I asked a similar question before but got no response. So I’m attempting to rephrase it: is there any cons to using Macrium Reflect free after 2023? If the software works, why move to either the subscription or license?

I’m in the process of finally having the drives to setup 3-2-1 backups. I’ve heard great things about MR free but I’m wondering if I NEED to get the latest version with paid license. I understand it won’t be supported after 2023, but not sure what I’ll lose if it works well enough now.

  • pepis@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Am on the same boat. But more worried about getting vendor locked out of my old images.

  • morningcupoftea@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    The big one is no new feature updates. That includes adding support to new changes in filesystem handling that we don’t know about yet.

    Example: sure, NTFS has been on v3.1 for over 20 years, but it’s still being updated in other ways. For example, the journaling LogFile format changed from Windows 7 to Windows 8 and it’s a breaking change—7 and below are incompatible with the new format.

    Staying on one version of MR means you’re stuck with that one version even as technology changes. That means you’re probably safe in the short term but aren’t guaranteed things working as intended as you work with newer systems or volumes formatted to work on newer systems.

    Even if you pick up MR I highly recommend you look into another actively-developed backup solution if/when your needs evolve.