Two things that may be of interest to the public
I have learned a couple of things about Acronis backup capability over the years. The most recent version (2014) has the same basic reliability and capability that I've come to trust over the years.
As I've matured my system though, there are a couple of hurdles I've had to overcome. Specifically as I brought my system into a more mature security model, Acronis has had to evolve with me, and it has - with flying colors. Specifically: Use of BitLocker and encrypted backups.
From this, there are two items that I've found that seem to be the best approach to using Acronis 2014 as the backup product of choice.
1) BitLocker encrypted drives cannot be unlocked/mounted by Acronis. This is its current design and frankly I wouldn't have it any other way.
1a) Backups from a BitLocker encrypted drive perform normally.
1b) My choice is to encrypt the backup version at 256b AES (same as my current drive encryption).
1c) Restore of a drive or restore of individual objects from the encrypted backup to the encrypted drive occur without issue and all is right with the world. Regardless if it is an entire partition or not.
2) Recently, I change the configuration for BitLocker encryption. It was originally set to the default Windows 7 x64 Ultimate capability. The default was less than 256b AES. What happened when I attempted to backup the drive the first time?
2a) Received an error indicating that the SyncService failed to start properly. To restart my system. Did that, a lot - without success.
2b) Restarted the service manually (via Process Explorer) and still failed.
2c) Recreated the script for performing the backup, then ran the backup.
2d) Ran without issue.
2e) Only conclusion that I've been able to reach is that Acronis was "smart" enough to recognize the encryption method change (from Win default to 256b AES) and say I was doing bad things. It just didn't give me a clear and precise error or reason behind it.
All-in-all; Acronis 2014 seems to follow the long tradition of reliable and robust system backup services. All I can hope for now is that the Disk Director v11 (which I'm about to acquire) has the same attention to detail and diligence applied to it.
Thanks...