Acronis True Image Home (Wish list)
The source drive to be backed up should include any NAS network shares (Buffalo, WD NAS, etc.) that are mapped to logical drives.
Otherwise I have to copy the drive to a folder and then back it up. The share drives should also be capable of being automatically backed up just like the local hard drives.
The function, you like to use, can be found on the main window. In the lower area you find "My backups". For each backup you have an "actions" drop-down, where you can choose "validate backup". You can add a backup by choosing "Search for backups" in the upper area of the main window.
One easy method is to use Windows Explorer and browse to the *.tib file.
Right click on the backup file and choose the archive option and then select Validate.
Yeah, I later found that out. It's still a little clumsy interface wise, IMO. You have to first add the backup to the backup list, then choose the Validate option, and then delete the backup from the list afterwards to keep the area listing the backups from becoming filled with too many backup lists.
Also discovered just now while typing this reply :) that there's a way to do it under a Windows Explorer context menu item. There's an Archive listing for TIB files where you can choose to Validate archives.
Didn't see the above reply before replying, actually, which tells me the same thing I just discovered while typing. LOL
Missing command line interface is exactly the reason I did not upgrade my 3 versions of V9 and one of V10. I requested it since years, but Acronis seems not to listen.
- Wilfried
Hello Wilfried Kern,
Command line interface is available in Business versions of Acronis Products.
There are no plans for adding this interface to home solutions as there was no high demand for it from home users.
I'd suggest you to take a look at Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 Workstation or Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 10 Advanced Workstation. These products are a bit more complicated compared with Acronis True Image Home product line but power user would be able to deal with them easily.
Thanks,
Andrey.
Add file-level operations for ext4 partitions (just like with ext3) in future updates of ATI2011
I've just looked at the user interface for TI 2011 and decided not to upgrade for now. I appreciate that the product is also intended for use by people who may be inexperienced users, but I find the constant reworking of the UI a bit tiresome.
Imagine the screams if Microsoft did this with every version of office!
Of course, new features require some changes but overall I find that the UI has disimproved over the years I've been using the product (starting with the workstation version). I run more than one version of the product and find moving between computers and different versions takes extra time--a bit like changing keyboards, even if it's just qwerty and azerty, it slows you down.
Seeing things like "Windows 7 integration" and "USB 3.0 support" touted as features of the latest version is not encouraging. Well, being candid, it's less than honest. It's not so long since TrueImage 2010 featured "Windows 7 integration" and the 2009 edition didn't (though in fact it ran perfectly well on Windows 7). Now, the 2010 edition no longer features Windows 7 integration, and needless to say the 2009 edition will run perfectly well on a computer with USB 3.0 support. At what point is this version comparison simply deceptive advertising?
I also feel that the complete rework of the UI with absolutely NO foundation to the old UI is irresponsible. If, say, EBay did something like this they would be instantly out of business.
It has degraded into such a mush of soup it is hard to tell it is even soup.
It is only that the core feature, Image Backup, has always worked for me when I needed it that keeps me with this software.
All this CONSTANT bombardment with marketing FLUFF is really hard to cope with.
I cannot look my customers in the eye and tell them this software is easy to use because it has such a "unique" interface, it is like them learning the computer all over again. Sad.
I feel the UI as designed by Mickeymouse. Terrible.
Paul, you're right we tried to rework UI to make it better to inexperienced users, but there were no big changes since version 2009. We hardly needed to change UI concept, because it was good only for experienced users. I agree that constantly changing UI is a bit tiresome, that's why we are not going to change it a lot during next releases. We'll listen to our customers and make local changes.
Dave, sometimes hard decisions must be taken or one could always go around in circles, look at the latest Twitter update. What about "unique" interface, could you tell me, what parts of UI you are confused by, it could help us make it better.
mbathen, in what use cases do you mind the UI is terrible and old one is better? I want to know all the dirt, you are welcome to write me a private message.
Thanks, Andrey
OH Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeee - change it back. This 2011 sucks really bad - I don't see how you moved forward on this upgrade, I think you moved back several versions.
I am not looking at the interface now, but generally speaking, there is not enough information. There is only the ONE pane and boxes for each backup get listed below. It is very unclear where these backups are in relation to everything else. For crying out loud, the left/right/middle pane concept WORKS. Do you see MS Outlook changing the basic layout? NO. Because that is a PROVEN interface. It allows a somewhat normal human to see what they need to see IN RELATION to everything else.
And having to right click to bring up a menu that has things that should be immediately visible is also a step backwards.
I push this software (2011) like crazy in my humble little newsletter, but really, Active @disk Image lacks all the feature bloat and is simple to use.
It is almost like the UI in 2011 in NO UI.
Yes, I have strong feelings about this as I need my clients to be able to at least have a chance at learning this software.
Usually one version UI builds on the previous version. A totally different look and feel is rarely, if EVER, a useful thing.
Ah well, I have a big mouth. Sorry :)
Dave
TIH 2011:
- Please add ability to sort the individual backups in the My Backups section. I would like to be able to sort my backups manually (not necessarily by name or type of backup).
- Ability to group individual backups into categories or trees
- My Backups section should take less screen real estate. It has been made just too big in this new version.
- IMPORTANT ONE: I would like to be able to know what exact files have been added to / changed on a given incremental or differential backup vis-a-vis the previous backup. That is, when I select a given backup, I would like to be able to view both the consolidated file structure and the individual files that are contained in a given .TIB file.
- IMPORTANT ONE: Ability to create multiple nonstop backups. For instance, I can configure folder A and folder B to be backed up on a nonstop basis only as long as they are configured in the same nonstop backup profile. I can't create different nonstop profiles for each of folders A and B. So, for instance, if I decide I no longer need to backup folder A on a nonstop basis, I can take actions that will affect that folder only and not everything else.
- IMPORTANT ONE: This will be difficult - replace the incremental and differential backup process with the much more evolved 'fast incremental' process/technology used on EMC's Retrospect. That program is extremely fast and never requires differential backups. Unfortunately they never made a good Home edition of it.
Thank you.
TIH 2011:
- Please add ability to sort the individual backups in the My Backups section. I would like to be able to sort my backups manually (not necessarily by name or type of backup).
- Ability to group individual backups into categories or trees
- My Backups section should take less screen real estate. It has been made just too big in this new version.
- IMPORTANT ONE: I would like to be able to know what exact files have been added to / changed on a given incremental or differential backup vis-a-vis the previous backup. That is, when I select a given backup, I would like to be able to view both the consolidated file structure and the individual files that are contained in a given .TIB file.
- IMPORTANT ONE: Ability to create multiple nonstop backups. For instance, I can configure folder A and folder B to be backed up on a nonstop basis only as long as they are configured in the same nonstop backup profile. I can't create different nonstop profiles for each of folders A and B. So, for instance, if I decide I no longer need to backup folder A on a nonstop basis, I can take actions that will affect that folder only and not everything else.
- IMPORTANT ONE: This will be difficult - replace the incremental and differential backup process with the much more evolved 'fast incremental' process/technology used on EMC's Retrospect. That program is extremely fast and never requires differential backups. Unfortunately they never made a good Home edition of it.
Thank you.
Agree the 2010 interface was better, much more logical. You should at least offer a theme for your loyal previous users to revert back to what they already liked very much.
Comment about the interface comments that have been recently posted.
My two cents is I always loved the interface in TI Version 11. I know that version is about 2 years old, but, I always thought that interface was the better one of the versions I tested that came after it. It had the nice little notice at the top of the main page when the last backup was run, so, there was no need to constantly check the log. The scheduled tasks were in a more concise display. I would, though, keep some of the later interface additions like Cloning a backup job. Makes creating and scheduling tasks much easier. Plus, the create a shortcut to the job. That was a nice addition.
I didn't play around too much with TI 2011 during my trial, so, if it's there, you can ignore this comment. But, I've always wanted a way to copy and restore backup jobs. WITH their scheduled time information. That way, one can just select a button and have a backup from an old partition's installation into a new one's. None of that copying job files from a User folder and manually copying them into the current one, which didn't work on TI 11. One of few beefs with TI 11 was the inability to easily backup and restore created and scheduled jobs.
In the My Backups section I would like to have 2 pages or tabs. One for backup tasks and one for completed backups. Also it would help if we could sort or move the tasks .
Andy
ATIH 2010/2011
I would just like a product that worked properly and did what it said on the tin - THEN perhaps we can add the embellishments.
1. True Image WD did not install until I switched off virus scanner and changed some settings. This is the only program I've had any trouble installing in the last six years, including another imaging program. So obviously, sort out a decent working install process.
2. I wanted to clone a disk to a larger one. Seems simple - why does the wizard not follow the steps that the support knowledge base suggests - eg:
a) check that DMA is working
b) by default, suggest the bootable CD option, not the windows one.
c) make clearer that a risk of the process is to loose all data on both drives
3. Make sure that cloning can never corrupt the source disk.
4. Add a 'confirm' step to drive selection in the wizard. This is pretty important stuff, and you want to be 100% certain that the correct drives are selected.
I prefer the last interface much better.
Hello!
How can I generate a new SID during recovery on Acronis True Image Home 2011?
thanks
How about having a warning message that if you use "non stop backup" that it will NOT work with "Universal Recovery" to different hardware. This is definitely NOT something you want to find out after your computer has crashed and you are trying to restore it!!!!
well whom do you have to blame in this situation, sir? yourself I would say, with all due respect....
I would like to have a "basic" mode without all those things I don't understand why they have to be in an backup-imaging application.
Using TI7 and TI8 was easy and with a warm feeling what was going on. With Windows 7 I had to upgrade to TI2010 and I am extremley confused. Try and Decide? Secure Zone? OneClick? BootSecure? Excluding of files?
And what is that PlusPack thing? I always was able to recover to other PCs with TI because that is what the program is for. Now I need a PlusPack when I want to restore to a new bought disc? Why is that?
Besides, there are some glitches in 2010 that I hope has been fixed in 2011:
- In TI2010 I can backup to a *new* image but in incremental mode. Huh?
- At least in the German localization the logs are falsely sorted, no way to find anything again.
But basically, in the clutter of tools and commands and options I always get the feeling I made something wrong so I won't be able to recover from the backup in case of a problem.
Making image backups should be like taking a photo and restore that exact photo later if a problem occurs. That's how TI7 and 8 worked.
So I'd like to have an easy mode with just three commands:
- Making image backups from my drives/partitions, full or incremental
- Validating images
- Restoring images
The UI step towards inexperienced users makes the program more and more unusable for experienced ones.
I had a dream
Ti2012 comes with an installer which lets me choose the modules i need
Try and Decide
Secure Zone
OneClick
BootSecure
Add to contextmenue
and so on
(MS-Office setup could be a good example.)
skins to activate an alternate GUI like Classic view with a tree of my drives including Partions and volumename of them
My wanted TI would use Backup and Restore, Clone a drive, clear a drive,( should be better in DD),
So each user can decide what he wants.
But Acronis thinks the user is unable know what is good for him. So they install their view. Services and drivers which are only used by less users.
I had a dream ;.(
[This repeats a comment I made to an individual post, before I discovered this "Wish List" forum]
TIH 2011 (build 6574 at least) has removed the ability to specify a sender address and subject for email notifications. Why? Please put these options back!!
Removing the sender address, in particular makes no sense, as I now receive notifications from "@[my-isp-mail-server]".
For the subject field, please go back to allowing the option of a fixed user-specified subject. Or, better still, allow the option of combining the new auto-generated subject with a fixed user-specified portion.
TIH 2011 (build 6574 at least) has also removed the ability to specify a comment when creating a new backup. And for existing backups, the space to view an existing comment is a single line about 4cm wide. To see any more requires editing it, at which point you get a text box about 2cm wide!
The new interface has a huge amount of empty space when exploring a backup. Surely some of this could be used to view/edit the comment.
TIH 2011 (build 6574)
I leave up the discussion about the new GUI to others. Instead I complain about the file names that are messed up all the time. In previous versions I made an image like “weekly.tib”. From time to time I renamed it to something like “Wotan 2010-08-15.tib” when I wanted to preserve a special state. Doing an image next time, TIH generated again a file like “weekly.tib”. With TIH 2011 this doesn't work anymore:
1) Renaming a .tib file an generating an image again produces a file like “weekly” with an incredible long key behind it + .tib.
2) Even making a copy of “weekly.tib” an renaming it to “Wotan 2010-08-15.tib” produce this effect, although I didn't touch “weekly.tib”.
Please remove the annoying lines of code that trouble me...
I would really like to see a balloon popup on scheduled backups that would delay the start 10 or 15 seconds prior to starting. It would by default start the operation if no user intervention. The other choice would be to stop the automatic backup. This is especially useful if you have just restored your system as all the scheduled backups are likely to run again when you restart the system. I don't normally want that to happen as it drives me nuts. I don't want to wipe out all my current backups.
My wish list is pretty short
* Fire all developers and the "management" team - both are utterly useless.
Thomas Runge
A foreword in this heated discussion: as a brand new user of Acronis TI, I don't have to go through a UI change.
I tried Acronis 2010 a while ago but I didn't go beyond the trial for various reasons.
I like the 2011 version a lot, as I like simple software that do complicated things I don't have to micro-manage.
I have some suggestions and comments about the current release, however:
Thế là thế nào nhỉ??
here is a suggestion and report of a nasty bug i have encountered with all version of acronis i have used including ver 2011. when i create an image from the Rescue disc, and save it for example backup.tib. when i try to set the backup.tib attribute to hidden( because i like to hide my backup) everytime i try to recovery the tib image, it appears as corrupted when i try to restore it, this is very annoying. all i have to do is remove the hidden attribute so that acronis allow me to restore this partition. please fix this bug! just because i hide the tib does not mean it is corrupted.! at the very least add an option to set the attribute of tib when creating a backup image so as it does not appear corrrupted, i have wasted countless cd / time and backup etc because i thought my backup really was corrupted. it is only now that i have discovered this bug, so please fix it in the next release, it should be hard for the devs. thank u!
Прошу помощи. После переустановки Windows XP SP3, не запускается установочный файл. Выдает ошибки:
Тип события: Ошибка
Источник события: SideBySide
Категория события: Отсутствует
Код события: 34
Дата: 20.12.2010
Время: 17:03:34
Пользователь: Н/Д
Компьютер:
Описание:
Идентификатор компонента в файле манифеста не соответствует запрошенному идентификатору компонента
Тип события: Ошибка
Источник события: SideBySide
Категория события: Отсутствует
Код события: 58
Дата: 20.12.2010
Время: 17:03:34
Пользователь: Н/Д
Компьютер:
Описание:
Синтаксическая ошибка в манифесте или в файле политики "C:\DOCUME~1\FE66~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\19FAD055ABC0498BB8C9D3874E92592B\Microsoft.VC80.CRT.MANIFEST" в строке 4.
Тип события: Ошибка
Источник события: SideBySide
Категория события: Отсутствует
Код события: 59
Дата: 20.12.2010
Время: 17:03:34
Пользователь: Н/Д
Компьютер:
Описание:
Generate Activation Context завершилась не удачно для C:\DOCUME~1\FE66~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\19FAD055ABC0498BB8C9D3874E92592B\TrueImageHomeInstall.exe. Соответствующее сообщение об ошибке: Операция успешно завершена.
Как можно решить эту проблему. Заранее спасибо
Hello,
To remove the TI 2011 regression from TI 2010 please re-enable the possibility to schedule tasks every x weeks.
See post:
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/17203
For the moment I will stay with TI 2010, if not re-implemented, I will switch later to another backup solution able to upgrade without loosing old functions.....
Also try to re-implement the TI2010 User Interface, the TI2011 UI is very poor.
Jean
I am going to have to include my vote for making all the bells and whistles that you have added in as optional componants instead of part of the big picture. Acronis Backup was rock solid as a stand alone product. If I want to shread files, have acronis take over windows backup, or include try and decide, etc., I will elect to include those modules. They seem to be more of a problem than they are worth. If this comes to pass, then I will be able to tell my friends about this program again.
I can't see that I have any other backup or Acronis running and all my backup ever says is queued. No backup happens. I have deleted all old backups from the list. I've downloaded the latest version. I've rebooted my computer. Nothing seems to work.
This program is really frustrating me. Why can't it look like a "normal" Windows program? Show the version you're on, tell you why it isn't doing something, use terms an average person understands.
Here's a thought - how about if it was so simple everyone actually wanted to buy it. Something like:
It starts with a button that says Backup.
Then it says what do you want to backup and you say My Documents or C drive or My Pictures, or my email, etc.
Then it asks where do you want to back it up to and you pick from the choices of external devices.
Then it asks when do you want to run the backup and the choices are Now or you have a choice of frequency.
If it could tell you if your external device doesn't have enough room BEFORE YOU START, that would be nice too.
If it could lastly tell you the backup was successful or not that's be icing on the cake.
Anyway, back to my problem with queued ....help!
GUI and Other related Issues
I would like to 'second' Katherine's comments - Acronis seems to have a great reputation, but .... why cannot it behave and look more like a 'normal' Windows program. To my mind one of its biggest issues is its totally counter intuitive interface. There is amost nothing in the end-user interface that is intuitive or conforms to any of the normal conventions. This is a major issue. I'm talking about True Image 2011 here, which I just want to do the basic things in a simple straightforward and easily understandable manner.
Lets start with the simple things, and I agree these are in some ways trivial, but the point is they are indicative of Acronis's lack of appreciation about how a GUI should be designed.
Go into the first screen - take a look at it - what do you see?
1) You see a line across the top which says "Add backups" do you see anyother line lower down which says anything else - no you don't, so what is the purpose of this line?
2) After a while I realised there was an upward pointing arrow at the extreem right hand side of the above mentioned line and if I clicked on this all the three or four (depending on what you count) subsequent lines disapear - oh, well blow me down, I wonder what the point of that was - I thought these lines were the major functions that Acronis True Image provided and now they are hidden until I click on the downward pointing arrow! That does not seem very clever - all I'm left with is a list of backups - why don't I get to these through a command or drop down menu on this first screen instead of having this detail cluttering up the first (and therefore main menu screen)? If you must mix up the log of backups and the main ommands in the same window please think about using a different background colour for the two totally different functional areas so that they are differentiated from one another and I am not confused into thinking they are part of the same 'thing'. However I think this is bad design practice and I would prefer to see the list of backups made visible through a command and in a separate window (like a pop-up if necessary).
3) While we're on the subject of the list of backups I sometimes find that the messages that appear below some of these log entries are half obscured by the next log entry - seems like a programming bug here. However a possibly more serious GUI design issue here is the fact that these log messages are actually 'active' in that you can alwats right mouse click on them to bring up some additional menus (this is by no means obvious and I discovered it by accident) - also I believe (although I cannot refresh my memory right now because the situation does not exist on my system) that if the line of the message is pink (indicating an error condition apparently) you can click on the message and a window pops up with a very, very cryptic and abridged list of messages. Clicking on each of these messages expands the message. You know I was wondering where the message log had gone - it ought to be very obvious how one goes about seeing a full detailed log of all the messages - the current process is far from obvious, and only those with a certain amount of tenacity will get through to the end.
4) Still on the subject of messages how do I see the message log for a successful backup? I would like to see when the backup started, what time each significant part of it started and when it all finished. As far as I can work out it is impossible to see the message log for successful backups.
5) When I defined a backup 'job' I deliberately looked for where I could give the backup a name and how I could get Acronis to automatically append the current date to the backup for each run. I am pretty well certain I found how to do this (after a lot of searching around) but when the backup was taken nothing was apended to it. Moreover now when i clickon 'Operations' for that backup and then 'Edit backup settings' and I try to re-instate the '@date@' or whatever parameter it was I cannot fid any way to do this - do I assume these are two programming errors?
6) And while I'm on the subject of a name for the backup 'job' why is this just about the last parameter one is asked to set - it is right at the bottom of the job definition window - surely giving the job a anme is the first thing one should do - to my mind this is another very basic GUI design issue.
7) Another thing which gives me major problems is I am never sure when Acronis has finished processing a command - it does not seem to have implemented (or it has deliberately switched off0 the capability to have the egg-time up while work isprogressing - I find myself trying to click on other parts of the screen to get it to do something else when I can only conclude it is still processing my previous command. I need to know when it is busy, when it has finished doing what I asked it to do - again these are very basic GUI requirements.
8) Some of the messages that come from Acronis are very confusing - for instance I had a load of messages headed "Warning"!!! which said it wanted me to "Specify location of the volume ' - I have left two blanks at the end deliberately because after the first bank it inserted a square lozenge character - whether this was a coding error or there was some additional missing information I have no idea. In addition this message appeared while the system was in the middle of validating a series of incremental backups and all the files were available and visible in the Acronis "Browse for Backup" window, so i have no idea what its real problem was or how I could address it - no matter how many times I pointed it at each one of the incremental backup files it just returned to the same message and, if I remember correctly, eventually abended and said it was sending a message to Microsoft!!!! I've attached a jpg screen shot of these messages.
I could go on and on - I have used Acronis 2009 and its interface, while different, was certainly no better - I think Acronis needs to employ a good GUI designer and ask that person to take a really hard look at this application so that the GUI can be made easily usable by ordinary people. I think you need to remember most of your intended audience for the True Image Home products will not be IT professionals and they want a simple easy to understand interface - this does not mean you should strip out any advanced function but it does mean you need to present the facilities the product offers in an easy to understand intuitive way - most people are not going to print off a 100 page manual (given the cost of colour inks!) so they are going to pitch in and try to use the product straight off. The addition (very belatedly) of the Grandfather- Father-Son capabilities in 2010 is a very welcome addition - it means the complexities of Chain2Gen do not need to be tackled by non-IT professionals (although that was a brilliant piece of coding and I take my hat off to the person who produced it).
I apologise for the length of this but I think it is an important topic for the benefit not only of your users, but also for your business and right now your GUI is doing you no favours.
Agree with all the above.Went back to 2010 and the UI is so much clearer and more understandable. Dumbing down the UI for 'less experienced users' usually has the effect of 'more experienced users' moving to another product IMO. Also, regression testing needs to be very significantly improved: I had to revert to 2010 Build 7046 because of the major problem with the 7054 update described in:
Referring to TIH 2011 build 6597, it would be nice to have it go to hibernating/stand by mode after backup, when set to wake up from hibernation/stand by.
Also, would be nice to be able to program NSB to go idle at certain times for those with SSD's, SSD's need idle time for garbage collection, if backing up every 5 minutes might interfere with this process and SSD will become suboptimal.
Would like NSB to turn off between 10 pm and 6 am as an example.
Best
I would like to have more customization in the differential backup. Since I do differential backups of C drive every day, the backup drive fills up very quickly with the result that I often have to manually delete several backups to make room. For this, I would like to be able to determine which backups to be deleted by the date or, if the backup disk is full, delete a n number of backups from last to first (full backup) but, of course, without cancel the first backup.
For better understanding, suppose that after 15 differential backups, the disk is almost full and the next backup cannot be done. Then, TIH automatically remove the last 7 or 10 backup based on the options chosen. I guess the options as follows (in red box):
I do not mean something like automatic consolidation or version chain
scheme. But just an automatic deletion.
But, why delete the last n differential versions? Because, as known, over time Windows tends to malfunction. So then you can retrieve the more similar to the current one working version, without returning to the first installation.
I would dearly love an interface that does what you expect from the screens and instructions.
Basic backup - full then differences only until the next full, done automatically. Why is it hard? It just will not work for me. I always wind up failing because the disk is full. This is not a problem that should ever be presented to me. And it is also not real obvious when it happens.
Using so much cpu (yes, priority set to low, and have 8 high clock speed cores available) that the PC becomes marginally/completely unusable while Acronis does its' thing.
It makes no sense not to have the ability to name the directory saving the backups. My Backups - give me a F*****g break. I want multiple backup configurations.
Nothing you do because you simply don't understand the cryptic and extremely non-intuitive interface should quietly (e.g., no notification - hey, we gave you documentation - duh) cause data to be deleted. EVER!!!!! Did I mention EVER!!!!!$$$$$******
Rational means of determining files that need to be backed up for intermediate backups. I have daily backups that are 3 - 6 GB. There is just no way in hell I have changed this much data. Something is seriously wrong in the mechanism for determining dirty data. And it is unexplained.
This is a software package sold to the unwashed masses. I did not think I was in this category; but using Acronis it appears that I am. It lacks sufficient intuitiveness, documentation, and common sense necessary for the unwashed masses.
Why is one of the simplest and most obvious backup schemes so damn difficult to achieve - and with the reasons for not being able to accomplish it so damn obscure?
The user has zero confidence that they are actually being protected. "testing" requires a separate drive to see if a recovery is possible. I will never (based on the documentation, interface, personal experience, user feedback) risk wiping my primary disk to see if Acronis works. This does not create a warm fuzzy feeling in the customer (definition for Acronis since you seem to have missed this - the person who pays you money (so that you can exist) to insure they won' t lose data or program installations if the PC gets borked) that they actually have a way to restore their system. I bought the extra package allowing restore to another environment (and why would this not be considered simply a requirement for a rational backup program?) and I am having comprehension problems with that mess. Order of probability as to why you PC has crapped out that matter. 1 - infected and need to go back; this probably works OK (with limitations impressed by stupid naming convention, 2 - disk broken; recovery from this is not so clear, no confidence, 3 - mother board has released the magic smoke. With or without the add-on this is not a confidence inspiring scenario. The magic smoke recovery needs to be a base product included recovery methodology. Anything less is really bordering on useless.
Ahh - finally something that makes sense.
I was trying to reply to post 186.
I would also like a return to a version of TI Home that behaves more like earlier versions. I support numerous small (2 to 10 user) peer-to-peer networks. In the past it was easy to setup TI to make a full image backup of each PC to a removable hard disk one evening each week (frequently Friday, since full backups take longer and it's therefore easier to allow more time between backups from different PCs over Fri. evening thru Sat. morning without impacting work hours), then incremental backups every other evening. When the next Friday arrives, removable hard disk #2 (which has been off-site all week) is put in place of #1, #1 is taken off-site, and the Fri. evening full backup happens again. Each backup is split into DVD-size chunks, allowing the backups to be copied to cheap "point in time" copies. These chunks have simple names - e.g. MyPC1.tib, MyPC2.tib, etc. With every hard disk swap, every full backup overwrites any previous full backup, and subsequent incremental backups overwrite previous incremental backups. With a 2 disk rotation you have 7 - 14 days of backups for each PC, and with cheap hard disks it was not unusual to have 3 and 4 disk rotations. Due to the metadata / backup database behavior of True Image 2011, this scenario is no longer possible. You can get close using Chain2Gen, but there appears to be no escape from the file name nonsense caused by TI 2011's "memory" of previous backups in its database. I think the move to the database was well-intentioned - I can see that it would be useful in the scenario where you might want to store files from a single backup chain on different drives. I would just really like the ability to turn it off and go back to the old behavior.
1. Windows accounts with restricted access privileges are able to use Try&Decide, exactly said its Try portion only.
2. Image Browser Window uses the file icons as registered in OS
3. Image Browser time stamp (date, time) format according to setting done in OS
4. Users with restricted access privileges (non-administrative) are allowed to use
- image validation
- search images/backups for files and strings in files
Here is what I wished it had.
- Command-line options for everything (backup, restore, automatic restore)
- Option to restore to most recent backup if more than 5 boot attempts failed
It would be very nice to add TrueCrypt and USB3 (NEC) support to the rescue disk.