All about Acronis True Image Home build 6696
I installed build 6696 yesterday. I did it as a clean install. I uninstalled build 6597 and then I removed some files and registry entries it left behind. Before I uninstalled I undid the integration with Windows. This is not done by the uninstaller. Very slack by the people who didn't do this when they set up the uninstaller. It has caused some grief to people who wanted to revert back to Windows backups.
The installation was no trouble but he fun started when I was creating my backup definitions. I had to negotiate that crazy UI (User Interface) again. If I had remembered how bad it was I may have reconsidered my decision to do a clean install. At least this time I didn't have the long delays because I removed the network share. Acronis may also have fixed that one anyway.
Because of the UI it is possible to miss things so I had to edit the backup definitions. I got a message saying Failed to add the backup to the backup list. See the attachments. The Knowledge Base was no help. This stopped me until I recalled that this was also a problem with the previous build but of course I could not be sure that it would not cause me trouble.
I went and looked at backups script files and yes they had been saved correctly. The defaults had changed also so WTF. I think it was a message just to tell me it was unable to create a backup defintion because it was already existing. I can do without messages like this.
I did notice in the Files Backup scripts that C:\Users\MyUsername\Documents was always included in the backup. I checked and when you select the source file(s) or folders the Documents folder is preselected . I had not noticed this previously. After a lot of editing that was finally removed from all of my definitons.
Some file locations for those who may be interested. Backup scripts are located here C:\Users\All Users\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts and here C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts . ATIH appears to keep at least two sets of scripts which are identical and which are also modified when a backup runs. Directly editing the scripts may not be a great idea. Acronis registry entries are at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Acronis and the defaults for backups appear to be at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Settings .
My conclusion is that the UI is still a huge pain (PITA) with settings hidden in devious places and this can cause you to have settings you dont want. Once you get past the UI for creating the backups the rest of the product seems to work OK.
What is your experience with build 6696?
I am with JoeG here, but I got lazy and maybe foolish.
I just updated like it should: I accepted the updated and installed in place. The good news is that things are working.
Still, some UI issues persist:
- autocleanup settings are not retained when the tab is not the backup scheme tab as you click OK,
- the status banners don't update themselves automatically (you have to close them so that the right one can appear. Example: changing from completed succesfully to backup is valid),
- I still have rogue "checking credentials" flashing messages when editing backups. They don't seem to happen if you click on "destination" and browse the network in the left panel.
My pet issue is not solved: turning the option "In backups, store encrypted files in a decrypted state" make backup fail when backing up EFS encrypted files
I just got 6696 installed. Just did it as an update to 6597. Once installed, I installed the PlusPack. I also downloaded the PlusPack .iso and burned a new recovery boot CD. Unfortunately no different than previous ones... Boots to the Main Selection screen, but doesn't recognize wireless mouse. Then when launching the Acronis True Image app, my machine reboots while its loading the Linux kernel. So I went ahead and burned a WinPE iso using 6696 WinPE builder and that CD is working fine (as expected).
Tomorrow I will test some of the things that were broken for me in the backup program.
I had problems with a disconnected network share on previous versions where it made the UI very slow. I just recreated the network share and tried Acronis and it looks like they have fixed that problem.
James
Does TI recovery work with a corded mouse? If so the recovery media does not have have your wireless mouse driver
In ATI2011, I believe at least one of a pair of script files for a task is created or revised each time you run a task. This means you can't run a task by running a script form Win Scheduler, which one could do with earlier versions. IT might also mean that one can directly edit scipts and expect tasks to work - although I haven't had time to try it.
I. . . ATIH appears to keep at least two sets of scripts which are identical and which are also modified when a backup runs. Directly editing the scripts may not be a great idea. Acronis registry entries are at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Acronis and the defaults for backups appear to be at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Settings .
Joe... The wireless mouse actually works with the recovery CD (as it did with earlier builds).... BUT.... The only way it does is if you are moving the mouse around while the "Acronis Loading" message is on screen - before the main menu GUI comes up. If the mouse sits there idle while the program boots, its DOA. A wired mouse works all the time.
I find the Linux based Acronis Recovery CD pretty much a hit-or-miss thing. It either works with your hardware or doesn't. I have several computers it works fine with, but my main one doesn't. If it wasn't for the ability to custom make your own WinPE boot CD with the Acronis Plug-in, I'd have given up ages ago. Acronis should ship the WinPE recovery CD builder with the standard program with full instructions on building your own recovery CD rather than making you purchase the Plus Pack to get it.
Email Notification has not been fixed in this build. Still requires you to enter a userid and password to authenticate SMTP session even though ISP does not require it. Thus send notifications always fail. I can still only get them to work if I use an SMTP server that allows authentication and I provide the necessary authentication values.