Macrium Reflect v7 release on Feb. 27th

[MilesAhead]

I didn't notice this until I got an email from Macrium.  Evidently v7 release is due Feb. 27, 2017:

http://www.macrium.com/pages/version-7.aspx

I was under the impression that the rapid restore was only in the server editions.  But consulting the feature comparison chart it seems to be available in all but the free version.  The term they use is Rapid Data Restore.  Here is an editions comparison chart:

http://www.macrium.com/pages/comparisons.aspx

[cyberdiva]

Thanks, MilesAhead, for this info.  For some reason, I don't think I received any message from Macrium about this, even though I have a licensed copy of version 5.  I was interested to see that in order to upgrade to version 7, I first have to upgrade to version 6 (at a 50% upgrade discount).  Then, when version 7 is released, it will be free to people who upgraded within a certain timespan to version 6.  Once version 7 is released, there will be no upgrade discount from version 5 to version 7!  I had been thinking that I'd just wait until 7 is released, since it will be so soon, but that apparently would be a foolish move, financially. 

[MilesAhead]

Thanks, MilesAhead, for this info.  For some reason, I don't think I received any message from Macrium about this, even though I have a licensed copy of version 5.  I was interested to see that in order to upgrade to version 7, I first have to upgrade to version 6 (at a 50% upgrade discount).  Then, when version 7 is released, it will be free to people who upgraded within a certain timespan to version 6.  Once version 7 is released, there will be no upgrade discount from version 5 to version 7!  I had been thinking that I'd just wait until 7 is released, since it will be so soon, but that apparently would be a foolish move, financially. 

I did not realize that cutoff was in effect.  I guess it's one way to get people out of the habit of waiting for the imminent release of the new version as most people are prone to do.  They gave me version 6 server for the regular upgrade price of v4 "standard" or "home" to v5.  Well, they asked if I wanted to do that with the proviso it would be marked not for resale and the upgrade chain would then be broken.  I was curious what server was like so I went for it.  Also I was unaware that the Rapid Data Restore was included in the other versions.  For some reason I thought it was only in the Server editions.

In any case I have no need to upgrade until I get another PC.  As it is the incremental backups and restores on my Laptop only take a few minutes each.  But if I changed to a system where I needed to back up large then I would probably want to check out the NTFS monitoring feature new in v7.

Thanks for making me aware of the upgrade cutoff. 

[Steven Avery]

I liked the simplicity of the Linux disk for restoring, even if it had less features.  Macrium ended that in 5.  Macrium, while a fine program, became secondary to my backups.  (I generally only do some images when the system is very light, the first month after an OS install, and do data backups after that.)

[MilesAhead]

I have RollbackRX Pro on my system.  The Macrium Trial installer seems to be hard wired to the same directory where I have Macrium Reflect Server v6 installed.  But since I could put the server back on just by restoring a snapshot using RollBackRX, I decided to take it off and install the v7 Home trial.

The backup speed of v7 was comparable to v6.  They say there is a new "Changed Block Technology" system in v7 that is supposed to be faster.  I did not try a restore.  But in my case I use it as disaster recovery.  So I am not likely to be doing a lot of restores.

For my purposes I see no need to upgrade.  The only way I could tell the difference between v6 and v7 was by going into the Help Menu and clicking About Macrium Reflect.  But if my system worked correctly, meaning System Restore, Windows Update and Windows Installer, then I would be unlikely to have purchased the Rollback program in the first place.  In which case I might rely on Macrium for file restores or whatnot.

The other thing I would try if my system wasn't hamstrung is the mechanism to create a VHD from a Macrium image and boot it.  I have tried many times and this Laptop just will not boot a VHD.  It starts to boot it, then hangs.  No real need for it.  But I like to play around with stuff like that.  Maybe if I get a newer lighter Windows Laptop I can try those things out.

[cyberdiva]

I updated very recently to Macrium 6 so I could then update for free to Macrium 7. I haven't even used version 6 yet (though I may create an image backup tonight). All I really want to know is whether Macrium 7 is at least as good as Macrium 6.  I've tended to let time go by after a new version is released to give the company time to get rid of the bugs they didn't catch.  After the fiasco with Malwarebytes version 3 (I'm still using v. 2  ), I'm even more nervous.  So what sayeth ye about Macrium 7?

[MilesAhead]

So what sayeth ye about Macrium 7?

I haven't done any comprehensive testing.  But I did a full backup.  That seemed to go just like v6.  Then after copying an additional 300 MB or so of files onto the same partition, I did an incremental backup.  That also felt just like v6.  So my feeling is if they have improved the rapid restore at all then they are definitely moving forward rather than backward.  Oh, and while I was doing the full backup I clicked "Hide" and surfed with Firefox.  Reflect showed no hint that it wanted to crash or do anything else weird.  Then when the full image was nearly complete, I killed Firefox to let the backup get over with quickly.  It seemed very stable and solid just like v6.

The main issues I have seen on their forum have been problems updating and installing.  I guess they went to an update scheme where you could migrate to v7 right inside v6.  So there are bound to be a few issues.  But I used Revo Uninstaller(mainly because my system has issues with Windows Installer and Macrium uses that for install and uninstall) to remove v6 and the v7 install went smoothly.  Revo Uninstaller free version is quite formidable when it comes to removing all the registry junk and files from failed installs/uninstalls.

My feeling is unless you see some scary issues with WinPE or the Restore not working I would have confidence in it.  Please just don't sue me if something weird happens.  After all, there are two ways of looking at it.  Some people say "Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal" and others, especially if they look like Chico Marx in A Day At the Races, say "who ya' gonna' believe?  Me or your own eyes?" 

But I take that it ran with Firefox hogging a lot of the resources, without complaint, as a good sign.   

[cyberdiva]

Thanks VERY much, MilesAhead, for your very helpful account.  It sounds as if version 7 is ready for prime time.

[MilesAhead]

Thanks VERY much, MilesAhead, for your very helpful account.  It sounds as if version 7 is ready for prime time.

Cool.  If you have any issues please follow up. 

[cranioscopical]

I updated my 4-pack. I swapped from PE5 to PE10 so there was a bit of fiddling around to get the on-boot recovery option to run.

So far, on the one machine onto which I've put v7, it runs a full backup/verify but stops at 99% completion. The backup itself is fine (did some exhaustive checking) and v7 sends out an email verification before contemplating its navel.

I've had some trouble with Malwarebytes 3 which, among other issues, blocks both my MS Office and Acrobat X from launching. That might have thwarted Reflect so I have more trials to run.

[MilesAhead]

^^ I don't think I have ever done the verification step with any backup imaging program.  I started to once, then after a few minutes I killed it.  I used to do a complete partition image(full) and restore every time.  Now I am hooked on incremental and can't go back to the slow way. 

[MilesAhead]

I've had some trouble with Malwarebytes 3 which, among other issues, blocks both my MS Office and Acrobat X from launching. That might have thwarted Reflect so I have more trials to run.

I would not be surprised if any "real time protection" type software interfered with imaging.  As it is, Macrium uses Shadow Copy Service to allow the in use system files to be backed up.  Anything else that messes around at the system level at the same time has a good chance of being the fly in the ointment.  But from what you say it sounds as if you got MBAM 2.x to peacefully coexist in the past. 

[cranioscopical]

^^ I don't think I have ever done the verification step with any backup imaging program.  I started to once, then after a few minutes I killed it.  I used to do a complete partition image(full) and restore every time.  Now I am hooked on incremental and can't go back to the slow way. 

Call me paranoid but I always verify. All but one of my drives are SSDs which helps. I have only roughly 150GB on C:. Booting from the Macrium recovery boot menu a full restore takes me about 12 mins. That's less trouble for me than fiddling around trying to fix the occasional glitch. I do a daily on-machine incremental of C: and a weekly off-machine full backup of CDEF. When I actually worked for money everything was backed up pretty much as it happened.

[cranioscopical]

I would not be surprised if any "real time protection" type software interfered with imaging.  As it is, Macrium uses Shadow Copy Service to allow the in use system files to be backed up.  Anything else that messes around at the system level at the same time has a good chance of being the fly in the ointment.  But from what you say it sounds as if you got MBAM 2.x to peacefully coexist in the past. 

Malwarebytes 2 played nicely with Macrium. Yesterday I pulled mwb3 off of my main machine. That solved quite a number of new issues. Nothing really serious but several things had stopped working. It's just annoying on 2 machines and so much trouble on 2 others that I'll just leave it off until they work out all of the kinks. I've tried each iteration of mwb3, doing a full uninstall of each one before trying the next. It's a shame 'cos I found v2 nicely useful and unobtrusive. I'm sure it'll be fixed in due course.

It was nice to see that Malwarebytes honoured the perpetual licenses.

[MilesAhead]

When I actually worked for money everything was backed up pretty much as it happened.

Sounds like Miami.  Everything is backed up as it happens.  I can't delete anything if I wanted to.  heh heh

[cranioscopical]

When I actually worked for money everything was backed up pretty much as it happened.

Sounds like Miami.  Everything is backed up as it happens.  I can't delete anything if I wanted to.  heh heh

Try to reverse the trend?

[MilesAhead]

When I actually worked for money everything was backed up pretty much as it happened.

Sounds like Miami.  Everything is backed up as it happens.  I can't delete anything if I wanted to.  heh heh

Try to reverse the trend?

Too bad I don't have an image backup from when I was 25.  Youth is wasted on the young.  I know what I'd be doin' if I knew then what I know now. 

[cranioscopical]

Too bad I don't have an image backup from when I was 25.  Youth is wasted on the young.  I know what I'd be doin' if I knew then what I know now. 

If I knew then what I know now I wouldn't even be here... and wouldn't that be a relief for all of us    

[MilesAhead]

Too bad I don't have an image backup from when I was 25.  Youth is wasted on the young.  I know what I'd be doin' if I knew then what I know now. 

If I knew then what I know now I wouldn't even be here... and wouldn't that be a relief for all of us    

Are you talking about leaving town, just DC, the planet, or what?  heh heh

[cranioscopical]

Are you talking about leaving town, just DC, the planet, or what?  heh heh

Ether or.

[cyberdiva]

Malwarebytes 2 played nicely with Macrium. Yesterday I pulled mwb3 off of my main machine. That solved quite a number of new issues. [snip]

It was nice to see that Malwarebytes honoured the perpetual licenses.

Many thanks, cranioscopical, for reporting your experiences with Malwarebytes3. Sounds like I did the right thing to stay with Malwarebytes 2. As you say, it plays very nicely with Macrium. 

And yes, I too was very pleased to see that MBAM has honored its lifetime licenses.  I suspect that moving away from a lifetime license possibility is helping the bottom line, and that's a good thing, but I'm glad that I got lifetime licenses before the change.

[cyberdiva]

^^ I don't think I have ever done the verification step with any backup imaging program.  I started to once, then after a few minutes I killed it.  I used to do a complete partition image(full) and restore every time.  Now I am hooked on incremental and can't go back to the slow way. 

Since I don't want to mess with trying to restore if I don't have to, I always do the verification step with Macrium and assume that all is well. It takes forever, but even without the verification step, doing a full image took a long time. I deal with this by running Macrium at night, when I'm ready to go to bed. So the fact that it takes >3 hrs with the verification step doesn't bother me.  I haven't yet upgraded to Macrium 7. Perhaps that will be a bit faster, but the move from version 5 to version 6 made no difference in how long it took.

[MilesAhead]

Are you talking about leaving town, just DC, the planet, or what?  heh heh

Ether or.

Hmm, I guess it depends the partic-ular wave you catch when surfing the space lanes.  But speaking of ether, am I still the only one who wonders why they put ether in the mustard sauce in Cantonese Restaurants?  I hate that stuff even being in the same room. 

[MilesAhead]

It takes forever, but even without the verification step, doing a full image took a long time.

I used to do full images and restores only myself.  I guess that habit is what made me think only the server edition had the rapid restore capability.  You should try it just for grins if you have a guinea pig PC lying around.  It is kind of fun the way it restores in such snappy fashion.