Macrium Reflect Free is definitely one of the best backup software available in free on Windows 10. It allows to clone disks and partitions creating security images to be used, if necessary, on external devices). Now I will show you in detail how to use it, but I have to warn you that the program is only available in English. Are not there any problems for you? Well, let’s proceed then.
To start, connected to the Macrium Reflect Free website , click on the Home Usebutton and wait for the program download to finish. When the download is complete, start the executable you just downloaded, select the Free item from the Choose Edition drop-down menu , check (if it was not already) the check mark next to the Run install directly after download box and click on the Download button first and then on Yes .
At this point, presses the Yes button and then click Next , check the box I accept the terms in the License Agreement and click on Next again . Then select the Home box (or Commercial , if you use the program in your company), press the Next button ; check the No box , double click on the Nextbutton , then on Install and on Finish ; finally, choose whether to restart the computer immediately by clicking on Yes or do it later by clicking on No (which I suggest you do if you have documents to save).
Once the computer has restarted, start the program using the icon on the desktop (or in the Start menu), give it administrative permissions by clicking Yes and presses the Do not remind me button (you only have to do it the first time). To start the backup procedure, set the check mark on all the disks (or partitions) you want to backup, click on the item Image this disk … and if you want to save the image on a disk or an external device / network, presses the button … and select the path. To burn the backup, however, select the CD / DVD Burner box and choose your burner from the appropriate drop-down menu. Complete the most appropriate settings, presses the button Next .
In the next window, you can choose how to create your backup based on the type and time intervals in which to save data. The options available to you are different.
- None – you can set manually, using the Add Schedule button that you find immediately below, the type of backup to be created and the preset time intervals. You can choose between full ( full ), differential ( differential ) and incremental ( incremental ) backups , and set the timers in the window that appears immediately after.
- Grandfather. Father. Son (Grandfather – Father – Son) – daily incremental backups, weekly differential backups and monthly full backups are created .
- Differential Backup Set – a full backup is created periodically , “updated” by daily differential backups .
- Incremental Backup Set – provides for the periodic creation of a full backup , followed by daily incremental backups . It is available only in the PRO version.
- Incrementals forever – acts with the full synthetic backup approach : at the first and only full backup, incremental backups are joined once the preset number is reached. Also in this case, availability is limited to the PRO version.
After choosing the type of backup to create, you can set the period in which to keep “old” backups using the boxes and drop-down menus at the bottom. If you do not want to use the timer but create a single backup, set the drop-down menu 1 to None , leave section 2 blank and leave section 3 unchanged . Complete the settings, click on the Next button .
Take a quick look at the summary of the chosen settings and, to start the data copy process immediately, click on the Finish button . Next, set a name for the backup in the appropriate drop-down menu (set one that reminds you how to create the backup), click the OK button , wait for the completion of the procedure, then presses again on OK and Close . You can access the procedures created by clicking on the Backup Definition Files tab (on the right) and, from there, edit or delete them.
The operation of restoring the created images is very simple: once the program is open, click on the Restore tab (located at the top left), then on the Browse for an image or backup file to restore icon and select the image that you want to restore, then select the Restore Image entry and follow the on-screen instructions (you may need a reboot in the WinPE environment, if it’s system partitions).