Macrium Reflect Upgrade Cancels Backup Schedules
Whoa! I got an unexpected shock in checking over my production desktop this weekend. Turns out that my recent upgrade from version 6 to 7 for Macrium Reflect Free came with certain consequences. That’s right: that Macrium Reflect upgrade apparently canceled my regular backup schedules. It left my primary machine, which I back up daily, without coverage for several weeks before I noticed that change. In fact, I only figured out updates weren’t happening by inference. I clean out backups every two weeks or so to keep the target drive from filling up. This time, I noticed the drive space hadn’t decreased much, if at all. And indeed, that’s how I learned that Macrium Reflect upgrade cancels backup schedules. Ouch!
Disabled is the last thing you want to see when checking Reflect backup schedules’ status. Sigh.
Fixing Macrium Reflect Upgrade Cancels Backup Schedules
Of course, the fix is absolutely trivial. I could have simply re-enabled my existing backup schedules, and they would have resumed that night on their regular schedules. But while I was at it, I created a new backup definition and lumped the imaging of my boot/system drive together with my primary data drive. That way my target drive won’t fill up as quickly and I’ll have ready access to my two most important storage assets. I also set up a weekly cloud backup so I can capture my entire production system off-site with less frequency.
The old saying goes: The only good backup is the one that restores successfully. I’m somewhat embarassed that it took me a couple of weeks to realize that a software change had disabled my backup environment. I offer my experience as a cautionary reminder to all IT professionals that regular checks on backups may be as important as making those backups. I am profoundly grateful, in fact, that I didn’t learn that my backups were disabled by needing one, and not having it at my disposal. Sigh.