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Considering moving from Veritas System Recovery for Desktops to Acronics True Image? Cyber?

Thread solved

I have not looked at this product in a while but considering it.

I have used Veritas System Recovery for Desktops (used to be Ghost) for years as a consumer, not business.  It appears the model is more geared to corporate use although the product has worked for me.  I have a few questions to see if an Acronis product could replace and have found forums to usually be a great source of feedback.  

1) Is Cyber replacing True Image?  I see my forum title changed as I posted.   I have other offsite backup strategies, I just want to backup one Desktop PC to a local NAS, and another PC to a second internal hard drive.  It seems there might be a transition and a new focus on offsite backup which does not interest me for this purpose. 

2) Can it startup at a specific time and day during the week to perform an incremental backup of say two local drives to a NAS? I wakeup the PC with a windows task before it starts, but I need the program to startup at a specific time.

3) Can it make one complete initial image and then perform incremental backups for say 3 months before starting with a new complete backup?  Can it automatically delete old incremental backups and are these options user-configurable?  I am not interested in a file-by-file backup but assume you can restore specific files from a backup.

4) Are users generally happy with the current build and is it stable?
 

5) I am running Windows 10 on both machines.  Should I anticipate any issues?  How long is a version supported before you have to buy an upgrade?

6) And most important.....how is support and what are the options.  If I am trying to restore a critical backup and have issues, what are my options.  This is critical

Sorry for all the questions!  I truly appreciate any input from this forum for this potential new user.  I have not looked at this product for years but actually might have a very old version and license around so not sure if I can still upgrade but that is not a big issue either way.

Thanks,
BJB

 

0 Users found this helpful

BjB, welcome to these public User Forums.

  1. Acronis True Image is aimed at Home / Small business users.
    Acronis Cyber Backup is aimed at Business users and is a separate product.
     
  2. Backup tasks can be scheduled within the limitations of the scheduler options which are fairly comprehensive.  Tasks can store backup files on local (internal or external) or NAS drives (as well as in the Acronis Cloud).
     
  3. You can use a choice of different Backup Schemes which include both Incremental or Differential schemes.  All schemes must start with an initial Full image that is then used as the base for subsequent types of backups.
    In terms of performing incremental backups for 3 months then starting over, that is possible using the options in the scheme page and the schedule page.
    ATI can create either Disks & Partitions backups, or else Files & Folders backups.
    Files can be restored from either type of backup.
     
  4. As with all products, Acronis has a mix of users with different opinions.  The forums do not necessarily provide a true indication of how happy the customer base is, as by definition of the forum purpose, users tend to come here for help and are not always 'happy bunnies' though the users here in the forums try to help change that where possible.

    Stability is another discussion that depends on user perspective!
    Acronis made some significant changes with ATI 2020 when they introduced the TIBX backup file format from their Cyber Backup premium application to home users, and this upset some users with new limitations etc.

    Acronis are currently running a Beta programme for ATI 2021 where some of the changes brought in with ATI 2020 are being fine tuned in response to user feedback, along with introducing other new features to provide additional security within the application.

    See https://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/computer-backup/beta/  for more details.
     

  5. There are no issues with Windows 10 for the majority of users.  Acronis does not support Windows Insiders versions though these have not caused many issues for those users involved in the same. 
    Support for ATI depends on the license type obtained.
    Perpetual licenses get up to 1 year of free support (from date of version release until 30 days after the next version is released to the public).
    Subscription licenses are supported for as long as the subscription is valid + 30 days after not being renewed to allow for data recovery.
    Subscription licensed versions lose all key function other than recovery after the subscription ends (+30 days).
    Perpetual licenses work for as long as they are used on a supported Windows platform.
     
  6. Support is provided via Acronis using 'Live Chat' or email for the majority of users, with the option for support to telephone where needed & use remote desktop access such as TeamViewer if needed.
    These forums provide an alternative method of support via the user community and MVP's.
    Again, as with all user communities, users have mixed views on Acronis Support and the views expressed in the forums are not always representative of the wider user community.
    Acronis has several levels of support staff - the front-end team tends to follow defined scripts but those in the next levels are more experienced and have access to their development teams where needed.

I would only add to what Steve has said in one aspect.  Since your needs are purely for local backup it sounds, you would probably be more satisfied with the Perpetual or Standard product as it does not have a Cloud option but retains all other options.  Licensing can be purchased for 1,3 or 5 computers and licenses do not expire.

For a full rundown on licensing see this Link

Steve,

Thank you so much for that detailed, comprehensive answer!  It truly answered my questions! I will research that new version and some of the links.  And thanks to you and Enchantech, for the advice on the licenses. Is there an ETA on ATI 2021?  I know a lot of products have an annual pretty consistent cycle. 

I will have to research but the perpetual license seems to make sense.  Just want to make sure I understand the lingo and confirm my research on an Acronis blog post I just read.  As I understand it, the perpetual license is the standard product which includes the one year of free support.  And the product would continue to work after that if I did not upgrade for all features.  I assume I could pay for a phone support call should an emergency occur after that year or just upgrade at that time. However knowing me, I would probably upgrade to the newer version every year or whatever the cycle is and get additional support. :)

 

Thanks,
BJB
 

Please see the Acronis Support Lifecycle of Consumer Products webpage which shows when the recent versions of ATI were all released during August of previous years, as we would expect to be the case for ATI 2021 this year.

Upgrading your product version would be better value than using the Acronis Pay per Incident support plan as you would then get a further year of support versus for one issue.

Steve Smith wrote:

Please see the Acronis Support Lifecycle of Consumer Products webpage which shows when the recent versions of ATI were all released during August of previous years, as we would expect to be the case for ATI 2021 this year.

Upgrading your product version would be better value than using the Acronis Pay per Incident support plan as you would then get a further year of support versus for one issue

I marked this solved but hope I can confirm one more item. If a scheduled backup is missed, does the user get a prompt when the PC wakes up/is booted up that one was missed and would you like to run it now? Or does it just wait for the next recurring scheduled time?
Thanks,

BJBBJB 

Missed backups can be set to run automatically on the next restart with or without a delay period, else if this option is not set, it would wait till the next schedule run time.

See the Schedule page in the ATI 2020 User Guide.

If the computer is switched off when the scheduled time comes, the operation won't be performed. You can force the missed operation to run at the next system startup. To do so, select the Run missed operations at the system startup with delay (in minutes) check box.

Additionally, you can set a time delay to start backup after the system startup. For example, to start backup 20 minutes after system startup, type 20 in the appropriate box.

Steve Smith wrote:

Missed backups can be set to run automatically on the next restart with or without a delay period, else if this option is not set, it would wait till the next schedule run time.

See the Schedule page in the ATI 2020 User Guide.

If the computer is switched off when the scheduled time comes, the operation won't be performed. You can force the missed operation to run at the next system startup. To do so, select the Run missed operations at the system startup with delay (in minutes) check box.

Additionally, you can set a time delay to start backup after the system startup. For example, to start backup 20 minutes after system startup, type 20 in the appropriate box.

Thanks again.  I am certainly a manual reader but sorry I did not see this.  I wish it would prompt to run and not just do it but at least there is an option there.

Thanks,

BJBBJB
 

I wanted to followup on this thread and report back that I finally pulled the trigger and purchased a 5 user non-cloud perpetual license for Trueimage 2021!  I will be backing up to a NAS.

I will be slowly moving my PC's and laptops from the old product to this.

I just had one question before I start this process.  I see there are all kinds of additional anti-virus/malware products built-into this product. And even as a perpetual license I have some of these, and for sure at least a 3 month antivirus trial.

I already use ESET antivirus and real-time scanning licensed version of Malwarebytes.  In my past, it was never a good idea to have multiple anti anything products installed and running at the same time.  Is that the case here? Is there a custom install way to just install the backup software?

Also, I assume I can just install the product 5 times and each install will "call home"and verify? i have not registered the product on the website yet. 

Thanks,

BJBBJB

 

If you already have a security / antivirus application that you are happy with using, then do not enable the Acronis 2021 Protection features nor take out the free trial of Cyber Protect (unless you want to be nagged about it expiring later!).

There is no custom method of just installing only the core Backup features of ATI 2021 without the new protection stuff too!

Please submit Feedback directly to Acronis (use the tool provided in the GUI Help section) and complain about the imposition of these new protection features plus ask for your vote to be added to the Acronis internal change request: TI-213392 Allow installation without Antimalware components

Thanks, I will do that.  I will just install as is and don't turn on yhe protection that is included and of course don't do the 3 month trial.

Thanks, 

BJBBJB 

 

 

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BJB BJB wrote:

Thanks, I will do that.  I will just install as is and don't turn on yhe protection that is included and of course don't do the 3 month trial.

Thanks, 

BJBBJB 

Thank you, added your comment as a vote for the change request  TI-213392 Allow installation without Antimalware components