Formally well known for their excellent (but sadly now discontinued) free disk cloning software, Reflect Home 8 becomes the latest edition in this dependable line of disk imaging and cloning software from backup experts, Macrium.
Whilst the highly popular free edition of Macrium Reflect 7 has since been discontinued, Reflect Home 8 has taken its place to become the entry level premium backup title aimed mainly at home and non-commercial users. Despite been aimed primarily at home users, Reflect Home brings with it the first-class disk cloning and disk imaging backup capabilities for which the Reflect software line has become known for alongside various other related features including Rapid Delta Cloning technology for fast disk imaging, strong AES 256-bit encryption, mounting of disk image files within Windows plus support for recovering to dissimilar hardware.
Whilst undoubtedly underpinned by a great set of secure and reliable disk imaging features, Reflect Home 8 also stands out as a highly user friendly and easy to operate disk imaging backup solution. Whilst the free edition of Reflect sadly no longer exists, this latest premium offering brings more functionality and enhanced technical support from Macrium themselves versus the outgoing free utility whilst still remaining reasonably priced across both perpetual and subscription-based pricing plans starting from just $49.99 per PC.
With all of the above said, it’s time to install Macrium Reflect Home 8 for myself and check out how the latest edition of this disk imaging superstar performs in the real world – Vamos.
Key Features
New & Enhanced Features:
- Powerful Disk Imaging technology: Highly rated and highly reliable disk imaging and disk cloning technology combines to underpin this latest offering.
- Rapid Delta Cloning: Enhanced disk cloning technology sees Reflect Home 8 making disk image-based backups faster than ever before.
- Exclusive Product Support: Subscription-based customers receive upgraded product support directly form Macrium experts.
- Free Set-up call: Subscription customers are also eligible for a free set-up call from Macrium experts.
Already Proven Features:
- Full Windows 11 Support: Compatible with the latest versions of the Windows operating system.
- Well Designed & Intuitive Interface: A well-designed application with multiple theming options makes finding the right features easy.
- Windows Drive Mounting Support: Support for mounting disk image backups made by Reflect Home as virtual drives within Windows.
- Good Scheduling Support: Take full disk image backups on demand or backup automatically on an easy to implement schedule.
- Backup Template Manager: Easily create, save and reuse multiple backup schedules.
- Dissimilar Hardware Support: Recover to new or otherwise different hardware thanks to built-in support for recovering to dissimilar hardware.
- Strong Encryption Technology: Secure important disk image-based backups via built-in encryption support (AES 256-bit encryption technology).
- Full SSD Support: Automatic optimisation of disk imaging and disk cloning tasks providing full solid-state drive (SSD) and TRIM support.
Licensing & Pricing:
- Perpetual Licencing Options: Pay a one-of $79.99 per PC (or $239.97 for a 4x PC licence).
- Subscription-Based Option: From $49.99 per year for 1xPC or $99.98 across 4x PCs.
- 30-Day Free Trial: A full 30-Day free trial of Reflect Home 8 is also available.
Macrium Reflect Usability
In this first section I will be sharing my hands-on experience with this latest version of Macrium Reflect Home (this is version 8). This involves walking through the download and installation process having recently experienced it myself, showing how to obtain the 30-day free trial version before going on to explore some of the many available features with a focus on the disk imaging functionality for which the Reflect product has become well known.
This process begins via the official Macrium website where a full 30-day free trial of Reflect Home 8 is available for download (note that a valid email address is required for starting this trial).
Installing Macrium Reflect Home
Installing Reflect Home 8 begins via the official Macrium website where a 30-day free trial of this software can be downloaded.
Having first registered a free Macrium account (a required step which is also subject to email verification) the 30-day free trial can begin and the Reflect installer can be downloaded. With the initial download complete, the installation can be customised further via the specifying of multiple options which, in-turn, can extend or simplify the process.
After the installation process has completed and the device in question has been re-booted (a required step during my own installation), the main Reflect Home desktop application will become available. I will be looking more into the actual desktop application itself in the subsequent sections of this review, this includes how Reflect users can benefit from both file-level and full disk image backups alongside the excellent disk imaging technology underpinning this piece of software.
NB – Remember, Macrium offer a 30-day free trial of Reflect Home 8 should you wish to try the software out for yourself.
Disk Image Backups within Reflect Home
One of the key strengths of Macrium Reflect is the excellent disk imaging technology built into the software thus lending it the ability to make highly secure and highly reliable disk image-based backups. Not only does the disk imaging technology found within Reflect ensure that everything on a device (or disk) is automatically included within a backup set (including all installed applications and the Windows operating system itself), but also facilitates advanced functionality including migrating existing systems across to new or otherwise different hardware.
As can be seen above, the configuration of a full system image backup set begins in the “Create Backups” tab where the relevant option can be selected (creating image-based backups of individual disks and partitions is also available). Having started the new backup set wizard running, the application will then provide a visualisation of any attached disks and partitions which are eligible for inclusion within this new backup set.
When selecting the option to create a full Windows system backup, the wizard will pre-select all required drives and partitions by default. This initial configuration page is also where the backup set name can be set, the target location for saving the data to specified as well as various other options including writing data to CD/DVDs and the setting of alternative target locations for providing additional backup resiliency.
NB – Macrium does not feature any official built-in third-party cloud storage support as of time of writing this review. This means that backups can be stored on locally attached external devices, NAS devices and shared folders as well as on fixed size media including CD/DVDs.
As can be seen above, Reflect supports optionally specifying multiple target locations for saving any backed-up data on to. This means in cases where any given target storage device is unavailable, the backup can still continue by storing the data on an alternative target. With storage options specified, the next step is to configure any advanced settings via the “Advanced Options” link found towards the bottom of this initial configuration page.
The Reflect desktop software groups together a lot of the advanced configuration options available in this advanced options interface which can be seen above. Settings available here include setting file compression, zero-knowledge encryption (up to AES 256-bit), file splitting, automatic verification, file name prefixes and device power options allowing the host device to be automatically shut down upon completion.
After setting any advanced options, moving on to the next page in the wizard allows for the backup “plan” to be configured. As can be seen in the screenshot below, this plan is a combination of setting the backup methodology, historic version retention periods as well as the schedule for when said backup is to be run automatically (if required).
NB – Setting longer historic version retention periods for a backup set can help to provide enhanced data protection. This includes providing enhanced protection against common cyber security threats including malware and ransomware by allowing any maliciously encrypted files to be recovered form older versions if required.
It is also worthy of note that Reflect Home provides multiple pre-made backup plan templates which can easily be selected and implemented via the drop-down menu seen on the above configuration page. Some of the many pre-configured backup plans available here include incremental, differential, intra-daily and “incremental forever” amongst several others.
Completing the backup configuration is the summary page which provides an overview of the new backup set itself before it is saved. Once this new backup set is running, Macrium also provide a very detailed progress page showing the backup job status whilst also allowing for other settings to be tweaked (including the priority of the operation and the ability to shut down the device upon completion).
Finally, with this initial backup set complete, if a schedule has been configured then the Reflect scheduling service will take over and run the set automatically form this point. The current scheduling status across all active backup jobs can be viewed and edited via the “Scheduled Backups” tab within the main desktop application.
Also, once any backup set is configured within Macrium Reflect, an XML file containing all customisable settings is produced. Under the “Definition Files” section it is possible to see both the XML file containing these settings alongside a reader which makes it easy to browse the configuration settings of any other backup sets active on the device.
NB – These backup configuration files can be useful both for backing up a specific set of configuration settings as well as for migrating these settings to another device also running the Macrium Reflect software.
Making File Backups within Reflect Home
Whilst comprehensive and highly reliable disk image-based backups are undeniably the main selling point of Macrium Reflect Home, also supported are file-level backups which can provide several benefits over such image-based backups. These file level backups work by focusing on backing up individual files and folders meaning they often produce smaller data files and run faster than their image-based counterparts, albeit providing a lesser degree of overall protection in the process.
NB – For a more detailed explanation on the pros, cons and differences between file-level and disk image-based backups, be sure to check out my useful disk imaging vs file-level backups guide.
As can be seen above, creating a new file-level backup set within Reflect begins by selecting any individual files and folders to be included using the file selection tool. This process includes being able to select entities stored upon network and shared drives as well as being able to easily select an entire Windows user profile using the file tree found on the left side of the page.
Specifying the storage location to save data upon can be done in much the same way as was seen whilst creating the disk image-based backup earlier on. Additionally, various advanced options including password protection (encryption), file compression and file splitting also remain available when configuring a file-level backup.
With any advanced options now specified, the backup methodology and running schedule can also be set directly from within the configuration wizard. As was the case with the image-based backup configured earlier on, Reflect provides several pre-configured templates to make this task easier (or, alternatively, this can be done manually as required).
NB – It should be noted (as can be seen above) that Macrium Reflect Home provides a good set of scheduling options making the running of popular schemes (e.g. backing-up every 2 hours) really easy.
Finally, with all configuration options set, a summary page will again confirm that the backup is ready to go and can (optionally) be set running straight afterwards regardless of any schedule that might have been set. The new backup configuration can be viewed in the “Scheduled Backups” tab and the XML configuration file saved for use else ware (or simply kept separately as a backup).
Recovering Backed-up Data
Having now seen the Reflect software used to make both file-level and disk image-based backups, the next step is to see how well Reflect Home handles the recovery of such backed-up data and how easily both important files and even an entire system can be restored.
As can be seen above it is possible to view all existing backups under the “Existing Backups” tab and from this same tab one of multiple recovery processes can be set running. In the case of any disk image-based backups, options are available to either recover the entire disk image across to a new or existing disk drive or, alternatively, browse the disk image file for recovering selected files and folders.
In the case of recovering individual files and folders, Reflect supports the mounting of an entire file-level backup as a virtual drive (with a drive letter) within Windows. It is also possible via the “Restore” option to gain access to a file tree view which makes selecting individual file and folders for recovery even more straightforward.
Also available when recovering from a file-level backup is the file search box, a tool which makes it easy to find specific files based upon filenames or file extensions with additional filters including date ranges helping to further narrow down search results.
With any files to be restored now selected, Reflect provides additional options including where to recover these files to (including, by default, the original location), how to handle any existing files already in the target location plus the option to restore file permissions if required.
Other Features within Reflect Home 8
With the core disk imaging and file-level backups set aside, there are several other useful features included within this latest edition of Macrium Reflect Home. The first feature of which, and a feature which will prove very useful to many, is that of the Macrium Rescue Media Builder.
Far from being a simple rescue media builder, this offering is actually a very powerful tool supporting a range of different configuration options. Some available options include choosing between a 32-bit or 64-bit image, writing the image to an ISO file or directly to the Windows boot menu, adding support for BitLocker drives, choosing from one of several pre-made template (WIM) images plus the ability to load custom drivers into the image as required.
Another highly useful feature found within Reflect Home is that of the Image Guardian tool, a tool which effectively helps to protect any disks and storage targets where Macrium Reflect backup files are stored against unauthorised access and modifications. As would be the case with any backup data file, Macrium clearly recognise that protecting the integrity of these files themselves is vital and this tool will help to stop such risks from developing.
Macrium Reflect Home Security
One of the most important security related features of any backup application is its ability to apply strong, zero-knowledge encryption to any resulting backups made. Macrium have clearly taken this concept seriously with Reflect Home being able to apply up to AES 256-bit zero-knowledge encryption to both file-level and disk image backups making this a tool capable of creating highly secure Windows backups.
Whilst the highly secure AES 256-bit encryption standard is available (as can be seen above), Macrium also makes available other options including AES 192-bit and AES 128-bit variants. These variants might (theoretically) be a little less secure overall than AES 256-bit encryption however, they do require fewer computing resources during the encryption process meaning they should lead to faster backups and less power consumption.
Another highly useful security feature found within Reflect Home (as already mentioned) is that of the Image Guardian, a feature which actively monitors any connected storage targets storing backup data. The aim of this tool is to help prevent unauthorised and unwanted changes and modifications from being made to any important data files, this includes files being deleted or maliciously encrypted amongst various other related issues.
NB – One of the most devastating causes of data loss in recent times comes from Ransomware, malicious software which will encrypt files thus making them unusable without a ransom being paid to cyber criminals. Any efforts to protect backed-up data files is always welcome as, by protecting these files, it is more likely that important data will remain recoverable.
Software Support from Macrium
Macrium provide a highly useful help and support portal which features user guides, a knowledge base and even a user forum for using and learning about the Reflect Home backup software.
Also available via this support portal is the ability to contact Macrium support directly for more involved help and support related issues. This ranges from email and ticketing based support through to enhanced support (and phone support) for users of business products and those on the Macrium Reflect subscription plans.
Macrium Reflect Home 8 Pricing
Macrium Reflect Home is available on both perpetual and subscription-based licencing plans which currently begin form just $49.99 per year, per device with multi-device discounts available. The full range of Reflect Home 8 pricing is currently as follows:
Home Annual Plan:
- 1 Computer: $49.99 per year
- 4 Computers: $99.98 per year
One-Time Purchase Plan:
- 1 Computer: $79.99
- 4 Computers: $239.97
NB – Macrium also offer a full 30-day free trial of Reflect Home 8 which is a great way of trying out the full set of features on offer. More information on pricing and this 30-day free trial can be found via the official Macrium website.
Macrium Reflect Home 8 FAQs
Reflect Home is a particular version of the excellent Macrium Reflect software line which is aimed at home and non-professional PC users. This makes it a straightforward and easy to use software solution for making both disk and file-level backups as well as the cloning of disks and the migrating of existing Windows systems on to new or otherwise dissimilar hardware.
This latest edition of Macrium Reflect Home (version 8) delivers various new and enhanced features including automatic partition resizing, intra-daily backup scheduling, exFAT and ReFS file system support plus support for viBoot (VirtualBox) amongst various other additions and improvements.
No, Macrium Reflect Home is a premium backup software title available on both annual subscription plans as well as via perpetual licencing options. Whilst Macrium did previously offer a popular free version of Reflect (Macrium Reflect 7 Free) this has since been discontinued and made unavailable as of early 2023.
Yes, Macrium Reflect Home 8 is fully compatible with all modern versions of Windows ranging from Windows 7 through to the latest versions of Windows 11.
Yes, Whilst Macrium have in recent years offered a subscription purchase option for Reflect Home, they do still offer a perpetual licence for those preferring to buy software with just a single payment. Benefits of the subscription plan include access to premium support delivered directly form Macrium representatives as well as free upgrades to any new editions of the software whilst the subscription remains active.
Yes, Macrium Reflect Home supports direct disk-to-disk cloning alongside various other disk imaging-based functionality. This includes making disk, partition and full system image backups as well as being able to mount disk images within Windows and recover system images across to new or dissimilar hardware.
Yes, Macrium support applying AES 128-bit, 192-bit or the highly secure AES 256-bit encryption technology to all backups made using the Reflect Home software.
No, Macrium does not feature any built-in cloud storage support for backups made using Reflect Home 8.
Yes, multiple external and network derived sources can be included in any backups made using Macrium Reflect Home.
Macrium Reflect Alternatives
Here I will be looking at some good alternatives to Macrium Reflect Home. This is comprised of similar backup software titles featuring good support for making both disk image and file level backups alongside other useful features including zero-knowledge encryption and dissimilar hardware recovery.
Remember, any ratings and opinions given below reflect my own personal views and should be treated only as a guide. When purchasing any form of PC backup software, always be sure to carefully check the details of the offering out and try and to make use of any free trials, whenever possible, to help ensure the solution is right before committing to a purchase.
1) Acronis True Image (True Image 2025)
Widely regarded as one of the best Windows backup tools, Acronis True Image naturally makes a great alternative to Macrium Reflect Home. This is mainly thanks to its strong disk-imaging functionality which extends to making full system backups, direct disk-to-disk cloning, support for mounting and browsing disk image files plus dissimilar recovery options when recovering to new or dissimilar hardware.
In addition to this strong set of disk imaging features, modern versions of True Image feature built-in support for cloud storage (provided by Acronis themselves) which allows for the making of both file-level and disk image backups directly to the cloud. Another highly useful addition is that of the Acronis Cyber Protect Suite which sees a fully featured antimalware solution integrated directly into the product and helping to further ensure that backups made with True Image are kept secure.
NB – Unlike Macrium Reflect Home which still offers a perpetual purchase option, Acronis True Image is now a subscription only product. Acronis do, however, offer free upgrades to any users with an active subscription.
Other useful features offered within Acronis True Image include support for applying highly secure zero-knowledge encryption (up to AES 256-bit), Device folder synchronisation, large file archiving, Microsoft 365 backup, dedicated disk and partition cloning plus the use of a Windows system cleaning utility to help keep the system in question running smoothly.
- Disk image backups
- Secure cloud backups
- Built-in antivirus suite
- Disk cloning tools
- AES 256-bit encryption
- Priced @ $49.99 / year
- Subscription only pricing
Acronis True Image pricing starts at $49.99 per year for the Essentials edition, $57.99 per year for the Advanced edition (with 50GB+ cloud storage included) and $124.99 per year for the Premium edition. Multi-device licences are also available for all editions of True Image as is a 30-day free trial via the official Acronis website.
2) Ashampoo Backup Pro 26
Ashampoo Backup Pro 26 is an impressive multipurpose Windows backup application capable of, amongst many other features, producing full disk image backups making it an ideal alternative to Macrium Reflect Home. Not only does Backup Pro 26 provide some great disk imaging-based backup functionality, but actually goes further than Macrium by providing built-in cloud storage support via several high-profile providers including Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive and pCloud alongside full WebDAV support.
Enhancing Backup Pro 26 further are various features including an easy-to-use desktop application, good automation and scheduling support, customisable historic version retention, strong AES 256-bit encryption, bootable recovery media plus support for multiple recovery options including the ability to mount disk image-based backups as virtual drives within Windows.
Additionally, this latest version of Backup Pro features various new additions including pre-made backup templates for more straightforward configuration, integrated support for BitLocker protected drives, “plug & play” backups which run automatically upon selected devices being plugged-in plus a WinPE based recovery system for helping to recover unbootable PCs.
- Easy to use software
- Disk image backups
- Cloud storage support
- AES 256-bit encryption
- From $66 per PC
- Subscribe @ $18 / year
- Full 30-Day free trial
- Upgrade discounts
Backup Pro 26 is priced from just $18 per year (for 3x devices) on an Ashampoo subscription plan (with free upgrades included) or from a one-off cost of just $55 per device on a perpetual licence. More information on both plans as well as the fully featured 30-day free trial can be found via the official Ashampoo website.
3) EaseUS ToDo Backup Home
EaseUS ToDo Backup is a well-known PC backup utility and another great alterative to Macrium Reflect thanks to the strong set of disk and partition imaging-based features which are included. In addition to this strong disk imaging support, the “Home” edition of ToDo Backup also includes a direct disk-to-disk cloning utility, specialist system migration tools, disk imaging-based recovery tools alongside various other features including support for recovering disk image backups onto new or dissimilar hardware.
In addition to this strong disk imaging toolset, ToDo Backup Home also supports many other useful backup related features including strong zero-knowledge encryption (AES 256-bit), automated scheduling, backing-up Microsoft Outlook plus popular third-party cloud storage integrations including Dropbox and OneDrive (alongside EaseUS also providing their own cloud storage service at additional cost).
Other useful features found within ToDo Backup Home include support for mounting disk image backups as virtual drives within Windows, use of the Smart Backup and security Zone tools for enhanced backup protection, good automation and scheduling functionality, bootable recovery media plus support for migrating existing systems onto dissimilar hardware.
- Disk Image backups
- Easy to use software
- Secure cloud backups
- AES 256-bit encryption
- Disk cloning tools
- Dissimilar HW support
- From $39.95 / year
ToDo Backup Home is available from just $39.95 per year or from $59.95 per year with 1TB of cloud storage included directly from EaseUS themselves. Also available is a perpetual licence from a one-off cost of just $59.95 per PC or just $79.95 per PC with free lifetime upgrades included. A 30-day free trial of ToDo Backup Home is available via the official EaseUS website.
Macrium Reflect Home Review Summary
Macrium Reflect Home stands out as a great choice for anyone seeking a solid, reliable and (importantly) easy-to-use disk imaging-based backup application. Whilst ever more backup applications do now offer at least some form of disk imaging support, Reflect remains one of the few longstanding titles which retains a great reputation build on providing dependable disk imaging functionality over many years.
Disk imaging aside and Reflect Home checks a lot of other boxes when it comes to making a secure and reliable Windows PC backup. This includes support for applying secure AES 256-bit encryption, good scheduling and automation support, automatic backup validation, the ability to mount disk images within Windows plus the ability to recover an entire system onto new or otherwise dissimilar hardware.
Whilst it would be very difficult to critique the actual disk imaging technology underpinning the Reflect software line, I do feel Macrium are falling behind some competitors by (still) not offering any official form of built-in cloud storage support. If making locally or network stored backups is what you want then Reflect Home remains an excellent choice, but for many the ability to store backups offsite via their existing cloud subscriptions would make this software even more valuable.
Overall, Reflect Home 8 is a solid choice for anyone seeking straightforward and dependable disk image-based backups from a dependable and well-known software provider – Great work Macrium.
