Reflect 8 End of Life - What you need to know!
Macrium Reflect 8 has served thousands of users reliably for many years. With the launch of Reflect X in October 2024, we began transitioning customers to our latest backup and recovery solution Reflect X. Reflect 8 entered extended support at that time, and to help customers plan their transition, we have extended its End of Life (EOL) date for business licences to 27th February 2026.
This date marks the final phase of the Reflect 8 lifecycle.
What EOL Means?
During extended support until 27th February 2026, Reflect 8 will continue to receive:
- ▪️ Customer support
- ▪️ Critical bug fixes
- ▪️ Security patches
After this date, Reflect 8 will no longer be supported. This means:
- ▪️ No further security patches will be provided
- ▪️ No compatibility testing for new operating systems or hardware
- ▪️ No technical support from Macrium
If you purchased Reflect 8 on a perpetual license then it will continue to run after EOL. However, use after EOL carries increasing security, operational and compliance risk, especially in connected or regulated environments.
We encourage all customers to plan their transition to ensure ongoing protection, performance, and support.
Your Options
Option 1: Upgrade to Reflect X (Recommended)
Reflect X is the latest generation of Macrium’s backup and recovery technology, built for speed, flexibility and reliability, and with an annual plan you always receive the latest innovations and updates first.
Key benefits:
- ▪️ 2× faster performance through advanced compression and multithreading
- ▪️ Resumable imaging that automatically continues interrupted backups
- ▪️ Open-source file format that gives you full control over your data and ensures long-term data accessibility
Reflect X is available on a 1, 3 or 5 year annual plan basis. Moving to a Reflect X annual plan provides both predictable costs for long-term planning and ensures you receive the latest features and improvements as soon as they’re released.
What if I am a Business user in Support & Maintenance (S&M)?
If you are currently in S&M and upgrade to a discounted plan, your existing coverage is pro-rated. Payment is taken upfront and your Reflect X subscription starts from the day of purchase. Your subscription end date will be extended according to your remaining S&M term,, avoiding double payment.
Option 2: Move to a stable version of Reflect 8.1 (LTSC 24 Edition)
For business customers with active Support & Maintenance only
If you prefer to stay on a stable version of Reflect 8, customers with active Support & Maintenance (S&M) can move to Reflect 8.1 LTSC 2024—our Long-Term Servicing Channel release. This involves trading in your Reflect 8 license for a new Reflect LTSC key.
Reflect LTSC is designed for environments that prioritise maximum stability over new features.
- ▪️ It does not receive the new capabilities introduced in Reflect X.
- ▪️ It does not receive feature or performance enhancements.
- ▪️ It does continue to receive critical security patches and bug fixes for as long as your S&M remains active.
This option is ideal for organisations that require predictable, long-term support without adopting new features or changing validated environments.
You will still have the option to move to Reflect LTSC after EOL, allowing you to plan your upgrade in line with your operational priorities.
Option 3: Remain on Reflect 8
Customers may continue using their existing perpetual Reflect 8 license after EOL. The software will continue to run, but Reflect 8 will become an unsupported product and will no longer receive security updates or bug fixes.
Self-service resources will remain available in a PDF version of the Reflect 8 Macrium Knowledge Base.
However, without new security updates or fixes, remaining on Reflect 8 introduces increasing vulnerability, compatibility and compliance risks.
Please note that if you are using a standalone licensing in Site Manager 8, alternative upgrade paths are available.
How do I upgrade?
You can view your upgrade offers through the Renewal Wizard., which you can access it in several ways:
- ▪️ Select “Check for upgrade” inside your Reflect installation.
- ▪️ Sign in to your Macrium Account to check for upgrades (or create one using the email associated with your licence).
- ▪️ If you purchased through a partner, you can also contact your Macrium Partner for guidance.
Once you’ve completed the upgrade in the Renewal Wizard and received your new licence key:
- 1 - Copy your new licence key.
- 2 - In your Reflect installation, go to Help → Update licence key and enter it.
- 3 - Select “Check for updates” to download and install the correct version.
Any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team.
FAQs
Why should I upgrade to Reflect X?
Reflect X is the most advanced version of Reflect yet. By using advanced data compression techniques and optimized multithreading processes, our backup and recovery is now two times faster without putting additional strain on your system.
For users of Copilot ARM devices, Reflect X is the only backup software that offers boot menu recovery and bare metal restore - highlighting our commitment to innovation.
Resumable imaging and making our backup files open source also highlight our ongoing commitment to deliver feature-rich, market-leading backup and recovery software, without holding you (or your data) hostage.
Can I try Reflect X before making a commitment to switch?
Reflect X is available for a free 30-day trial. Reflect X uses a new image file format - mrimgx. These files are not compatible with Reflect 8. However, Macrium Reflect X will continue to use the old mrimg file format when appending (incrementals and differentials) to existing Macrium Reflect 8 backup sets.
We strongly recommend having a full copy of backups before trialling Reflect X.
Do I need to update my rescue media after upgrading to Reflect X?
Yes. After upgrading to Reflect X, you must rebuild your rescue media. Rescue media created with Reflect 8 cannot be used to restore backups created with Reflect X. This is due to the new mrimgx file format used in Reflect X. To ensure you can recover your system in case of emergency, please rebuild your rescue media immediately after upgrading to Reflect X.
Why have you removed the one-time license option for Reflect X?
Many of our business customers' feedback indicated a preference for the certainty provided by an annual plan. The annual plan offers assurance that you always have access to the latest version with innovations such as improvements we’ve made in compression speeds and algorithms. It also ensures you have access to critical updates and are protected against new threats and risks. Lastly, our annual plan ensures you always have access to technical support.
However, for business customers where a subscription model is not suitable we offer one time purchase options in Macrium Reflect LTSC as well as our centralised solution SiteBackup.
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