Entered CNET Catalog: 10/18/2005
SKU:
Manufacturer: Acronis
Manufacturer description
Complete file and system disk imaging backup and restore software for home and home office users that can protect your entire system and family pictures, videos, music, and important documents stored on your home PC. Acronis True Image 9.0 provides you two backup options in one software: the original disk imaging backup option which enables you to create an image of your entire hard disk drive, including the operating system, applications, user settings, and all data. Use the image to restore your PC to a known working state without any reinstallation. A new file-based backup option enables you to backup and restore individual files and folders, like your "My Documents" folder or a specific file, like your latest tax return. A software wizard walks you through all of the steps.Product summary
The good: Acronis True Image 9 creates complete disk-image and folder-based backups and offers a variety of ways to restore an image after a disk disaster.
The bad: Without free phone tech support and encryption, Acronis True Image 9 lacks some of the right stuff.
The bottom line: Acronis True Image 9 offers powerful tools for backing up your hard drive, so you can quickly recover from any type of disk disaster.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 10/27/2005
Last year's Editors' Choice winner, Acronis True Image, gained the technological lead in disk-imaging technology. Briefly, it lets you create exact copies of your hard drive, whether to another hard drive or to removable media, while continuing to work on the drive you're backing up. The latest version of True Image continues to innovate. One new feature is file-based backup, for targeted backup projects; another is Snap Restore, which lets you start working with a disk even before it's fully restored. But in terms of usability, Acronis True Image 9 falls behind its bitter rival, Norton Ghost 10. Its tools, while equally powerful, take more time to master and require more hands-on maintenance. Power users and those who have already mastered Acronis True Image should upgrade; they will welcome the new features in this fast and efficient application for protecting data. But beginners are better off with Norton Ghost 10, which completely automates the backup process, making it easy for anyone to create, update, and keep track of disk images.
Acronis True Image 9 installs easily. Upon launch, it greets you with a cleanly laid out screen displaying icons for all the program's features. Click an icon, and a helpful wizard pops up to guide you through whichever function you wish to perform; however, someone new to disk imaging might be bewildered by the various functions--for instance, the distinction between an incremental and a differential backup, or what it means to plug in or unplug a disk image. In some cases, you may need to carefully read the explanations in the wizard to clear up any confusion.
To combat desktop clutter, Acronis True Image 9 doesn't install an icon in your system tray. Instead, it relies on Windows' built-in task scheduler to automate backups. Simply follow the wizard; you can have True Image make backups daily, weekly, or whenever a specified event occurs, such as a system shutdown. The main control console displays a list of scheduled backups.
When it comes to managing backups you've already created, Acronis True Image 9 has fallen behind its rival, Norton Ghost 10. With Acronis True Image 9, you still need to locate backups via filename--a potentially confusing process if you create daily backups of your system and manually delete old ones to free up space on your backup drive. Norton Ghost 10 displays your backups in a more user-friendly interface and can automatically delete old ones based on criteria you specify.
Acronis True Image 9 offers power users a host of features they won't find in other disk-imaging utilities, including Norton Ghost 10. For one, it lets you create a so-called SecureZone, backing up an image to a hidden drive partition, making it inaccessible to viruses and most hackers. Another feature, the Startup Recovery Manager, lets you configure your system so that it can boot up and restore itself without a separate boot disk.
The biggest new feature in Acronis True Image 9 is the ability to back up specific files and folders. Though this may seem like an odd feature for a product that specializes in backing up entire drives, it's actually very useful. You may want to create archival backups of certain folders or off-site backups of particularly important data. In such situations, backing up files to removable media, such as a DVD-R or CD-R disc, is ideal. Acronis True Image 9 supports file-type exclusions, letting you back up a disk and leave out certain file types; however, it doesn't let you affirmatively specify types to back up--you can't, for instance, tell True Image to back up all your Office DOC, XLS, and PPT documents regardless of their location on the drive.
The software includes some useful extras that go beyond mere backup. The Clone Disk feature lets you copy the complete contents of one drive onto another, which is useful if you're upgrading to a larger hard disk. The "Add a new disk" feature lets you format and partition a new disk drive, readying it for use on your system.
Acronis True Image 9 offers password protection for archives, but unfortunately, it doesn't support strong data encryption. This is an important security feature that Symantec introduced in Norton Ghost 10. We hope to see it in future versions of True Image.
Acronis True Image 9 performed well in our informal tests, quickly and efficiently creating images of hard disk partitions. Backups of your system disk occur in the background even while you work; there's no need to reboot your system. Acronis True Image 9 supports three methods of data backup. A full disk image backs up a drive from scratch. An incremental backup lets you keep a backup updated over time, recording just those changes made since the last incremental backup. A differential backup--a new feature in this version of the software--records in one file all the changes made to a disk since the initial full backup. Once you've made a full backup, these partial backups can quickly and efficiently keep it up-to-date.
Of course, if you are making a complete copy of your hard disk, you'll need a large amount of storage space. By default, Acronis True Image 9 compresses the data and leaves out some things, such as the Windows swap file, that aren't necessary to restore your system. If you don't have a large enough external hard drive or network disk, you can store images on removable media, such as a rewritable DVD drive.
One cool feature, Plug Image, makes a disk image appear as a separate hard drive. We found it a handy way to access specific files or folders in an archive; you simply mount a disk image as a hard drive. If you've made incremental or differential backups, you can use the image as a virtual time machine to return to your disk to an earlier state (for example, before you installed some buggy software).
Acronis True Image 9 comes with a detailed, though poorly organized, printed manual and a detailed Windows help file. On the company's Web site, you'll find a FAQ and a link to an external forum where users of the software share information and tips.
Unfortunately, True Image 9 has no autoupdate feature, so to get an update you have to go to the Acronis Web site and download a large install file.
To get free technical support, you fill out a support ticket at the company's site. Acronis also offers fee-based phone support.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75out of 75 user reviews
Hit Or Miss On Restoring - Skip This Product
Pros: Easy enough to use. Quick at backing-up entire disks and partitions.
Cons: But what good is it at all, when it fails to restore??? There should be a "Restore In Spite of Corrupted Archive" checkbox, to restore in spite of what this software detects as corrupted (msg may well be in error).
Now I'm formatting C:, installing Windows, and will try "plugging" the archive and copying files. Hours of work wasted due to a defective product. Where do I send them the bill for my 16 hours of wasted time, when their product should have restored my C: drive within 12 minutes?
out of 75 user reviews
Did not work on my Dell Vista 32 bit PC
Pros: Product was easy to download and the first initial backup of the hard drive went smoothly.
Cons: After the first initial backup, tried to manually backup the hard drive on three separate occasions and no success.
out of 75 user reviews
recovery did not work on Dell xps m1210
Pros: In the past I have used this program to recover from a complete crash on another Dell laptop after an encryption program was installed by It people at my work.
Cons: My Dell xps m1201 crashed after I used my iphone to sync with I-tunes . I had created backup files and incremental backup as well as rescue bootup disc with Acronis 9.0. The recovery did not work no matter what I tried. I kept getting errors.
out of 75 user reviews
Caused no end of trouble
Pros: None that I have found yet.
Cons: Appears to have destroyed my boot files.
out of 75 user reviews
This product has let me down. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!
Pros: NONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cons: Does not produce reliable backups. You can backup data and successfully verify the backup and then find that the backup can not be restored.
out of 75 user reviews
A backup program that will not restore is the pits!
Pros: None for a backup product that is effectively a write-only memory.
Cons: After a number of years using Acronis T.I. 9, I tried to restore a backup image of my Windows XP C: drive. While it's worked for me previously, this time the restore repeatedly fails with a non-informative C++ error. Totally unacceptable.
The capping problem is that the T.I. 2009 install wiped out my T.I. 9 installation, but after removing it, it apparently left some artifact making it impossible to re-install T.I. 9!!!
P.S. Some time back the Acronis Disk Director product also had corrupted a hard drive when I had attempted to perform a moderately complex operation. (And yes, I had backed up, so no data loss.)
Bottom Line: Acronis produces unreliable products -- stay away!
Moral: Do not use any backup product that has a proprietary data format -- that includes most, if not all commercial backup products
out of 75 user reviews
DESTROYS HARD DRIVES!!! - 0 RATING!!!
Pros: Nothing good about this product
Cons: Everything is bad.
This software restored my computer back to an earlier date eventually but wouldn't restore any of my email backups (I had 15 email backups!!!). I had several computer backups but only 1 worked in the restore which only worked at startup using the boot CD.
Shortly afterwards my array started playing up and I had to remind my mobo that it was there several times. Something was wrong. My system was becoming more and more unstable. I received an error message on screen saying the RAID array was damaged. The next restart and 1 of my raptors was dead (£130!!!!). The post screen stalled when trying to locate my second HDD then I could hear it (HDD) clicking loudly and finally shutting down.
THIS PRODUCT IS WORSE THAN A VIRUS AND ACRONIS SHOULD BE SUED!!! I did a search for Acronis destroy hard drive and found this thread. Guess what else I find, Acronis Drive Cleanser and Acronis Proof Eraser Plus. They seem to be pretty good at destroying things. I've seen it all now. I wasn't sure if this was possible from a software program but now I know. I just can't believe how they've gone about it.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS. IT COST ME £130 FOR THE HDD EVERYTHING THAT WAS ON IT AND PROBABLY MY VISTA 64 ACTIVATION (another £100)
out of 75 user reviews
No support :(
Pros: Fairly intuitive interface.
Cons: Followed setup but got confusing error messages.
out of 75 user reviews
It is way much better that Norton Ghost 10
Pros: Easy to use and your image are indeed completly same even with the most difficult motherboard. You get exactly the same than the original. I have tried Ghost 10 and Acronis 9 and Acronis never fail while Ghost 10 fail miserable on some motherboard.
Cons: none, there is nothing I can complain about Acronis
out of 75 user reviews
Acronis True Image 11 Home
Pros: ZERO Stars! I can't think of any Pro actually. Nothing worked.
DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!
Cons: Back up to DVDR hangs. My entire box of DVDR's are now tea costers!
Absolutely the WORST customer support!
Registration to the website failed - so I can't even download updates!
The customer service "live chat" people do not want to talk to me!
Acronis will ask me to insert media 1, and write to this DVD for quite a long time. Then, it will just hang there. Once I left the system overnight to see if it will make any progress - no luck. It just hangs.
I looked in their support website - they have a new build! Oh, great, I thought, I will download the new build. So, I registered myself - their confirmation email to activate the web site never reached me. I put in a reminder to send me the email, and received no response.
I then contacted their live chat people to look up my registration - they just simply go away from the chat session. Now, they blocked my chat also.
What a customer disservice!
out of 75 user reviews
Acronis 9 & Vista Operating System
Pros: You can make a clone of your hard drive using Vista.
Cons: Can't use 9.0 out of the box. You have to download the upgrade.
out of 75 user reviews
Works, best back up I've ever used
Pros: Does everything you could want and VERY fast.
Cons: Compression options don't seem to work correctly, wont backup to a Firewire HD from its Linux startup disc. Works fine in Windows.
One of my Raptor drives failed in my RAID 0 setup. After getting a replacement drive, I was back up and running like nothing happened in 20 minutes. True Image restored 120 gigs to my RAID 0 Setup in 20 minutes. Need I say more?
out of 75 user reviews
File Backup to DVD hangs
Pros: Easy to use interface, veratility
Cons: Problems backing up to DVD
I attempted to use True Image to back up selected directories to DVD-RW disks under Vista and encountered several problems. The backup files should have taken about 6 disks. The main problem was that it would hang after writing three or four disks (I waited 15-20 minutes, but there was no progress). I attempted the backup three times with similar results. In addition to this problem there were other idiosyncracies. For instance sometimes the disk drawer would open when a volume was done and sometimes it wouldn't. Also, True Image would often tell me to label the disk with a volume number higher than the actual number of the disk in sequence; for instance it told me to label the third backup volume with the label "volume 6".
It's possible that there could be a problem with my DVD drive, but if that's the case well designed software should detect the error and display an error message, but there were no messages.
True Image may be excellent at backing up between hard disks, but my experience with DVDs isn't encouraging. I would not buy this product again.
out of 75 user reviews
Can't Recognize Modern (SATA) Drives
Pros: Good, easy-to-use product
Cons: Won't work with many modern Dell & HP computers
Note: The problem does NOT occur when you're using these products under Windows. But, when you have to recover a corrupted system, you HAVE to use the "Recovery Media," and that virtually always fails with new HP and Dell systems released over the past year.
The solution is simple: BUY PARAGON's SOLUTION. I just tested (and then bought) products from http://www.paragon-software.com/ and, lo-and-behold, THEY WORK!
Acronis has been my favorite company for these products for three years, and I've spent more than $10,000 on Acronis products for me and for my clients. For the past year, Acronis has been failing to upgrade or repair their products, always insisting that their customers have to do all their debugging for them with complex, time-consuming procedures. And, recently, Acronis sent out marketing questionnaires about new products they plan to offer. But, I won't buy more Acronis product until this company SUPPORTS AND PROVIDES UPDATES TO LONG-OBSOLETE PRODUCTS.
--cao
out of 75 user reviews
awesome backup utility
Pros: works very good
Cons: walkthrough is wordy
out of 75 user reviews
Looks Nice, Award Winning? Really? Then I need Help!
Pros: Nice Graphical User Interface. Easy to navigate and understand.
Cons: Software bugs, undependable, did not work well with External Harddrive.
Okay if you remember I wrote a review about 1 week ago. I have determined that this software does not work well with XP or External HDD. Especially, if you external is "FAT32" and your Primary HDD is "NTFS." Also I have tried to back up data onto DVD, needless to say that hasn't worked. Mysteriously, Acronis has erased or corrupted one of my Partitions on my primary drive. I have attempted to recover from "Acronis' Secure Zone" (a hidden partition.) This proclaimed feature does not seem to work.
out of 75 user reviews
Probably deserves its reputation, but not for me...
Pros: Easy to use, small image size compared to other ghosting apps, fast.
Cons: Destroyed my system.
It went into pre-boot only to tell me the image is corrupt. Restarted and noticed my whole OS partition was gone. reinstalled Windows on my other HDD and tried to restore it from there. Apparently Acronis no longer reported a corrupt image when inside the OS so I chose to restore the now gone partition. The pre-boot which was supposed to restore my lost OS froze. Rebooted and noticed it had corrupted my new OS' MBR aswell. Reinstalled Windows on both drives to rebuild MBR, reinstalled Acronis on 2nd HDD, extracted the files from the image instead of choosing "restore partition" again and forced them over the new OS. I'm surprised this whole scheme even worked to recover my data.
out of 75 user reviews
Saved my laptop
Pros: Easy to use
Cons: A bit confusing restore process
After installing a new drive I went to restore the image I saved on an external drive. I did this with a bit of trepidation unsure if it would work or not. During the restore process I encountered a couple tense moments went it asked what drive I wanted to restore to by giving me the drive model. Fortunately I remembered it so I didn't confuse my source and detination drives. It also said it was restoring to drive E but when it rebooted it recognized it as C.
Other than that, everything came out great. A perfect (as far as I can tell) duplicate of my system.
They have ATI 10.0 out now. If it is as good as 9.1 then it is a very good investment.
out of 75 user reviews
I wanted a backup not rocket science
Pros: It worked for someone else
Cons: lacks device support, not user-friendly
Here's my horror story-
GOAL: Move my Windows XP Pro drive from a desktop to laptop (the destination) via an external Iomega 2.0 USB 160 GIG backup disk.
It backed up to file ok to the external, then I learned the true meaning of PAIN during the RESTORE.
I cannot use clone, because it will write over the OS in use.
I attempted to restore from image on CD to destination (because laptops have no floppy)-but their were no correct device drivers from a CD installation.
2. I download the latest build, still the drivers won't work.
3. I decide to backup via image file and restore to the C:/ from external. I do this, only Acronis puts my restored files into a folder called "C:/" at the destination. Gee, thanks, Acronis (we sure are user-friendly here), another 4 hours lost.
4. After this I must delete and reformat the partition with the faulty restoration using my OS CD (Windows no longer can do it).
At this point, Acronis has lost me as a customer. Okay I've literally lost a day, $50 to Acronis, and several nights after work from trying to make a simple migration of data.
Conclusion: Go to Windows "Backup" and try it. Backup and Restoration works fine, because XP supports my drivers.
out of 75 user reviews
No support
Pros: Sounds good
Cons: No phone support, no how to published in manual
No phone support for users, Paid support only. Have to fill out forms to get email support, with turn around time of 48 hours!!
That's not worth much when you need help NOW!
I've contacted my CC company to canel/dispute the payment and will remove from the PC.
out of 75 user reviews
I'm convinced that "Good" reviews are paid for by Acronis
Pros: Version 10 looks good
Cons: Version 10 (and previous versions) are dangerous at best
out of 75 user reviews
VERSION 10 BEWARE - restore/recover does not work
Pros: pretty on the outside (like a dead body filled with maggts)
Cons: Bootable restore/recover does not work
FIRST - I have a simple Dell Inspiron (B130) with XP SP2, a single 80gb non-sata disk with 2 partitions, nothing fancy -- and, parenthetically, I had TON of problems with TI Ver 8 and 9 totally destroying my hard drives after a restore --> I just tried using True Image Version 10 bootable disk to do a full restore ---> AND I COULD NOT GET IT TO WORK AT ALL --> the first time it hung/froze completely just trying to "discover" my disk and I had to UNPLUG my PC and pull out the battery (Ugh!) in order to free it up --> the next time it kept saying something like "DISK (0) UNREADABLE" or "NOT FOUND" some @#$%@-UP error like that (I didn't write it down) --> tried a 3rd time and it froze again...
In other words, again, this is another huge piece of smelly *rap, just like the previous versions.
DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT; it may look pretty on the outside, and it may even "look" like it is working (at least as far as taking a backup), but try to RESTORE, which is the reason that you are REALLY buying the product, and BEWARE because either (a) it doesn't work, or (b) I'm guessing, if it like its predecessors there is about an 80% chance it will destroy your drive or introduce permanent fragmentation problems, or other problems, like it did with me.
This product is like a dead body at a funeral - it may have a pretty facade -- but poke it, and the maggots come pouring out.
out of 75 user reviews
DVD backup equals Repetitive-Motion Injury
Pros: Fast, adjustable compression options
Cons: Simply didn't work!
After the drive was repartitioned, I began the recovery process. It didn't matter what process I selected, Acronis asked me to insert first DVD volume 2, then DVD volume 1, and back and forth, and back and forth. The only way I knew there was progress was that the file name changed every 2 dozen disk swaps.
After 120 disk swaps, however, the progress bar had YET to clock over to 1 percent! I got sneaky and installed a second optical drive to speed this up, but Acronis had outsmarted me by forcing the program to use only ONE optical drive for recovery operations.
After four days and 200 disk swaps just to give it the benefit of the doubt and make sure it wasn't just me, using various recovery options, it became clear that the True Image algorithms had seemingly fragmented each and every file into 20 or 30 pieces and scattered them over both disks.
Perhaps the rave reviews come from folks who backed up to a blank hard drive. Good on them. But for those of us with one hard drive and a DVD burner, I encourage you to avoid True Image at all costs unless you thrive on frustration and colorful language.
Mozy restored my files perfectly. I had to reload all my programs and settings, wasting a week of my time and 2 DVD-Rs.
out of 75 user reviews
Do not waste your money and time
Pros: none could not acess the software
Cons: after a month still not able to DL
the review on Cnet was good probably because they didn't have to go through the ffrustration of tryin g to DL on your computer.
AVIOD AT ALL COSTS
out of 75 user reviews
Poor Tech Support
Pros: Works as advertised
Cons: Worst Tech Support I've experienced
I purchased the latest version, V10 of TrueImage. The software won't even install. It installs to the point of placing a shortcut on the desktop, then reverses the process and errors out telling me to restart the process. I've disabled all items in the system tray yet it still won't install.
I submitted a support request a week ago. I've not gotten anything from Tech Support. A WEEK! I can't even install the software! Version 9 works fine so it's not my computer.
Bottom line, if tech support is important to you, then spend your money elsewhere.
out of 75 user reviews
Backups not too successful for me; support minimal
Pros: Earlier versions worked for me.
Cons: Crashed my computer while using it.
out of 75 user reviews
Robust Backup Tool
Pros: Powerfull and reliable
Cons: none to report
out of 75 user reviews
Easily Backs Up and Restores Image
Pros: user friendly image backup and unlike other programs, very easy to restore system image
Cons: None that I've had so far.
It looks like the program can do a lot more than create and restore images in terms of backing up folders and stuff, but since I haven't used those features yet, I can't speak to well they work.
I wanted to post this review since most of the posts including the official cnet review don't say anything about how easy it is to restore images and that was the main problem I had with the iomega software. Hope this helps.
out of 75 user reviews
The perfect balance between Price and Quality
Pros: Everything is a Pro with this software
Cons: None, none, none =)
Then bought the stuff, installed it, used it, and now I even let everybody in the house use my PC. If something goes wrong, just restore the selected information from the image…and that’s it!
So I really recommend to buy Acronis True Image 9.0 it is really going to help you out.
Alexandr Jones
out of 75 user reviews
"HORRIBLE" Tech Support
Pros: Will not work with DVDR or DVDRW
Cons: Runs great when backing up to your slave drive!
Tech support is SLOW and it seems when the tech is at a loss you get another one and you start all over again. I have done every single test that they wanted me to do and sent them all files and info as asked and the product does not back up to directly to DVDR or DVDRW.
What us does do flawlessly is to run backups to my slave drive. When you try to have Acronis 9 do that to DVD or DVDRW then it falls flat on its face!
So far a nitemare, FWIW my system is a Dimension 8200, 40gb master/200bg slave drive. Running XP Home, SP2, latest Zone Alarm Pro, Nero 7 Ultra edition (latest build) My burners are Nec DVD 3540A E: and F:
I have also tried to burn the backed up files from my slave drive to DVD as a UDF file as asked by Acronis tech. That did not work! Next they had me brun the backups as a finalized disc. So I used Nero DATA DVD and unchecked multisession. That did not work either. I have tried that using DVDR and DVDRW.
Most common error when having Acronis 9 back up driectly to DVD is after it asks you to insert the next (2nd) media it will continue on burning untill about 56%~60% at that point Acronis asks you to insert the 1st media disc again. If you do it fails to go any further!
With all the time and money waisted on this product I feel at this point the bext fix would be to go with a Maxtor or Seagate One Touch Back Up external HD.
out of 75 user reviews
Best backup & recovery program I've ever used!
Pros: Compatibility with many network hard drives, creates a perfectly functioning CD Recovery disk, creates a Secure Zone hidden partition for extremely fast entire system backups
Cons: None whatsoever
out of 75 user reviews
Almost flawless
Pros: Worked as expected;
Cons: Had to reactivate windows; symantec, and Adobe products
out of 75 user reviews
Excellent backup/cloning software!
Pros: Very speedy cloning.
Cons: None as of yet.
Long story short,i`ve never tried cloning hard drives at all before yesterday so i was really a bit nervous about perhaps messing things up.
It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to use the acronis interface and i cloned both hard drives one at a time from the source hard drive SUCCESSFULLY!
I was really amazed at how quickly it cloned from drive to drive.
I found it to be user friendly--once you figure how it works,it`s really easy to remember.Very impressive program,indeed.
out of 75 user reviews
Did the Job, Sort of...
Pros: No Disk Defragmenting Problems After Cloning, More Options than Ghost, Fast
Cons: Progress Bar Did Not Update While Cloning Disk
I used the 15-day free trial of this software to clone my old 30 GB laptop hard drive to a new 100 GB hard drive. I took both of these drives and connected them as slaves to a desktop PC running Windows 2000. To connect the laptop hard drives to the Desktop PC I used IDE adapters you can find here:
http://insidecomputer.stores.yahoo.net/la2tode3hadr.html
All laptop drives are configured as masters, so I had to use jumpers to configure both drives as slaves according to the hard drive specs I downloaded online. (FYI, You can search for yours by doing a pdf search in Google using "filetype
df" "model # of you hard drive")I ran the Acronis software on my Desktop PC running Windows 2000, chose "clone disk" and the menus made it quite clear in choosing which hard drive was the source and which was the destination. This is a very big plus since the potential is there to mistake and accidentally switch the source and destination, thereby erasing all your data.
Cloning took about 2 hours but all the while, the progress bar did not update, it was stuck on 0% the entire time. Just out of the blue, it said "complete". The only reason I new it was copying and not frozen was by putting my ear next to the tiny laptop hard drive to listen for activity. Of course I didn't think of listening for activity until I had already spent hours troubleshooting everything I could think of. This progress-bar update problem could very well could be an issue with the operating system I used to run Acronis - Windows 2000 (Service Pack 0).
With the job complete, all I have to do now is choose whether or not to buy the software...hmm, maybe later.
out of 75 user reviews
The best solution for backuping all you data!
Pros: Cloning options, you can work while restoring,...
Cons: Thought about it but couldn't find any Cons
out of 75 user reviews
Good job, guys - ATI is worth buying
Pros: price, functionality
Cons: could be easier in use
looked through internet tech sites, forums, etc. and finally found review about those two
(http://www.techsupportalert.com/drive-imaging-reviews.htm). based on this review i bought ACronis True Image 9...
i'm proud of my choice, of myself...
ATI met all my demands, fulfilled all tasked.
just worked great. So Acronis got 9 points fairly.
out of 75 user reviews
Acronis will take Ghost's place!
Pros: does everything as advertised, many useful and easy-to-use features
Cons: I did not buy it early
has very thing that Ghost has been missing. I purchased Ghost v10
Monday. I was so disgusted with it that I requested a refund. They have
completely removed all of the useful features that has made Ghost the
industry leader for years. Ghost is now a mediocre backup utility.
Acronis True Image, if it is not already, will soon take Ghost's place
everywhere. I will be spreading the word.
out of 75 user reviews
Acronis is Outstanding!!
Pros: I love the Recovery CD. It's great
Cons: None so far. Works great.
One thing I'd like to point out. I Reinstalled XP, and all my programs. A day later, and before I made my Backups, or even cloned....I ran Windows "Chkdisc", and then "Defrag" many times. I think this helped a lot, and made the data more readable on the HD for Acronis to make the Backup image. I made all my Backups, and did the Restores from within the Recovery Boot CD. The Backup files were saved to a WD External USB drive. Acronis works great with Externals, but doesn't with DVD. However, you really want to use External HD's formated to NTFS anyway, because Backup files can get very HUGE. With DVD, you're looking at "Disc Spanning", or Dual Layer - which is very expensive.
I've read about some people having problems with Acronis. These are probably the same people who don't know how to insert a Floppy Disk. If you have problems with Acronis, then you really don't need to use a computer!!! Simple as that!! I highly recommend Acronis for serious people who want their HD's backed up!
ATI is like a big dog out roaming the fields, and leaves the pups (competiton) on the porch!
out of 75 user reviews
Big Disappointment. Cannot Recommend
Pros: None, does not work
Cons: Does not work - "support" a joke
out of 75 user reviews
Worked as advertised
Pros: It's a utility. Utilities are supposed to load when you want them, go away when you don't, and most importantly, work. This one does.
Cons: It has a bit too much glitter. The UI could be chopped by 75% without losing anything.
Anyway, if you're wondering what the Symantec bashing is for in a Acronis review, it's just to say that this is my first pick in cloning software. While it doesn't address all the issues, it does a pretty good job of being a utility. It does need to be "installed" which is irksome. On the other hand, it has a fairly low impact on the system. It works reliably. And it's certainly a straight forward process for anyone who remembers fdisk. Recommended definitely.
out of 75 user reviews
Way to go Acronis!
Pros: Program does exactly what it shoul do, excellent customer support
Cons: hmm.. I suppose I have not tested it enough - did not find any
So I thought I should provide a positive posting about the product and the customer service Acronis provide.
out of 75 user reviews
True Image saved me again!
Pros: I can rely on it.
Cons: the only con is an absence of an image when it is really needed!
Yep, you guessed it, the image restored perfectly and in about 17 minutes I was back where I started. All hail True Image.
out of 75 user reviews
Won't work with InCD installed.
Pros: Good backup program
Cons: Latest version won't work with Nero's InCD.
Otherwise, a nice program.
out of 75 user reviews
I just looove it :)
Pros: new features, proved reliability
Cons: Does not have any no more! Now it supports direct DVD-writing!
I can port any physical disk image to a Virtual Machine now and it saves me a lot of time retiring or redeploying old applications.
This is incredible! I’ve always loved Acronis and have always been a devoted user of Acronis True Image 6.0, 7.0 and 8.0. When Acronis True Image 9.0 was released I’ve immediately tried it out and as always it worked without a hitch! I saved my computer several times. I don’t know what I would do if not Acronis!
out of 75 user reviews
Really like the product that saved me!
Pros: user-friendly interface, fast, easy-to-use, optional
Cons: does not support direct DVD-R
out of 75 user reviews
Responsible software and customer service
Pros: excellent customer service, very professional and just makes people feel they are welcome and will get something accomplished
Cons: trial version of ATI9 requires online registration
At the time being it's not easy to find a company that cares for the customers instead of only profits. I hope they will manage to continue on this way for ages.
I really appreciate their following up on the customer service question even 3 odd years after the purchase. Frankly, I did not have much hope when I started that enquiry.
This experience was definitely positive, and I look forward to doing more business with
(and recommending) Arconis in the future.
out of 75 user reviews
They all Say it's Great BUT...
Pros: Ditto-ditto
Cons: I could not boot up the rescue disk
out of 75 user reviews
Easy to use
Pros: simple and easy
Cons: None that I could find
computer user. I don't like software to "automate" the process. I would rather make the decisions on what is going on. I found that the Acronis true image 9 interface easy to understand and navigate.
If you are a hands on user, you'll really like this piece of software. Also, I'm to the point that it seems that all of Symantecs software is seriously bloated.
out of 75 user reviews
ATI is a high quality product!
Pros: interface, reliable, high quality
Cons: well, still have not found any
Moreover, none of the HDD manufacturers have software that can clone a Dell with that protected partition it has for the OS. Not only that but the protected partition was FAT32 with the rest of it in NTSF. I searced around a lot of sites until I found Acronis True Image and thought I'd give it a try. Thisr program was so simple and effortless to use. True Image simply went off without a hitch. It cloned my Old Drive perfectly and I was litterly up and running with my new drive just minutes later.
I also consider Incremental backup as a truly wonderful tool - it saves a lot of time. I use incremental and differential backup as well.
out of 75 user reviews
Beta Touted as full retail version
Pros: Can use the CD as lovely drink coaster
Cons: Only creates corrupt images
Go to Wilders Security Forum where their Support Forum is located to see more poor users getting sent on wild goose-chases as Acronis will not admit to having a bad product and instead have users wasting their time testing if their hardware is faulty. True Image 8 was terrible and 9 is just as bad. I don't understand how CNET got it all wrong on their last 2 reviews?? If their review was any more inaccurate, I would say CNET is being paid by Acronis to make these ridiculous positive comments.
I hope Acronis bites the dust as they can't compete with Symantec, Ultrabac, Veritas, Cristie CBMR and all the other working imaging products out there. Do yourself a favor Acronis, put this sick animal named True Image to sleep, give up now and spare yourselves furthur humiliation. Having a product this bad hurts your company. After again failing to deliver a reliable product, isn't it time to accept that your product will never stand up to your competitors. Stop living in a dream world, you don't have a chance!!!!!
out of 75 user reviews
Cannot estimate TI value!
Pros: just works perfectly
Cons: I wish I had it earlier
I use my computer for home and work and it restored my critical files to my backup laptop. Thanks to Acronis - it worked perfectly and I only lost about a weeks worth of work. The time this product saved for me cannot have a value put on it.
out of 75 user reviews
If computers have a guardian angel, it is surely Acronis.
Pros: stable, simple, reliable
Cons: does not support 64bit systems
I also was using a Symantec product to do my backing up. It could not clone my old drive to my new drive like True Image did.
Everything worked fantastic. Great Product!
out of 75 user reviews
I can sleep soundly at night now
Pros: easy-to-use, works perfect
Cons: cannot say anything
After 20 years of working with computers, I can sleep soundly at night knowing I finally have a reasonable disaster recovery plan (as opposed to simply having all the important data handy and a four day rebuild plan).
out of 75 user reviews
Destroyed my system
Pros: Cheap, looks like it does something
Cons: Unreliable, doesn't do what it says
I have two hard drives in my system, one for backups, one for data. I let True Image create a separate partition on the first (Windows) drive for its recovery function and turned on the system recovery. I imaged my Windows drive to the second, backup drive as I've also done with Drive Image. Then I attempted to make a folder/file backup.
True Image said it was reading my "E:" partition, not even the one I was trying to backup. This went on for over an hour. I finally got task manager to kill the True Image and restarted. The results: No NTLDR, no second, backup drive. Pressing F11 at boot did nothing, because I couldn't get the the backup on the, now, non-existent drive. Nice work Acronis. Acronis says they rewrite NTLDR when you install their System Restore functions. Cold day in hell when I let another program do that again.
out of 75 user reviews
Great marketing approach! Perfect software!
Pros: easy-to-use, quick and relible
Cons: cannot say anything
All at Acronis should be congratulated for the great product suit! I would also like to say that their policy of allowing this software on to magazine cover disks with limited functionality it a great marketing strategy.
This way the software sells its self, hence my purchase of you suit!
out of 75 user reviews
Simply Love True Image
Pros: works for different system enviromment
Cons: I am also a newbie when imaging to a network, but I have tried it. One thing I do know (I think), is that you have to image to the root of the mapped drive.
Running a laptop with your last image stored on an "image" special secure partition, is the only way to go. Saved me numerous times AND TI has never let me down.
I image all systems that I use daily, daily (not a typo). Got too much invested in all of the data, tweaks, etc.
out of 75 user reviews
Comment from a loyal customer
Pros: just does its job
Cons: everything works perfect for me
I will never use anyone elses imaging software again. Acronis True Image software is intuitive and works. I was skeptical about imaging from within windows, and you never really know if an image is good until doomsday hits and its time to use it.
In my case a virus ravaged my system. 15 minutes later I was back up and running like nothing happened. Thanks to all people at Acronis for making imaging software that plain works!!!!!!!!!!!
out of 75 user reviews
My honest opinion
Pros: quick, efficient and reliable
Cons: do not see any
I wish to commend the Acronis company for its software program "True Image."
I have previously purchased this program and have found it to be the best there is on the market today. I cannot tell you how many times it has saved me from doing a restore, as with other software programs or completely reinstalling Windows.
Using restore with True Image is quick, efficient and reliable.
out of 75 user reviews
I trust Acronis
Pros: prompt support
Cons: nothing except described question
I have all functionality back on TI9 (no program freezes) and I am very satisfied with this backup solution.
out of 75 user reviews
Absolutely marvelous software!
Pros: stable, perfect performance
Cons: I'm so pleased with TI - did not notice any
out of 75 user reviews
Spend $50, then spend another $100
Pros: None. Wouldn't run.
Cons: Requires additional software to work.
::sigh:: Oh, well. Live and learn.
The documentation was no help, and I never heard back from support, but the problem writing to DVDs does not in the end seem to be the fault of Acronis True Image. Therefore, I retract my earlier negative review.
out of 75 user reviews
much impressed - welldone, Acronis!
Pros: excellent customer service
Cons: oops! I believe there is not any!
so friendly for single, non-business customers.
I bought the software yesterday, and I'm very pleased with its stability
and performance. I'm absolutely sure, next time I look for some tools
for my PC, I will first visit Acronis website. Another happy customer!!
out of 75 user reviews
Great software and customer service!
Pros: I feel confident and safe with it
Cons: different versions for home and server OSes
I was so frustrated when my system crashed and so afraid of restoring it from Acronis image and spoil something that I decided to rely on Acronis support engineers who helped me restore my computer system.
Everyone there at Acronis office was patient and knowledgeable and you have no idea how much I appreciate that.
out of 75 user reviews
My system is up in 1 hour!
Pros: speed, ease of use, wide hardware support
Cons: have not noticed any
STOP: 0x0000007B (0x82076E50, 0xC0000032 0x00000000, 0x000000000
Inacessible_boot_device
I've tried to reset and also to switch off the main power and restart but this error persist.
I've recovered from Secure Zone the true image and all is ok.
out of 75 user reviews
A Debugging Nightmare
Pros: Have not found a Pro yet
Cons: Doesn't work
out of 75 user reviews
Do Not Waste Your Money
Pros: it works 50% of the time
Cons: very very slow
out of 75 user reviews
You are on our own as far as online support goes.
Pros: Individual file restores are viable but do not correct Windows install issues.
Cons: Full Disk Restore: FORGET IT
A suggestion that I BUY the newest version of Acronis. This would solve my problems. Well I purchased it out of desperation since they refused to talk to me. So I tried the boot sequence again. This time Acronis 9.0 said that the 6.0 backup was NOT an Acronis backup. Um, ya! So at this point I was infuriated with the product.
So, after purchasing two copies and being totally ignored by Acronis I rebuilt my machine one application at a time which took 3 days considering the complexity of the machine with RAID5 and multiple proprietary software products. Acronis did allow me to restore individual files, but I bought the product with the understanding it could do a full volume restore without any fuss. This was not true on my DELL workstation. I would not be here out on the net writing this had Technical Support given me the COURTESY of a return phone call or EMAIL. They do offer phone support for an additional $199.00 but I would not put any more money into this company which seems bent on selling software with much hype without the support necessary to support the sales pitch.
I would not depend on this product if you have a small business as I do. It is not reliable and the support personnel could very well ignore you.
Scott K Dolik.
out of 75 user reviews
Don't believe eveything you read...TI9 fails all but the simple tests.
Pros: Beautiful, easy to use interface
Cons: Short of using it as a glorified file copier, the tough stuff, like disk cloning bootup drives and most data recovery just don't work.
The gory details: I successfully backed up a data drive into a neat little file and restored it. Score one for True Image 9. Now, however, I REALLY needed it to work: my main development machine's hard disk was failing. Had C and D partitions with two copies of Windows XP, and a bunch of other partitions for various purposes. All I needed was to clone the drive onto a fresh new drive. The results:
Attempt 1: Try using TI's Windows interface to copy the partitions to a backup. Looks good, data seems to be there. Then have TI write the partitions back to the new drive. Failure. System boots on either C or D version of windows, but can't log into either...Windows just goes back to the login screen. And, one of the version appeared to have trouble figuring out the proper lettering of the drives.
Attempt 2: Disk Cloning. Use the Windows interface to try disk cloning. I carefully tell TI how to resize the partitions onto the new large disk. It tells me that there are 9 operations and it must reboot to do it. I let it reboot. As Windows was starting, TI took over during the bootup and spewed some messages about what it was doing. In about 12 seconds it said "successfully done...". How could that be when I had 180GB of data?? Well, TI actually wrote ZERO to the new disk. God knows what it was doing.
Attempt 3: Use all defaults for a disk clone..surely they tested that. WRONG. Same results as Attempt 2.
Attempt 4: Use the "Recovery CD" that TI let me create..a nice touch that gives you the impression they were really on the ball. The CD boots into a similar interface and I tell it to use defaults and just clone my drive. Nice try...but NO CIGAR. This time it took a half-hour and actually wrote stuff to the destination drive. But will it boot....NAH. My C drive is a bare Windows XP install that does not store anything on any of the other partitions. It reboots inexplicably during Windows Startup.
Bottom line: Feel lucky if you actually have had some success with this untested pile of...well...you know what.
out of 75 user reviews
happy with True Image 9.0 Upgrade
Pros: new features (file backup,snap restore), stable schedule, rtechnical support
Cons: there were some glitches with previous builds
Oh sure there are some quirks and I wish tech support was quicker especially when I upgraded to Acronis True Image 9.0 and there were some troubles with installing it and running during the first month after release.
However, I should say that the latest 2302 build of Acronis True Image 9.0 works absolutely flawless on my system and I enjoy all the newly implemented features of the upgrade.
out of 75 user reviews
Perfect Clone! No Problems!
Pros: Worked Perfect!
Cons: None... Perfect Cloned Image!
At first I tried installing my old copy of Drive Image 7, but it would not install! So then I attempted to transfer all of my files, but the PC kept crashing. I believe the cause was the failing drive, but I am not 100% sure of this. It only crashed during heavy file transfers.
I tried it again in Safe Mode and it worked a lot better. The transfers were very slow, taking hours and hours. It would only crash intermittently. It was at least 8 and I was still not done!
Most of my important files were safe. I thought about things. I realized that my failing drive had my OS and that this might be the cause of the problems! I had to get an OS on the new drive!
I was ready to clone over my OS. Since Powerquest Drive Image 7 was not installing, I had to try something else. I did some research. I knew that old Norton Ghost, which was garbage had bought Powerquest and utilized it's technology. I also found Acronis and it had great reviews.
I thought I'd try the new kid on the block. I'm not a huge fan of Norton after trying Ghost many years back.
Oops! After installing Acronis I realized that the clone, would overwrite the entire drive that I had just transferred to. All that time spent transferring files would be wasted, if this did not work! Even worse I could lose all of my files, if the drive completely failed.
I took my chances! It worked flawlessly! In a little under an hour I had transferred all of my files and my OS. The PC did not crash once! I theorize that there was no PC crash, because to complete the clone, the system must reboot. When it reboots I think it only runs on RAM and not the hard drive. Therefore an overtaxed, faulty harddrive won't cause the system to fail!
Nonetheless I was happy! It worked perfect, and I didn't lose any data! It was also fast! I have yet to review any more of the products features, but it did what I needed!
out of 75 user reviews
Like new True Image 9 even more than 8!
Pros: file backup, scheduler
Cons: do not write directly to DVDs
out of 75 user reviews
others should take lessons from Acronis!
Pros: stable, great customer support, new features,
Cons: I wish better network support and remote acees to ASZ
What I like is the re-integration of 'Remaining Time' upon creation and loading of
an image, which is really well done in True Image 9.0
Version 9 seems as quick before on creation of an image too, my faith has
now been restored in Acronis - very many thanks for an excellent program and
also for their customer support, others should take lessons from Acronis! Lol
out of 75 user reviews
Weak functionality and not fixed bugs from 8th version!
Pros: Qiute nice interface and box design
Cons: Can't back up to DVD! Some bugs are not fixed form previus version.
freewebs.com/disk_backup/
It's not official comparison, without any marketing things - just what pruduct really can. As for exact image - i've found that bootable DVD archieves are what I need.
out of 75 user reviews
Good ideas but poor execution
Pros: Great features, easy to use
Cons: Slow recovery, sometimes fails, can break system
It was a nightmare. There were four partitions on my disk, and the first one I tried to recover seemed to process correctly although it took over two hours for 18 GB of data. The second partition gave an immediate error saying the backup file was corrupt. I used the verify feature to check the backup file (took 3 hours to run) but the verify procedure said the disk was good. I restarted and this time the second partition was rebuilt without a problem. The third partition gave an error, so this time I just restarted and it worked - so a restart is required between each partition recovery.
The fourth partition (which was also the partition with the operating system) just could not be recovered. The verify procedure says the backup file is good, but the recovery procedure says it isn't. I reinstalled the operating system o my hard disk and will need to reinstall all the applications on it - fortunately there wasn't any important data on this partition.
One thing I noticed was that on every restart Windows XP said that the first partition I recovered needed to be checked for errors. It did this and (apparantly) XP found no errors, but on every restart it continued to require a disk check. When I attempted to use the data on this partition Windows XP reported that a number of directories were corrupt and I could not access the data in the corrupt directories. I have not been able to fix these directory errors with XP or other disk recovery programs.
In short, this product is one I cannot recommend to anyone other than my competitors.
out of 75 user reviews
Impressive Features- Relatively Easy to Use
Pros: Clear Icon-based interface; fast backups; non-DOS; Helpful Wizards; Not a Memory Hog while backing up
Cons: Upgrade policy could be better.
When my tabletPC went into the shop, I was given a new one, and restored the drive entirely without any issues! What a rewarding feeling!
3 months later, Acronis version 9 was released, and the company offered only a slight discount to upgrade to the new version. I was disappointed, as most software companies offer a 6-12 month window of full upgrade licenses. I think Acronis could reward their customers; loyalty more by offering such a license.
Anyways, that said, the new version is even more full featured, and I've made use of both the individual file/folder Backup & Restore, as well as Snap Restore to get up & running quickly after a crash. I'm very impressed with the functions, and don't find the software difficult to figure out at all (as mentioned in the review). I'm quite comfortable with technology, though I'm not an IT professional by trade.
I haven't tried the new Norton v10 as of yet, but I must say that Norton Utilities & AntiVirus programs have caused FAR more trouble on ALL my systems than any good they've done. For 1-2 weeks, there are no problems, but I find Norton's programs to be HUGE memory hogs & also they resist configuration & uninstallation. (i.e. I've turned off Email Outgoing Scanning on Norton Internet Security, and every time I send a message, it is still held up for 3-5 minutes being scanned by Norton. GRRR. Also, anyone who's tried to uninstall a registered version of Norton AV or System Works knows how incredibly difficult it is. The last time took me 5 days of successively complicated instructions from Symantec. (some of them involving manual registry editing-not for the faint of heart- just to get rid of it!!). Suffice it to say that anyone attempting a Norton uninstall will need Acronis True Image to back up their drive before editing their Reg!!
I hope I haven't strayed off topic too far, and I'd recommend Acronis to anyone looking for a very robust backup & restore program that runs cleanly & without the "baggage" of other suites. Best of Luck.
