I used another backup program for years but just changed to Macrium Reflect and I like it very much! One question though- or should I say my one wish- I'd like to be able to have some files excluded from a disk image backup- which the other program could do. Or is it possible now? Or, any chance it might be in future versions?

JoeZ

At the moment you can only do that with a "File & Folders" backup... why, because it's FILE oriented.  An imaging operation is IMAGE oriented, it doesn't deal with files, it deals with disk structures... metadata, disk blocks (not files), etc.

I believe the product you're referring to is actually not doing a complete imaging operation if it's excluding files... it's some sort of hybrid image (I really don't know how it works).

I can't speak for Macrium so they may be considering some sort of hybrid in the future but at the moment it's primarily an imaging program when it comes to partition/disk recovery.

Joe, I'm guessing you like it very much mainly for its Rapid Data Restore feature and maybe some automation features (scheduling, etc.).  The hybrid imaging method mentioned above can really not be adapted easily to any type of "difference" restoration method like RDR.  RDR is possible 'cause the restoration is indeed metadata and disk block oriented, not file oriented.

If it was easy, I'm sure the "other" vendor would have considered it by now...

The issues and judgement calls involved actually relate most closely to the Windows OS and its VSS "snapshot" process.  Reflect does, in fact, exclude some files (specifically Windows restore points) from the VSS "snapshots" that it uses for partition (a.k.a. volume) image backups, but Macrium concluded some time ago that providing a more general option for that purpose would not meet their standards of reliability.  So, unless Macrium's own people change their minds about that (unlikely IMO) the appearance of any such option in Reflect's user interface seems improbable in the foreseeable future.

Nick's reply in this old v5 forum thread discusses the possibility of using the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshotMacriumImage registry key for your own exclusions as Macrium does for excluding restore points.  Just take careful note of the fact that choosing to do so at your own discretion may entail some performance and reliability issues.  Frankly, I doubt that you'd find it worthwhile in most cases.  If you're thinking about excluding sparse files like the Windows swap files, they're only backed up as directory "placeholders", not as content, and running the Windows disk cleanup utility occasionally will get rid of a lot of other junk.

Regards, Richard V. ("Arvy")

Froggie and Arvy,

Thanks for your fast reply. My previous backup program was Acronis True Image- which could allow exclusions for - what it called- a disk image. By default, it had several file types excluded- and you could add any others. How it did this- and if it's really a true image backup (ironic, that being their name)- I don't know, since that level of programming is beyond me.

The reason it would be useful is that I have 3 drives: my boot drive, a 2nd internal drive, and my external drive. I backup the boot drive to both the 2nd internal drive and the external drive. But the 2nd drive also has all my other created files- so I like to have an image backup of that to the external drive. If I can't exclude the boot drive images to the 2nd drive, then when I image the 2nd drive to the external drive, then that's just more work and space used on external drive that I don't really need- and I was able to do this with Acronis True Image.

So, instead, I've considered the following: do a file/folder back up of the 2nd drive (drive D). If I tell Macrium that the directory I want backed up is D:\ and all included folders/files, then presumably I'd have everything on the drive. I did experiment to see if a file backup would even accept D:\ as the answer as to what to back up and it seemed to accept it but I didn't follow through with it. Or, since my external drive is a 4T drive and it still has a lot of room, I could just do an image backup of D. I just won't have multiples of that drive in the backup set- just 1 o 2 with some differentials- because I have about 400 GB on that drive.

I'm curious why Macrium excludes restore points. Acronis did that too- and I didn't know it until one day, after having done a disk image recovery, I needed to do a restore and there weren't any! Since restore points don't take up all that much space, I wonder why this is a default? Can it be turned off?

Anyway, I used Acronis for several years- but that program has gone downhill in my opinion. The latest version looks like a W10 applet- a very simplified UI- which I greatly dislike- and it dropped many features. I had a lot of problems with the program- which so far, I'm not having with Macrium. I really like Macrium's user interface. One feature I really like is the way it produced the WinPE recovery media.

Before I purchased the program I used the free version and trial version for a month- and I emailed Macrium support with several questions- and they always got back to me very quickly.

Oh, and one thing really blew my mind was that, using the free version, on my oldest Dell, I did a boot drive disk recovery, and it was extraordinarily fast- much faster than Acronis.
Joe

Oh, well, I keep forgetting, I haven't yet uninstalled Acronis- for which I have a script to do differential backups of that 2nd internal drive and which are sent to the external drive- and with that, I can exclude Macrium backup files. I presume having 2 backup programs installed shouldn't be a problem-  as I don't have them run from a schedule- I run them when I feel the need.

Joe

That's entirely up to you.  I keep a copy of ATI around, but only on my "customized" rescue media in case I ever need it for recovering something from a long-forgotten backup on some dusty old optical media on a shelf somewhere, and it's definitely not installed under any of my regular Windows working environments for the reasons already mentioned.

My advice, FWIW, would be to go ahead with putting those Reflect backup image files on their own separate partition anyhow.  It will make life much simpler when you finally decide to use Reflect exclusively for all of your backup and recovery requirements.  Considering your wisdom in getting this far, I expect that next logical decision won't be very far in the future.  So far as this "old geezer" is concerned, life is complicated enough without managing two different backup applications each with its own task definitions, scheduling, etc. 

Regards, Richard V. ("Arvy")

Well, now I realize it's a mistake using Acronis to backup that 2nd drive- or any drive for that matter- since, there is a big difference, I now realize between Acronis and Macrium.

I now see that when Macrium verifies a differential backup, it, apparently, only "feels a need" to verify the differential- but, Acronis also verifies, again, the full and differential files- so, why on Earth it has to verify again, the full- seems crazy to me (since it was verified already). I just had Acronis do a differential of about 400 GB on that 2nd drive. The differential file was something like half a gig, but the stupid program was going to take an hour or so since it was verifying the full backup too. Makes no sense. One of the things I had noticed about Macrium was how fast the backup process is and the verification process is much faster, not just on the differential, but on the full backup- very, very fast. I'm going to give up on Acronis on my newest Dell, my main office computer. I have an older version of Acronis on my 9 year old Dell, because I like the Try and Decide feature- in case I want to check out any "questionable" web sites.

Joe

Well, good luck getting a completely clean uninstall on your new Dell, assuming that's your next step.  It can be tricky, but not really appropriate for discussion here.

Regards, Richard V. ("Arvy")