1. Backup Destination NEVER Remembered 2. TWO Hours to Recover 30 Gb. OS/60 Gb Drive??

This posting was a "bump" one before I called tech support.
Below is the follow up after that call.

I followed this up with a telephone call to Tech Support and while the individual was friendly, professional and did promise to have someone look into these issues, nothing has been resolved as of yet.

We did discuss my doing a clean re-install and I promised to report what did or did not happen after that.

Here it is:

DESTINATION DRIVE ISSUE - Continues

--- NO CHANGE on initial "Back up your critical data" screen with default backup locations, it shows D:\My Backups, E:\My Backups, etc. etc. -- so I have to do the entire "Browse" thing EVERY time even after I have rebooted the system as well as launched TI more than once to try to give it time to record the default destination drive.  The backups themselves do show the chosen location used the last time, but the actual process of backup is as tedious as stated in my first posting.

The Acronis tech said that this should not be happening, and yet it does.

--- When choosing the destination drive -- and giving the backup a specific name, the" Backing up'"My System'" progress bar DOES NOT show the name I gave the backup so I don't know if it is backing up as that specifically named backup or not. So it's doing a generic Non-Stop backup which is NOT desired -- which brings me to the next issue.

NON-STOP BACKUP - Lack of Control, Settings Not Saved

--- I don't need Non-Stop Backup at this juncture for I am still in the process of setting up this entire computer system with multiple drives, etc and there seems to be NO way to shut it off, even after un-checking every drive in the Nonstop backup settings.

--- The settings simply are NOT getting saved and so it starts backing up without my having any control over it except "Cancel." The settings keep re-adding directories and drivse I unchecked before I shut down TI, relaunched it, etc.

Simply put, there is a uncomfortable lack of user control on what gets backed up.  Besides the persistent does-not-remember-chosen destination-drive issue, one should be able to disable Non-Stop with a simple "Disable" button, not have to constantly un-check every directory and drive it keeps listing in its setting.

All that said...

Acknowledging the Difference Between General Public and More Complex Computer Backup Needs

I understand that most people prefer "one-button" simplicity and that the old multiple click-through pages of previous TI versions may have been tedious to most.  Super-simple is fine when dealing with a one or two drive system and basic Internet, photos and music computer use.  But for those like me who have multiple drives with critical data of years of work, i.e. multimedia, visual special effects, video, music arrangement and production data on them the lack of control of how and when backups are made are very troubling.

The solution to this could be integrating an "Advanced" or "Expert" user mode common in many utility and other applications where there would be more step-by-step verification and choice leading to a final "Proceed" screen as TI used to have.

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In the mean time, I hope the mentioned issues can be resolved in some way in a timely manner.  If necessary or useful, pleas feel free to contact me via my account email address.

Sincerely,

~ Philip S. Knight

I don't need Non-Stop Backup at this juncture for I am still in the process of setting up this entire computer system

You can stop and disable the "Acronis Nonstop Backup Service " in Windows services. ( http://forum.acronis.com/forum/8142#comment-35572 )

The solution to this could be integrating an "Advanced" or "Expert" user mode

It's already complex and some people complain about it, however other say it's too dumbed down. There is also Backup & Recovery 11 with long scrollable backup settings 'sheet' (instead of multi-screen wizards), but without try & decide, non-stop backup, e-mail backup - targeted not for home users.

Dev-anon,

Thanks for the Services settings tip, I've disabled it for now.
There is one other Acronis Service - "Acronis Scheduler2 Service" that depends on:

Remote Procedure Cal (RPC)
--> DCOM Server Process Launcher
--> RPC Endpoint Mapper

My guess is not a good idea to turn that one off.
(Correct me if I'm wrong but TI would probably just not launch if I did disable it).

As to Backup & Recovery 11:

I'm not a business though it sounds like something closer to what I would like -- more tweakable/advanced controls though I have not downloaded it or tried it yet. But I've spent so much money already on rebuilding my system and still have a couple more things to get -- and have already payed for TI Home 2011 as download version (all my previous versions were hard copy but I needed TI a.s.a.p., so I went the download route this time).

I'd only perhaps consider B&R 11 if Acronis would accept an exchange/replacement of Home 2011. I'm ethic-compulsive about copyrights, EULA, etc. -- I've never used nor will I ever use pirated or crack software -- and so I would not keep Home on my system if such an exchange were granted.

But again, money is getting a bit tight - even on an exchange, getting B&R 11 would mean shelling out another $50.
So for now, if I just get get Home to work as well as v.11 and v.9, I'd be satisfied.

(Correct me if I'm wrong but TI would probably just not launch if I did disable it).

It will not allow you to run tasks, afaik even 'run now', and scheduled tasks for sure.

Well, about a week later...

I've pretty much solved most of the issues that have come up mentioned above as well as another (unwanted Validation on system shutdown resulting in long "Operations in progress" situations). I like to choose my own backup directory on a drive but decided to just go with the x:\MyBackups default for at least Acronis remembers that one.

The only issue that I haven't yet solved is the insanely long Restore situation -- though I haven't tried another one since this thread was started; as long as I have a working emergency drive even if older, that's all I need to then do a restore on to the actual OS drive. I'll just have to schedule in 2 hours+ for a restore somehow -- it may even be 4 hours for I've now re-included the second partition I usually include in all backups.

I do wish Acronis (and frankly other software companies) would fix their "estimated time..." countdowns -- they are so wildly inaccurate - starting with things like "2 days, 8 hours..." then progressively shrinking down to eventually catching up with actual reality - which can be a guessing game right to the very end. But once one knows how long a backup takes more or less, one just ignores this more or less useless countdown.

I still prefer aspects of the old interface where one had more control but I'm getting used to the new one, the countdown is essentially useless and hopefully the slow restore process will be solved eventually. In short, I find the new process is far from ideal but as long as I have a working backup, that's all that matters.

Well, I did try a restore and finally.... it acted normally taking the appropriate length of time. I turned that test into my emergency OS, so I'm safe now. I say this because...

I have not been able to make the ISO version of TI work. Due to needing a TI that would work on my then new 64-bit system, I had to get it fast -- download version. Paying 2/3 more money just to get the backup DVD is way too steep -- costing as much or more than the hardcopy retail version, and so I'll rely on my emergency drive/s to do restores to the main OS if/when necessary.