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Terrible Documentation & Discontinued features

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I have had Acronis 2014 for a couple of years.  It quit recognizing my external backup location where I had 23 versions backed up and I was not able to get support on this version so I decided to "upgrade" to 2016.  2016 does not automatically reload/list your previous backups as the documentation states that it will.  It also does not remember your file backup settings, as the documentation states that it does, so you have to create a new file backup scheme and choose all of your desired files/folders over again.  So "upgrading" from a previous version to a new version is anything but a seamless process.  You have to start from scratch.  I paid for a support session and found that these "features" had been discontinued, but clearly the documentation has not been updated.  In the reviews, this product is touted is having a very "clean" interface, but what that means to me is that it is not at all intuitive, and it is difficult to figure out, particularly since the documentation is wrong.  I have insisted on a refund and I'm going to purchase another backup product.  This is not a new problem with Acronis.  It has always been non-intuitive.

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Wayne,

Sorry to see you go.  Best of luck with your new product.  I imagine it will require new settings to start with as well, but I hope that whatever you land on serves you well for the long term.

Personally, I contacted Acronis customer service before upgrading to ask questions about the product.  I also took the trial for a test spin before purchasing it. You're right, all of the differences are not listed in the documenation, but that's usually the case in most software products.  I don't think that Windows 10 specifcially lists every change it made from Windows XP or VISTA or 7 or 8 or  8.1  and not all features between the different versions are backwards compatible either.  OS X on the Mac side is even worse for backwards compatibility in many cases.  These are just 2 examples... I get what you're saying, but in the software world this is not that uncommon.

The interface in 2015 and 2016 is certainly different than 2014 and earlier - very dumbbed down indeed, but getting better.  Many of us, like you, miss the old features and customizations and Acronis is working with us in the MVP group to be the voice of the user community and we're trying to get them to bring these features back in a more manageable and customer friendly way - hoping we see a lot of these in 2017, but that's still a few months out and we'll still have to wait and see.

I stick with Acronis because of the backup reliability and 100% recovery success rate I have had with it in both personal and business use.  As a backup product, the root of the backup/recovery process is hands down the best I have used (and I've used just about all of them).  Honestly, none of them work perfectly (Acronis, Ghost, Retrospect, Crashplan, Macrium, Aoemi, Easus, Windows, etc. etc. etc.) all have their own issues.  Log into any of the user forums and you'll see just as many issues or upset people for one reason or another.

I'm glad that Acronis has the 30 day refund policy though and that you'll be able to get your money back since you're not happy with the new change.  Perhaps 2017 will be a better fit down the road, and if not, whatever else you settle on.

 

 

Bobbo:  Thank you for your reply.  Much of what you say is true about other major software products, they are all far from perfect.  However, it has been a long time since I have encountered a major software product upgrade that does not allow you to "resume from where you left off".  For instance, when I upgrade QuickBooks, I open the new version and it automatically imports my pre-existing company file and I can resume work immediately.  With Acronis 2016, they discontinued the "auto search" function that is erroneously described in the documentation, so previous backup schemes do not appear on the backup list.  You have to start from scratch.  Several versions ago, Acronis also discontinued the ability to export/import your backup settings.  When doing a file backup, my various application files and settings are saved in a myriad of places and each of these places has to be individually selected.  When I reinstall Acronis or do an upgrade, I again have to "start from scratch" in defining these file locations.  That was not the case in the past, and I should not have to waste time doing that.