Macrium Reflect Home Edition
Complete disk imaging, cloning, and backup for your personal computers. Ransomware protection, encryption, instant VM boot, and automated scheduling — everything the Free edition offers, plus the features that matter most.
Home Edition Features
Everything you need to protect your personal computers from data loss, drive failure, and ransomware.
Full Disk Imaging
Create complete sector-level backups of your entire hard drive, including the operating system, boot records, installed applications, drivers, and all personal data. Full, incremental, and differential backup modes are all included.
Direct Disk Cloning
Clone your entire disk directly to a new SSD or HDD without creating an intermediate image file. Intelligent sector copy, automatic partition resizing, and 4K SSD alignment are built in.
Flexible Scheduling
Schedule backups to run automatically at any time — daily, weekly, monthly, or on custom intervals. Event-based triggers fire backups at login, logout, or USB drive connection.
Macrium Image Guardian
Kernel-level ransomware protection that prevents unauthorized processes from modifying or deleting your backup images. Even if ransomware gains administrator access, Image Guardian blocks access at the driver level.
AES-256 Encryption
Encrypt your backup images with AES-256 bit encryption. Protect sensitive data on external drives and NAS devices — even if the storage media is physically stolen, your backups remain secure.
Rapid Delta Restore (RDR)
Restore only the blocks that have changed since the backup was created, dramatically reducing restore time. A typical full system restore with RDR completes in minutes rather than hours.
viBoot Instant Boot
Boot any backup image as a Hyper-V virtual machine directly — no restore required. Instantly verify that your backups are bootable, or use the virtual machine for temporary access while a full restore completes in the background.
Rescue Media Builder
Create bootable USB or ISO rescue media powered by Windows PE. Recover your system even when Windows cannot boot. Includes network connectivity for restoring from NAS or network shares.
Home vs Free: Feature Comparison
The Free edition provides solid baseline protection. Home unlocks critical security and automation features.
| Feature | Free | Home |
|---|---|---|
| Full disk imaging (full, incremental, differential) | ||
| Direct disk cloning with SSD alignment | ||
| Bootable rescue media (WinPE) | ||
| Backup scheduling (time-based) | ||
| Macrium Image Guardian (ransomware protection) | ||
| AES-256 encryption for backup images | ||
| Rapid Delta Restore (RDR) | ||
| viBoot instant VM boot from backup | ||
| Event-based backup triggers | ||
| Backup to cloud (S3 / Azure) | ||
| Backup chain retention policies | ||
| Email notifications | ||
| Pre/post backup scripts | ||
| Centralized management (Site Manager) | ||
| Technical support | ||
| Commercial use license |
Who Is Home Edition For?
Family Computer Protection
Set up automated weekly full images and daily incrementals for every computer in your household. If anyone's laptop crashes, gets infected, or suffers a failed Windows update, restore the entire system to its exact state from the last backup — including all their files, applications, bookmarks, and settings.
SSD Upgrade Made Simple
Upgrading from a hard drive to an SSD is the single most impactful performance improvement for any PC. Macrium Reflect Home clones your entire Windows installation, applications, and data to the new SSD with automatic partition resizing and 4K alignment. No need to reinstall Windows or reconfigure anything.
Ransomware Insurance
Image Guardian prevents ransomware from encrypting your backup files, and encrypted backup images ensure your data stays private even if an attacker accesses your backup storage. If ransomware hits, boot from rescue media and restore your pre-infection backup — full recovery in under an hour.
Before Major Changes
Create a snapshot backup before installing new software, updating drivers, modifying the registry, or applying a major Windows update. If anything goes wrong, restore the pre-change image and your system is exactly as it was — no troubleshooting required.
Pricing and Licensing
Macrium Reflect Home is sold as a one-time purchase with a perpetual license. Unlike subscription-based backup solutions that charge monthly or annually, you pay once and own the software forever. There are no recurring fees required to continue using the product.
Each license covers one computer. For families with multiple machines, the Home 4-Pack provides four licenses at a meaningful per-license discount. Both individual and multi-pack licenses include the first year of software updates and technical support. After the first year, an optional annual maintenance plan keeps you on the latest version with access to priority technical support.
All purchases include a 30-day money-back guarantee. If Macrium Reflect Home does not meet your needs, request a full refund within 30 days of purchase — no questions asked.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many computers can I use Macrium Reflect Home on?
Each Macrium Reflect Home license covers one computer. If you need to protect multiple machines, purchase additional licenses or consider the Home 4-Pack which provides four licenses at a significant discount.
Is Macrium Reflect Home a subscription or one-time purchase?
Macrium Reflect Home is a one-time purchase with a perpetual license. You own the software forever and can use it indefinitely. An optional annual support and update plan provides access to new features and technical support beyond the first year.
Can I upgrade from Free to Home without reinstalling?
Yes. Enter your Home license key into the existing Macrium Reflect Free installation and all Home features are unlocked immediately. No reinstallation, no reconfiguration, and all existing backup definitions and schedules are preserved.
Does Home edition support NVMe SSDs?
Yes. Macrium Reflect Home fully supports NVMe M.2 drives, SATA SSDs, and PCIe storage devices for both imaging and cloning. SSD TRIM support and 4K alignment are automatic.
What is Image Guardian and why do I need it?
Image Guardian is a kernel-level driver that protects your backup images from modification or deletion by any process — including ransomware running with administrator privileges. Without Image Guardian, sophisticated ransomware can locate and encrypt your backup files, leaving you with no recovery option. Image Guardian is exclusive to paid editions.
Written by
Macrium Software Technical Team
The Macrium technical team has been developing industry-leading disk imaging and backup solutions since 2006. With deep expertise in Windows storage systems, NTFS, GPT/MBR disk structures, and enterprise backup architecture, our engineers write authoritative guides based on hands-on experience protecting data for over 10 million users worldwide.
Upgrade to Home Edition
Start with the Free edition to experience Macrium Reflect, then upgrade to Home for ransomware protection, encryption, and automated scheduling.
One-time purchase. Perpetual license. 30-day money-back guarantee.
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