Macrium Reflect Free Edition 4.2.2866 (x32/x64) [Freeware]

With Macrium Reflect Free Edition you'll be able to easily make an accurate and reliable image of your HDD or individual partitions. Using this image you can restore the entire disk, partition or individual files and folders in the event of a partial or complete system loss.

Installing the program did confuse us a bit, because although it's a free program, it refers to purchasing the program, and you're given a confirmation number. On top of that, the program recommends that you view the online tutorials before getting started, but you might have some trouble deciphering them unless you speak Italian. Luckily, the built-in Help menu is more than adequate and written in English. The user interface is simple but professional in appearance. Intuitive commands line the top of the window, and tabs reveal options for disk images, partitions, XML definitions, and scheduled backups. A helpful wizard guides you through the process of setting up your backup. We were able to quickly select our backup location (local hard disk, network, CD/DVD). Before proceeding, it provides you with a summary of your backup so that you can see the backup type, destination, compression type, and password protection. Here is also where you can make advanced configurations to the compression levels and file sizes.

File Backup
- Create a single backup file of one or more folders on your hard disk
- Include and exclude filter ensures that you only backup relevant files.
- Browse the backup file as a virtual FAT32 hard drive in Windows Explorer.
- Files in use by Windows (such as Outlook .pst files) are backed up even when locked!
- Multiple compression levels.
- Backup files can be saved to local or network drives or optical storage (CD, DVD)
- Optionally exclude system and hidden files.
- Supports Incremental and Differential backups.
- Password protect backups to prevent unauthorized access.
- Restore specific files or the entire backup.
- Restore to any location.

Disk Imaging
- Create a single backup file of a complete hard disk
- Create a single backup file of one or many partitions
- Restore a partition to a different type. e.g. a logical partition can be restored as a bootable primary partition
- Resize the restored partition. A hard disk upgrade can easily be performed by increasing the partition to fill the new disk.
- Track 0 (The Master Boot Record) is saved with all backups.
- Backup files can be saved to local or network drives or optical storage (CD, DVD).
- Disk image can be created whilst Windows is in use. A special driver ensures that the disk image represents an exact point in time and will not be affected by disk access that may occur during the backup process.
- Verify images. Images (Backup files) can be separately verified or automatically verified before restore.
- System files such as 'pagefile.sys' and 'hiberfil.sys' are not included in the image. This reduces the final backup file size.
- Three compression levels can be selected to optimize between file size and speed.
- Password protect images to prevent unauthorized access.
- AES 256 bit encryption for ultimate security.
- Set image filenames automatically.

Bug fixes:
- Program crash if a FAT32 partition had a file cluster mapped beyond the end of the file system
- This has been resolved.
- Problem mounting an image after more than 127 incrementals or differentials
- This has been resolved.
- Double encryption for file and folder backups
- A file and folder backup with no compression and AES encryption would be encrypted twice. This has been resolved. Existing backups with this error can now be read and and restored.