Which drive-imaging app offers better protection?

Acronis offers features in spades, but works out more expensive in the long run.

© ACRONIS

EVERYONE NEEDS a reliable backup tool, and as we outline on page 28, that should include a full drive image of your entire system, giving you the ability to restore your PC to working order with minimal disruption in the event of disaster. This issue, we’re pitting two drive-imaging tools against each other: Macrium Reflect 8 Home Edition is the paid-for version of our favorite free drive-imaging tool, while Acronis TrueImage 2021 is a longestablished and trusted heavyweight.

But do you even need to pay for a driveimaging tool? Macrium Reflect Free has protected our PCs for years, but there are some niggles that both the Home edition and Acronis resolve, the main one being support for incremental backups. These make daily (and even intra-daily) backups practical thanks to the fact they’re smaller and faster than differential backups.

Both paid-for tools support passwordprotected encrypted drive images for greater security, too, as well as protection against ransomware, which could infect your backups. Both also allow you to back up individual files and folders. But which one offers the most bang for your buck?