Acronis True Image Home 2012 just released
In case no one else got the email, there is a new version of ATI 2012.
http://www.acronis.co.uk/homecomputing/products/trueimage/?mid=4250&lid…
Is there an upgrade policy?
I did purchase ATI Family Pack 2011 in June 2011.
I purchased 2011 last Thursday...:(
Hello Upgrade?
Yeah....$30
I wonder if 2012 fixes any of the terrible problems with 2011
1. Terrible user interface. Very difficult to find information about backups, no comprehensive view of backups (have to scroll through the timeline). Cannot tell about success rate (2010 had a simple calendar), etc. etc. Absolutely awful interface in an attempt to appeal to non-technical users. Should at least offer a "classic interface" option.
2. Interminable processes. Awful validation (which you are not told about). Cancel button does not work. Schedule often not followed.
3. Impossibility of finding settings for backups, etc.
I am sure there are more.
Charles,
I hear you. I wrote quite a lot about the ridiculous GUI of TI-2011. In fact, I was one of the (probably) thousands who went back to prior versions after having bought 2011. I am still using 2010. Not really much to talk about, regarding the user interface, but still better that 2011.
Now, 2012 is out. I just finished my first backup after downloading and installing a trial version. Too early to say much, but I can tell this already:
1 - The clock for time remaining continues working as poorly as ever;
2 - During backup, typing the word "log" inside the search box freezes the application and the only way out is force-closing by clicking the X box on the top right corner. The user interface disappears, but if you launch it again, it will show that the backup operation continued uninterrupted. I just wonder why such thing happened and whether any invisible "collateral damage" damage was done. There were no messages with any kind of warning or information.
3 - In the release notes, they speak of a substantial improvement of the GUI. Well, we can tell a few things were added, I'm just not sure if, overall, there is that much "substantial" improvement on the user friendliness of the application. In some respects, I would be more accurate to say the opposite. Finding the log of operations, for example, becomes almost like playing seek and hide...
I am not excited and I remain a little skeptical. But I promise to come back to either add to these first comments or to correct them, if warranted...
LinYu,
Thank you. Sounds like another downgrade. Very disappointing. I look forward to your updates. I have used TI for a long time with great results, but I find 2011 so bad that I will probably also go back to 2010. (I just installed 2011 recently even though I purchased it somewhat earlier.) Right now it has spent most of the day "consolidating" a backup with no visible progress and no ability to cancel (Cancel button fails to do anything). It hogs resources and is very difficult to control. I guess Acronis is taking the Microsoft route and trying to hide everything from the users now.
Do you have any tips for going back to 2010 and preserving the backup schedule, etc.?
Right....$30
Well, here we go...
I'll be very interested in your experience with this new version after all the pain and suffering with 2011.
This is a real test of Acronis integrity with customer support.
The 2012 interface is the 2011 interface with some touch-ups. It's designed for folks that know next to nothing and so don't miss the info that is hidden or hard to get to. If you liked 2011, you'll probably like 2012. If you didn't like 2011, you'll probably prefer 2010 or 2009, which had much more straightforward interfaces.
Imo, the big test is whether, long term it doesn't orphan tib files the way 2011 did when you edited backup settings.
Somehow I get the feeling I should wait. The comments about the new GUI are scarey.
It would also seem reasonable for Acronis to provide free upgrades to people that complained on the monstrous thread of "suggestions".
It's never a bad idea to wait when a new version of software comes out. it generally runs through a wider audience on release than it could in beta.
Downloaded the trial today, (left off Acronis well over a year ago due to 'issues' and thought I would give 2012 a go), and started the 1st backup hours ago. It's been showing "Time Left: 5 minutes" for the past 90 minutes so I'm not hopeful that anything has changed or improved, will probably have to stop it and delete it before going to bed - sad!
I am currently seeking a return policy which I doubt I'll get. Instead I'll have to troubleshoot their alpha-ware, dedicate hours of my time compensating for an unfinished, defective product, and more than likely end up having to reinstall my OS again anyway since I'm currently stuck with a corrupt install and older images in ASZ.
I had 2011--horrible user interface. Half the backups say they can't be found and it keeps a very sloppy list of current backups. It's very difficult to find the most recent backup due to the fact that Acronis hasn't ever fixed their naming issues (you name a backup then it gets changed to some random name when you go to restore it). By the time you go to restore all the names are changed, some archives seem to be added out of nowhere, even after "cleaning up" the list before saving the last image. Some archives say they're not available for recovery, some are--it's mass confusion. I can't believe the developers, or company users, use this product and haven't seen a blatantly obvious flaw in this system.
BTW, I have several other software products on my system which install just fine--never any issues. I'm extremely diligent with keeping a clean OS which is why I bought these products in the first place.
I bought 2012 hoping the plethora of issues would be fixed, including an issue where I can't selectively delete any of my old archives from Secure Zone. Secure zone is full. True Image ignored my settings (which I have to reset every time I do a backup--what's the point of opting to "save" the settings? [shrugs]) that are set to delete the oldest backup if it's full. It doesn't. Now it's eenie meenie miney moe as to only the TWO backups I have left in ASZ. I suppose it doesn't matter because when I go to delete them it doesn't let me. So they're stuck, not using the full capacity of SZ with some other hidden backups that I can't get to hidden somewhere in Secure Zone. I always keep a fresh install image of Windows 7 first thing after installing. That doesn't show in ASZ anymore either.
If you think you're going to resolve 2011 version issues with 2012. Save your time and money and understand that it's even more disorganized than it was before--if that's even possible.
Acronis has gone down hill the pst few years. Both Disk Director and True Image continue to give less and less information, and cause more and more frustrating problems. As a result, I am passing on this years product, and I am going to give Nortons product a test this year. It can not be any worse!
See you all back here, maybe next year. Good Luck, and have fun !
I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Acronis for their constancy as it has saved me quite a bit of money. Last year I got an email offering an upgrade from ATI 2010 to ATI 2011. Suspecting I could get a better deal elsewhere, I checked Amazon. Sure enough I could get ATI 2011 cheaper from them. But before buying I checked out the reviews. Wow, what a dog! I'd never seen so may one-star reviews. So I saved my cash and stuck wi ATI 2010.
Now it seems they've done it again and I'll be saving even more cash by not upgrading to ATI 2012. As an inveterate upgrader I would normally be splashing out the cash regardless. But Acronis's new policy of making each new product stinkier than the previous version is a great boon to people like me in these troubled times. Thank you Acronis, and keep the crud coming.
Acronis has been working fairly well for me - just ticking away in the background. Ideally I don't want to have any interaction with it once it's set up, so the UI isn't a critical concern. The only problem I've got is that my backup drive fills up and I have to manually delete old backups so that Acronis can start again.
My system is to have Acronis back up to an external drive continuously. Every week or so I just swap that drive for a second one. Acronis should figure out what the most recent data is on that drive and then fill the gap...
I described it a little better here:
http://www.colourandlight.co.nz/blog/?p=1224
Crux of it though - doesn't look like the upgrade offers me anything of value.
Unless Acronis have changed their upgrade policy if 2011 was purchased within the last 30 days of yesterday (23 August 2011) or a maintenance licence was purchased then free upgrade is available. Outside of the 30 day limit an upgrade will have to be purchased.
The above statement needs to be checked with Acronis, in case they ahve changed their policy.
For those who have upgraded from 2011 to 2012 and seem to be having problems, I suggest making sure you've uninstalled 2011 and rebooted the PC before installing. It might also be worthwhile trying a repair install of 2012.
Colin,
Your recommendation about uninstalling a previous version before installing the 2012 is always a sensible practice. It's also getting a little outdated, in my humble opinion. Nowadays, any new version of a piece of licensed software should come ready to detect and uninstall an older version of it. Better yet, it should notify you during installation and give you the option of either allow or disallow uninstalling of that older version. Particularly when, as is the case with Acronis, each new version comes regularly at less than a one year intervals.
If ATI decides that such step is unnecessary or if ATI cannot afford to add a simple feature like that to their new versions, does that reflect on the spreading view that the company is putting out an ever poorer product every time?
I don't know what the issue is within Acronis management. Is it for saving a few cents on each sale? Is it for technical reasons?
It also baffles me why they decided to go from a decently looking GUI of years past to the current up and down maze. At times I wonder if their programers are now working out of China... But I may very well be plain wrong.
Actually, I truly wish I'm wrong. I have stated many times before that, as one of Acronis faithful customers for many years, and never having had one single problem when the times came for recovering, it is with much sadness that I see my cheered "savior" of many times seemingly going the way of the sunset...
Really sad.
This isn't looking very promising so far! I'm waiting for an update to a competing product I used to use (it's been a long time since the last update.) I'll probably use ATI 2011 until I feel I've gotten my money's worth while I can still deal with the issues before paying for an upgrade to my old product. And upgrading ATI 2011 and PP 2011 to 2012? I'd save $7 over what I paid for ATI 2011 at a non upgrade price.
I have learned the grass isn't always greener... And I'm scared to try out a completely new product after having such a bad experience with Acronis.
Acronis has gone down hill the pst few years. Both Disk Director and True Image continue to give less and less information, and cause more and more frustrating problems. As a result, I am passing on this years product, and I am going to give Nortons product a test this year. It can not be any worse!
See you all back here, maybe next year. Good Luck, and have fun !
I've been using ATI since version 8 and have upgraded every year since version 8. TI 2011 was a complete waste of my time and money last year due to the "dumbing" down of the GUI in general. I also had intermittent errors when making or validating images. With TI 2010 I have none of these issues and can easily get the information about my backups. Recovery from disc images using TI 2010 works smoothly as well.
In short TI 2011 burnt me and I will not be upgrading (or even downloading the trial version for that matter) this year to TI 2012 until I've read some seriously good and independent reviews. Also, I do not want Online "value added" storage or a synchronization software bundled in my imaging software. I want a rock solid stable image and recovery program only. Please don't go the way of Nero Burning ROM and become a bloated piece of useless software by trying to do everything under the sun and by catering to the technically challenged. Do the one thing your software is known for doing better than anyone else, and do only that to reap the rewards customer loyalty brings. I purchase imaging software to image and restore my computer in the event of a system failure or to easily upgrade my OS disc to a larger capacity from time to time. Do those things for me in a bulletproof, stable, and validated fashion and you'll continue to receive my money and recommendations to others in person and Online. Keep going down this road of pandering to the masses and watch my money continue to stay absent from your coffers and my recommendations go to your competitors or to free open source solutions (which are now both arguably better than the current state of Acronis's offerings).
Last year I purchased ATI2011 and installed it. Per their test recommendations, I did a backup and a restore. the restore failed immediately with an error that they did not understand. They attempted numerous fixes over the next 7 months, but nothing fixed the problem. Unfortunately the backup file was lost, and they immediately closed my problem. I do not think that they were serious about fixing it.
A NOTE TO ALL==> FOLLOW THEIR INSTALLATION RECOMMENDATIONS: DO A BACKUP AND A RESTORE TEST BEFORE RELYING ON THEIR SOFTWARE. My Backups always work, validations always work, but try a restore, and somehow something seems to be wrong occasionally. BE SURE TO TEST THIS YOURSELF. My expectation is that if the backup and validation worked, then the restore should work, but be forwarned, It does not always work that way.
Excellent advice Terry!
What I find most annoying is when performing a recovery Acronis wipes your existing drive first; if you run into an issue or hit cancel you will be left witha wiped drive of unallocated space. The software should be able to reverse any changes it has made if you hit cancel or it can not complete a restore . If this is your main drive you have are left with a serious problem and will have to probably reinstall windows and start over. This is the scariest part of attempting a recovery with Acronis, when it works, it is one great piece of software; as it will totally put you back like nothing else. When it has a problem during a recovery you have some serious issues.
Yvonne, There is an answer to this scary problem. It is a practice that I have used for several years and it is 100% safe.
The golden rule is to never commit a restore which overwrites the current main hard drive. Instead a main drive restore is made to a replacement hard drive rather than over writing the original drive.
This is exactly the same method that would have to be used if the current hard drive was completely broken. It is not really that difficult to replace a hard drive. On my PC's tower I have fitted a trayless drawer and it only takes seconds to swap over drives so I make the change over and restores on a regular basis as part of the security process.
Laptops and some smaller portable computers can take a minute or two to swap drives over. I keep in mind that easy drive replacement is a prime requirement when purchasing a new laptop. My old e-Machines needed one screw to be removed to withdraw the hard drive in its tray. My new HP notebook needs two captive screws to be undone and the bay cover can then be popped out to make the swap.
I admit that this method means the expense of a second hard drive but it is a small price to pay for the peace of mind that it gives and the knowledge that your whole backup and restores process really work and can be checked out as often as one likes.
Yeah, image restoration is different than file restoration and lower level items such as boot records, partitions, volume changes etc. have to be changed. Making these changes causes other information on the drive to be bascially inaccessible immediately.
Simpler solution: Have the Acronis rescue disc in case restore stops midway and windows cannot restart. Load the rescue disc and restart the restore operation.
Well, reversing things would be, essentially, doing a restore. YOu have the same issue if you try to plant a new or replant an existing OS -- you have to empty the glass before you can refill it.
It's important to make a bootcd and do a test restore before you rely on the backups and the recovery program.
What I find most annoying is when performing a recovery Acronis wipes your existing drive first; if you run into an issue or hit cancel you will be left witha wiped drive of unallocated space. The software should be able to reverse any changes it has made if you hit cancel or it can not complete a restore . If this is your main drive you have are left with a serious problem and will have to probably reinstall windows and start over. This is the scariest part of attempting a recovery with Acronis, when it works, it is one great piece of software; as it will totally put you back like nothing else. When it has a problem during a recovery you have some serious issues.
Hi
After reading the forum i think i will be sticking to 2011 for now, there seems to be far too many problems already concerning 2012..
The one thing that makes me laugh is when you look at the list of changes made from 2011 to 2012, the list of fixes is small yet the list of known issues is about 3 times as long!!
Seems like another step backwards :-D
Pete
I have been using Acronis 2009, 2010 and 2011. I have to say this software does work. I used to use Ghost but found with Windows 7 it did not work so looked for an alternative. Acronis has been great, if you understand the settings and configurations then you should have no trouble in backing up and restoring from a backup file. I have a backup (clone) of my C drive on my D drive, so if I need to restore it is quite straight forward, I have also done a restore from a USB HDD without any issues at all which is why I am surprised people are having problems. I am quite happy with 2011 and don't see the need to upgrade to 2012 as it doesn't have significant improvements to warrant the spend (perhaps only that 2012 can use dynamic drives). Any of the versions should work for anyone as it has done for me. Maybe the PC's or the users are to blame and not the software ?, I have ran Acronis on 3 different PC's with varying specs with the same 100% issue free results.
Curious logic here, that fact that it works on your machines doesn't show it will work on all or even most other machines, unless, of course, they are jsut like yours, which unfortunately, is not the case with PCs. Likewise, the fact that others have problems doesn't mean all or most will have problems -- it depends on the what the problems are.
The issue with orphaning tibs is probably occurs on the most machines but isnoticed only by those that do certain sorts of edits to existing tasks, reinstall the software, etc.
I've been using ATI since version 7 or 8 and have had many great successes and some troubling difficulties with various versions. It's nice to give a reminder that not all machines are affected, but the leap from there to "if you understand the settings and configurations then you should have no trouble in backing up and restoring from a backup file" is more than a leap in logic; it's a leap in faith. For some folks there are genuine installations issues, for others driver issues, and for many problems with the interface and with the database behavior. Some of these issues are inherited from prior versions and some, apparently, are fresh with ati2012. Typically, issues show up during the first weeks of release that did not show up during alpaha or beta testing, mainly because the pool of users, and types of machines and software, is so much larger. At least some of these things are likely to get fixed in the an early update version, what you might think of as Servcie Pack 1.
I have been using Acronis 2009, 2010 and 2011. I have to say this software does work. I used to use Ghost but found with Windows 7 it did not work so looked for an alternative. Acronis has been great, if you understand the settings and configurations then you should have no trouble in backing up and restoring from a backup file. I have a backup (clone) of my C drive on my D drive, so if I need to restore it is quite straight forward, I have also done a restore from a USB HDD without any issues at all which is why I am surprised people are having problems. I am quite happy with 2011 and don't see the need to upgrade to 2012 as it doesn't have significant improvements to warrant the spend (perhaps only that 2012 can use dynamic drives). Any of the versions should work for anyone as it has done for me. Maybe the PC's or the users are to blame and not the software ?, I have ran Acronis on 3 different PC's with varying specs with the same 100% issue free results.
I think I'll pass. I concur, Acronis quality and technical support have been as fresh, lively and consistent as a field of rotting vegetables. Looked pretty at first, but then--because of lack of attention--it just decays into the kind of thread you've all read here.
Acronis! Wake up! This is NOT RUSSIA (where the company is based?). We don't accept poorly-built junk with negligible support in the industrialized world. Witness Osborne, and Quantum, and dozens of other "great" companies who couldn't keep their customers because of deteriorating quality and support. When you see a thread like this for a BRAND NEW PRODUCT, you're in trouble.
Personally, I'm not going to waste my money, or my customer's money on Acronis products any more. If you're reliant on True Image, you're reliant on Acronis, and when Acronis finally closes it's doors, you'll be desparate to find another product. I'm not waiting.
Maybe I shouldn't comment because I haven't seen TI2012 and it is unlikely I will but I am astounded at the comments above about the GUI being similar to the TI2011 GUI which solicted such a large number of negative posts and a statement from Acronis staff that they were taking the comments to heart and had forwarded them to the development team.
I guess it could be that the idea is to make it user-friendly for somebody who doesn't really understand the ins-and-outs of imaging and restoring. Presumably they wouldn't be interested in finding the log files and other intriquing information and if the database presents the archive to be restored then fine and if the PC is doing some automated validation and is slow or won't shutdown then either that's they way it works or the universal catch-all - it must be a virus. Of course, they could have put in an interface that allows an Advanced Mode for those who want to easily find and look at things in more detail like a competing product although I wouldn't say its interface is the paragon of a great interface either.
I've been around here since TI9 first came out, well before TI2009, and the behaviour of the first release of TI2012 is exactly following what has happened with every other version. It is full of bugs, better titled a beta (some will say alpha) version and many previously reported bugs will not be fixed and the new features will work for some but not others if at all
I have been using Acronis 2009, 2010 and 2011. I have to say this software does work. Any of the versions should work for anyone as it has done for me. Maybe the PC's or the users are to blame and not the software ?
In addition to the other well written response above, I just wanted to add that some people (try to) use more of program features than others, and some are power users while others are not. Are you able to verify, for instance, that the option under scheduling to "Prevent the computer from sleeping during the ask execution" does/n't uncheck itself after a reboot? Many other users besides myself have verified and replicated this problem. And Acronis has acknowleged the problem and is working on a fix. Acronis has acknowleged several other problems they have been able to replicate as well, indicating that the software and not the users are to blame
Mention has been made with regard to ATI losing track of TIB files. I had an interesting issue just the other week with regard to this little gem. I could see the file in File Explorer, it was there, but ATI didn't recognize it as part of the chain. I have no idea what caused it. I ended up manually deleting that entire chain and starting the whole backup schedule over again from scratch. Is there anything you can think of which I might have done, as a user, to cause this? I sure can't. But perhaps I'm just not smart.
I appreciate you taking the time to share your experience, I truly do. It does kind of seem that you may not have taken the time to comb through the threads and read each post, including those from Acronis employees, regarding issues with the software though.
I am impressed with the degree of acrimony the latest versions of ATI have engendered. My first note in this thread certainly set things off. The responses let me know to at least wait before upgrading to 2012, if ever. It also prompted me to look at other products. (Anyone tried the Laplink Imaging product?) I have been a loyal user of ATI for more years than I can remember, so prompting someone like me to look at alternatives should be a red flag.
I had bought 2011 some months ago but just installed it (2010 worked fine and gave me the information I needed). I usually upgrade toward the middle of the product cycle.
After my upgrade Acronis started leaving previous backups on my backup drive. (I run two regular backups, a backup of my data disk daily and a backup of my OS disk weekly.) I have them set to consolidate after 4 incremental backups.
There appear to be several problems.
1. Old full backups are left on the disk (I guess this is akin to the orphan tib files). This means that the backup disk rapidly fills up.
2. After consolidation, the four incremental tib files also remain, again working to fill up the disk.
3. Upgrading completely changed the schedule of my backups. This makes no sense, but they moved from 2:00 am to 1:30 pm, causing great problems because I am usually working at that time.
I am hoping these problems are just a version change problem and that they will go away as the backups are created by this version. Still they are annoying
However, I used 2011 to clone a disk yesterday and it worked flawlessly, so I am relieved that this core function is still good.
I will have to run a test restore to see what happens.
I have managed to dig through the interface and find the information I need, the places to change the details of existing backups, etc.
The presentation creates a lot more work for anyone trying to understand what is going on.
Acronis, if you are listening, please add back the 2010 or earlier interface or an improvement on it as an advanced mode.
I understand the desire to make this a product for idiots and the computer unaware to try and generate more sales, but the core group of users of this product is fairly computer savvy users. They want an interface that allows quick access to details and detailed functions.
Perhaps the idea of a home version was a version for idiots, but it took the place of the standard product, so the standard product users are using the home version.
Charles Aschmann
...However, I used 2011 to clone a disk yesterday and it worked flawlessly, so I am relieved that this core function is still good.
I will have to run a test restore to see what happens.I have managed to dig through the interface and find the information I need, the places to change the details of existing backups, etc.
The presentation creates a lot more work for anyone trying to understand what is going on.Acronis, if you are listening, please add back the 2010 or earlier interface or an improvement on it as an advanced mode.
I understand the desire to make this a product for idiots and the computer unaware to try and generate more sales, but the core group of users of this product is fairly computer savvy users. They want an interface that allows quick access to details and detailed functions.
Perhaps the idea of a home version was a version for idiots, but it took the place of the standard product, so the standard product users are using the home version.Charles Aschmann
I have always had excellent results from the TI fundamental purpose of being able to restore an image. But helping my friends sort through the TI2011 interface really, really ticked me off. I believe this product is a utility and should be structured for straight-forward use. Not some highly automated bunch of clever ideas that have a lot of potential for causing problems and making doing the typical tasks such as validating or recording an comment to go with the archive such a mystery. To hear others say TI2012 is the same after so much negative feedback is dreadful.
I have only ever used full, manual backups of C with validation and have no interest in all the clever functions. As a result I had very good success with the product but I refuse to use the interface and since I only want the bare-bones I have other options. I am also just plain tired of new releases being so apparently poor in QA time and time again. Sorry Acronis.
BTW, there is no imaging product in the world that works flawlessly on every PC. TI has one of the broadest feature sets available and the product really would be outstanding if a lot of the problems could be corrected. Some problems are indeed difficult to sort out given the vast array of PC hardware and software but there are some things such as a clean install, uninstall, upgrade routine that should not be the problem it is.
No, the issues are nnot users errors and bad user machines. a careful reading of the forums will reveal genuine probs on 2012
There is nothing you did that should have caused this. It's a problem nagging ati since it switched over to usinf dabase to manage backups instead of Backup Locations, especially in the last three versions.
[quote=Gork]
. . .
Mention has been made with regard to ATI losing track of TIB files. I had an interesting issue just the other week with regard to this little gem. I could see the file in File Explorer, it was there, but ATI didn't recognize it as part of the chain. I have no idea what caused it. I ended up manually deleting that entire chain and starting the whole backup schedule over again from scratch. Is there anything you can think of which I might have done, as a user, to cause this? I sure can't. But perhaps I'm just not smart.
. . .
I installed 2012 after a few issues of getting it to install on Windows 7. I too have used Acronis for years and have been using computers since 1974 (scary). I agree 2010 was the best of the products so far. If you have not had a restore issue yet ... keep using Acronis, its a matter of time. The issue with restore has not made me stop using the product as I am not the only Acronis user I know. There are a group of us; friends, associates and family, that use the product and over the years we have all had a bad restore where something goes wrong during the process and Acronis has wiped the drive.
I was excited when I saw that version 2012 had added the ability to press F12 to invoke Acronis recovery at boot. I activated it and it does not work. I am not sure if that is the software or my hardware as this function does something with the boot record. The old way of booting to the CD works just fine. Of course I immediately made a full back-up with the new version as I think it was version 2011 that gave me grief about restoring from a 2010 back-up.
I do not like the way 2011 or 2012 list backups as it never show all the ones on my drive; I have to search for them. If the version you are using did not create the backup the software can have issues with them under certain conditions. Problem is you never know when it will, which is why, if you are going to update versions you need to make backups with that version and always validate.
Yvonne,
I understand as well as you that anything can (and will) happen if given enough time to happen... I believe that is not the issue being discussed here. By the same token, I use Acronis for several years now and never had an issue with either doing my backups or recovering when I needed to. And based on my experience, can I honestly say that Acronis (as anything else, for that matter) will NEVER fail?
As for the issue of one version not being able to recognize a backup that was made by a different version of the software, that does not concern me much, either. Actually, in my view, this is something that can be reasonably expected, is it not?
Also, if you follow the steps widely suggested by the company and also those that common sense would recommend, I do believe this software (and I speak only for myself, based on my experience with it) performs marvelously.
My complaints are mainly about the "user friendliness" of ATI. Broadly speaking, as it was the case in the past, the GUI should be more pleasant and easier to use, it should not require an unreasonable amount of time and effort to the average user in searching for the most common features, it should not be ambiguous or unclear on any step of the process of backing up or recovering, it should keep the settings chosen by the user and, above all, it must DELIVER when the need comes.
Yes, it has DELIVERED whenever I needed it to deliver. It's all the rest that I wish Acronis would urgently address. And I don't think I'm reaching for the stars.
Still about ATI 2012... For those like me who are still using ATI 2010 (after downgrading from 2011) I personally do not believe the jump to 2012 is worth the money, even at the upgrade price, or the bother of the download and installation effort.
Sorry, Acronis!
I just followed suit with a lot of people here. I started having real problems with Acronis TI 2011. The major one was that it would start actions with no notice when I booted up my PC, hogging resources and making it impossible to work. It seemed to affect everything including network performance. When it was uninstalled things improved remarkably.
Several things I noticed, perhaps someone knows the reason for these.
There were two instances of TI monitor running.
The TI exec file continued to run even it was shut down.
I will probably reinstall TI 2010.
If I had some assurance TI 2012 fixed these problems, I might buy it, but the comments are scary. Certainly do not need any more alphaware.
If you backup is not set to NOT run missed backups on startup, that can cause a big slow-down on start up of the PC. I prefer to not automatically run missed backups and check them every now and manually then to be sure they ran.
Also, if there is a conflcit with some other software that can cause the sort of probs you describe. E.g., I had a big hog prob using 2011 (ati forced big waits after each click or keystroke -- that turned out to be a conflict with the Roboform taskbar icon -- Acronis figured that out and fixed in 2012.
I DID have it set not to run missed backups, but some hidden action started up.
I could only tell that it was Acronis causing the problem by opening ATI, and trying to do another action.
At that time it would tell me it could not because it was busy running another action. (Note: no indication of what it was doing. Almost spyware like behavior.)
I still do not know what it was doing.
Uninstalling ATI did wonders for my system speed. That is all I can say.
I also ran the ATI cleanup tool mentioned in another thread.
Even after that, there was terrible ATI residue in the registry.
These are all signs of poor software design.
After those actions, my system improved even more.
I want the functions of ATI, but after looking what removing it did for my system, I am very hesitant to attempt a reinstall.
It took me a whole day to figure out the problems and clean up the mess it caused.
What a shame. It used to be such a great piece of software.
Charles
Process Explorer from Microsoft will show what programs are running.
TI will always run scheduler and the Acronis driver is always loaded. The service you can stop so long as you don't need to run NSB and OLB is AFDC in Services.msc
I believe LinYu has said it all for me.
I've run ATI since Version 8, returned 2011 for a refund, reverted to 2010 because of the GUI and just can't believe Acronis has totally ignored the pain and suffering conveyed to them from the users of 2011 who took the time to proof it and document their results in detail on this forum.
I really thought we had made it when an Acronis VP responded to the 2011 thread and assured us they had heard us.
Well, I guess that's the proof of the pudding here for me. Whatever is going on at Acronis is just too hard to resolve at the user level.
I'm going to work with Macrium Reflect for my imaging from now on. I think the tool is good but the customer support is better.
It's time to stop the brain damage.
Life is too short for this...
I thought for sure my analogy of Jar-Jar Binks = TI2011 would get their attention. I can not believe they didn't revert more to the 2010 interface or at least make an option setting for those of us that loved the 2010 scheduler. I still can't get 2011 working for a customer of mine and with no way to buy 2010 any more, I'm might be forced to change products too. Man, what a shame.
I will add my "thought" to all of this (as I wait for DropBox to download all the files (50 gigs) that the new 2012 Sync feature deleted - plus the backups failed since upgrading to 2012... - can you hear the frustration Acronis? - almost a weeks worth of work gone!)..
Since I also work in the commercial software industry, I can say with a certain amount of expertise that if you have a bad release, you better fix it super, super quick (and fess up to it - keep customers informed) else customers will leave in droves and never come back.
Reminds me of an old GM car I bought about 20 years ago, had a ton of issues and problems. Guess what, I have not, and will not ever purchase another GM product again (not even factoring in the whole Government Motors thing)………
TI2012 - I'm kind of shocked and totally disappointed. This release killed my nerves, I'll go back to TI2011 and I won't ever again upgrade instantly. Also I'll try refund as this software does not work for me. I've been TI user since the first version.
Here's my TI2012 experience: http://forum.acronis.com/forum/24487
This is a real test of Acronis integrity with customer support.
Is there any? I mean customer support.
Also I'll try refund as this software does not work for me. I've been TI user since the first version.
I did that already but Acronis not have responded at all. So maybe I have to cancel my payment myself.
Paying customer since TI 7 or 8 (also bought Plus Packs and Disk Director 11).
Hi yamaneko,
good to know! I'd be extra disappointed if refound won't work. But then I'd definitely change my backup software. It's so typical: starting with a great peace of software (many years ago) and then becoming ....
Regards,
Felix