ACPHO First Impressions

I have been anticipating the release of this newly named version of the True Image product and had a plan formulated to apply this version to one of my machines.  Yesterday I implemented that plan.  The machine I applied this version to is a new build I completed a few months ago using some old and new hardware.  The base system is a Z270 motherboard running a 7th generation i7 7700K CPU.  I have 32GB of DDR4 PC4200 RAM installed.

This machine has never had TI 2021 installed, instead, I had installed TI 2020 on the machine after building it even though I had TI 2021 available.  I configured several backup tasks using TI 2020 and so deemed it a good candidate for the upgrade I performed today.  Below is my method of upgrade and my first impressions of this latest version release.

I also should mention that this machine has had nothing installed for cyber security other than Windows Security Center since I built it.  The OS is Windows 10 Pro x64 20H2 Workstation.

To begin the upgrade to ACPHO I used Windows Settings – Apps Uninstall feature to remove TI 2020 from the system.  I followed that with running the Acronis Clean up tool to completely remove the 2020 product including checking the registry keys as outlined in the kb document then restarted the machine.  Having already downloaded the install file for ACPHO I then ran the installer for this product.  Installation succeeded without issue.  Once installation had finished, I started Windows Task Manager and then started the ACPHO product.  Keeping an eye on the Acronis services I witnessed only low percentages of activity from those services, yet the protection tab when opened indicated that my system was protected, and that protection was fully running.  Malware definitions were updated, a vulnerability scan had completed, and a malware scan had run.  The product does open to the Backup screen as has been requested and it is nice to see that back. 

I have been trialing the Acronis Cyber Protect 15 business product for some time now and notice the same behavior in that product with respect to the cyber protection features.  So, I must state here that this is a positive development in the behavior of the ACPHO version of the product over the first few version of TI 2021.

Another plus for me was the fact that in viewing the Backup screen no tasks were shown.  Many have requested that previous backup tasks not populate a new install of a product in favor of allowing the user to Add existing backups into the GUI.  It appears that this request is finally here.  I was able to add 5 of my previously configured tasks into the GUI, reconfigure those tasks and run them without issue.  A word of caution here, however.  If you are faced with adding an existing task, make certain that you make sure that you go through the task Options and setup your task preferences for that task as the product defaults are likely not what you previously had set for the task.  I always run Custom schemes, with a Differential Method and had to set all my tasks back to these settings.  This means that previous task settings are not carried over with the Add existing backup feature.

Today I watched my backup tasks run, they ran as expected ranging from 39 seconds to slightly over 9 minutes, all were differential versions.  Additionally, I used the MVP Assistant tool to have a look at the log files generated by ACPHO.  What I found on this system was a very minimal amount of log activity.  I see minimal activity by Acronis services in Windows Task Manager.  ACPHO reports all cyber security features are enabled and functioning.  I do not find any fault in app behavior at this point.

All in all, my first impression of this release is very favorable.  As to the subscription question, I am fine with it.  I do not mind paying for ongoing development and support based on a low yearly fee.  That reminds me, I got an advertisement email today offering the ACPHO release for 50% off single license for 1 year of $14.99 US.  Quite a reasonable price in my opinion.