How Reliable is True Image 2015?

Hiya James,

Yes you can extract individual files from an Acronis image, in fact you can MOUNT the image and TREAT IT JUST LIKE A NORMAL DRIVE, i have done it many times. you could recover not only your music, but your emails, your documents, your contracts and whatever else you electronically save in the music business. You can copy whatever you want onto another drive or USB drive, Flash drive or whatever else you want.

Its especially useful when for whatever reason you cant boot from a drive you can image it which allows you to "play" with the faulty drive and try to repair it, maybe by an in place re-install or just a repair boot and if all else fails you still have an exact image of the drive before you tried to repair it so you have not damaged or lost your irreplaceable data. This btw is what professional data recovery companies do as a first step before they try to recover data.

So yes you can recover individual files, folders, settings etc with Acronis.

Clone is one of Acronis strong features, you can clone the existing drive to another drive, disconnect the old drive, and boot from the new one without any problems whatsoever.

How reliable is Acronis, well from my personal experience using it from ver 8 both for home users and small to medium business's it is unbeatable.

I 'll tell you why, when you are backing up/imaging data for a business and later you need to recover the data you do not want to tell them umm ahh sorry the backup/image didn't work you will have to re-input the last 6, 8, or 12 months of invoices, payments, debtors, creditors, bas, stock records, music etc..

I trust Acronis 110% and literally stake not only my personal reputation but my business's reputation on it every day and have done so for many, many years. I previously used a different imaging program and when it was needed most it failed which resulted in me losing a client who was at that time spending over $25k a year with me!!! even today that is a very worthwhile client. shoulda, coulda, woulda is the saying for that, do your research talk to people who use the product every day, they are the "experts" who literally put their livelihood on the line when they choose a product and recommend it to their clients.

Just as important, and although I have only had to use it once in all these years is support! I have found Acronis support staff to be knowledgeable and most importantly unlike other companies I have to deal with they they have the answers, instead of telling you we have to send it to level 2 or 3 and we will get back to you in a few days... omg i need an answer NOW, am onsite !! with the client.

so go for Acronis ...

And NO i do not work for Acronis, but sometimes i do wish i had shares in the company.. lol

rgds
Syb

Hi James,

Imaging software is always a bit tricky, and it it very important to test the software: do a backup, boot on the bare metal recovery medium provide by/with the software and try to recover a couple of files for testing purposes or, even better, do an actual recovery.

Thanks for the replies! I had True Image 2011 and just upgraded to 2015 yesterday when I saw some negative reviews.

One guy said this.

"Anyone contemplating buying TI1 2015 should visit the company's support forum. Not a pretty sight. Lot of people with software that hangs, plenty of people demanded their money back.

Another said this.

"I recently bought a new SSD that had a copy of True Image 2014 bundled. It wouldn't work. Clone Disk wouldn't produce a bootable disk, full backups wouldn't work after being restored, and the recovery disk wouldn't boot. However 2015 worked without any problems. So my recommendation would be the opposite - forget 2014 and use 2015. Even more important, don't just validate a backup - make sure you can actually restore from it."

Also:

"I stopped using this years ago, they never fixed bugs. So happy with Macium Backup, would never go back."

So... one could easily see my skepticism! LOL :D

I guess the proof of the pudding would be to try it out... do a clone drive... and then see if it boots up for ya.

BTW - Is the Clone drive compressed or does it have to be able to hold the same size data as your OS drive?

Thanks again!

Jamie

BTW - Here's a link to the review where I saw those comments on True Image 2015.

If you guys want to chime in I'm sure Acronis would appreciate it ;)

James,
I used trueimage 2011 for 5 years now and I could not recommend a better software to do it. Intuitive fast and reliable. No need to read any instruction manuals. I bought the upgrade, that was a mistake to 2015 and I also asked to get my money back, for Acronis 2015 is complicated, confusing and slow. The documentation is so wishi washi so confusing...
So if you can find acronis trueimage 2011, go ahead and buy it and you will not regret it!!!

Martin Imme wrote:

James,
I used trueimage 2011 for 5 years now and I could not recommend a better software to do it. Intuitive fast and reliable. No need to read any instruction manuals. I bought the upgrade, that was a mistake to 2015 and I also asked to get my money back, for Acronis 2015 is complicated, confusing and slow. The documentation is so wishi washi so confusing...
So if you can find acronis trueimage 2011, go ahead and buy it and you will not regret it!!!

I already have 2011... I just never used it! LOL I also have 2012 and 2014. However I'm not sure where my 2011 is (hmmm.) Might be on disk somewhere. I'll look around. ;)

I did upgrade to 2015. So... if I FIND my 2011 do I have to uninstall 2015? If I CAN'T find 2011 how about 2012? I have that and 2014 :)

Thanks!

I also bought the upgrade to True Image 2015........to bad it is crap !!! I've tried to unstall but I can!t reinstall 2011. I receive a error because it's still seeing that 2015 was on my computer. Hade to reinstall 2015.... A pity, it was very good, now it is very bad. I can see no more scheduled backups let alone change the options. Some backups start now at all times and I can not detect or stop all these operations because apparently everything is done in the background. GGRRRR.

James , Louis
either uninstall it, if it works,
but I made an image before installing 2015, so in case I can't uninstall it I just use the old image and no more 2015!
If you restore your older image, then make sure to restore also the windows boot sector, just in case 2015 messed with it.

and maybe it's best if you restore your image by restarting your computer with the Acronis Boot CD or Boot stick, not from within windows!

I'm not familiar with 2012, but it can't be that bad, I heard a lot of bad things about 2014
and 2011 should be on your account. If you have the license key, then you probably can download it somewhere again. I would send you the program, but I do have the german version...

if you have problems, let me know

Martin Imme wrote:

I'm not familiar with 2012, but it can't be that bad, I heard a lot of bad things about 2014
and 2011 should be on your account. If you have the license key, then you probably can download it somewhere again. I would send you the program, but I do have the german version...

if you have problems, let me know

I am about 1/4 or so German! Unfortunately I don't speak it well enough! LOL!

However, maybe it's time I learned German with a German copy eh? ;)

Here's a link I found about 2012. Seems lie there are some issues with it.

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/25521#comment-82828

I did find a download from Acronis site for 2011 trial version. Can I just download it and then put in my serial number?

Here's the link to download the trial version.

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATIH2011/#9760.html

Also, what about Macrium Reflect, Paragon or NovaBAKCUP as an alternative?

Acronis is NOT reliable. I've lost all my back ups and have to start over programming my computer. What a waste of money

I am not able to speak for the experiences of others. However, by and large, I've found the program, through 2015, to be reliable. This is not to say that there were not things for which I needed tech support, but this is not all that unusual with the introduction of any new release of software (as a good example, take a trip over to Norton's forums for the new Norton Security - interesting). In any case, I've been using ATI since 2011, and have never had a backup or restore fail. There was a period when I had correspondence with Acronis' 2013 version regarding backup slowdowns, but that was resolved. I had several issues with 2015, but the difficulty had more to do with how the menus were designed for the new GUI than the actual mechanics of core functions like backing up and restoring (this is in particular relation to the frequently mentioned inability to save scheduled backups, which can be done easily - if the user knows how - and Acronis should rightly be taken to task for this - it more arcane than it ought to be for a user friendly backup program). My dealings with technical support have always been pleasant experiences as long as both parties have a bit of patience. In operating the program, you do have to think about what you are doing, but this is probably true of any backup program worth its salt, and especially one with the diversity of options that ATI provides.

That being said, I have also been a user of Macrium Reflect (the professional version), and it, as well, is an outstanding tool. My own personal view of it is that it is more highly focused on the core tasks, and it does them with a very high degree of reliability. I tend to recommend it, however, for the more technically minded. In other words, if you are one of those folks who needs to know everything that the program is doing during it's operations (as I sometimes am), then Reflect is certainly for you. It's disclosure of scripts, scheduling, and sequences is probably unparalleled in a backup program aimed at the home user. If I were to describe it in one sentence, I would say that it is fast, lean, and wonderfully informative. ATI, on the other hand is almost as fast, robust, and most of all, comprehensive in what it offers to the user, even in the it's latest version, the pared down ATI 2015.

Just my own opinion, and I hope that I have been of some help.

Armlabes

Armlabes wrote:

I have also been a user of Macrium Reflect (the professional version), and it, as well, is an outstanding tool. My own personal view of it is that it is more highly focused on the core tasks, and it does them with a very high degree of reliability. I tend to recommend it, however, for the more technically minded.

Armlabes

I have thousands of hours in my work so to me, spending a few bucks on some good programs and some drives is no big deal! I'll always have at least 3 plus deep backups when it comes to my work. ;)

Jamie

I hear that NovaBACKUP is a highly regarded product, though I have not had opportunity to use it. Sounds like you are on your way to finding exactly what you need. During my own selection process, the great thing was that every solution that I wanted to try had a trial period long enough for me to make an informed assessment. I wish you much success in your pursuit.

Armlabes

Armlabes wrote:

I hear that NovaBACKUP is a highly regarded product, though I have not had opportunity to use it. Sounds like you are on your way to finding exactly what you need. During my own selection process, the great thing was that every solution that I wanted to try had a trial period long enough for me to make an informed assessment. I wish you much success in your pursuit.

Armlabes

Armlabes wrote:

I hear that NovaBACKUP is a highly regarded product, though I have not had opportunity to use it. Sounds like you are on your way to finding exactly what you need. During my own selection process, the great thing was that every solution that I wanted to try had a trial period long enough for me to make an informed assessment. I wish you much success in your pursuit.

Armlabes

Armlabes wrote:

I hear that NovaBACKUP is a highly regarded product, though I have not had opportunity to use it. Sounds like you are on your way to finding exactly what you need. During my own selection process, the great thing was that every solution that I wanted to try had a trial period long enough for me to make an informed assessment. I wish you much success in your pursuit.

Armlabes

Thanks Armlabes! I have a couple of 350 gig drives that I want to Clone using True Image 2015 and NovaBACKUP 16.5 Professional.

I'm also looking for ward to trying out Macrium Reflect v5 Professional. Currently it's priced at $58.99 but I hope they have a Cyber Monday sale! If they do, I might just pick that one up as well! :D

All The Best,
Jamie

James,
the trial is about the same size as my original, so I would try it out. Downloading just takes a few minutes. It probably ask you for your serial when you start it or for your registration.
As I said it, I used it for 5 years. Each time a strange virus attack, or windows 7 misbehaved or I installed something that created conflict, then I would take an image and restore win7 and all the problems were gone. I normally don't use it for data backup. All important data are on separate hdd. That was a lesson I learned 15 year ago. Primary hdd gone, all data lost. I have too much transient data, edit cutting videos, within a week 400 GB throughput...

I don't know about the other programs, but as long as 2011 is doing it's job I won't look elsewhere. But if in the near future I will build another system and acronis 2011 gives me problems then I'll start to look. My system is still quite up do date...

Good luck to you

I cannot tell you about 2015, I am still using 2013. But I have used many versions of Acronis (starting somewhere in 2003 or even earlier). It will be difficult to say how reliable a product is when there are so many circumstances to deal with. But in general I found (and this seems to be true more and more with every new release) that:

- the core engine (the part that perform the real backup/restore thing) is very robust and reliable
- the user interface and the administration of tasks/files is very buggy and error sensitive

So if you don't encounter any error situations you will be able to have safe backups made or restored. But as soon as somethings unexpected happens there is a big chance you are left with a user interface telling you that there are NO BACKUPS performed for that task even though the backup files are still there. And there is no way to tell Acronis "Hey, I have a backup file for you which you made in the past for me. Please add it to your adminstration again".
This is the type of problems if have had WAY TOO MUCH. Endless times I had to throw away all the backup scripts plus the backup files just to make sure I have a normal backup carried out as it should.

The older versions of Acronis did not have this "administration" feature and one could move and/or rename .tib files without a problem. Now, I can advise never touch, move or rename such a file...

Hope that this information helps a bit!

Martin Imme wrote:

James,
the trial is about the same size as my original, so I would try it out. Downloading just takes a few minutes. It probably ask you for your serial when you start it or for your registration.

Would I have to uninstall 2015? Can I run them both and see which one works best?

Also is there any features that night be a "Must Have" in 2015 over 2011? I thought about using the "Cloud" feature in 2015. However, I cold just get a Cloud account somewhere else.

Martin Imme wrote:

James,As I said it, I used it for 5 years. Each time a strange virus attack, or windows 7 misbehaved or I installed something that created conflict, then I would take an image and restore win7 and all the problems were gone.

Good luck to you

For an Image drive I've always used Win 7 System restore. It's always worked fine. Would Acronis do a better job you think?

Now a Clone (of course) would be if your OS drive died and you were SCREEEWWWED! Then, you'd boot off the Clone drive an BAM!!! Back in business!

I'm also looking into Paragon DISK Management 15 Professional features. I'll compare it with Acronis True Image 2015 features and see "What's what" ;)

Pat, I've used several previous versions of Acronis- and let ATI create a boot CD, which when tested, worked- so I know the basics, but I've seen some threads here where people offer explanations of how to create more complicated boot media and I don't understand why. I would presume that the CD that ATI can produce will do the trick on a standard Dell computer running Win 8.1, or would I have to follow those complex instructions by people here to produce a bootable CD?
thanks,
Joe

Before you do anything else, I would look at the sticky post that lists the features removed from 2015. Supposedly these features were removed either because they were obsolete or because they were confusing to novices. The latter primarily consists of manual operations.

In some cases there are workarounds, but they are not always obvious.

Jerry,

I saw a note from Acronis saying they removed Try & Decide because people don't need it any more- that, if trying some risky software or web site and it messes up your computer, just restore from your back up. I suggest that is a lame comment. I would much rather have Try & Decide than have to depend on a full restore.
Joe

I recently commented above concerning the fact that I have not had a back up fail using ATI. That was a little under two weeks ago. I am finding that I will have to revise my opinion. I began to experience other problems shortly thereafter, and at least, for the present, I cannot continue using ATI 2015. After a number of different service chats, Team Viewer sessions, etc., I've come upon yet another problem with the program, and for the past several days, my backups have completely failed, hanging on the "calculating time remaining . . ." msg.

I regret having to retract my earlier statements, but I am coming to the belief (and this is from an advocate of ATI) that 2015 was simply not ready for release, and does not appear to be so even after an update. Numerous problems still continue to plague its users, and I am more inclined to hear them after my own experiences.

A note to the coders: I am sympathetic to the difficulties of writing code that has to run on many different configurations of machines. However, in a backup program, the one thing that you have to focus on more than anything else is reliability. Its core functions have to work. If they don't, people quickly abandon the product for something that will, regardless of whatever bells and whistles you've added (or subtracted). At this point, I regret having spent both time and money struggling to have this program operate satisfactorily, and so I find myself in the aforementioned category.

Macrium Reflect has been operating flawlessly. I think I'll have to move on.

Armlabes wrote:

I recently commented above concerning the fact that I have not had a back up fail using ATI. That was a little under two weeks ago. I am finding that I will have to revise my opinion. I began to experience other problems shortly thereafter, and at least, for the present, I cannot continue using ATI 2015. After a number of different service chats, Team Viewer sessions, etc., I've come upon yet another problem with the program, and for the past several days, my backups have completely failed, hanging on the "calculating time remaining . . ." msg.

This is why I'm an advocate for making Clones. Since I ALWAYS backup my work on 2 or 3 separate drives by copying the project folders MANUALLY, then I do not worry about missing files!

If the Clone works and everything is there then no need to worry about my backups.

The Clone is just for my OS and installed programs. As long as my system BOOTS and working I'm in business! :D

James, I have used Acronis from 2008 and with 2013 decided it was time to upgrade. Every 2 years seems about right for me. When I purchased 2015 I was in shock . Compared to easy, user friendly, and reliable the 2015 seemed totally foreign. After some tech support I got my head around it and it actually made sense. 2015 takes some getting used to.
Most computer systems are getting more complex, interactive and mind numbing for someone like me who hasn't been brought up on digital life. I like simple because that works for me. Don't give up on 2015. It's just different and requires getting used to.

Donald Armitage wrote:

James, I have used Acronis from 2008 and with 2013 decided it was time to upgrade. Every 2 years seems about right for me. When I purchased 2015 I was in shock . Compared to easy, user friendly, and reliable the 2015 seemed totally foreign. After some tech support I got my head around it and it actually made sense. 2015 takes some getting used to.
Most computer systems are getting more complex, interactive and mind numbing for someone like me who hasn't been brought up on digital life. I like simple because that works for me. Don't give up on 2015. It's just different and requires getting used to.

I hear ya Don! I haven't given up on 2015. I used it to make my first Clone drive and it boots fine! I loaded my music DAW (Reaper) and it was fine! Also the synths in the project I tired all loaded.

Now I haven't tried EVERY synth (that would take days) but it seems to me as long as the OS boots and all, so far so good!

Now I am a firm believe in "Not putting my eggs in 1 basket" so with that in mind, I picked up Macrium Reflect v5 Professional, NovaBACKUP 16.5 Professional, and I WANT to get Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 Professional.

I believe you should have at LEAST 3 backups (Full Backup Images) PLUS 2 or 3 Clone drives of your OS using different programs then you're like 99.99999% OK!

Call me a bit paranoid, BUT I have THOUSANDS of hours into music production and video work so... you can NEVER have enough backups! LOL :D

James

While I agree on a solid backup system I do believe in having too much of a good thing. Now if I were even fairly paranoid I would have an Acronis full and a file backup on a separate harddrive (even one onboard, if fire and theft is very unlikely) and a reliable cloud backup or one offsite drive. We are living in an overly complex and rapidly changing world and to keep some sanity we must simplify. Well, I try to anyway.

This space seems to be here as I hit the 'save' twice. Sorry about that. No way to delete????? Or does the next space show up with my name on it???

I'm sorry, but I have absolutely nothing nice to say about True Image 2015 - I struggle like hell to get it to make a decent backup, but it fails in so many areas ... even though it reports a successful backup, the backup migt not be good ... so it can't be trusted.

There's absolutely no service from Acronis - unless you want to pay up front.

Version 2014 is way better! - 2015 is Alpha and should not have been released yet - imo.

Furthermore read this thread...
https://forum.acronis.com/forum/65396

:(

Donald Armitage wrote:

While I agree on a solid backup system I do believe in having too much of a good thing. Now if I were even fairly paranoid I would have an Acronis full and a file backup on a separate harddrive (even one onboard, if fire and theft is very unlikely) and a reliable cloud backup or one offsite drive. We are living in an overly complex and rapidly changing world and to keep some sanity we must simplify. Well, I try to anyway.

Actually, I was kidding on the paranoid part (LOL) I like simplicity as well! To me Acronis worked for a Clone drive and if 2015 is the only programed I used then I'm fine with that (as lone as my system boots and my programs works!) I also use Windows 7 System restore so that's always come in handy ion times past.

Now, I do believe in having a few different choices like Macrium Reflect and perhaps one day Paragon. It doesn't take much to make a few backups and clones and then if a program DID give you problems then if one failed, the odds are that all 3 wouldn't (although it is possible).

How Reliable is True Image 2015?
Answer: It isn't.
I've used True Image Home for years. After a TIH 2014 backup proved unreadable -- thus preventing me from recovering my system after a crashed hard drive -- I upgraded to TIH 2015, in hopes of getting support and the latest fixes in their software. I got neither: Support's thus far proven unhelpful to non-existent.
I'll advise all who ask against buying Acronis. Currently seeking an alternative that will support bare metal imaging, disk-to-disk cloning and local incremental archiving.

I have read most of this thread, and I guess it's time I chime in.

If you want a proven, tested, and reliable product, go find a copy of 2014 online and get the premium version (there are 3), and go with that.

The problem with ANY backup software, is how often (or lack of) that it gets tested. Most people install it, and if/when a disaster strikes, they know in the future how well it will perform. The problem is, you might have Acronis run for a year or more before you know how well the backups are doing, and if they work.

Well, I am not that person. I constant change my hardware, because my job and hobby have me do this almost daily. I switch from single HDD< to RAID arrays, to dynamic disks, and much more. I switch motherboards, and then switch back. Part of this is the need I have to test new and existing products, with regard to the hardware. Since I don;t like to rebuild Windows if I don;t have to, the Universal Restore comes in handy. I can say, for sure, that 2014 is stable, and I would trust and rely on this version of their product. 2015 has left me short handed a few times, where my backup would not work as I wanted it to, or I had issues and had to re-install the client to get it to work properly. All of this never happened with 2014.

So, if you can get a hold of a 2014 version, I think you will be fine.

David