TI2012 - complete fail for me :/
I think in the long run such a business model would be costly to Acronis but not necessarily to the folks running it now -- more to the folks that might be running it later.
Nail head, meet hammer. Exactly right, Scott. It's the "grab the quick buck and run" school of business management. Great for the "golden parachute" gang. Not so great for the lower echelons when the longer-term consequences finally do come home to roost. Much as I feel sorry for the old hands who worked so hard to make Acronis a "pack leader" in the first place, I feel even sorrier for all the end users (especially first-timers and trial users) who will be the innocent victims in the meantime.
Think there might be any hope for another Russian revolution? :^D
Somehow, I feel that you are correct, but I factor in the Xmas gift buying spree, and the frenzy to get something to sell even though it was far from ready for "Prime Time"
I am running 2011.... and my 2012 purchase sits in a folder.
BTW, I tested it three times, and found that 2012 will not read full BUs from 2011, and 2011 will not read BUs from 2012.
Maybe it's just my installation, but I would be careful what old BUs I count on...
Fred
I'm not saying it is true of Acronis. I personally am not privvy to and don't have enough Acronis info to be able to state the reasons for the quality and characteristics of Acronis products. I was only making a general statement about a particular sort of business model.
Btw, I've used ati2012 on ati10, at11, ati2010 and ati2011 tibs and not had a problem restoring them. That doesn't show that ati2012 in all situation works, but it does show that it can work with those older tib formats.
"...I feel even sorrier for all the end users (especially first-timers and trial users) who will be the innocent victims in the meantime."
Exactly.
I went in eyes open with thorough backups in hand, pity those folks.
Word gets around very quickly these days. There is another unnamed company that has a similar product, at around double the cost, but with substantially greater capabilities. I have already been running that company's partitioning product with excellent results. They have earned my attention and cash.
Meanwhile, I am not requesting a refund and leaving my installs sit in a folder too, in the hopes that Acronis will pull their heads out. If not, it might be that their strategy is to be purchased by another company?
When I try it, I get a Corrupted Backup file message. Either way, using 2012 to open a 2011, or using 2011 to open a 2012 BU.
I then tried the 2011 on the 2011 worked perfectly; and then the 2012 on the 2012 and that restored OK too.
This build is so erratic that there's no pattern to anything other than it is too full of bugs to be released!
Fred
I'm not saying it is true of Acronis.
Heh. Heh. Quite right. You did say "IF Acronis's business model depends ... on new Customers for it's cash flow ..." which omits us poor repeat "upgrade" suckers based on their past reputation. :^D
__
P.S.: If there's not going to be another Russian revolution, I know at least one German squadron that seems to be forming up for the march and quite attentive to tactical suggestions.
Well some of us swear by ati10, others prefer ati2010, etc. ATI's reputation has exceeded it's peformance since ati11 in my very personal opinion. Since ATI11 I haven't felt like a sucker-- though I have felt like a risk taker more than I'd like with some versions. ;)
If I had ati10 with linux drivers for modern hardware, and necessary accomodations for w7 (track0 aligment), I'd be happy as software can possibly make me. With ATI2011 and ati2012, I have to frequently check my backup storage to see if the backups are being made and auto-managed. With ati10, it's never a concern -- reliable, solid, simple -- if it had mre up to date drivers for the bootcd, it'd be all that and a piece of pie.
ati2012 is more like lima beans ;) I'll eat them if I have to . . .
The really interesting thing is how many different scenarios play out with Acronis! For me, I was never able to get ATIH 2010, 2011, or 2012 to even get to a state where I could begin to do anything with them. Yet there are obviously others who swear by these and have them working perfectly.
It seems Acronis writes their programs for a very narrow set of standard equipment and operating environments, and if you do not match that set you will not be able to use the software. Period.
I am trying out a couple of freeware backup programs, but will go to NAS with mirrored drives. That, coupled with cloud storage of all important info such as photos, should do it for me.
The issue for many would be cloud users is how do you get to the cloud is your system disk crdashes?
I now have a system backup, which will be updated regularly, so if (when) my system disk fails, I can install a new disk and use my repair disk to boot the computer then restore from the backup. And as for the cloud, I also am backing up all my photos and more important files on blu-ray disks. So for once I feel fairly confident.
I probably shouldn't, though...
It's a good rule of thumb with backup programs to do a test restore if you haven't already -- or at least go through all the steps except the final Proceed (this will at least confirm that the bootcd can recognize and address all of your drives.
A few days ago, I posted that I got a File Corrupted error message when trying to restore from a 2011 Backup using 2012. I should have said 2010 version.
Nevertheless, someone responded that he did the same thing and had no problem.
So I uninstalled 2012 and reinstalled 2012.
Now it does read the Backup TIB files that were made with 2010.
I have a question though.
When I uninstalled this time, I didn't uninstall PLUS because I thought that would be attached to the uninstall of 2012.
Apparently, it did not uninstall since it is still there after I reinstalled 2012 only!
Maybe that's the muck up area?
Thanks,
Fred
The Plus Pack install-uninstall is a separate item. In the Control Panel "Add/Remove Programs" listing, for some strange reason, it's under "P" (for Plus Pack) rather than under "A" (with other Acronis stuff) so that it gets missed sometimes.
Just would like to report my latest tussle with 2012 Home.
I gave myself about a week off; to see if a new build would appear, and to let my blood pressure go down.
I reinstalled 2012.
Let me say at the outset that I run 2010, and have no problems. I have 7 TIB backup files from the last seven backups that I make on an average of 5 in a 7 day week.
I install and run 2012. First thing that happens is that it does not recognize 7 tib files, only 5 of them.
I cannot imagine why 2012 likes only 5 of the seven.
I open Windows explorer and double click each TIB file in turn, and each one will open in Explorer where I can extract a file or folder.
I closed Explorer.
I decided to create a new TIB (Full) Backup using 2012.
OK, 20 minutes later, I now have 8 TIB files with 2012 seeing only 6 of the 8.
I open Windows Explorer and repeat my test. I double click on each TIB file.... and when I get to the new TIB I just created, ERROR!
THIS FILE IS CORRUPTED AND CANNOT BE OPENED BY EXPLORER!
I did a Windows RESTORE and put myself back to the moment before I reinstalled 2012.
Sometimes, I hate to dig my heels in because the problem could be my mistake. I like to leave room to say, "OK, Sorry, I didn't know that. Let me try it"
I have tried this piece of crap so many times, and it has failed every time, with varying problems that I am now digging in my heels.
I will wait for a new build number, and hope someone dumped this build into the vegetable garden to fertilize it.
Sorry, Mr. Acronis..... I wonder how you can sit there without a rebuild, or a date for a rebuild release, or a patch, or an apology, or at least a "leak" that you are close to a replacement build to give your dissatisfied customers some inkling that you care!
Sincerely,
Fred
Right the the best use of ATIH2012 is using the recovery disk (either PE or Linux). Both work well, perhaps not what we paid for but also not going to cause us to waste hours of time reloading a system from scratch.
I am a little suprised that my USB thumb drive issue isn't fixed yet or at least my suggested workaround has not been adapted by Acronis yet.
I am also suprised that the marketing people have advertiszed a ATIH2012 lite version yet which sells for $10 less then the current version minus the issues like USB thumb drive and others people seem to be having. I am sure we will all get emails offering a 50% discount to upgrade.