darius1968]

I'm evaluating different backup software, and I see MacriumReflect7 has a free and a paid ($69.95) version.  I just came here to get opinions from others that practice sound backup strategies, about their thoughts/opinions on how adequate the free version is, or if it is necessary to go with the paid version to do the job correctly.  Thanks very much! 

[Mario]

There are surely many communities / forums out there which are better suited for this kind of questions.

I use the paid version of Macrium Reflect for many years successfully.
Backup is super-important. I don't mind paying a fair fee for the software I use to secure my data.
Like with IMatch, this ensures that the people developing and supporting it get paid, the software is continuously developed and supported actively, etc.

I don't get my food for free, or my car repairs, gas, heating, water, ... I don't expect software to be free.

[jch2103]

I've been pleased with Macrium Reflect. Fortunately, I haven't had any catastrophes to recover from, but it's been helpful for a few smaller issues. I have Reflect save my backups on a Western Digital MyCloudEX2Ultra, but there are many other hardware choices available. I started out with the free version and later upgraded to take advantage of incremental backups. Here's a table explaining the differences between free and paid versions: https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

[Mario]

Fortunately, I haven't had any catastrophes to recover

In my experience, having a backup protects you from that.
I did not lose hard disks since I have a proper backup routine in place.

Or, as we say in IT: "No backup. No mercy".

[Darius1968]

I use the paid version of Macrium Reflect for many years successfully.
Backup is super-important. I don't mind paying a fair fee for the software I use to secure my data.
Like with IMatch, this ensures that the people developing and supporting it get paid, the software is continuously developed and supported actively, etc.

I don't get my food for free, or my car repairs, gas, heating, water, ... I don't expect software to be free.

In order to not offend anyone, I probably should have been more specific and detailed.  I've been on their website, and have seen there is a free and a paid version, with the paid having a trial-period.  Of course, once I got things established, that the strategy was working, I would eventually pay for the services.  I just couldn't pay today after spending $130 for a backup HD. 

[Darius1968]

I would say that the following sums up the boat that I'm in right now: 

I happen to be currently using the free version of Reflect, although I'm considering upgrading to gain a few more bells and whistles. As Mario says, there are a number of other alternatives, both paid and free.

As someone, who has been a faithful user of IMatch since 2003, and participating in each and every paid upgrade, not skipping a few versions, I would have thought that I would have been regarded as someone, having more integrity than a tight-wad or a cheapskate. 

[jch2103]

As I noted above, I started with the free version and later upgraded to the paid version, partly because I thought the software was worth it and partly because I wanted the added features in the paid version.

[JohnZeman]

+1 From this very happy Macrium Reflect user.

[Darius1968]

As I noted above, I started with the free version and later upgraded to the paid version, partly because I thought the software was worth it and partly because I wanted the added features in the paid version.

Amen!
Money is never wasted when it goes for something in which there is genuine work and dedication in making the fruits possible and a reality.  I'm just cash-strapped at the moment, and wanted to promote and support Macrium Software when I was able.  Try making some people you work with see this reality. 

[photophart]

Another Plus for Macrium. Have been using it for several years. Have it installed on seven home PCs. Also on 2 family members PCs that I take care of. It has saved me more times than I can count. I also run several different versions of Retrospect on different PCs. Retrospect works well but is getting rather long in the tooth. It also is a lot slower for both backups and restores than Macrium.
Regards

[Darius1968]

Thanks to those who've chimed in, for your kindness and help in getting me going in the right direction.  Everything counts, and I do appreciate it! 
I went ahead, and download the 30-day trial version of MacriumReflect7, and I'm almost finished making my 1st disk image of my 1-TB-filled 2-TB Micron SSD to a 4-TB Western Digital Black USB drive, in about 2½ hrs.  I'll be registering with their forum! 
Just  one more thing:  Is it better to leave an external USB HD plugged in all the time, or to dismount/unplug it when not in use, even if it's for a day or less?  Thanks! 

[jch2103]

Just  one more thing:  Is it better to leave an external USB HD plugged in all the time, or to dismount/unplug it when not in use, even if it's for a day or less?  Thanks!

Aside from any issues of wear or startup/shutdown, an advantage of leaving an external drive unconnected is that it's not susceptible to viruses etc then.

[Darius1968]

Thanks, John.  That's what I was getting at - the debate of whether it's better on the electronics to just leave it on, or if powering it up/down is a better proposition. 

[Mario]

Disks power themselves off automatically these days, or Windows does it after 20 minutes (configurable).

Reflect includes a tool named Macrium Guardian which runs as a service and blocks write access to the backup disk from anything other than Reflect. The idea is to protect the backup images from malicious software. I don't know how robust this is, though. It surely prevents deleting the files in Windows Explorer unless you disable the Guardian temporarily in Reflect.

BUT, a disk not connected is definitely unavailable fo anything malicious.

One disk for backup is not enough.

I have several external 4TB USB 3. USB hard disks and my weekly backup volume is about 2,000 GB.
I keep the disk for daily backups connected and swap it every week. It is off most of the day, except during the two backup runs. Windows power management takes care for that.
I use separate disks for monthly backups and keep these for several months.
I do additional daily backups on a local encrypted volume which is then mirrored into my cloud space. This way nothing unencrypted ever leaves my PC.

[mastodon]

Why is it better, than WD backup, that comes with the HDD?

[Jingo]

Just another thought for another option... I've been happily using Acronis True Image for many years now...  I use it to do the following:

a) Clone my main HD once a month - provides me with a decent up-to-date recovery drive to instantly boot from and recover
b) Dynamically backup my Master Photo Drive daily at 1am - only changes to the drive since the original backup is done.. so, I only need the master and the most recent to restore.
c) Dynamically backup my Client Project Drive daily at 2am - only changes to the drive since the original backup is done.. so, I only need the master and the most recent to restore.
d) Dynamically backup my C Drive daily at 3am - only changes to the drive since the original backup is done.. so, I only need the master and the most recent to restore.
e) Dynamically backup my IMatch Photo Drive daily at 4am - only changes to the drive since the original backup is done.. so, I only need the master and the most recent to restore. 

I also run SyncBackPro to mirror local folders from drive to drive... for example, I have a high speed client drive that I only use for active clients... changes to this drive are mirrored to my Client Project Drive once a day before the daily Client Project Drive is backed up.  I also mirror things like C:\Documents.... and, I mirror the IMatch DB and settings.  These local backup drives are then fully backed up to EHD's monthly as well....

These backup files can be opened and the content viewed and individually restored as well - so, I keep about 20 differentials around which allows me to get to about 20 days worth of older data for restore.  It has saved me many times when I accidentally overwrite or corrupt a file and can easily get it back just by opening the differential backup file.

Except for the monthly EHD backup,  it's an automated process that I don't think about which is great.  Word to the wise... understand HOW to utilize and restore these backup files BEFORE something happens.  This is especially true for a OS clone restore... test out the process to be sure you have all the tools (like a bootable USB drive made from the backup software) and that the clone and backup actually work!

ENJOY!

[jcldl]

I used for years storagecraft as backup software and I recovered many times win 10 damaged by update or something else. I had been very happy with storagecraft. Bur since 3 years it's more and more a backup software for pro. So I use now Macrium. It works perfectly, i recovered many times my disk with win 10 and always without problem . I think it's one of the easiets backup software.

[sinus]

I used for years storagecraft as backup software and I recovered many times win 10 damaged by update or something else. I had been very happy with storagecraft. Bur since 3 years it's more and more a backup software for pro. So I use now Macrium. It works perfectly, i recovered many times my disk with win 10 and always without problem . I think it's one of the easiets backup software.

Me too.
I use Macrium Reflect. 

[mastodon]

OK-Ok, everyone says Macrium. But why is it better for us (IMatch, photo catalogue software users), than a simlpe free bakcup software like WD backup?

[Mario]

Whatever works for you is good.
Test the backup. Test the restore (!!!!!!!!). If it works, use it. Free or not.

I use Reflect (after using TrueImage for years until it did not work for me once) because I found it reliable.
It comes with Windows-based "Boot your PC from an USB stick to recover" feature. Super-important when your boot disk dies or you want to setup your new PC.
It integrates neatly with Windows Explorer. You can mount backups as a disk to simply copy one or more files or folders back. Very useful.
The Guardian feature which protects your backups from being overwritten or damaged by malicious software is also useful.

Probably TrueImage does the same these days. I switched from it to Reflect after TrueImage was unreliable once. Unreliable once is once too often for a backup software.
But I'm no expert. And I don't monitor the backup software market to know about all the applications available.
I picked once and I will stick to it and upgrade as long as it works.

In my experience, what you get 'for free' with hard disks is often a stripped-down version of software.
Questions: why should a vendor give you $60 worth of software when you buy a $80 hard disk?

[jch2103]

OK-Ok, everyone says Macrium. But why is it better for us (IMatch, photo catalogue software users), than a simlpe free bakcup software like WD backup?

I couldn't find a description of what options WD Backup offers, but if you check the table of features for Macrium https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree you'll find many options and capabilities, including differential and incremental backups. Too complicated a subject to discuss here, but there are advantages of having these options available. And of course as Mario and others have mentioned, you should have a complete backup system whichever way you decide to go (e.g., make sure data is always backed up in several places, etc. - which also applies to data from your camera card...).

[Carlo Didier]

Just  one more thing:  Is it better to leave an external USB HD plugged in all the time, or to dismount/unplug it when not in use, even if it's for a day or less?  Thanks!

Aside from any issues of wear or startup/shutdown, an advantage of leaving an external drive unconnected is that it's not susceptible to viruses etc then.

Also, leaving it connected can get it destroyed electricaly via the PC (lightning strike for example) and it can be stolen by thieves with the PC. I always have a USB drive out of house, but since I do online backups I only update that once a month. It would allow me to quickly recover a huge volume of data if necessary. I could then always get the latest modifications from my online backup.
And yes, that's only two of my five backups ... 

[cthomas]

Will some body please tell me ho to set up Macrium Reflect?

Thank youk Carl.

[mastodon]

Am I right, that Idrive is on super budget price now? 5 Tb for 1 year for 7 dollars. Automatic renewal, but one can cancel it at the end of the first year, if the next year would be to pricey.

[Jingo]

Am I right, that Idrive is on super budget price now? 5 Tb for 1 year for 7 dollars. Automatic renewal, but one can cancel it at the end of the first year, if the next year would be to pricey.

Correct - however, you need to be switching from a paid competitor... not sure how much "proof" of this they want.. but it sounds like a good deal if you trust them!

[mastodon]

I have not noticed, that condition. Just made the deal, and I have just got a letter:
"To move forward with your new account we'll need one of the following to verify your existing service providers' account as you move your important data to IDrive.
      An email showing communication with them (Account registration, account updates, etc.)
      Screenshot of your account with the existing service provider showing your username and/or email"
Well, this mean, that I have to switch from another paid service provider.
In that case, I have to cancel it, unfortunatelly. But maybe someone can use it.

[Jingo]

I have not noticed, that condition. Just made the deal, and I have just got a letter:

I noticed it on the page that showed the deal.. it was in smaller print towards the bottom and listed out the places they accepted proof from.  Oh well.. it was a good deal and thx for sharing!