Macrium Reflect is easily licensed and uses Windows standards like VSS. After installation (about 10 min) the system is ready to use and can create a backup. It is also possible to restore hardware independent data.

Experience with Macrium has been limited to creation of backup images. Luckily, I have not needed to restore anything. That said, keeping my PC images up to date has been easy and I'm sure if something occurred I would be back in business ASAP. The prep for restore was easy, and was able to create a startup DVD flawlessly if it became needed.

Macrium Reflect has been a reliable backup solution for my system. It wasn't the least nor the most expensive, but cost was not a major factor for my decision making. Ease of use and reliability were the most imporant for me and it checks those boxes.

With a free version and trial available, it's hard to argue against the use of Macrium Reflect if you feel you could use its tools. Give it a try.

I have several computers in different locations (all mine) for which I want to have backups and images for bare metal recovery. I have found that selecting files to restore is super-simple. I like the way the product mounts the image as another drive and lets you find the files you want so easily.