ATI Home 2011 v6696 - it's time to give up folks

One simple question: Is there a single feature that works as expected?

Steve, to answer the question: Why is this so hard for them?

I suspect that the developers are totaly overburdened with this product.
I also suspect that many of them have resigned and that the new developers are still in the training phase ;=)

Such a shame - Acronis used to be the last word in safe and secure backups.... where did it all go wrong... even Grover has to admit the software is not really "finished" software despite his protests.... and don't even get me started on the absolutely awful interface of ATI Home 2011...

Steve,
Hello.... TI 2010 V-7046... for me seems to have been the best so far V-11, was OK but slow...2009 was a total looser, and 2010 at least works in it's basic functions .... I'm running Windows 7 \ 64 HP desktop and had a few problems with 2010 .. but managed to get them straightened out.. My "advice " go with 2010 V-7046 and stick there. Regards Fred

I have used Acronis True Image Home products for quite some time and have had nothing but good things to say about them. Never had any problems until I tried 2011 - this is a totally different story. I returned the product for a refund when it first came out, waited for two releases, and like a fool purchased it again. These people can't fix anything - I just don't understand it.

To show you how really pathetic they are, I get an update notification when I run 2010, but I can't download the update because 2010 doesn't show up in my list of purchased products. I have emailed tech support twice with my serial number to verify ownership and I get nothing.

As far as the 2011 GUI - this is ridiculous. It is what I complained the most about and they have done nothing to remedy it.

Acronis True Image Home 2010 was the first home-oriented backup software I've used in a long time.  I have to say that it was a little rough around the edges, but was a decent enough program and got the job done.   I was lured into a promotional upgrade for TIH 2011 and all I can say is: "What a mistake!"  Let's list the issues I've had with TIH 2011:

• E-mail notifications suddenly stopped working between one build of TIH 2011 and another.  It turns out that the Acronis programmers decided to require SMTP authentication for some reason, breaking configurations which connected to SMTP servers anonymously such as mine.  They did not fix this in the release after the one where they introduced the bug.  How hard is this, folks?
• E-mail notification settings which use the Gmail SMTP settings with TLS authentication crash the program.  One explanation I saw from Acronis is that their programmers determined that using port 587 with TLS was an invalid configuration?  Really?  It is?  I would think Google of all companies would know something about SMTP considering they run one of the most popular e-mail services in the world.  Besides, why would an invalid configuration crash the program?  Why isn't there a warning instead?  This is unacceptable.
• TIH 2011 integration with Windows 7 does not work properly.  It is supposed to replace Windows Backup & Restore and it used to.  Now it still shows me the Acronis-centric Control Panel window but does not show me any of my backups.  It has been this way for at least a couple of releases including the latest one (6696).
• Changing back and forth between Windows 7 integrated and not in TIH 2011 breaks the Control Panel.  It does not open.  I have to reboot or kill and relaunch explorer.exe in order to get the Control Panel to work again.  Amazing.
• I attempted to perform the built-in upgrade from the Acronis prompts from the last release of 2011 to the newest.  It hung at around 30% for over an hour.  I canceled the install and it sat there for a half hour or so before I finally terminated it.  I had to uninstall the product, reboot, run the Acronis 2011 Cleanup Utility, reboot, install the product, and reboot again before it was in a working state again.  Installation problems like this reek of early 90's-era software.

This day and age it is simply inexcusable to sell software in such a state.  And the fact you only get 30 days free support with the home product is incredible.  They actually expect me to give them more money for support of this broken product?  Why would I actually give them more money?!

I can't say I was one of those long-time Acronis users that is sad to see what has become of them.  My loyalty to Acronis has been pretty much non-existant, but I have been willing to give them my dollars in return for a functional product.  Since the product seems to have ceased functioning, that flow of money will also cease.

Goodbye, Acronis.  And good luck.  I think you will need it based on the posts on here and the reviews I've seen around the web for TIH 2011.