This is Part 3 of a 3-part review. Make sure to check out all 3 Parts for the full review.
Part 3 – Hasleo Test Results & Verdict
Test Methodology – Backups
My main interest was testing the image and image restore capabilities of Hasleo and how it compared to Aomei. I used three computers: two Windows 10 machines, and one Windows 11 machine. All PCs had one SSD drive with partitions for the operating system, data, and image backups. One PC had a second physical hard drive. I made multiple image backups on each machine with both Hasleo and Aomei and compared the results. I made system backups, disk backups, partition backups, and some encrypted backups. I backed up to a partition on the same disk, another hard drive on the same computer, a USB-attached drive, and a storage device attached to my local network (NAS). I added and subtracted data files to create a combination of large, medium, and small partition sizes. All image backups used the default compression level for each suite. Overall, I made 30 backups and compared those to Aomei. Here are the results of eight of the image backups. As you can see, the speed and size of both Hasleo and Aomei are very close.
| Hasleo | Aomei | Hasleo | Aomei | |
| time | time | size (GB) | size (GB) | |
| System1 | 4:17 | 3:15 | 33.9 | 33.8 |
| Data1 | 2:08 | 2:48 | 17.3 | 17.3 |
| System2 | 1:35 | 1:53 | 33.4 | 33.4 |
| Data2 | 1:15 | 0:52 | 16.13 | 16.14 |
| System3 | 2:55 | 3:15 | 24.9 | 23.6 |
| Data3 | 0:09 | 0:17 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| System4 | 1:51 | 1:56 | 33.7 | 32.2 |
| Data4 | 0:09 | 0:14 | 0.13 | 0.13 |
Restores
I performed restores using both the Hasleo GUI method and the Hasleo WinPE-based bootable media method. I did the same with Aomei. I was not concerned with speed, just the final result. Still, both applications were very quick and took roughly the same amount of time. On partition restores, while using the GUI, Hasleo rebooted every time. But in some cases, Aomei was able to restore a partition without rebooting. There were no issues with any restore for either suite.
There was one restore I was performing with Hasleo. From the GUI, Hasleo will build a Rescue Media WIM image, reboot to the Rescue Media WIM image, do the restore request, and when complete, boot back into Windows. However, when Windows was closing to start the reboot, I saw the “Windows Is Getting Ready to Install Updates” message. I figured the restore would fail but Hasleo rebooted, restored the image, Windows rebooted again, and installed the Windows update.
Feature Comparison Between Hasleo, Aomei Free, Aomei Professional
| Function | Hasleo | Aomei Free | Aomei Pro |
| File Backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| System Backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Disk Backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Partition Backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic Backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Incremental Backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sector-by-Sector Backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Backup to Local Disk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Backup to External Disk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Backup to USB Flash Drive | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Backup to Network/NAS | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Backup to CD/DVD | Yes | No | Yes |
| Backup Scheme | Yes | No | Yes |
| Differential Backup | Yes | No | Yes |
| Backup Dynamic Disk | Not Sure | No | Yes |
| Encrypt Backup | Yes | No | Yes |
| Split Backup Image | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| File Filter Settings | No | No | Yes |
| USB Plug-in Backup | Yes | No | Yes |
| Event-triggered Backup | Yes | No | Yes |
| File Restore | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| System Restore | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Disk Restore | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Partition Restore | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dynamic Disk Restore | Not Sure | No | Yes |
| Universal Restore | Yes | No | Yes |
| Restore NTFS Permissions | Yes | No | Yes |
| Disk Clone | Yes | Data Disk Only | Yes |
| Partition Clone | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SSD Alignment | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sector-by-Sector Clone | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| System Clone | Yes | No | Yes |
| Adjust Partition Size | Yes | No | Yes |
| Add Unused Space | Yes | No | Yes |
| Dynamic Disk Volume Clone | Not Sure | No | Yes |
| Create Bootable Media | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Comment Backup | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Compress Backup Image | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Check Backup Image | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| View Backup Logs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Import/Export Backup Task | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Explore Image | Yes | No | Yes |
| Recovery Environment | Yes | No | Yes |
| Disk Wipe | Yes | No | Yes |
| Email Notification | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Merge Backup Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| Command Line Utility | No | No | Yes |
| Pre/Post Command | Yes | No | Yes |
Active Development & Support
As can be seen from this list, Hasleo is a complete backup and image suite. It has many of the features of Aomei Professional and significantly more features than Aomei free. In addition, Hasleo is being actively developed. The first version of Hasleo was released in May 2021. The current version 3.2 was released on 12/22/2022. When I started this review at the beginning of December, Hasleo had just released version 3. With the announcement of Macrium Free being deprecated, a forum was started on Wilder Security Forums. The developers joined the forum and were very engaged. During that time, versions 3.0.1 and 3.0.2 were released to fix some issues. Three or four test versions were released to the forum to address other issues found by the testing. And finally, version 3.2 was released. This shows an extreme effort being put in by the development team for a free product.
As to the future of Hasleo, this is a full-featured suite that is free. Will the developers keep it free, or will they end up offering a stripped-down free version and a professional version in the future? I don’t know, but Hasleo does have other free software and utilities on its website. Maybe they will keep it free using it to drive traffic and awareness to the other non-free software on their site.
Bottom Line
Hasleo is a free full-featured imaging and backup solution that is being actively developed. The developers give quick responses to questions and quickly fix problems found with the software. Also, they are continually adding new features. In all my tests, Hasleo functioned perfectly. As I stated, I currently have three licenses for Aomei Backupper Professional. At this point, I find Aomei to be a little more refined than Hasleo. But Hasleo is catching up quickly. For now, I will stay with Aomei. However, I have no reservations about recommending Hasleo for those who are currently using Aomei free or are looking for a replacement for Macrium Reflect Free which is being deprecated later this year.
NOTE: Macrium Reflect Free has now been replaced by Hasleo Backup Suite Free in DCT’s list of recommended software.
Please read Hasleo Review Parts 1 & 2:
- Hasleo Review – Part 1: Hasleo Intro and Backup Features
- Hasleo Review – Part 2: Restore Features & Tools
- Hasleo Review – Part 3: Test Results & Verdict ⬅ you are here
Hi John. I have been using the Aomei program for years now and am very satisfied with all the features. I prefer to clone over doing backups. Decided to keep two clone copies, and alternate so I can have a fresh and most recent copy just in case I get locked out as I recently experienced. What is you view on cloning over imaging, Mindblower!
Hi Mindblower,
I’ve never even thought of making clones as backups instead of image backups. I can tell you what I do, though. On all my PC’s, I partition the main drive into 3 partitions, the system partition (technically the system will create a few small partitions, too), a data partition, and an image partition. I set up my system to store all data on the data partition. OS & apps go on the system partition.
Every month, I create a system image. Every week I create a partition image of the data partition. All images get copied to the images partition (I keep at least a few of each depending on space, the oldest rotate out). All images get copied onto my NAS (I keep even more copies here). Note, I also have a file backup program that keeps copies of specific files (mostly data but a few setup files from OS) that copies data onto my NAS. It runs every hour or so to grab any changes. I also have a cloud backup system that saves chosen data files. It runs once a day. Almost everything is automated.
When I set up a new computer, I prefer to install everything clean. So I don’t really do much cloning. I have never had an issue if I needed to restore an image. Perhaps Jim will comment on the advantages or disadvantages of making clones as backups instead of backup images.
Cloning is fine as a backup system but it does require additional disks. The biggest difference, I guess, is that multiple image backups can be stored on a single disk whereas cloning requires a separate disk per clone.
Thanks Jim!
Jim. I should of mentioned that I clone the entire drive and do not use disks. Had a problem restoring an image read/write cd years ago, so I avoid using them, even when I verified the disks. It might be a bit more expensive, but it does assist me now, Mindblower!
John. As I mentioned to Jim, using a cloned disk means it is as close to a fresh install because it previously worked on that computer. Am I over thinking my method? What you mentioned is totally more work, but everyone has their way of working and I can respect that, Mindblower!
Hi Mindblower,
I finally had some free time and researched to see what Aomei had to say. First, Jim was right (of course), you can only have one clone on a disk as opposed to images where you can have multiple. Another disadvantage of clone vs image is that images can be compressed so they use less space. Also, images can be mounted. Aomei recommends images for backups and clones for migrating. In the second file, they even recommend imaging before making a clone. I suspect that the image file may have more loss prevention built in than the clone file (but this is just a guess). Therefore, I’d suggest that you may be overthinking it and may want to switch to using images as backups instead of cloning.
https://www.ubackup.com/articles/disk-image-vs-disk-clone.html
https://www.ubackup.com/help/Differences-between-Backup-and-Clone.html
In any case, whatever you decide to do, it is important to have some kind of backup. As you can see from my method above, I like to have different layers of backups.
To John and Jim. Truly sorry for all the confusion. When I spoke of cloning, I mean I clone the entire ssd. That way I just swap out the old ssd and am back and running very quickly. Data is stored on flash drives weekly so there is very little that can be lost.
Also, that drive which I could not boot from, well, I could read all data and transfer whatever was lost between cloning (entire ssd, system and data). I now clone every few months, and so far so good, Mindblower!
Hey MB,
Yes, I am well aware of what cloning involves. I think you might be confusing “disk” with “disc”. “Disk” refers to a drive, whether that be an SSD or HDD. “Disc” refers to a CD or DVD.
Cloning every few months, even with additional data backups, means that the clone is seldom up-to-date and, if/when the clone is required, any system changes, software updates and/or Windows updates installed since the clone was created will need to be installed again.
I create system images at regular 2-week intervals plus immediately following any Windows updates. I store 3-4 image backups on a single external USB hard drive, deleting the oldest image each time I create a new one. Consequently, if/when I need to restore an image backup, it is always up-to-date.
By the way; it takes about 3-4 minutes to restore an image backup on my system. So, the difference in time to be back up and running again following a disaster, whether swapping out a cloned drive or restoring an image backup, would be entirely negligible.
Hi, just wondering if Haleo can write a backup to a network share (not a mapped drive)
Regards,
Adrian
Hi Adrian,
Terminology definitions might be getting in the way here (see Jim’s Disk, Disc comment above). I’ve heard people refer to a mapped drive as a network share. In my tests, I tested a drive attached to my network with the “Add Network Location” method. Hasleo was able to save to that.
If you mean another computer on the same network with a shared folder, I did not test this. Also, I’m not currently in a location where I can set this up to test.
Many thanks John for this final review and getting all that time-consuming work done to produce the comparison for us. I think it shows that Hasleo is a more-than-worthy replacement to Aomei Free and has almost all of the features of Aomei Pro that most users like myself would use. I have installed it and it also seems just as good and as easy to use as the Macrium Free I have been using for years but I’ll have no hesitation in switching over completely.
I recently bought myself a basic two disk NAS (knowing very little about the NAS world) but have followed a few YouTube videos to get it set up and running in RAID 1 and I am pleased with the result. I’m assuming I should be able to easily use Hasleo to back up the whole NAS to yet another basic external drive for extra safety (as they will be family photos to free myself of dependence on Google) ?
Hi Reg,
I was able to save backups to storage attached to my network, but I was only able to select drives for backup that were on my PC. Therefore, I am going to guess that you will not be able to back up one NAS storage drive to another. But, after you have it set up, let us know whether or not you can.
Will do John – cheers Reg
I have been using the free version of EASEUS, but with each update it seems more features that were originally in the free version are shifted over to the paid version. Pretty soon I expect even being able to mount an image will no longer be free. Many of the features now existing in the Hasleo free version would be available again to me if I switch to that from EASEUS.
Hi Dave,
Sounds like Hasleo is adding features and Easeus is removing them. If you try Hasleo, comment back here and let us know how it compares to Easeus.
(With apologies to John for butting in here)
EaseUS is by far the most feature limited of the three major free versions. You can read a brief rundown/comparison of the three major free imaging options here: https://davescomputertips.com/macrium-reflect-free-version-to-be-retired/