- Password
- Cloning
- Shutdown
Compression
Backup files can be reduced in size without compromising data integrity. Compression results may vary depending on the compressibility of the source data, for example, a standard Windows install OS partition will compress to around 60-70% of its original size. The compression effectiveness for user data partitions and files will depend on the types of files being backed up. Files that won't compress further include most audio and video files, as well as existing compressed files like .zip, .tar, .7z, etc.
|
Compression Level
|
Description
|
|---|---|
| None | Backup without compressing. |
| Medium (Recommended) | Medium compression generally provides the best compromise between performance and the resultant backup file size. |
| High | High compression may make backups take considerably longer to complete with the difference in file size being marginal. |
Macrium Reflect LTSC uses a very fast, real-time, streaming block compression algorithm. This will not provide the same overall compression ratio as common compression utilities like 7-Zip which use, much slower, whole-file data compression techniques.
All 'mountable' backup files, such as those created by Macrium Reflect, require discrete blocks of data to be compressed and decompressed 'on the fly'. This enables images and backup files to be incremented and mounted as drives in Windows Explorer.
|
Option |
Description |
|---|---|
| Intelligent Sector Copy |
Only backup data blocks that are being used by files on the disk. This significantly reduces the time it takes for backups to complete and reduces the size of the backup files. Note: The data blocks in the pagefile (pagefile.sys) and hibernation (hiberfil.sys) files will be excluded from images. Data blocks in these files are temporary and not required when Windows starts. These files will be visible in the imaged file system but will take up zero space in the image file. |
| Forensic Copy |
Backup all data blocks. This may significantly increase the size of image files. e.g., An image of a 1TB file system with only 1GB in use will contain 1TB of data blocks prior to any compression. |
File Size
This page of the defaults and settings enables a maximum file size limit when creating backup files, additional data will be written to another file. Alternatively, the destination file system for the image can be used to determine the maximum file size.
Incremental Retention Rules will not be run if backup files are split. This can be caused by setting a fixed size or if the destination file system is FAT32.
|
Option |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Automatic (Recommended) |
When this option is selected the destination file system will determine how large the resultant backup files will be (NTFS, FAT32, DVD, CD). For example, FAT32 files are limited to 4GB therefore images are going to be split into 4GB, or less, files. |
| Fixed file size | Create Images that will be split into many fixed-size files. This is useful when copying Image files to optical media or some cloud storage providers. |
Password
This page can be used to specify password protection for backup files. This provides additional security against unauthorized access to backup data. When this option is enabled, by default, all backup files that are created will require the password to be entered before they can be browsed or restored.
| Option | Description | |
Enter Password: |
The minimum password length is determined by the selected AES encryption level. Long passwords are much more secure than shorter passwords. The passwords are not saved to backup files. Macrium Reflect uses standard PBKDF2 key derivation functions with 260K iterations to save an irreversible hash of the password. To view an existing saved password in this window, click the 'eye' icon in the password edit field. After entering valid Windows Administrator credentials, the password will be shown in plain text. |
|
AES Encryption |
None | No encryption and the password can be any length. |
| Standard 128 Bit | This is the default and requires a password containing at least 8 characters. | |
| Medium 192 Bit | Requires a password containing at least 16 characters. | |
| High 256 Bit | Requires a password containing at least 32 characters. | |
Encrypt stored passwords |
Passwords are stored in backup definition files to enable unattended backups to run. Select this option to encrypt your passwords in the backup definition file using a steganographically hidden asymmetric key. |
|
Auto Verify Image
When this option is enabled, Macrium Reflect backup files will be verified immediately after creation. This helps ensure that no corruption of data occurred while the image was being written to the destination. Enabling this option can considerably increase the amount of time taken to create the image:
Read more about verification here.
Imaging Rate Limit
If enabled, a default rate limit can be set for writing to the destination. This will limit the write rate to a specified number of Mbits (megabits) per second.
Note: In the backup progress, a higher transfer rate than the rate limit may be displayed. This is because the transfer limit counts the amount of data read from the source disk and saved into the backup file without including compression.
After the backup is completed, the read and write rate is shown in the backup log.
Retention Rules
This page contains the default retention rules that are displayed when creating new backup definitions. Retention rules can still be changed on a case-by-case basis when creating new backup definitions:
Read more about retention rules here.
Verify File System
The 'Verify File System' option is used to check the integrity of the file source system before a backup is created.
Macrium Reflect will automatically verify the integrity of FAT32 and NTFS file systems being backed up. This means checking that all files and folders have their data entries correctly mapped to the file allocation table (FAT) or $MFT Bitmap (NTFS).
This is a comprehensive check, and similar in functionality to the MS-DOS CHKDSK. command. When enabled, this option may increase the time taken to complete a backup.
Cloning
| Option | Description | |
| Perform an Intelligent Sector Copy | When enabled, only the sectors that are being used by data on the disk will be cloned to the destination. The pagefile (pagefile.sys) and hibernation files (hiberfil.sys) will be excluded. This reduces the amount of time the clone takes to complete. | |
| Verify File System | Reflect will verify the integrity of the source file system; verification checks that all files and folder data entries are correctly mapped to the file allocation table (FAT) or MFT Bitmap (NTFS). Read more about this option here. | |
| Rapid Delta Clone | Rapid Delta Clone (RDC) effectively and rapidly copy only the differences between the source and target file systems. This means that RDC offers a similar performance increase when cloning as an incremental disk image offers over a full image and enables regular clones to be a viable and fast disaster recovery solution. Read more about Rapid Delta Cloning here. | |
| Enable SSD TRIM | This option provides automated SSD optimization resulting in enhanced SSD performance and longevity. Writing to an unused block is much quicker than an in-use block as it avoids both the slow erase operation and the read-modify-write cycle. This results in an increase in both the lifespan and the performance of the device. It is effective for all Windows operating systems, even those that support SSD trim natively as the file system driver can only TRIM blocks on de-allocation; it cannot TRIM blocks written by another process. It is also effective for USB-attached SSDs. | |
| Perform a Forensic Sector Copy | When enabled all data blocks will be cloned to the destination, even if they are not in use. This may significantly increase the time taken to perform the clone. | |
Reparse Points
Reparse points are a feature of the NTFS file system that provides the ability to create a link to a directory which then functions as an alias of that directory. An example of a reparse point is the folder 'Documents and Settings' in Windows which when followed points (or expands) to a number of other folders.
If followed then all folders in the reparse point "contents" will be included in the backup.
The options below define whether reparse points are followed or whether reparse point definitions are backed up.
Reparse points are defined by folder attributes, and all reparse point tags are considered.
| Option | Description | |
| System Reparse Points |
Attributes: FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY | FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT | FILE_ATTRIBUTE_SYSTEM |
|
| Do not follow | Only backup the reparse definitions (recommended) | |
| Follow | Back up all the reparse points. | |
| User Reparse Points |
Attributes: FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY | FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT |
|
| Do not follow | Only back up the reparse definitions | |
| Follow | Back up all the reparse points (recommended) | |
Backup Set Matching
This option only applies to file and folder backups and determines the logic that should be applied when appending a file and folder backup to an existing set or creating a new backup set. As a result, this will also factor into how retention rules are applied to file and folder backups.
The available options are shown below and a brief description of how retention rules will be applied when the 'Apply retention rules to matching backup sets in the target folder' option is being used:
|
Option |
Description |
|---|---|
| Similar - Match on backups with at least one matching folder | Folders can be added and removed from the source folders in the backup definition and still maintain a single backup set, as long as at least one folder remains the same. |
|
Strict - Match on backups with the same folders and filters |
Retention rules will only be applied to exactly matched backup sets. Changing folders in a definition will result in a new backup set being created. |
| All - Matching on any backup | Retention rules will be applied to all file and folder backup sets. When creating differential or incremental file and folder backups, they will always be appended to existing file and folder backups in the destination. |
Shutdown
This will control the default power-saving options when creating disk image, file and folder backup, and disk clone definitions.
|
Option |
Description |
|---|---|
| Shutdown |
When selected the system will shutdown after the backup is complete. A sub-option can be enabled to force all programs to close without querying the user whether they can be closed. |
| Hibernate | When selected the system will hibernate after the backup is complete. |
| Suspend | When selected, the system will suspend after the backup is complete. |