Compatibility of TIB files over the various versions of Acronis True Image

Michael, welcome to these user forums.

Please see KB 1689: Backup archive compatibility across different product versions which gives the official statement on this subject but should be read as being a list of archive versions which Acronis has actually tested rather than those which may also be compatible.

With regards to naming of backup files in ATIH 2017 and some earlier versions, then this is taken from the task name that you choose, which you can edit before running the task for the first time, which will then form the stem of the file names you see on your backup drive.  It is possible to rename the task after creating files but doing so would probably cause some confusion unless you keep a good record of what files belong to which task etc.  Acronis tracks such changes in the database files so knows how to manage the backup files.

There are other issues with regards to Windows OS compatibility, in particular with Windows 10, for which only ATIH 2015 and above are officially supported when installed on Windows 10, but if you want to check this for earlier versions, then either search in the Acronis Knowledgebase or go to the Product Documentation pages and look in the user guides for the different versions to see what is listed for Support Operating Systems.

One issue with older versions of ATIH is the lack of support for UEFI systems and no support for newer hardware such as NVMe M.2 SSD drives.

Michael Davis wrote:

I am a long time owner of this product, and since Acronis True Image 2014, I've stopped buying because the user interface keeps getting more and more focused on less sophisticated users. I don't care about being able to do an incremental backup in one or two clicks. I do not care about backing up my Facebook or other online junk. I want to backup my hard drives. I want to pick the partitions I want and I want to place them where I want and I want to name them what I want. I want to make a NEW commment with EACH incremental backup, so I can tell what each backup was for. I could not even figure out how to do a comment with the initial backup when using the 2017 version. With the 2017 version, I was not able to name the files before it started the backup. I am sure that was a user error, but I am not sure what I missed. For example, I do not want the program to just call the files,

  My partitions_full_b1_s1_v1.tib

I have 85 drives and spin about 10 to 12 drives all the time. I have my own way of keeping track of backups and I name the TIB files according to the NAME I give the partition that is being backed up.

My point is this: my favorite version of Acronis True Image is Acronis True Image 11. It works for me. As mentioned, I stopped with 2014.

I feel the same way. I've used True Image since version 7 (I think) and the UI (in my opinion) has gotten uglier and less helpfull over time.

I was relatively happy with the UI for TI 2010. I needed to go to 2014, and now 2017 (out of neccesseity for various features on newer systems).

But, I like the style of each successive version less and less. I guess we can partially thank Microsoft and their inferior 'Metro' graphics style for the current version.

It seems Acronis is chasing the masses and abandoning the 'power-users' in the process.

Unfoirtunately, I find it harder and harder to justify staying with Acronis as time goes on.

Gregory B. ,

Thanks for replying...I've been crazy busy rebuilding an environment and without ATI, I would have been lost. However, that said, I had some serious troubles using the product.

One of the biggest problems is the AUTOMATIC SEARCH performed for TIB files! I have to say that this one thing is almost enough to cause me look for something else to use. I HATE THIS 'FEATURE'! ATI 2014 DID have a way to turn this off, but I cannot seem to find a way with ATI 2017. I absolutely could not take it anymore and uninstalled the product by, you guessed it, using an ATI 2014 IMAGE I had taken some time before. I found that the ATI 2017 left some junk behind after the uninstall...

The problem with ATI 2014 is that doing restores is so painful sometimes. I loved the way the interface worked with ATI 11 HOME...and restores worked perfectly for me every time. It was very easy to pick which version of an incremental backup to restore from. Because I am not able to add a different comment to each incremental backup version, I have to maintain an external method that tells me WHY I was taking that particular backup. I do not want continuous backup because I do not want my TIB files exposed while my machines are connected to the internet. I am perfectly okay with shutting down a machine, booting to an alternate physical drive, and taking an incremental backup.

PC Magazine did a review "The Best Backup Software of 2017" and voted "StorageCraft ShadowProtect 5 Desktop" as the best and ATI 2017 as a close second. Has anyone else tried ShadowProtect?

The editors said what they liked about ATI 2017 was the,

"True Image's interface is simple, modern, and friendly"

Well, as mentioned in my original post here, ATI 2017's interface has become progressively worse for me. I DO NOT want SIMPLE or MODERN or FRIENDLY. Now, the "CON" for ShadowProtect is "Dated interface"...well I am thinking I might want to give ShadowProtect a try just because of that fact! The price is kind of expensive and I already own ATI 2014, so I will have to really like it to make the switch.

   I tried using Backup & Recovery 11.7 to restore a True Image 2017 NG TIB. Wouldn't touch it. Said the TIB was created by a new version. Seems like Acronis has done something pretty propreitary. You back it up with TI you have to restore it with TI. What a shame.

Jim, KB 1689: Backup archive compatibility across different product versions does not show any compatibility between Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.7 and any current ATIH version such as 2017.

 When this question has been raised in the forums previously, I am sure there was reference to the fact that Acronis Backup uses additional metadata files along with the .TIB files it creates but ATIH on Windows does not use metadata files (it does on Mac).