Acronis True Image Wishlist
Mustang wrote:There should be Bitlocker support for locked disks in the recovery media. This should apply to both cloning and backup/recovery. It just means that when a disk is locked the sector by sector method should be used. As it is now, TI refuses to clone or backup a Bitlocker locked disk even if the sector by sector backup method is selected. Now there is no sector by sector cloning option. There should be.
+1 from me - adds on to the bilocker support in the WinPE I recommended earlier too.
+1 from me too, plus would like to see support for Powershell scripting with BitLocker included too so as to help users automate locking / unlocking via Powershell. This can be done fairly easily as documented at webpage: WinPE Bitlocker with Powershell - which I have used to do this with the MVP Custom WinPE media.
+1 for Bitlocker support from me as well. +1 for Powershell support as Steve mentions too!
I'd like to see Acronis migrate away from the Linux media and the bootloader modification when tasks such as cloning, that require a reboot, are needed. Now that ATI is capable of using the system WinRE.wim or WinPE.wim, it would be safer if it would create a localized boot.wim and put somewhere accessible (and standard) such as a new hidden folder on the root of the OS drive, or in programdata, or something like that. Then, when the system needs to be rebooted to perform an action, boot straight to that boot.wim file without actually modifying the Windows bootloader.
1) this could be much safer for ensuring the stability of machines booting when this occurs
2) this would allow for a higher success rate of the reboot and launching the recovery environment where WinRE drivers would already be applied and IRST drivers for PCIe NVME drives in RAID mode would be available too.
+1 for the above suggestion
Steve Smith wrote:I seem to recall that making changes to the backup scheme used to force creation of a new chain. Is that still the case? If so, a way to force a new chain now might be to change the defined number if incr / diff backups, then change it back.
Patrick, I believe you would need to change the type of backup scheme to force a new full version, i.e. change from incremental to full or single version scheme, let it create the full version, then revert back to what you had previously.
I recently added a pre-command to one of my tasks and that triggered a full backup on the next run. Not sure whether that is a bug or a kludgy feature.
Seconding Steve's comments about the scheduler and log viewer.
I'd like to see a schedule option for executing a task as soon as possible after its scheduled run is missed. Currently this is the default, but it would be useful to disable it as it can be annoying when waking my PC to have all my backup tasks running one after the other if their previous runs were missed.
Alastair Swan wrote:I'd like to see a schedule option for executing a task as soon as possible after its scheduled run is missed. Currently this is the default, but it would be useful to disable it as it can be annoying when waking my PC to have all my backup tasks running one after the other if their previous runs were missed.
I don't know if this is intended behavior or a bug, but ATI does not seem to treat a missed execution due to sleep as a missed execution. It doesn't invoke the missed execution delay timer at all; it just starts the execution. I assume that is because the scheduler does not go through initialization when the computer wakes. It just resumes its normal activity.
Yes, it can be very annoying to have multiple backups queued up when you wake up your computer - especially if you really want to take a different backup right away.
When I look at the list of backups, there is no way to tell which ones are scheduled to run at some point and which ones have no schedule set. I have to click through each one individually and look at the information at the bottom of the window where it says "Next backup:"
I would like to see something in the backup list itself indicating which backups have schedules set.
Say for instance, a little clock above the check-mark in the green circle on the disk-drive icon.
Perhaps better even still would be a third line in the backup name/path list so each entry reads like:
backup name (this is already there)
full backup path (this is already there)
next backup time: (this would be added to each entry)
Either method would let me know at a glance which ones have schedules set. Wouldn't that be nice?!
Rob, I believe that Roger is aware of the way shown in your screen shot but is asking for a consolidated list showing scheduled tasks (as we had in older versions of ATI where we had a calendar type view), or else an indication on the left task name panel that a task is scheduled by the presence of a clock type icon, rather than having to check every individual task one by one.
TI2020 needs to properly support Windows 10 Modern Standby instead of "half working by accident of earlier design choices" as discussed here: https://forum.acronis.com/comment/497667#comment-497667
- All current Acronis FAQs and KB articles on running tasks in standby are wrong for Modern Standby systems - Wake Timers are disabled on Modern Standby systems and cannot be enabled. As a result the "wake the sleeping/hibernating computer" will not show in True Image on such systems.
- The option to "Allow Wake Timers" does not appear in the power plan of Modern Standby systems and, although it can be forced to appear by a commonly available registry hack online, the wake timers still do not work. It does, however, fool True Image into displaying the "wake the sleeping/hibernating computer" tick box and trying to use them!
- Currently most simple backups (those that do not require Windows credentials) will ALWAYS run on Modern Standby systems while in Modern Standby mode (without needing Wake Timers). For many this will be as desired, but unlike on S3 systems, there is no way to choose not to "wake the sleeping/hibernating computer" even when on battery and not plugged in. This could have a serious impact on especially battery life.
- Other backups (those that require Windows Credentials such as those using pre/post tasks) will only run when the user whose Windows credentials are being used is not logged onto the system. When the user is logged on the Windows 10 Desktop Activity Moderator (DAM), part of the Modern Standby system, will suspend the backup task when it tries to run and it will not restart until the system wakes and the user has entered his password/PIN to continue using the computer. This can be very confusing to the user and can lead to crucial backups being missed, just because the user did not logout before the computer entered sleep
Edit: Looks like this is even harder than laid out above! At the time of posting The Dell XPS I was using for testing would enter the "Resilency Phase" of Modern Standby but would not enter DRIPS. After the latest Windows Update it now enters DRIPS, which on Dell laptops and some others, suspends the network adaptors ("Standby (S0 Low Power Idle) Network Disconnected"). Now, although it is possible to force the Acronis tasks to run under Session-0 backups to a network connected server fail due to no network connection! It seems we really do need Acronis to get on this and add proper Modern Standby support!
How about - better file detection - such that if a file is just renamed.. TI does not take whole new backup of file in an incremental backup. I just renamed 4 files totalling 45GB, and it backed them all up!!!
I don't know how OneDrive does it - but it detected just name change and synced instantly.
Just a thought :)
OneDrrive is file bases whereas ATI works on sectors; if anything in a sector is changed, the entire sector has to be backed up. ATI apparently is not concerned with the nature of the change, just that it has taken place. The approach taken by ATI is I suspect more robust.
Not sure if this thread is still being monitored by Acronis - the beta of ATI 2020 is imminent - we now have the beta forum in place but not fully functional.
Ian
I would like to be able to perform off-line compression of TI (full) backup files.
I am currently using TI 2019.
Old knowledge base?
16791: Archive Compression in Acronis Products
. . .
Backup type Compression library used
Disk and partition backup: Normal compression rate Acronis compression algorithm
Disk and partition backup: other compression rates zlib
File and folder backup zlib
Sometimes it is faster to backup without compression? Sometimes it is faster to backup with minimal compression?
My usual method is Full Disk and partition backup with minimal compression. I hope that is the fastest method.
Thanks,
Steven
Jon Gardner wrote:TI2020 needs to properly support Windows 10 Modern Standby instead of "half working by accident of earlier design choices" as discussed here: https://forum.acronis.com/comment/497667#comment-49766
Hi Jon! I've registered this feature request (internal ID for ref TI-166580 Support Modern Standby S0 energy-saving mode) Thank you!
Yoji wrote:How about - better file detection - such that if a file is just renamed.. TI does not take whole new backup of file in an incremental backup. I just renamed 4 files totalling 45GB, and it backed them all up!!!
Thank you for sharing your feedback, Yoji! As far as I know, it's not planned to change the current mechanism of backing up changed data.. As Ian correctly pointed out we're working on a block-level and if at least one block has been changed the whole file will be included in the incremental backup
Roger Bingham wrote:When I look at the list of backups, there is no way to tell which ones are scheduled to run at some point and which ones have no schedule set. I have to click through each one individually and look at the information at the bottom of the window where it says "Next backup:"
Roger, thank you for sharing your feedback! Added it to the existing feature request TI-23749 Show details of all plans in a consolidated view
Ekaterina wrote:Jon Gardner wrote:TI2020 needs to properly support Windows 10 Modern Standby instead of "half working by accident of earlier design choices" as discussed here: https://forum.acronis.com/comment/497667#comment-49766
Hi Jon! I've registered this feature request (internal ID for ref TI-166580 Support Modern Standby S0 energy-saving mode) Thank you!
Thank you Ekaterina ,
Fingers crossed :).
Everytime you enter the Recovery tab (and other places) I have to rearrange this part (see image), and the right columns if they need adjustment. Super annoying and unprofessional. Columns should be autosized and the left side should remember size.
Using my PC on a 4k TV, with "Scale and Layout" set to 200 DPI in Win10, FYI 😁
+1 for this being annoying and should be easily fixed
- I would like to see useful and working recovery media... please take a look for Macrium Reflect product, how and what they have done, how it is creating recovery media really works flawlessly.
I think the real intent of the backup-upon-shutdown option was to perform the backup when the user was done for the day. Unfortunately, I often find myself stuck waiting for a backup to complete - just because I restarted my pc.
A very simple solution would be to present a prompt just before the backup starts upon shutdown. A simple
"Backup will start in 10 (counting down) seconds. Press any key to skip the backup"
would be sufficient to avoid this major pain point of mine (I can't be alone).
Ideally it would be nice if ATI could distinguish between a shutdown and a restart so that the backup only starts for shutdown events. Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't think of a use case for backing up solely after a restart.
The ability to rename a cloud backup job. The names given by the software are not as descriptive as I'd like to use. When I back up to my NAS, I can rename the job such that I can easily see what is being backed up.
Also, when a job is paused, I'd like it to really pause instead of stopping and failing. Sometimes I need to stop a job just for a few minutes, and it's discouraging to have it start all over again when restarted -- especially for cloud backups that take a really long time with my upload speeds.
+1 for having the list of backups include information like last backup time, next backup time, and completion status (i.e. good/bad). The previous backup software I used had this feature standard, and it was really helpful.
On cloud backups, the number of versions to keep reverts to 20 every time I look at the options. I don't need 20 versions -- I only need 2 or 3 -- and I have to remember to change it back any time I do anything with options.
Levent HIZBUL wrote:- I would like to see useful and working recovery media... please take a look for Macrium Reflect product, how and what they have done, how it is creating recovery media really works flawlessly.
What is the issue with your current recovery media with Acronis? Did you try the 2019 media builder and try to build the default WinRE with it (instead of the older default Linux media). How about Windows ADK if you have installed it?
I agree there are still improvements to be made, but the WinRE is based off of your own systems Windows recovery environment and uses ADK like Macrium. That said, Mustang and I have also developed an MVP tool to build enhanced recovery media that includes display graphics sizing, start menu, file explorer(s), web browsers, zip and other tools by default too. Perhaps Acronis will incorporate some of these at some point too.
It's a sticky in the True Image 2016-2019 forum topics:
MVP Tool - CUSTOM ATI WINPE BUILDER
Bobbo_3C0X1 wrote:Levent HIZBUL wrote:- I would like to see useful and working recovery media... please take a look for Macrium Reflect product, how and what they have done, how it is creating recovery media really works flawlessly.
What is the issue with your current recovery media with Acronis? Did you try the 2019 media builder and try to build the default WinRE with it (instead of the older default Linux media). How about Windows ADK if you have installed it?
I agree there are still improvements to be made, but the WinRE is based off of your own systems Windows recovery environment and uses ADK like Macrium. That said, Mustang and I have also developed an MVP tool to build enhanced recovery media that includes display graphics sizing, start menu, file explorer(s), web browsers, zip and other tools by default too. Perhaps Acronis will incorporate some of these at some point too.
It's a sticky in the True Image 2016-2019 forum topics:
MVP Tool - CUSTOM ATI WINPE BUILDER
How can i tell... it is so much to say, i have been struggle with ATI2019 about 20 days after purchase.
I have try all of recovery media basic to advanced inluding injecting drivers etc. & post to customer support several times, still waiting the solution, lastly i upload the videos related with issues to customer care which they want to see.
I also have try MVP tool - Custom WİnPE Builder, no luck.
My problems here;
1- I have a flipbook 360 with 4k display notebook, when i create and boot with rescue media the UI is not visible, "vga=ask" command not working beacuse there is no place to type in after boot within UI, I have searched all KB.
2- I backed up my win10 OS image to NAS with ATI2019 on Win 10 OS, I wanted to access my Nas device over network via wired (gave up the WiFi) with Rescue Media to test it but could not access the nas even ATI2019 recovery media UI shows and sets the NIC with IP address, gateway etc. and so on... Attached here my folder pictures to customer care and some issue pictures.
Btw. ADK and WinPE already installed.
...and it is strange that only "Linux based media" connected succesfully to the network & Nas device and with acceptable screen resolution also.
Use the advanced option in the rescue media builder to verify the exact version you're building. By default, the simple method "should" use your system WinRE to build a local version of WinPE based off of your Windows Rescue Environment (WinRE) partition.
However, if it is missing, broken or if you are using an insider build of Windows 10, the WinRE may be bad in the recovery, or it may just be building Linux rescue media. You can tell if it is WinRE or WinPE because you will have a folder on the root of the media called sources and a boot.wim file in it. boot.wim is what is loaded into memory and booted up.
To be sure which you're building, again, use the advanced option instead. Try with WinRE (assuming you're using Windows 10 1809 or 1903?) If not, and you want to use ADK instead, but what version do you have installed? You want the 1809 or 1903 build, regardless of your OS if it is a lower version.
As for the display issue. You probably need to add drivers to your rescue media. This can be done in the regular Acronis rescue media builder, or the MVP tool. You need your graphics card drivers to be able to support 4K resolutions as WinPE/WinRE does not always support them out of the box. I believe Macrium may be adding this driver for you already, but in Acronis, there is an option to point to a folder to add additional drivers.
As for the network issues, yeah, forget wireless completely. Only possible in the Linux version or WinRE version, but it is still hit or miss. Assuming you have a wired connection and can ping things like your network router, switch, NAS and/or remote shares, there are different ways to connect to the network.
Personally, I think the MVP tool interface and layout makes this easier because you have access to A43.exe file explorer right on the start menu and task bar. Within A43.exe you can map a network share with a drive letter (it is also available in the default Acronis Rescue media, but you have to use command line to launch it and it's not that friendly to do, but it is possible). You can also do the same with penetwork.exe which is also on the start menu and task bar in the MVP version of the rescue media, but not in Acronis default rescue media. Once you have the drive letter mapped, it should be fully available throughout the WinPE or WinRE rescue media and also the Acronis GUI.
Different rescue media from different vendors behaves differently for some NAS devices. It all depends on the protocol used by the rescue media and the network device. Microsoft is disabling support for SMB 1.0 and TLS 1.0 by default. In some cases, a NAS can allow for the specific use of SMB 1.1 or higher or TLS 1.1 or higher. If not, then mapping the share as a volume letter can be easier. So, A43.exe and/or pentework.exe can make this easier. Alternatively, you can do the same from a WinPE or WinRE command prompt using "net use".
Bobbo_3C0X1 wrote:...As for the network issues, yeah, forget wireless completely. Only possible in the Linux version or WinRE version, but it is still hit or miss. Assuming you have a wired connection and can ping things like your network router, switch, NAS and/or remote shares, there are different ways to connect to the network.
Actually, I've never had problems with the wireless support in the MVP Media Builder tool's backup medium ... once I get past my own fumbles building the medium. The tool takes some babysitting but the results are worth it.
Acronis customer central is suggesting that to wait for 2020 release... this is the solution?
”Hello Levent,
Thank you for your email.
I would request you to wait for Acronis True Image 2020 version , the reason I suggest to wait for the version is because you have tried multiple options unfortunately none of them. There are few issues similar to this have been notified to the Development team so the new release is on the testing phase where are attempting to fix this issue.
Looking forward for your response.”
Or the MVP tool ad suggested above with the WinRE option.
In Acronis 2020 True image Beta,
- There is now an automatic background job to replicate one backup to Acronis cloud. It's really helpful and makes totally sense.
The problem is that this function applies ONLY to backups made on external drives (USB, etc). With my backup on NAS, the option for "Replication" simply doesn't exists. This function should be available for all kind of backup, I don't see any reason to limit it only to external attached hard-drive.
Generally
- on Acronis Cloud Dashboard, there should be a simple way to download the whole backup as tibx or as one big package.
- There should be a tool inside Acronis True image to create on an external hard drive, a "bootable copy of the system" on the base of a user selected .tib(x) file. So that actually we could download an Acronis cloud backup and make it bootable on any external hard drive. This would help in case Acronis Boot Media is not working properly (my experience....) or doesn't want to complete the process.
Ability to easily choose a backup scheme that alternates between multiple copies. I want to have a backup A, B, and C so that I can have a copy offsite, the current copy, and the copy that is next.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There should be a tool inside Acronis True image to create on an external hard drive, a "bootable copy of the system" on the base of a user selected .tib(x) file. So that actually we could download an Acronis cloud backup and make it bootable on any external hard drive. This would help in case Acronis Boot Media is not working properly (my experience....) or doesn't want to complete the process.
@snow jhon: As I understand it the Windows licencing conditions preclude this being done.
Ian
Ian, that is correct. Microsoft does not allow distribution of licensed OS and WinPE is not allowed to be distributed. It must be created on a licensed OS. Only Enterprise and Education versions of Windows offer windows 2 go (legally) which is the only portable OS type supported by Microsoft. Other tools that emulate this are breaking the EULA and a respectable company that doesn't want to end up in a legal battle with MS wouldn't support it.
I have not tried it yet, but EaseUS Todo Backup has a clone function to create an external bootable USB Windows drive.
Running it on the same system is one thing, but they imply that it can be run on other systems as well. I don't know how that would play out with licensing/activation. Has anyone used it?
If the clone is from a system with only one drive it would probably work OK. But a system like mine where I have my Documents, Pictures, etc. on the D: drive I would think that could be problematic when running on a different system.
BrunoC wrote:I have not tried it yet, but EaseUS Todo Backup has a clone function to create an external bootable USB Windows drive.
Running it on the same system is one thing, but they imply that it can be run on other systems as well. I don't know how that would play out with licensing/activation. Has anyone used it?
If the clone is from a system with only one drive it would probably work OK. But a system like mine where I have my Documents, Pictures, etc. on the D: drive I would think that could be problematic when running on a different system.
Bruno, I'm not sure how EaseUS and Aomei get away with this. My understanding is it is making a Windows-2-go drive, which is supposed to be limited to only Enterprise and Education versions of Windows by licensing features. Either they are paying Microsoft for the ability to have this functionality (not likely IMHO), or they are doing it because they are outside of any real jurisdiction from Microsoft based on their country of origin.
They do use the WindowsToGo concept. WindowsToGo is now available on Windows 10 Pro systems as well. You will see it listed in the Control Panel.
I have used WindowsToGo. When it first came out years ago, I thought it would make a great recovery environment because you would have all the software in your Windows system running in your recovery environment. It turned out to be not a good idea and I quickly gave up on it. Every time you boot it on a different system it boots slowly because it goes through all the device discovery that Windows does on first boot. Then it goes to a not activated status. Activating it uses up a Windows Activation for every time you move it to another system. When you move it back to a system that was used before, you use up another activation and it goes through device discovery all over again.
It should be on an Enterprise rated USB 3.0 drive. I bought a Microsoft approved WD Enterprise MyPassport. Even then it is very sluggish to respond and you need to be very patient. You would have to be sure it sees the other drives in your computer as the same drive letters for your documents etc. to work.
My advice would be to stay away from it. If you did want to try it, stay with Microsoft's WindowsToGo instead of EaseUS.
I believe there is still a restriction in PRO that requires the use of an Enterprise or education install source (and license). Regardless, fully agree with your thoughts, Mustang.
The breakdown from Microsoft is here
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/planning/windows-to-go-overview
So yeah, I still don't think the way the other products create this is completely legit since it skirts the source requirement.
Thanks for the additional info on the source licensing. I think the first sentence in the article you provided says it all. Windows To Go is no longer being developed. I take that to mean the feature was somewhat of a flop.
I would like to be able to save a backup configuration in the rescue media standalone version of ATI, and be able to load that backup configuration later. I often boot the rescue media and backup to my NAS, offsite USB drive, or even my online HDD. I could have a saved configuration in each destination so I don't need to reenter all the information every time, especially the exclusion lists.
+1 Bruno, though an alternative would be to be able to export / import the configuration from the Windows ATI app, i.e. import from the settings zip file option already present into the rescue media app.
I don't think it would work as the rescue media probably identifies the disks/partitions differently than your OS and the network share authentication is probably another issue for the NAS. For instance my OS partition seems to always map as E: in the rescue media.
If it is possible though, yeah, sounds like a nice feature.
But, I see the developers not taking as much focus to enhance cool features in the rescue media so that it doesn't become the alternative to the main app (since people tend to upload and share .isos of licensed software on the Internet.) Worth asking for though and see what happens.
Steve Smith wrote:... an alternative would be to be able to export / import the configuration from the Windows ATI app, i.e. import from the settings zip file option already present into the rescue media app.
+1 to both ideas.
It would be helpful to be able to rename backup jobs.
A log of the actual files backed up for each run would be useful to me.
I currently see the full backup at about 500GB, then the incremental backup at 50 to 80GB. As far as I can tell, I have only received 20-30 emails and edited a dozen program source files (text only), which should not amount to more than 2GB, but I can not find any way to see what else has been changed apart from working through each folder in the backup.
A log should allow me to quickly find folders that I do not need to back up, and possibly also file types.
I'd like an API/Object Model that could be used to implement many of the things people would like to see.
Apparently, there was an SDK in the past. Maybe it was only for OEMs. I wonder what happened with that.