Try and Decide Frustation

From the lack of replies I have to assume that nobody has a solution to my problem.

But is there anybody out there who is able to set 'Try and Decide' so as to not automatically discard system changes at each reboot.

If I know that it can be set to not reset at reboot I will continue trying to find an answer.

Perhaps a reinstall will fix it but then don't wont to do that if I am just wasting my time.

Thanks
James

My advice is don't use the bloatware called Try & Decide. I have tried it and decided that it is not reliable.

Its safer and quicker in the long run to do a full backup of your system then try out new software.
If you want to go back then you just restore.

If you trying to reduce risk then Try & Decide is the last thing you should use.

Page 140 of the Acronis 2011 version states that the Try and Decide mode survives re-boots unless it is first turned off.
I do not use the T&D mode for the reasons given by jehosophat in his post. I use the same method of a whole drive backup and restore if the trial fails or is not up to expectations. My way of working differs in that I use a system of swapping over main hard drives so that even a restore failure is of no consequence to me.

Hmm! Thanks both.

I was sort of coming to the conclusion that the HDD space taken up by 'Try and Decide' could maybe put to better use and it's helpful to know that others have reached similar conclusions and it's not just my lack of understanding.

Thanks for the alternative solutions; it seems I'll have to have a re-think about how I play with trial software.

James

James,
Hello... I use T&D all the time and find it a benefit to my OS's, Although I'm running Acronis 2010 V-7046 (and would not recommend 2011 or the update for 2010) with Vista and Windows 7 both 32 and 64. I have found that when i "preview" a new software that if i like the program or if i don't want the program i do the same and avoid all the "drama"
1.Start T&D
2.Run program (continue in T&D if you need to re-boot)
3.If i like the program i always choose "discard with re-boot"
4. then install the program "for real"
Doing this it this way T&D has never let me down
Regards Fred

Thanks Fred

Mine is the same version as yours and I have not had a problem until this last occasion. I had been thinking about the update which I wasn't aware of until reading one or two post on this forum, but after reading other comments about 2011 and now your post I don't think I'll bother.

Although thanks to the previous replies from Jehosphat and xpilot they got me thinking, and hopefully I might have solved the problem this afternoon. It dawned on me that since last using T&D I had run a system optimisation/clean up program that I have which seems to suit my system well and always puts a spring in my PC's step and has never created a problem.

Normally I deselect the registry optimiser part of it unless I know there could be junk lurking there which I would be better off without.

Anyway this afternoon it dawned that last time I used the optimiser I had accidentally clicked it to run the full schedule automatically just as I was on my way out and as I was running late decided to just let the full optimisation run, the registry wasn't in need of it but hadn't been done for well over 18 months and I hadn't time to stop it and start again.

I reckon it must have been that which found some entry or other for for the T&D safe zone which being a hidden partition within a separate partition was most likely seen as left over junk and deleted. I was also missing the T&D tray icon but wasn't really bothered about that but thinking about it the run termination options and the tray icon are most likely a joint function. (Yes I know I should have had it set to 'ask before deleting' but then it wouldn't have run automatically and I was on my way out and in a rush)

This afternoon I uninstalled True Image (using full Revo) and then re-installed it and now it appears to run T&D through a reboot and I am getting the full options to either keep or discard, which I had forgotten about due to not having used T&D for a while.

Thought I'd post back as it may just help somebody else.

Thanks
James

Just felt a need to correct my last post in case somebody else with the same issue reads it.

I was wrong, T&D is not surviving a reboot, it was just that after reinstalling True Image I started to get the option at reboot to accept or discard which I had not been getting and this made me think the problem was solved but it seems that is the way T&D is on my 2010 version. Ie, at shut down you can either accept the changes or procede to reboot and ditch them. So if you are trying out a piece of software that needs a reboot before it becomes finalised you can forget T&D. Revo uninstaller is of course a good alternative albeit not as convenient.

Out of interest I tried running the reg cleaner again and afterwards the T&D icon did not load into the notification tray plus I also lost the option to accept or discard changes at reboot. T&D still worked as normal though just ditching changes at reboot without the option to accept, plus no tray icon.

So it seems fairly conclusive that a reg cleaner may see T&D registry references to the safe zone as left behind keys/references from some previously removed software. Uninstalling and re-installing TI a second time returned the tray icon and reboot options.

James

In ATI 2011, the T&D can handle a reboot.

Just like the other users above, I don't use T&D.

Before I try something, I quickly run manually an incremental backup. If I need to restore, I know there is a bug that make ATI lose track of the last backup. So, I restore and then I manually delete the last backup.

T&D did not work. It failed to restore the disks to the starting condition.

I have Acronis True Image home 2011 Plus Pack. Windows 7 64 bit professional. I'm not running any disk defragger, the Recovery Manager or any scheduled backups.

I started try&decide, uninstalled the Adobe Acrobat 9.0 application, and made a few registry changes by hand, and tested. I rebooted to make sure the Adobe directories were gone, and they were. I then ran the T&D screen and had T&D reverse the changes to back to where it started.

It took a while as it said it was restoring the disks to their initial state. It completed without errors.

I rebooted.

Under the "restored system" then I ran Acrobat. It first said a file was missing. Then when I opened a PDF document, I got a pop-up from Acrobat saying something was wrong, and that I should uninstall the re-install the application.

Hardware setup:

Drive 1: has C: and a "reserved partition". C: is the "system" disk.

Drive 2: has D: (this is where programs are installed)

Drive 3: used as scratch. I set T&D to monitor both C: and D: and use Drive 3 for T&D's purposes.

I did not say to also monitor the "reserved partition" on Drive 1. But when I started T&D, the default setup had C: monitored and nothing else, so apparently the "reserved partition" does not need to be monitored by T&D, or else it would have put a check mark next to it when the first T&D screen appeared.

Fortunately I had done a full image before the T&D test.  There is no telling what else did not get restored properly. I could have gone weeks until I tried an application that was likewise damaged.  If I hadn't run Acrobat and found the errors, I would have incorrectly assumed the disks had been returned to their initial state correctly.  It's bad with a disk is trashed and there are no error messages to tell you so.

Conclusion: DO NOT USE TRY&DECIDE, because even if it says it restored the disks to the starting conditions, IT DOES NOT!

Dennis,
Hello... I have and use T&D 2010 v-7046 (with plus pack) and use it all the time to test new programs or updates... It works as advertised ... (Windows 7 \ 64 Home premium) Suggest that you revert to same ...Regards Fred

It is possible that Acrobat's licensing security manager looks for something that is not restored properly. I have had the issue with Norton Activation. After T&D, Norton 360 would not activate upon reboot. I could activate it aftewards, but the activation didn't stick after another reboot.

I am currently running Acronis true image home 2011 build 6942 with plus pack.
For the 1st time I used Try & Decide (TD). I ran some tests to ensure it was working properly.
I launched TD and began installing a software product for trial. I ran the trial software.. used it for a while and then before I deleted it using TD I decided to delete a non important folder containing various files using the command shift+delete (which deletes the file without putting it in the recycle bin). I also created a test directory off the c drive c:\test and in that directory I MOVED some non important wav files into that newly created directory. The goal here was to ensure that the shift+del files would be restored as well, the test directory deleted and the wav files put back to their original location in addition to the trial software I was testing be fully eradicates from the computer.

Well test results show that after I chose to discard changes and reboot, that the trial software was in fact removed as it should have been...and the test directory was also removed BUT...the wav files in them were gone completely from my hdd instead of being placed in the original folder I moved them from. Also, the shift+deleted folder and files were gone forever.

TD touts that we can try suspicious software and peruse potential malicious sites without the fear of it being a problem, but that simply isnt the fact here, because if I had loaded malicious software that intentionally deleted the files mentioned above, I would be left with no recourse.

What am I doing wrong or is this in fact a limitation of TD?

Best regards,

James...

Hello James and as we have the same first name this could get confusing.

As I understand it you are not doing anything wrong. Try and decide will not restore anything it is I believe intended to just ditch anything you create while running your system from the try and decide partition. So if you actually MOVE files onto the temp T&D partition, which you will do by virtue of the fact that T&D is active, when you close try and decide anything on there will be ditched as it can not distinguish between safe/good files and dodgy/bad files and there is no restore operation carried out to your main partition.

T&D is I understand intended as a safe place to create/load/run something you are not sure about and may want to get rid of without effecting your main partition So if you move actually moves files onto it rather than copy them to a new folder they will be ditched along with everything else. Something else to be aware of is that if you forget that try and decide is active and set about working on normal documents using your normal everyday software loaded to your normal system they will be created on the try and decide partition and consequently lost when you close down try and decide.

Irrespective of this and above comments in earlier posts I do still find it useful when trying three or four bits of software to see which is best for my need and to see if any Mal-ware or the like has been added that may not uninstal after the trial programs have been removed, and I don't think T&D was really intended to be used to create files and folders in unless of course this is part of trying out a particular bit of software.

If for some reason I am going to use trial software to play around with files that are normally kept in a permanent folder on my main drive I will always work from a temp copy of that folder and to be sure also copy it to an external drive first. Better safe than sorry

James (the other one)

James & James,

I am not sure why you couldn't recover the deleted files.

In theory, "When the driver detects a write request to the protected partition's file system - that is, when a data block should be written to the hard drive, - it forwards the data block to be written to the storage location. When the driver detects a read request, it checks if there is a data block with the same ID in the storage location. If the same ID is found, the driver forces the system to read the data block from the storage location. If the same ID is not found, the driver allows the system to read from the physical drive.".

When you delete a file, a write is performed to the file system to update it and make the used space available for future writes. This write should be directed to the T&D storage, so that the disk is actually not changed. Future writes to the now available space should be redirected as well. When you discard the changes, I would expect these changes to be nullified, and your files should still correctly identified as being there.

I cannot explain why this is not the case.

At any rate, I personally don't use or trust T&D and I always rely on disk and partitions backups to restore the system.

James & James,
Hello ... T7D 2010 V7046 works for me ... Vista , XP, and "7" You have to make sure when you open T&D that it is configured to "Protect" the drive your working with ... If you have several partitions , i have had it protect the wrong one.. EX: if your on C: make sure that T&D is set to the same ... towards the bottom of the T&D screen.... Also With T&D you can save the changes or remove the changes ....depending on which you choose .... I always remove with re-boot ....If i want to keep anything after re-booting i then install for real.....Regards Fred