Really? Need a license for every machine you use bootable rescue disk on?
I'm a little confused here. I'm starting up a small computer repair business, and I was planning on purchasing Acronis simply for the bootable rescue disk, so that I could backup customers' HDs prior to working on the machines, just in case, or to back up data from a HD with a corrupted OS. I worked in a local computer store last year that did this as a common practice, and have talked to a number of other IT professionals that have used Acronis boot disks in a similar fashion.
My issue is, it looks like you may need separate licenses for every machine you do this on?? I'm not talking about installing Acronis on these machines, so technically the software is only being used on one machine at a time...
I love Acronis products, and if I can use the boot disk in the manner I described it's a definite purchase for me, but there's no way I can buy a license for every machine I work on, simply to back it up with the boot disk as a safety precaution. Is there any kind of IT Technician license available that allows use of rescue media on multiple machines?
Thanks!
This is not good IMO....sounding like Micro$oft now. I had logged on today to see about perhaps upgrading to v10.....seeing as 9.1 isn't 64bit compatible....but I'm thinking now I'll just dig out my old Ghost CD.
Is this really correct? I would have said that you don't need multiple licenses. The way you intend to use the product is very simple plus you don't intend to install the software on any machine. If I understand correctly you just want to boot a machine with the Acronis boot disk and generate a TIB file backup to give you piece of mind while you work on a customers's PC. If all goes well I imagine you'll just delete the TIB file and move on to the next PC and perform the process again? There's nothing in the software that would prevent you from working in this way but Acronis may think differently. It seems crazy though to expect you to buy a license each time you backup a machine since your use is not of an enterprise nature. I would think a restriction like this would prevent all small businesses from using Acronis software. I bet there's a free Shareware product on the web that would be good enough for your requirements though.
seeing as 9.1 isn't 64bit compatible...
Why? It's not supported on windows 7, but XP prof x64 and all editions of Vista are listed in the docs as compatible.
Is this really correct? I would have said that you don't need multiple licenses.
So you think it is fair for a COMPANY (private use is different in my book) to buy just one license and use that one license hundreds of times as they work on customers' machines? As someone that has written and sold software I guess I'll just say that I don't see that as equitable at all. If that is what a company wants to do, they should definitely look for an open source/free solution.
That being said, I agree that standard machine count licensing probably isn't a good fit either; there should be a site license option of some kind for that use scenario.
Just my opinion. Not trying to defend Acronis specifically, just arguing equitable software licensing in general.
Jason
Yup I'm running Win7 Ultimate64. I looked a little further in the help section and found that, for some odd reason no version of 9.1 is Win7 compatible. This doesn't make sense to me to have such a clean break seeing, as has been pointed out, that it's usable with Vista64. I see it as perhaps a forced upgrade. Maybe I'm wrong if so, someone please let me know what I need to patch or do to get 9.1 to work on Win7.
BTW Jason, would he still need a site license for just using a bootable disk as described? A license for each machine he used said disk on??
Hi Jason,
I take your point. I was purely thinking about the situation of a one-man band operation who isn't really using the software in an enterprise manner, ie wanting automated backups from a central location etc. Perhaps Acronis software isn't the right fit in this scenario or maybe they do have a reasonable site licensing option? The software is never actually installed though as only the boot disk is used so I'm just surprised that a license is required for each machine - particularly when the machines in question will come and go on a regular basis.
I have 250 PC's which I backup and consequently I have 250 licenses but my machines are managed and static. It seems harsh if a one-man band operation dealing with the repair of 250 PCs in a year would have to buy the same number of licenses as me. Also they would have to continually buy new licenses each time they had a new PC in for repair. I personally would choose a free shareware option in this scenario to keep costs down.
I would be interested in some further feedback from Acronis on this question.
The way I see it the licensing model is that the software can only be used on one machine, in theory you would only ever be using the software on one machine providing that you do not install it or at least remove it from the machine used to create the boot disks?
This is assuming that you are not using Acronis to create recovery media to give to your customers?
If the current license model does not allow for this, I think this should be put forward for consideration, even if it's under its own licening model.
Hello all!
Thank you for your comments and feedback.
I completely share your concern, but still License Policy of Acronis Company cannot be changed, and it states that you need 1 license per 1 machine you are backing up/restoring (same with Bootable Media) . Acronis Snap Deploy Policy is different a bit: here you need 1 license per 1 machine you are going to deploy (restore), and you don't need a license for imaging process.
Anyway this means that in case you are using Backup and Recovery solution even from the Bootable Media you need a license for recovering the image onto the new machine. You can transfer the license from the old machine to the new one only in case the old one is out of service and cannot be used anymore. Using Bootable Media on additional machines without the license will be recognised as violation of Acronis License Policy.
I understand how inconvenient this may be and be sure all your comments are already forwarded to Sales and Management Teams. Please also keep in mind that our Sales team has a very flexible system of discounts and volume licenses specially for such cases, so should you need to backup and restore several machine, you can always contact a Sales representative, and he will find the best scenario that will suit your needs.
Should you need anything else or have any further questions - feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience, we will be happy to help you!
Thank you for understanding.
Yup I'm running Win7 Ultimate64. I looked a little further in the help section and found that, for some odd reason no version of 9.1 is Win7 compatible. This doesn't make sense to me to have such a clean break seeing, as has been pointed out, that it's usable with Vista64.
It makes sense - it works on OSes that existed at the time of the release. If no new development was performed to to make sure it works on Windows 7 as designed - then it's not compatible.
I know this forum is a little old but I have the same question. Since you need a license for each computer you are backing up/restoring. How do you go about adding the licenses for the boot media you create? Am I to assume that you need to install 11.5 workstation on each computer you intend to backup add a license and create the boot disc from there?
Hello Perry Fager,
it is not necessary to install Acronis Backup and Recovery on each Workstation if you want to backup them from bootable media. Actually, you can simply download an .iso image of the bootable media under your account and burn it to a CD.
The only thing that is important, that you need to have a separate license for each machine you want to protect with backup.
Thank you.
If you purchase PNY drives for your clients, they usually come with single-use licenses to be used with that drive. I would think that's sufficient to meet the requirements to use the flash drive to back up that machine. If I'm wrong someone correct me.
There is finally a solution nine years later!
Acronis Disk Director 12.5 has a special Technician license that allows to manage unlimited number of machines (including servers and/or workstations) during limited time period (as per the purchase, usually for 1 year).
I bet the pricing is outrageous though. A competitor of Acronis that makes a similar product charges $799.00 a year for a Technician license. I really hope Acronis offers a better pricing structure.
For the record: I find Yana’s comments from 9 years ago rude and disrespectful. Yana stated that the “License Policy of Acronis Company cannot be changed “. Things do and can change all the time. Both John Sellars and IGC Tech made excellent examples of valid use cases for a different licensing model yet they were dismissed twice! Yana failed to understand the use case of the proposed licensing model. Three years later Anna Trifonova also failed to understand. Ignorance is still not an excuse for such a legalistic and dismissive response. I’m glad to see that Acronis did the right thing and did change. I only wish now that they would be more transparent with the pricing of the technicians license.