One strong point of Macrium Reflect is that it automatically sets up the Windows PE environment during installation to make creating restore media as seamless as possible. There is also a paid version of Macrium Reflect with all the typical advanced disk imaging features, although it is a bit more expensive than other popular backup tools. However, it is missing several important features available in premium tools (presumably because it’s a free tool). The user interface is intuitive, and is quite snappy and responsive unlike some tools which can be a bit clunky in places.

As with many backup suites, Macrium lets you create bootable rescue discs and add an extra option to your boot menu for emergency restores – it also supports UEFI systems.Macrium Reflect Free is one of the more polished free disk imaging tool currently on the market. It also directly clones entire disks, and you can restore disks to a different computer (or server if you opt for the £48 Professional version). You can mount a backup as an image to easily browse its contents in Windows Explorer, and if you’re restoring whole disks you can rejig partition sizes as you go. It does give you an option to back up everything needed for a working Windows installation, which gathers the relevant partitions into one single image. Technically, you can specify individual files within those folders, but only via wildcard filters and file-type inclusions – this isn’t really one for picking and choosing, as you may do with Carbonite.

It covers all of the essentials, with the ability to image entire disks or partitions, perform incremental and differential backups with 256-bit encryption, as well as a basic folder backup.

It isn’t novice-friendly, instead it’s more suitable for advanced users who know VBScript and MS-DOS scripts, and the good news is that those users will find a lot to like. It’s all dropdown menus and an overload of information, with the only real interface upgrade being the addition of drag-and-drop for partitions and backups.

Macrium reflect review