Windows 8 - User experience of older versions of True Image Home

That makes sense to me. Note that older versions of the bootable Recovery Media don't always support newer hardware. So, test it well before relying on it. Make various backups, validate them, and try restoring at least a few files. That would give you good confidence in its ability to a full restore if it's ever required.

As long as the 2011 Rescue Media can correctly identify and use your existing hardware, than you would have no problems backing up a Windows 8 system with it. The problem will be when you purchase new hardware and the Linux based 2011 Rescue Media can not "see" your hardware correctly. These is no way to add new hardware support to the 2011 Linux based Rescue Media.

James F wrote:

As long as the 2011 Rescue Media can correctly identify and use your existing hardware, than you would have no problems backing up a Windows 8 system with it. The problem will be when you purchase new hardware and the Linux based 2011 Rescue Media can not "see" your hardware correctly. These is no way to add new hardware support to the 2011 Linux based Rescue Media.

James & Tuttle; thank you for your prompt replies; most helpful - It looks as if there is no need for me to upgrade to 2013
What I do find interesting, James, is your comment below!

My current PC has two SSD's (Both 120 GB - No Raid) and one HDD (1500 GB).

Windows 7 is on my first SSD (Disk 0) and I use the second SSD (Disk 1) for store folders (Such as Windows Live Mail), and processing area (Such as Photoshop working folders), which I want to open quickly, or provide efficient working! My hard drive (1500 GB) is for my data!

My plan was to temporarily install Windows 8 on my second SSD; however, after reading your comment, James, about the rescue media identifying my existing hardware, I have now discovered that TIM 2011 (& 2013) can only see one SSD (Disk 0) and my HDD; not the second SSD (Disk 1)

This is rather odd, as I also have a copy of Paragon Backup & Recovery 2011, plus other back up programs; all of which can see both SSD's - Again using bootable media - Not from within Windows!

Sadly, these other programs have not proved as reliable, as Acronis; they are slower, and less easy to understand, when trying to recover!

James F wrote:

As long as the 2011 Rescue Media can correctly identify and use your existing hardware, than you would have no problems backing up a Windows 8 system with it. The problem will be when you purchase new hardware and the Linux based 2011 Rescue Media can not "see" your hardware correctly. These is no way to add new hardware support to the 2011 Linux based Rescue Media.

The problem "seeing" the disks from the Rescue Media can be because the system board has more than one manufacturers controller on it. The additional SSD may be on a controller that the Acronis Rescue Media does not support. There have been a few reports of 2013 not showing a second drive (or additional drive) connected to a system even when using the same controller as the first drive. If you have more than one type of SATA controller, and have additional SATA ports that can be used, a workaround would be to have all the connected disks on the same controller that is recognized by the Rescue Media. (Not an ideal situation.)

Hi James,

Thank you for this explanation!

Out of interest, I have just installed Acronis 2011, into Windows 7, and, with this, I can see all of my drives - Both SSD's!

This leaves me with a dilemma!

Acronis is quite a large program, and would use valuable space on my SSD - 311MBs
I have never been too confident with running backups of the operating system, live, within Windows
2011 may turn out to be incompatible with Windows 8

A lot to think about. I will probably end up installing Windows 8 on my second SSD, and if I'm happy that it works OK; I will then install on my first SSD, deleting Windows 7 - I could always recover Windows 7, from an Acronis image!

Brian Taylor wrote:

I have never been too confident with running backups of the operating system, live, within Windows

It works fine. I've done it hundreds of times.

The rescue media itself should work however the actual ATIH 2011 program itself i doubt will work under Windows 8. Heck i just ran the Windows 8 Pro upgrade and it's saying that Acronis True Image Home 2012 is incompatible with Windows 8 and won't proceed until it's uninstalled from the computer. So i doubt ATIH 2011 itself will work also since it's even older.

Thank you for your comments!

Final update!

I restored my original Windows 7 operating system, as installed by the manufacturer, using the Acronis bootable CD Rescue Media - A clean installation, without any of my personal software, or hardware!

I then performed a Windows 8 (64 bit), upgrade using the bootable DVD, live within Windows 7, selecting all settings/files (My personal data is on a separate drive, to my operating system)

The upgrade ran smoothly, and I'm pleased with the new operating system

After the install, I have created several images of the operating system, using the Acronis bootable CD Rescue Media(TIH 2011, update 3, Build 6942); specifically, of the operating system, immediately after the upgrade, and then creating images progressively, as I installed my hardware, and software.

On completion of the backups, I have successfully restored the images; verifying that TIH 2011 works, provided that you back and restore,using the bootable CD Rescue Media.

I would not recommend installing 2011, into Windows 8

I hope this information is helpful

Not sure this applies, but maybe someone can help / I hope. I have a brand new Sony VAIO i7 with Windows 8 installed from factory.

My problem is, with Acronis True Image Home 11.0 installed, when I try and do a backup, the s/w posts a dialog - thinking I have Dynamic Disk in use - and won't list my Win8 install drive C: at all. I think there must be a way to get this to work, but I cannot figure it out.

On the other hand, if I attach an external USB drive, it will list that external disk for backing up (and won't show the error message about no supporting Dynamic Disk). But that is not the disk I want back up, it is the disk I want to save the backup on.

I realize my version (11.0) is old and I will update to newer version (but would like to know that WOULD solve this issue) before I go and purchase an upgrade version that may still now work.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

As you can see, friend, I have opened this subject.

Since then I have learned a lot! Firstly, 2011 does not function correctly, on Windows 8 - I have the 64 bit, Pro version!

However, I found that a 2011 bootable device (CD, DVD, Flash drive), will work satisfactorily; I have backed up and restored my operating system several times!

Things to remember:-

With a bootable device, the drive letters may be different to those you view live from within Windows; so I suggest you remember the names, rather than the drive letters - I have renamed mine to Operating System, Data and External Backup!

You must set your BIOS (if not already set) to allow you to boot from a USB port, if you are booting from a Flash Drive, or from a CD;DVD rom, if booting from CD/ROM!

With Flash Drive, I have found that you must only have the Flash Drive connected to USB ports; nothing else - I use a USB Mouse, and have to disconnect this, before it will boot from the Flash drive!

Note that I produced my bootable media, using Windows 7; not sure that It will be successful, with Windows 8

Again, I have used this, and it works; but again, I have created back up media - I don't like clogging up my operating with programs which clog up my drive and which frequently create problems

Thanks very much Brian. I will try to create backup and recover from the CD bootable media I created long while back (on Win7 64 bit Home).

I am betting your ideas will work, even for this True Image Home 11.0 version thereafter. Indeed I will keep in mind not going by drive letters also, but instead use actual drive names to correctly identify drives.

@Brian Taylor

Don't know if you'll get this post, Brian, since your last post here is almost 2 years old. Thanks for your detailed posts! I wish I had read your posts BEFORE trying True Image 2011 (TI 2011) from within Win8 Pro 64-bit. Obviously, you said it does not work (compatibility issues) and my experience confirms that - I couldn't get it to work no matter what I tried. I even tried to run TI 2011 in WinXP, SP3 "compatibility mode", but that didn't work either. Like you, I was presented with the dilemma of upgrading to a newer version of TI, or finding another way of imaging the disk. I wasn't as smart as you, however, b/c I never even thought of using the bootable media as a way of circumventing the OS and creating the image. That's brilliant, Sir! I plan to try that tonight so I haven't actually been successful with it yet, but your logic makes it seem extremely likely that it will work and I wanted to thank you even though this thread is so old. I suppose the downside to this method is that we have to be disciplined enough to manually create backup images whereas the "within Windows" method allows automatic scheduling for it. But the downside of the automatic scheduling is that TI uses your resources by starting various "monitors" during startup. One other thing that I will miss by using your manual "bootable media" method rather than the TI software from within Win8: The "Try and Decide" feature. I really like that feature and have used it quite a bit. Since I'll no longer be able to use "Try and Decide", I'll just have to be more careful about the software I install from here on out. :) Thanks again for your brilliant suggestions here, Brian!

Hello Walt!

Yes it is a long time since I visited this stream! I have since updated to Windows 8.1, and Acronis True Image Home, Update 1, Build 6514!

Acronis is such a power hog, that I only use it as a bootable/Recovery media; a great believer in less programs, a faster PC.

The bootable media created with this latest version of TI 2013, works without any problems, but earlier versions of 2013 could not hack the secure boot.

My recommendation is always have at least two copies of the bootable CD, or DVD, just in case one fails.

I regularly restore my original clean Windows 8.1, and re-install all of my programs from scratch; you will be surprised how much faster your PC works, with a clean install!

Hi Brian. Thanks for coming back to this old stream to post a reply - much appreciated. I haven't yet tried doing a backup of my Win8 system using the TI 2011 bootable media. I had planned on trying that tonight, but from your comments, it sounds like versions earlier than the most recent Build of TI 2013 won't work.

Quick aside... I'm a LONGTIME Acronis customer - since their inception, in fact - but the company isn't the same as it used to be "back in the day". I miss the days when you could call them and actually talk with the owner! (It was closely held then, not sure if it's public now.) Unfortunately, I had some pretty awful customer service "issues" a few years ago which is why my most recent upgrade is just the 2011 version, so I'm not too excited about upgrading to the most recent version. Are you pretty sure my 2011 version won't handle a Win8 system image even if I do it by using the bootable media?

Frankly, I completely agree with you about performance improvements by restoring to a clean install every once in a while - the performance improvement is almost shocking sometimes. I usually create two images when I first do a clean install: The first image is called "Clean Install" and is exactly what it implies; and the second image is called "Full Software Install" and is created after I've installed my software, done my tweaks, cleaned everything up, and the machine is in top condition and ready to go. That way, when I need a true "clean install" without any software, I've got it done in just a few minutes. I find that most of the time, I just want the whole system back to the way it was when I first installed the software, etc., so having that "full software install" image comes in handy quite often.

Thank you also for sharing your experienced suggestion about having at least two copies of the bootable media in case one fails. Hope you don't mind me asking this after you've already been so helpful, but have you tried "burning" the bootable media to a USB thumbdrive? I did that for Win8 b/c I wanted to install it to a discarded netbook machine to test it out, but the netbook doesn't have an optical drive. I would imagine the Acronis bootable media could be converted to an *.iso file (if it isn't such already) and then the *.iso could be burned to a thumbdrive and made bootable. If that would work, then the Acronis bootable media could be preserved on a HDD somewhere and put onto whatever media is the easiest to use when it is needed. I planned on watching some baseball tonight, but it sure sounds like I'll be testing various computer possibilities instead. Thanks for corrupting me, Brian. :) Seriously, hope you have a great day, Sir! Thank you for sharing your great ideas and recommendations with all of us!

Hi Walt,

By Thumdrive, I presume you mean a USB Flash drive (Perhaps that is what they are called, these days)!
Yes, but unfortunately, neither my desktop, or laptop, recognised it when booting up - This may be a peculiarity of my equipments - the mother boards! No harm in trying!

Like you, I have been using Acronis from the early additions, when yes, you could contact the company, and get a response for free! Before that, I used Norton Ghost, on a floppy!

Concerning your 2011 version of TI, I am not sure whether it will work, on the current version of Windows 8.1; but I suspect it will not - There have been hundreds of updates since I last tried - I no longer have TI 2011, so I cannot test this out!

As I understand it, Microsoft introduced secure boot to Windows 8, to stop hackers braking into the boot sequence. This stopped companies, like Acronis, and Paragon from running programs, like True Image, which require to gain access to the boot sequence. Eventually approved companies, such as Acronis, were given the access codes, which allowed them to enter the boot sequence!

I believe, that you can disable secure Boot, if you enter the BIOS (Called something else, these days), but I haven't had the courage to do this!

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn481258.aspx

All I can suggest that you try the limited options out, and if they don't work:

Bit the bullet, and buy the latest version of Acronis; it is not too costly in the US; expensive in the UK

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/188-0679506-0289111?url=search…

Or try the free version of Paragon Image; many swear by this, but I find it less user friendly

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/br-free/requirements.html

Hi Brian,

Thank you for another comprehensive and extremely helpful post! Your explanation about "secure boot" is excellent - I honestly did not know what that was about until you explained it. I don't recall seeing something like that in the BIOS, but I wasn't looking for it so I could have overlooked it (and wouldn't have known what it was anyway, so I would have left it alone). It's looking like I should heed your sage counsel and just "bite the bullet" and upgrade my Acronis software. Maybe I've held a grudge long enough. :)

Sorry about the "thumbdrive" term without explaining it. Yes, I did mean a USB flash drive - and I have no idea why I didn't just call it that in the first place. My motherboard definitely recognizes a USB drive at boot since I was able to install Win8 that way. But I'm concerned about this "secure boot" thing with Win8 so maybe the USB drive option for the Acronis media might not work. Further reason to "bite the bullet", eh? :)

Thanks for making me smile with the "Norton Ghost, on a floppy" comment! Yes, I recall those days too. Heck, I remember when Peter Norton WAS that company (before selling it to Symantec). Brian, I saved a 5.25" floppy from "way back when" just so I could someday show my son the reason WHY they were called floppies. :) I still have some 3.5" floppies too, but those are hard plastic and not very floppy at all, so I never quite understood why they were called floppies instead of "removable cartridges" or something like that. Sounds like you're in the UK so you might not know this one, but here in the States we used to call remote controls "clickers" b/c they used to click when you hit the buttons. My son thinks I'm a complete idiot when I ask him to "please pass the clicker". :) Don't get me started on the circular dials on phones... :)

Thank you again for ALL your help, Brian! Thank you for the links too. I have some things to assess tonight and will probably upgrade my Acronis software. I wish there was some way you could get a commission for it. Please accept my sincere thanks, Sir. Cheers!

Not a problem, Walt; I'm a retired professional radio engineer (76), and like to keep the grey matter exercised!

These days, I'm into photography; less stressful than computing; you can find me here!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35857078@N05/

Best Wishes

Brian

Hi Brian,

Sorry to pepper you with comments - no need to reply to this one, of course. I was just at the Acronis website and I thought about your idea of having two copies of the bootable media in case one fails. Don't know if you know this (I wasn't aware of it until now), but you can simply download the bootable media from the Acronis website. I just logged onto "My Account" and then "My Products and Downloads", and under the True Image selection it has a tab for "Bootable Media" with a button to "Download". Thus, if you ever get stuck and your bootable media doesn't work, you can simply download the *.iso file from the Acronis website and create a new copy of the bootable media. HTH. Cheers!

P.S. I'll be having a pint in your honor tonight, Sir! :)

Hey guys, saw your post.

I just wanted to say that I have used the v11 ''boot disk'' (rather it's the one I made off the program options, or the original TI v11 CD that sells retail) ..have used it to create & restore all versions of Windows 8 at least a hundred times in the last year alone, and never once had a problem.
I have the latest Intel i7 Processor and MB setups as well.
I will say that I do have Secure Boot "Disabled" and never would care to use it, and so having said that means I have never tried doing it with Secure Boot on; with it off I can say emphatically the TI v11 'boot disk' does and will create and restore all versions of Windows 8. But yes it's true v11 will not 'install' and then work properly within Windows 8, it's too unstable, I had tried it dozens of ways with various levels of success, almost though.

I don't just use v11 all inclusively though, I use a combination of True Image versions to do different tasks, simply because I like what some versions can do and what others can't, so I use what I need from each of them to get the job done.
My favorite versions over the years have been the original v6.0.350, then v8.0.937, then v11.0.8101 (& v11.0.8326 Acronis Seagate version) and now v16.0.6514. The only ones that I actively use and depend on these days are v11 & v16

Hi Rick! Thanks for sharing your very interesting and encouraging comments. Gotta say it quickly, Rick, I have the original True Image version 6 too - I thought I was one of the few who still had that so it's nice to know I have company. :) I'll wager that our friend, Brian Taylor, has version 6 too. We go back to the early days...

I hadn't seen your comments earlier, Rick, so I installed Win8 on my machine tonight and made a "clean install" image of it using the True Image 2011 bootable media that I have on a USB flash drive. The image was created successfully so I'm cautiously optimistic. There are two things that give me concern: First, I did NOT do a "validation" of the image b/c I simply didn't have time to do it and I haven't actually tried a "recovery" of the image yet so I can't yet say that it "works"; and Second, I stupidly didn't go into the BIOS and disable "secure boot" (or whatever my machine calls it) so I have no idea whether that is "on" or "off". I do have a good i7 processor and a good machine, so I'm hoping I'll have the same success you've had with backups and recoveries. I remain SO grateful to Brian for pointing out the "bootable media" option b/c that gives a plausible chance that the 2011 version might work even though I can state affirmatively that the 2011 version does NOT work from within Win8 itself. But using Brian's idea of circumventing Win8, even the 2011 version just might work.

Very interesting, Rick, how you use the various versions depending on the features of each. I have each version you described except the latest version - my last update was to version 2011. The feature I truly DO appreciate is "Try & Decide" which allows me to install software in a "test environment", then use it and see if it causes any problems, and then I have the option of going back as if it was never installed or "accepting" the changes and making them permanent. It's a very nice feature and I truly would miss it if I move to Win8 and my old 2011 version will no longer work.

Sorry to ramble a bit here. Thanks for your very helpful and encouraging comments, Rick! Hope you enjoy a nice evening.

Hi Guys,

I'm so glad to have simulated this discussion, on an old posting!

Well, Walt, it looks, from recent comments, that if you do disable Secure Boot, you can use older versions of Acronis!

If you are brave enough, I suggest that you give it a try.

What I always do, when I purchase a new PC, is to open the boot menu (Normally press Del, during boot), and copy all of the settings - This can be a laborious job, as with some motherboards, there are many tabs, and sub tabs. I type out these settings, as a safeguard - My current desktop has 24 pages of A4. There is little risk of doing any damage, provided that when you EXIT, you choose the option "EXIT, with out saving changes" (The wording varies, with types of motherboard) - Just in case you make a change by mistake.

If you have a record of the settings, then you you can always experiment with Secure Boot.

Thanks for the tip about downloading a bootable media, from Acronis; I shall try this out - However, it is clearly important to do this, before your PC fails to boot

Personally, I would rather have Secure Boot enabled; it is there for a reason - Hackers are getting very good these days

Good luck to all, that experiment - it is the only way to improve your knowledge!

Hi Brian, et al.,

Sorry for not posting a reply sooner - I had (ahem) some computer issues here... But that's mostly just my fault and not being smart enough or careful enough to foresee things. Mostly ironed out now, so hopefully I can help others avoid some of the pitfalls I experienced. For now, please let me respond to your helpful post.

Thanks again for sharing your experience, Brian. Your "tips" always trigger thoughts for me and your tip about recording all the "settings" seems very logical. I suppose we could even just do a screen shot or use the Windows Snipping Tool to get a picture of the settings and preserve them that way.

Gotta be honest, this "Secure Boot" thing still eludes me. I have a Toshiba laptop and I don't see anything in the BIOS that seems even remotely related to it. Consequently, I never turned it "off" b/c I could never find anything about it in the first place. Either it is off by default, or my machine just doesn't have it. But yes, I was able to circumvent the problem with True Image 2011 not working within Win8 by simply using the bootable media and using True Image that way. It worked fine - in fact, it was a LOT simpler b/c there are far fewer options. But the function was perfect.

Yes, you can download the bootable media from the Acronis website as I mentioned, and you can also "burn" the *.iso to a USB flashdrive and boot from that without the need to create a CD. I've had to boot True Image this way many times now and it works fine. I prefer the USB flashdrive method over the CD method, but others may prefer the CD. It's just nice to know there are alternative ways to obtain the bootable media and use it.

I contacted Acronis Customer Support and asked if they offered any kind of "upgrade pricing" for loyal customers since I was considering buying True Image 2014. That was 3 days ago and I have yet to receive any response whatsoever - which is disappointing, frankly. However, this morning I saw that anyone can buy True Image 2014 from Fry's Electronics (here in the States) and with the $50 rebate (from 8/27 thru 9/4), the net price is $19.99. For those interested, I have attached the rebate PDF. And Brian, before you start lamenting that this deal is not available in the UK, please know that I'm lamenting that UK customers can readily get the Weber Pizza Oven but it is simply not available here in the States (yet). :) Anyway, I will probably partake of this offer so I have the option of running True Image from within Win8.

Frankly, Brian, this has been a very helpful discussion so thank you for stimulating it. Hope you have a wonderful weekend, Sir!

Hi Walt,

I have just had another look at my Secure Boot, which is the first time since I upgraded to Windows 8.1, from Windows 8.0. It was a little difficult to find on my my ASUS EFI BIOS Utility!

What I did was to go to the Windows "Start" screen, and type in "Advance Options"

And then from the list that appeared, selected "Advanced start-up options"

On the screen that appeared, I selected "Restart now", under the option "Advance Start up"

Please wait, appeared

On the screen that appeared, I selected "Trouble Shoot"

And then "Advance Options

Next, I selected "Select "Start up Settings"

From the window that appeared, I selected "Restart"

The screen that appeared gave me 10 options, one of which (number 8) was

Disable anti mallwere protection

I selected this!

It was more difficult to enable, but I eventually got back into my BIOS and selected Restore Defaults, which appears to have worked

Be careful.

Hi Walt,

I have had further thoughts, since my last message, immediately above!

Thoughts that give rise for a little concern - I would hate for you to mess up your PC, by following my advice!

Having selected "Restore Defaults", in the BIOS menu, I began to wonder whether I had reset the BIOS; specifically, to "Enable anti malware protection" .

Why I say this, is that I have no means of proving this - I do not have an earlier version of Acronis than the one, which will work with Secure Boot!

So I began to question, whether I had enabled the malware protection.

This made me put my thinking cap on!

The thing is, I purchased my Desktop, with Windows 7 installed, with an offer from Microsoft, for a free upgrade to Windows 8 - This offer, was available in the UK, for purchases, just before the launch of Windows 8.

After installing Windows 8, I found that I couldn't back it up with Acronis 2013, which I had just purchased from Acronis (The Acronis advertisement claimed that it was fully compatible with Windows 8).

When I tried to run Acronis, my PC just wouldn't boot up!

Given this I contacted Acronis (30 days free consultation, I recall), and they admitted, that they had problems, with secure boot; they gave me a link to a download of a trial, upgrade, which worked, after a fashion!

Looking back on all this, makes me think!

Windows 7 did not have Secure Boot. So how could this be in the BIOS settings, on the motherboard - My belief, is that the Secure Boot is the run up sequence of the Windows 8 program, namely, on my C drive!

Now this is were I get a little worried!

Having selected "Disable anti malware protection", in the sequence, in my previous message, you would think, if you repeated, all the steps above, you would find that there would be an option (item 8) to "Enable anti malware protection". But there isn't; just "Disable anti malware protection"

I have tried "Disable anti malware protection" several times,and on my desktop "Enable anti malware protection" never comes up!

Given all this, and my belief that Secure Boot is in the program, rather than in the BIOS, I have restored an Acronis image of my operating system, prior to all of this playing around! Belt and Braces!

Sorry, if all this confuses you more, concerning Secure Boot.

If anyone can through any light on this matter (not too technical), this would be most welcome!

So Walt, proceed with caution!

Brian, I can't possibly express my thanks for your concern and your careful analysis of this issue. Wow! You're a good guy, Brian! Here's my response:

First, it's obvious I'm not as technically gifted as you - but you are so gracious to share your experience and knowledge and I think that benefits ALL of us. So thanks for doing that, Brian. Second, your analysis of this "secure boot" issue makes logical sense (to me, at least). If I understand your conclusion correctly, you are saying it would have been ridiculous for Win7 computers to have the "secure boot" option in their BIOS since that wasn't an option in Win7, so you believe the "secure boot" feature is part of Win8 itself and not a BIOS option. That helps explain why I can't find anything even remotely related to "secure boot" or "disable malware" in my Toshiba BIOS.

I like to think I can follow a logical argument and, when necessary, point out inconsistencies in it. Your argument makes logical sense to me and I don't immediately see any discrepancies in it. I truly think you have argued successfully that the "secure boot" aspect of Win8 must be in the Win8 software itself and probably NOT in the BIOS as I had assumed. I respect and appreciate that analysis, Brian. Well done, Sir!

As for my procedures, I was doing fine with the "bootable media" from the True Image 2011 version, but when I stumbled upon this recent rebate deal, I decided to upgrade to True Image 2014 Premium (which included Universal Restore), and I installed it tonight. I then made a backup of my Win8 system and I was impressed with how much smoother the interface is and how much simpler the process was. The backup was easy, efficient, and straightforward. I have not yet tried to "restore" it to my computer, but I really was happy with how nicely the backup process went after my recent experiences with the woeful 2011 version. After activating the new 2014 version, I was able to download the latest build, and the bootable media, so I have everything saved. I'm very confident I can circumvent the Win8 OS by using the bootable media, but I have to say the 2104 software interface is very nice. And one of my favorite features is the "Try & Decide" feature. If you're not familiar with that feature, Brian, it allows you to install a program into a "virtual" environment so you can see how it works and whether you want to keep the program or not. If you decide against keeping the program, the Try & Decide software just reboots and you're back to where you were before you ever installed the program in the first place. It's a really nice thing that has saved my bacon a number of times...

I hope to update you after I purposefully destroy my Win8 setup and then "recover" from the backup I created. I'm very confident it will work fine. Again, thank you for your thoughtful analysis and you very considerate warnings! Hope you have a VERY nice weekend, Brian. Thanks for making mine a little bit less stressful. :) Gratefully, Walt.

Thanks for the update, Walt!

Yes, I am confident your recovery will wok fine!

I had thought of upgrading from 2013, to 2014, but the best price I can find, in the UK, works out at about $78.00 - just for the upgrade - A little expensive, I think - So I will stick with 2013

I have looked at the specification, and cannot see anything more, in 2014, that would be useful for me - I find that is consumes too much space on my SSD drive, so I will continue too use the bootable media, rather than have it installed on my PC

Best wishes

Brian

Thanks for the update, Walt!

Yes, I am confident your recovery will wok fine!

I had thought of upgrading from 2013, to 2014, but the best price I can find, in the UK, works out at about $78.00 - just for the upgrade - A little expensive, I think - So I will stick with 2013

I have looked at the specification, and cannot see anything more, in 2014, that would be useful for me - I find that is consumes too much space on my SSD drive, so I will continue too use the bootable media, rather than have it installed on my PC

Best wishes

Brian

I agree with v2013 over 2014 too, but I haven't really given v2014 a tough workout, yet. I've always found in the past, newer is not necessarily better when it comes to softwares. Also for the newer versions of True Image, I agree sometimes I prefer to use the boot disk I make via their program, and then image out the installation. I never did that with earlier True Image versions, but the newer versions are.....well, heavy is polite to say, but just imho.

Anyway a website called NewEgg . com, I'm on their specials deals email list, and have always seen for years, not a month or so goes by that they do not offer a version of True Image at a really really deep discount. A few months ago they had Retail v2013 on sale for $14.99. Actually for the "next 12 hours only" with promo code EMCPBHA225 at checkout - I see they have Acronis True Image 2014 w/ Disk Director 11 Home, Retail version, for 24.99 with Free Shipping. No I don't work for them or anything of the sort, just passing on what I received in my email box this morning.

You are right, Rick; new is not always better - Usually more complex, and power hungry, less reliable, with facilities you don't want!

The main problem, with programs like Acronis, is that they run in the background, and slow down your PC, for other tasks. With Acronis installed, I found that my security suite (Norton) frequently advised my processor was running at 100% - This was especially a problem, when I was editing photos, in Photoshop CS; also very power hungry!

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/50750

Brian,
Follow this link for details about upgrading to 2014 for free if you are using 2013 and Windows 8 or 8.1.

Well, Brian, I never even had a chance to use the computer yesterday b/c it's Labor Day Weekend here and I'm the BBQ Chef around our house. :) Heck, I had to get on the computer at 6am today just to reply - it looks like I'll be grillin' and smokin' stuff all day today too. We sure do eat good though. :) But I digress from the issues at hand... Brian and Rick, your frank comments re: the Acronis True Image software taking up disk space and computer resources are well taken and understood. I just installed the 2014 version and I didn't think it was a massive space hog. Nothing like Photoshop and it's video counterpart, Premiere - those programs take up huge amounts of space. TI 2014 didn't seem too bad, to be honest. Second, regarding hogging your computer resources (running in the background), I think the main thing you might be barking about is the "nonstop" backup feature - and I'm pretty sure you can disable that or choose not to install it. I haven't done a full check of what "background" programs TI 2014 uses, but the earlier versions had a "task scheduler" that was persnickety, if I recall correctly, b/c if you disabled it, then the "Try & Decide" feature wouldn't work. And I really like the "Try & Decide" feature - it lets you install programs into a sort-of "virtual environment" so you can test it, use it, and even reboot the machine, all without "actually" installing it. Later on, when you've decided that you like the software or not, you can then choose to let it install normally, or you can reject it and Acronis returns your machine like it was before you ever bothered with that software. It's like a super-quick "backup" before installing, then "restore" (or not, depending on whether you want to keep or reject the program you installed). You can have your machine exactly like it was before the software "trial", or you can keep the software installed after you've tried it out and know whether or not you want to keep it. In my case, this "Try & Decide" feature has saved my bacon several times so I really like it. Still, I understand your point about conserving computer resources so other programs (like Photoshop) can run smoothly. I use a free program called "CCleaner" (originally "Crap Cleaner") from here: www.piriform.com/ccleaner. (There is also a paid version, but I just use the free one.) What CCleaner does, among other things, is lets me see what programs/processes run at StartUp, and then I can disable those I don't want, thereby saving resources. I find there are MANY offenders in there - often times it's individual "update monitors" checking to see if there are updates for the various programs you have installed. I prefer to disable those and just update my software manually on a periodic basis. Many of the "background" programs/processes seem to be designed to make various tasks easier or more "automatic" for the user - and that's probably good for many computer users - but they take up valuable resources so I prefer to disable them. Don't know if that would help in your situation or not, but that's what I do and I haven't had any problems.

Rick, thanks for that tip about NewEgg's emails. I've bought from them several times b/c they have good deals, but I'm apparently NOT on their email list so I need to fix that. :) Regarding TI 2014, my problem was that my old (2011) version of True Image would not work within Win8, so I had to use the bootable media (thanks to Brian's brilliant suggestion) to do any kind of backup or restore operation - but I completely lost the "Try & Decide" feature that I like so much. I got pretty lucky when I got an email from Fry's Electronics offering TI 2014 for $19.99 through a $50 rebate. For $20, it was worth it for me to get the new version; but I don't know if I would have done it if it was $78 like Brian mentioned.

Joey, thank you very much for your link so TI 2013 users can upgrade to TI 2014 if they're using Win8 or Win8.1. That sounds precisely the case for Brian and Rick, so it's up to them whether "free" is worth it for them, I guess. To me, it's a no-brainer - but I don't have that option b/c I wasn't already using the 2013 version. But, I DID send an email to Acronis Customer Support asking if they had any upgrade offers for loyal customers, and I never heard back from them at all. Apparently, I'm just a schmuck who was still using the 2011 version so I don't warrant any similar upgrade offer.

Hi Joey,
Just a short line, to thank you for the link, for a free copy of Acronis 2014! Yes, it works, and I have downloaded a copy The Premium version!

It looks pretty good, so far, but I will evaluate in slow time!

Thanks again - Nice to get something for Free

Brian

Hi Walt,

Thank you for your message; as you can see from above, I have downloaded a free copy of 2014, thanks to Joey, providing a link!

Taking a short break away, for a few days, but will evaluate 2014, on my return

Reference CCleaner, I use this regularly, and find it very reliable; I have the paid for version, which has some advantages - cannot remember what - the old grey matter is fading!

Best Wishes

Brian

Hi Brian,

Everyone still sleeping here so I have a brief reprieve from grilling and can use my computer. If I had known I would have had THIS much time, I would have done the restore process I promised so I could update you. :)

Congrats on getting the 2014 version! That was great of Joey to provide that link, and that's a great deal for you. If you don't like the new version, you still have the old one - so you can't lose when it's free. From what I've seen of the 2014 version, I like it. Comparing it directly to the 2011 version, it's like night-and-day. The 2011 version was overly-complicated and NOT intuitive - I had to keep researching things just to find out what I was doing. The 2014 version just flows more logically and everything makes straightforward sense. I'm glad I have it and I'm putting 2011 back into history. :)

The paid version of CCleaner allows you to perform maintenance for several users at once (although there may be other advantages as well). With the free version, I have to log onto each users account and do the maintenance separately. At this point, I'm mostly the only user on my computer so the free version doesn't hinder. I really like CCleaner - since I've been using it (beginning many years ago), my machines have performed well without any problems. And that's reason enough to continue using it...

Hope you have a great break away for a few days! Stay safe and enjoy! Looking forward to your insights when you return. Best always, Walt.

Hi Walt,

Its 4:30 in the afternoon, here!

Still playing around, investigating 2014!

Up until know, I have been using another program, to back up my data (Personal folders, such as my photos, correspondence, and emails).

This program is called Genie Back up Manager Pro.

This is very good, but can be very slow, especially, when performing a full backup (typically 5Gigabytes). I have just tested 2014, for backing up my data, and this is significantly faster!

Given this, I might dump Genie, as this is also quite power hungry!

However, Genie appears to have one advantage over 2014.

I say appears, as, as yet, I have not worked out if Acronis can do the same!

Whenever Genie backs up anything (Data, your operating system), in full, incremental, or differential form, it attaches an index (Date, time and log of the current back-up state, and backup programs)!

This is quite useful; especially, if you have to recover your operating system, to a much earlier date (Using Acronis).

Lets say you recover an image of your operating system which is six months old.

As the recovered operating system included your back up software (Acronis, or Genie), the information in the logs, will be six months old, and not relevant

This is especially important, if you back-up incrementally, or differentially. The data in the program software, will not not be relevant to the data backed up in the intervening 6 months.

With Genie, the first thing you do, is to restore, the Genie, index.

As soon as you do this, the program, Genie, is brought up to date, and will run, as if you had not restored an earlier addition of your operating system. The index also restores the backup programs, that you have created, if they were different to those, in the restored operating system.

I'm sure that Acronis, must have the same facility, but as yet, I haven't found it!

Perhaps learned fellow, reading this, will have the answer

Best Wishes

Brian

Joey wrote:

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/50750

Thanks for the heads up Joey, the linked worked and I followed through with it, now have a free 2014 license.

Hi Guys,

Just an update; yes, I am very pleased with my trials, with 2014; it is proving very reliable. I have decided to stick with it, for the moment, leaving it installed, rather than using the boot disc only.

I am using, it also, to back up my personal files, and have dumped the Genie Pro 9 backup software. I have decided to use differential back up, rather than incremental, as I think this is more reliable!

The only downside of Acronis, compared with Genie, is that Acronis will only verify complete chains, rather than allowing you to verify, only the last backup - this can take considerable time to complete!

Since updating to 2014 (and paying £14 plus, to extend my licence to cover 3 PCs) Acronis have offered me a free licence, for 2015, and a pre release issue of the software!

Being inquisitive, and a little unwise, I tried it out - A bit of a disaster!

(1) My Differential backups, of my personal files, continued as full back ups, every time, over and over!

(2) For some obscure reason, it performed a differential backup of my operating system - A real disaster!

Having decided that I didn't want to run, with 2015, I thought I would recover my 2014 backup! Disaster - On recovery, I found that 2015, was still installed.

I had to manually un-install 2015, delete Acronis folders from my program files, on the C drive, and run regedit, and delete Acronis, from the software keys! Then as belt and braces, I then ran CCleaner!

ATI 2014 installed correctly, however, again, disaster! I found that I could not view, or recover the backup of my personal folders!

Similarly, I found that 2014, could not recover my operating system, even when I deleted the differential back up - I looks as if 2015, had updated the original Full backup, created by 2014!

The reason for this, is that 2015, is backward compatible, but 2014, is not forward compatible!

So be warned, installing 2015, could be a disaster, for you, if you wish to revert to 2014

I was fortunate, in that I have a second external hard drive, with Acronis backup, which I disconnected, during my evaluation!

I'm sure that Acronis will get 2015 right, in the long run, but, it is not for me, at the moment

fwiw All versions of TI from day one are backward compatible - but not forward compatible.

Before you installed 2015 (or any bigger change) you should of made a (not differential) but Full OS partition backup with 2014 and of course made its boot disk, that way if you decided you didn't like 2015 or anything else, you would just use your 2014 boot disk and restore its corresponding backup image....it would have been a very simple resolve to your dilemma with no fuss whatsoever. Successful foolproof restores includes securing full partition backups.

Hi Rick,

Thank your for your comment!

Regarding this issue; yes, I did make a Full backup of my operating system with 2014, and create a 2014 boot-able media!

I also used the facility "Backup Settings Transfer" (Under Tools) of 2014 to Export my ATI settings.

Unfortunately, Acronis have not included the "Backup Settings Transfer" facility, in 2015.

As stated previously, for some obscure reason, 2015, immediately created a differential back up of my operating system, when I performed the update, from 2014, to 2015; this was a differential backup to the Full backup, I created with 2014.

Note that this was an update, of Acronis, not a download, and install - No try & Decide!

This differential backup was created, despite the fact that, with 2014, I had selected Full backup (not Differential backup) and that I had deselected Schedule!

This also happened with my personal files; 2015 performed a differential backup!

I can only assume, that without the Import Settings, of the "Backup Settings Transfer" (Under Tools), that 2015 looks at the existing settings.

2015 appears to get confused, when there is more than one backup plan, and when such plans have different settings!

In my case, the plan for my Personal folders is scheduled to perform a differential backup, once in every 24 hours.

But my plan for the operating system, is a Full backup, and is not scheduled - I do not want changes to a "known" clean operating system

It appears that Acronis selected Differential backup, for both my plans, and in doing so converted both images to 2015 format

Hence, when I came to restore, either my personal files, or my operating system (Within Windows, or with the bootable media), using 2014, the images were not recognisable - They were in 2015 format, not 2014!

Fortunately, I have been able to recover from this situation; but others might not be so lucky!

It appears to me that Acronis, in offering this free 2015, are trying to force user to upgrade; no option to try and decide!

I only installed 2014 to test, play a little, and then make a boot disk via the program, and then imaged it out going back to a previous version that suits my needs fine.
I have not tried 2015 yet, how did you get yours though - did you just click your upgrade button on the program?
Edit: I found my answer here: https://forum.acronis.com/forum/65036

I'll wait for an installer of 2015 to test it. Lately I install to observe and play, then make a via program boot disk, and then image it out.

Anyway, the First thing I do with any new version installed is lock it down, immediately Disable Turn Off, All, Automatic Schedules and put Everything on Manual. For me, I only use TI in a Manual capacity, period. I never do automatic or scheduled backups in any way. I never do differential or incremental in any way. I prefer to have full control. I also prefer full OS partition backup images, or full HD backup images, and sometimes clone depending.

Perhaps if you had turned all the frills off with your 2015 version first it would of left things alone. I haven't tried 2015 though so can't say. At any rate always store important .tibs on spare HD's and those HD's of course are unplugged.

My point before irregardless of version was that by not using any schedule, incremental or differential plans, turning everything Off, but by Manually creating a Full Backup of just your OS partition, if you had made that with 2014, and then 'isolated' that backup image so that no process can access it, then by restoring that backup with (same as what made the image) your 2014 boot disk, you will have a known outcome of the restore which is an exact restore of when you had made it.

Others may do it differently and that's fine, but imho that's the problem with too many frills of automatic, incremental, differential, whatever other processes going on. I personally need to have full control in order to assure a fool proof backup environment. I Turn Off all the frills, and when I make a backup it's always Manually, and is always a full single OS partition backup (use a 2 TB for that backup HD so there's always plenty of room, and weeding out the not needed .tibs as time goes on) (Also monthly or less I'll also clone the entire HD (All Partitons into one .tib (and/or Disk To Disk)) to another separate duplicate HD and keep that in another location for a truly 100% fool proof backup plan) (At $79 for a 2 TB HD these days it's a no brainer)

Anyway, got carried away typing but I'm glad you recovered what you wanted to have. Next time though in important situations, have your tibs isolated (meaning on a separate HD and unplugged)

Hi Rick,

You asked me how I got my copy of 2015! Well, previously I was operating with 2013, and you gave me a link to the free upgrade to 2014!

Since upgrading to 2014, I find that every morning, if I have 2014 running at about 7:30, a message keeps coming telling me their is an upgrade to 2015. See https://forum.acronis.com/forum/65036

To see if you qualify for a free upgrade, look here:- http://www.acronis.com/en-us/homecomputing/trueimage/free-upgrade/check…

If I click on this message, I am taken to the Acronis site, with the offer of a pre release version - I think the official release, is near the end of September!

As mentioned previously, this is not a download, it is an update - As soon as you take up the offer, it starts updating 2014; on completion, your computer automatically restarts - And as indicated previously, the differential backup, of my operating system commenced, before I new what was happening!

2014 does everything I need; so I shall not try 2015, until it has been in service for 6 months, and all the bugs have been ironed out.

2015 does look promising; a better interface, and significantly simplified (Less functions; which they claim make it more reliable)

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/65498

Like you, I only perform manual, Full backups, of my operating system.

However, I have programmed Acronis to backup (Differential) my personal files, twice a day, morning and evening, to two separate external hard drives.
In both backup programs, I have chosen to keep the original backup, with a full new backup, after 30 differential backups

I take your point, after this experience - I shall disconnect my external hard drives, before installing 2015, again!