2017 vs older versions
Hi,
I've got 2013 but not needed to do backups for a while. How is 2017 compared to 2013? - Is it more simple than before? - 2013 was an improvment on earlier versions but how about now? - What improvments are there?
OK, but Windows 7 upgrades to 10 leaving files in place so 2013 may work? - If not I've been warned! - How about other users here with 2013 on Windows 10?
I don't think so. I think that when you go to run it in Windows it will say it's not compatible.
Even if it did run, I wouldn't recommend it, but up to you. Let's think about the logic though...
- You want to risk your data to backups that aren't supported?
- The first ATI product to support Windows 10 was the final version of 2016 - 3 releases after 2013.
- 2013 came out several years before Windows 10
- Windows 10 is still evolving with "updates" that are full-fledged new installs. Each one can bring new features, services, etc that break legacy applications - especially those that were never meant to run on it in the first place.
- 2013 UEFI support is close to non-existent. If you plan to reinstall Windows 10 as UEFI/GPT, stay clear of 2013 - even with the offline recovery media as it will try to restore in legacy/MBR mode and leave you with a non-bootable system.
http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/updates/
True Image 2013 by Acronis (Build # 6514, English, 260.4 MB)2013-04-04 Release Notes
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Some people hate the new look of 2015-2017 - me, I don't mind it and am used to it now. I do think it's goofy that some of the simple things like the log viewer are gone now, but we're working to get those back and have some MVP tools that fill the void in the meantime.
I would give the 2017 free trial a spin. Backup what you have now with 2013 and have that backup on hand for posterity. Then reinstall Win 10 fresh and get it updated, etc. Take another full backup of it with your offline media, just in case.
Now install 2017 trial and give it a test. If you want to keep it, pay for the upgrade - I think it's worth it with driver compatibility, the new support model and UEFI support. For roughly $30 to upgrade not a bad deal at all. If you hate it, well, there's no obligation to keep it and you can get a refund within 30 days of purchase. Overall though, I wouldn't risk my OS, data and time for $30. How much is your time worth - heck, even at minmum wage, $30 is only 3 hours and being able to have a fully supported and compatible application could recoup that in spades.
I have been using True Image 2014 through upgrades to windows 8, 8.1 and 10 without any problems either for backup or restore. Also OEM clones of 2013 on other windows 10 machines - again no problems. I have just taken advantage of the special offer 3 for 1 upgrade but am very concerned about installing it. Don't know what happens to the old backup settings - when it starts, do I have to reconfigure them or will they have disappeared? I have little disk space to create completely new backups so keeping the old ones "just in case" for use with rescue media seems problematic. Can't help wondering why restore compatibility isn't built in like it used to be for years before.
Neil, you can protect your backup settings / configuration data by saving a copy of the C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts folder contents - this folder will have a .TIS file for each of your backup tasks where these are XML text files that you can open in Notepad to see which task they relate to by looking for the <display> my task name </display> brackets near the top of the text file.
If you have now purchased ATIH 2017 then please read the ATIH 2017 FAQ document shown in the left column "Useful links" section - see in particular the advice on upgrading to 2017 over older versions of the product where it says:
If you already have Acronis True Image 2016 or Acronis True Image 2015 installed, there is no need to remove the old version and reinstall the software. Start the installation file of Acronis True Image 2017 and install the product. After upgrade, create a new bootable media.
If you already have Acronis True Image 2014 or older versions, you need to delete these first and then install Acronis True Image 2017.
Please note that according to KB 56196: Windows 10 support in Acronis products only ATIH 2015 or later are supported for use when installed on Windows 10.
For backwards compatibility between archives created by different versions of ATIH products, see KB 1689: Backup archive compatibility across different product versions which states the official Acronis position on this, i.e. what versions they have tested to show they are compatible. If you have backups that are from versions that are not shown as being compatible with say ATIH 2017, then you would need to test this yourself - you may find that the backup archives are able to be read fine without any issues, but well worth keeping hold of a copy of the Acronis Rescue Media for the product version that created these archives 'just in case'.
Many thanks for your reply and advice. I seem to remember that when I once uninstalled TI 2014, there was an option to keep my settings. Do I take it that for upgrading to 2017, this would be a bad idea? I have taken a backup of the program data folder containing the scripts.
Neil, your backup settings should be left behind by a normal uninstall as far as I remember - the folders holding this data are mainly cleared / deleted when using the Acronis Cleanup Tool.
The one downside to keeping your old backup tasks is simply that the settings in these tasks are those that were offered by the old product version, whereas creating new backup tasks with ATIH 2017 will most likely use some different configuration options.
Go ahead with keeping your old backup tasks and see how these run in the new version, but remember that you have the option to review the configuration settings should you need to do so, or to create a whole new task to do the same backup actions.
Thanks. Will give it a go, Steve, having done a pre-install backup, of course! Will try to remember to report back after the missus' 70th celebrations.
Neil, hope the 70th celebrations go well for the missus and all the family. I am tempted to make sure that my wife and I are in some distant warm place when my 70th rolls around in just under 2 years!
Finally, I'm able to get back on this. The uninstallation of TI 2014 and new installation of 2017 went well enough. However, On my desktop, the only previous backups it found initially were the reserved copies on my external drive which showed up as "Others". At some point the list under "This computer" filled out and I successfully did a restore of one 2014 backup to a newly created partition. Opening old backups in explorer seems to work ok as does extracting files. The recovery CD doesn't seem to have changed very much. Attempting to repeat the process today on my laptop resulted in all the local backups appearing under "This computer" with nothing under "Other" although the external drive was connected and known to file explorer. However, when I attempted to rename one of the local backups, all the local backups jumped to the "Other" list and the external ones showed up. If I were to continue with this, it will be a long and tedious job recreating new local backups.
Back on the desktop when creating images, my impression is that there is no performance benefit with TI 2017. The progress bar gives an impression nothing is happening then after an age, suddenly jumps two-thirds of the way. I miss the ability to selectively delete backup versions; using the startup recovery manager as an alternative to booting a CD provided this facility but resulted iin having to press F11 on startup every time. Disabling the facility upset my EFI so that after rebooting the machine, I had to use sytem restore to regain a stable sytem and manually reconfigure the BIOS. I also discovered today that I could no longer use certain characters in backup names.
In line with other comments I've read, I find it amazing that really useful features have been omitted for no apparent reason and that this version is even less intuitive than the occasionally quirky 2014. On balance my inclination is to reinstall the old version that reliably does what I want it to do with ease and I regret that I wasn't quick enough to check out the new in time to get my money back.
Neil, welcome back to the forums.
Just one comment from me regarding the differences between ATIH 2014 and 2017, and that simply is that you are likely to encounter issues with 2014 on Windows 10 if you go with the latest Creators Update due to changes that Microsoft have introduced in this latest upgrade.
Acronis have provided updated builds for both 2016 and 2017 to have these versions work smoothly with the Creators Update, but there will be no further updates for any older product versions such as 2014, 2015 or earlier.
Not sure about the issue with renaming any of your local backup tasks. The task name is used for the stem name of the backup image files that you create, so if you rename the task after this has been run one or more times, then the subsequent backup files will be created with the new task name stem, which could cause some confusion when looking at the .TIB files on your backup drive.
One of the options with 2017 is the ability to 'Clone task settings' where you can duplicate the current task configuration and make a new task from this. By default this option with just prefix the current task name by (1) but you can then rename this as you wish before running it.