Qiling Backup vs. Macrium Reflect

What's Computer Backup Software?

Accidental deletion, disk formatting, system crashes, and viruses can lead to devastating data loss, which can be avoided with a pre-made backup. For individuals, losing personal photos and work documents can be costly, while for businesses, losing data or experiencing system downtime can damage their reputation and lead to lost customers and income.

Backing up your important data and systems is a crucial aspect of cyber security, and it goes beyond just setting up a backup system. To ensure protection, it's essential to use computer backup software that can create copies of your files, databases, operating systems, and entire computers. In the event of hardware or software failure, data corruption, or malware infection, this software can quickly recover your data and systems from previous backups, effectively restoring everything to its previous state.

How to Choose Backup Software for Individuals and Business

There are many backup software options available, both free and paid, including Windows' built-in File History and Backup and Restore programs, which come pre-installed with Windows 10, 8.1, and 7 respectively.

Native Windows backup programs, such as File History, are free to use but offer very basic backup options. Users can only select files from specific folders like Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, and Desktop to back up on an external hard drive. In fact, Windows 11 has removed the folder backup option, leaving users unable to back up folders, which is a significant limitation.

File History limitations are there, but it's still a free option for personal and home users with small files or documents. For larger needs, third-party software like Qiling Backup and Macrium Reflect offer more comprehensive backup strategies and features.

Qiling Backup and Macrium Reflect are also recommended as alternatives to AOMEI Backupper. They offer similar features and functionality, making them viable options for users looking for alternative backup and recovery solutions.top hard drive cloning software.

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Qiling Backup vs. Macrium Reflect: 10 Comparisons

Both Duplicati and Backblaze are reliable backup software that are fully compatible with all Windows versions, including Windows 11. However, the better choice for you depends on various factors such as the vendor's reliability, product quality, user ratings, pricing plans, features, and customer support.

Comparing two equivalent Windows backup software can be done by answering the questions people are most concerned about. By doing so, we can judge more deeply and clearly which software works better for which group of people. This comparison can help identify the strengths and weaknesses of each software, ultimately making it easier for users to decide which one is best suited for their needs.

Q1. Where is either company located? How long is the brand history?

• Chengdu Yiwo Tech Development Co. Limited, founded in 2004, is a Chinese company based in Chengdu city, Sichuan province. Their product, Qiling Backup, is a comprehensive Windows backup and recovery program. The company's headquarter location in Chengdu is home to many global IT giants, including Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, Lenovo, and JD.
• Macrium Reflect is a backup utility for Microsoft Windows developed by Paramount Software UK Ltd, a company based in Manchester and London, in 2006.

In comparison, Qiling has a larger workforce than Macrium and a 2-year longer brand history.

Q2. Is it free and easy to use?

After researching and verifying the information on the official websites and online services, it was confirmed that both products offer free versions for personal and home use.

• Navigate to the Backup & Restore menu, then select Qiling Backup Free.

• To access Macrium Reflect Free, go to the Products menu and select Reflect Free under the Personal section.

Qiling Backup is much more user-friendly than Macrium Reflect, making it accessible to all skill levels. The backup modes are logically and visually lined up on the right menu bar, with execution buttons clearly displayed. In contrast, Macrium Reflect has a less intuitive interface that takes time to get familiar with, requiring at least two to three more steps to reach the same spot as Qiling Backup. However, once accustomed to it, Macrium Reflect is not difficult to cooperate with.

Q3. Which software includes better backup features?

Qiling Backup and Macrium Reflect have distinct features, with Qiling offering more customization options for backups, while Macrium Reflect provides more business-focused backup tasks. Both have their own strengths, with Qiling allowing for more backup settings and Macrium catering to business needs.

Same features they share with:

• File and folder backup
• OS backup, supports Windows 11 back to XP
• Disk/partition backup and disk image
• Email backup including Exchange and Outlook
• Mount/Dismount backup images
• Disk/partition clone
• Schedule backup on daily, weekly, monthly or upon an event

Standalone Features in Qiling Backup:

• 10+ languages versions available
• Online chat for presales and aftersales consult
• Backup image compression
• Backup image encryption
• Replace older files and duplicates
• Create a Windows portable USB drive

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Standalone features in Marium Reflect:

• English version is available
• Backup file Consolidation with Synthetic Full backup support
• Offline support asking users to leave a message
• Pre-defined backup plan templates

Q4. Which is more expensive? Qiling Backup or Macrium Reflect?

Qiling Backup's subscription fees are lower than Macrium Reflect's, with no additional cost for maintenance and support.

• Qiling Backup's commercial version costs $19.95 per license, with optional monthly, yearly, or lifetime upgrade subscription pricing, with the lifetime license available for $59.
• Macrium Reflect commercial version starts at $69.95

Q5. Do they offer cloud backup?

Macrium Reflect lacks cloud backup information on its website or within the software, making it outdated in the cloud computing era. In contrast, Qiling Backup has adapted to the universal use of the cloud, offering its own exclusive cloud service and allowing users to save backups to other cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive.

Q6. Which offers better support for large organizations?

As for higher-Both software options are capable of providing a business-level backup feature, allowing users to restore their data in case of a loss.

Qiling Backup Enterprise edition offers a comprehensive set of backup features, including a wide range of functionalities that cater to various needs.

• Windows server support
• SQL/Exchange backup and restore
• Centrally management
• Image-Reserve Strategy
• Universal Restore
• Pre/post command line backup
• PXE server support
• OEM rebrand service

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Macrium Reflect also has a standalone business backup strategy, and in its premium version of Macrium Server, features such as automated backup, replication, and disaster recovery are available, making it a comprehensive solution for businesses.

• Use a backup software to create a compressed image file of your entire physical or virtual server, containing all data, applications, and operating system, which can be easily restored in case of a disaster or system failure.
• Windows event logging
• Backup files and folders to a single compressed archive file

Q7. Can you do a smart backup in each software?

Smart backup is a one-click backup strategy that simplifies post-backup processes after the first full file backup. It's now a widely accepted standard for selecting intelligent backup software for Windows. Qiling Backup offers a smart backup option that automatically schedules backups every 30 minutes, creating a new image whenever changes are made within that time frame, addressing the need for real-time data protection.

• To backup database files that are frequently changed
• To backup shared files that are often updated by multiple users, you can use a cloud-based backup solution that allows simultaneous access and updates, while also ensuring that all previous versions of the files are preserved. This way, you can maintain a record of all changes made to the shared files, and easily recover to a previous version if needed.
• To create multiple restoration points for the recovery or rollback

In Macrium Reflect, you can manually set up a backup schedule, but it may take some patience to understand how it works, as the process can be a bit awkward, especially for first-time users.

Q8. Can you perform recovery even when your computer cannot boot at the moment?

Computer system crashes and BSODs can be frustrating, but fortunately, there are ways to recover your system even when you can't access Windows. Excellent backup software like Qiling Backup and Macrium Reflect allow you to create a bootable rescue media, which can be used to recover your system for the first time you create a backup. This means that even if your system crashes, you'll have a safety net to fall back on and can quickly get back up and running.

Qiling Backup offers two options to create a bootable environment: Enable PreOS, which requires no additional device, or create an emergency disk, which typically requires a USB flash drive.

Under the Other Tasks menu in Macrium Reflect, users have the option to create an emergency disk, which allows them to boot from the disk and access their system even if the main operating system is not functioning properly. This feature provides a convenient and reliable way to troubleshoot and recover from system crashes or other issues, making it a valuable addition to the software's suite of features.

Q9. Can you transfer the system image to another hard drive or another computer for recovery?

The universal restore function is available in both Qiling Backup and Macrium Reflect, allowing for the restoration of system images to different hardware. However, the system transfer feature is only available within the current Qiling Backup edition, whereas Macrium Reflect requires the use of a separate application called ReDeploy, which is applicable to the Professional and Server editions only.

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Q10. Do they do the incremental and differential backup?

As backup images continue to take up more disk space, a compromised solution to alleviate the burden is either to save backup files to the cloud or manage them in a smart way. Two effective methods for reducing backup size are backup compression and using incremental or differential backups, which only save changes made since the last full backup.

Both Qiling Backup and Macrium Reflect offer the option to create differential backups and incremental backups, which is a convenient feature.

The backup method of an incremental and differential backup is found in the Backup Scheme section during the process of creating a file backup, disk backup, or system backup.

Macrium Reflect supports incremental and differential backups, but the options to create them are buried deep. Users may mistakenly think it doesn't support these methods. To create an incremental or differential backup, refer to the linked kb post for guidance.

Qiling Backup vs. Macrium Reflect: Which Suits Me Better?

Let's collect the information from the 10 comparisons in a table and make an ultimate comparison between the two products.

Considering your needs, I would recommend Qiling Backup over Macrium Reflect due to its superior user experience and workflows. If you're not willing to invest time in learning the product manual to utilize its full features, Qiling Backup is a more practical choice.

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

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