I'm dissappointed in True Image 2011
I just reverted back to TI 2010 from 2011. I found several problems with 2011. Most are bugs, no doubt. I dunno why I went ahead and installed the first released build without checking this forum first. D'oh!
- The UI has changed all over again. No sooner did I get used to the bizzarro 2010 UI (and even started to like it), but along comes 2011. And now, time for something completely different!
- It took me a while to find the place to set my backup options (it's no longer a main "menu" item, but is accessed only right on the dialog you get when you're doing a backup).
- Once I found it, it seemed that my choices didn't stick. Eventually I got some of them to stick, but not all.
- I never found them because I didn't do a restore operation, but I assume in order to set the restore options one must actually do a restore, and then hope that one's selections are remembered.
- A nice feature is the ability to save a desktop image with each backup. Except that it didn't work. I made a couple of backups with this option checked, but no image was displayed when I viewed the backup.
- Speaking of viewing backups, 2010 has a nice backup file viewer that lists all the backups, one on each row, with the actual filename of the backup, and the comment. This makes it easy to manage one's manual backups, but alas it seems to be gone in 2011. The backup viewer in 2011 appears on the main screen, which is nice I guess, but it shows only part of the filename. I added @date@ and @computername@ to my backup filenames, and once I got this choice to stick, the name of the .tib files actually contained these strings. But they do not show up in the file viewer, making it impossible to quickly determine the dates of the backups. One must click on each backup in turn to open another dialog that shows more details.
- And then there's the comments. They're so well hidden that at first I thought they were gone, but they're still there. But it appears that you have to manually add a comment after the backup is done. So I have to write down my reason for doing a backup on a piece of paper so I can enter it in later. And the small field that appears to contain the comment is only about, maybe, 20 characters wide. So to read comments, one must first click on each backup one at a time, then go into comment-edit mode, then highlight and scroll across the comment field to see it all. This is ridiculously cumbersome, and if not fixed will cause me to stay with 2010.
- And of course I have the 21,000-days-to-validate problem that others have reported. The validation operation actually takes about as long as TI 2010; this one is just an annoyance.
(Thanks for letting me rant. My descriptions of the issues above might be slightly off in terms of exact names for stuff, etc. It's all from memory since I no longer have 2011 installed.)
I lost the ability to backup Application Settings. It was there one day and gone the next time I went in to do a backup.
I have almost got to the point, Unless my operating system changes, I do not change any software that is running. It seems almost always that older software gags on a newer operating systems and new software throw up on older operating systems.
Notice Microsoft comes out with new operating system at the same time they upgrade their Office products. Even they know we should be doing this. Looks like an upgrade every 3 years is just about right and my pocket book is going to like that.
You are right, keep the same hardware and software until it gets too slow or unbearable to work efficiently with. I had a nice Compag pc three years ago that just kept throwing up blue screens every few minutes to the point where I could no longer rely on it. Tried everything to cure it, restored factory settings, re-installed all updates and programs to no avail, so eventually went and bought a new pc and transfered everything over. I then took the Compaq and cleaned everything completely off the hard drive and did a brand new install. It has run ever since without ever having another blue screen because I have never updated hardware drivers or software updates. The only thing that I allow is updating Norton for security.
I installed a 2000 version of Office on an old laptop for someone the other day and it did seem a bit dated with the 2007 version I use now. I work a lot with Excel but having thought about what I do, the only real difference is I can save in pdf files and it intergrates better with other software, but that is about it, the basics are still the same.
So if It does what you want and it works don't get drawn in by the advertising and be tempted to go newer. I have TI 2008 on the Compaq, it makes disk images and backs up files, why did I need TI 2011?
I must resist temptation, I must resist temptation, I must resist temptation!!!!
I've been trying to explain to Ed (Customer Service head) and Acronis that the quality has to be there in a new version and I have heard on these forums that each new version gets worse. And I don't like the trend of dumbing down the user interface and functions just so a novice PC user can click, click, click.
I don't think I can trust a new version (still on TI11). I can't even uninstall the versions I have now w/o major issues, so I'll just not upgrade. I used TI2009 once and was not impressed because of all the obvious bugs. I don't see how Acronis (and other software vendors) release products in such bad shape.
Justin
I am not suggesting any of the complaints I read above are not true ... for those people. But my experience with ATI 2011 has been quite different for some reason. Very different.
Originally, I started with ATI 2009. I found the 2009 interface cryptic and when I did figure out how to get it to do something, I never left with a good feeling about whether or not I had accomplished the backup or not.
Then I had Polywell build me a new Win 7 64x machine and decided to look again at backup software. ATI was (because of 2009) not very high on my list. But I wanted to back up to a USB 3.0 external HD and ATI 2011 supported USB 3.0. Only because of USB 3.0 support, and the reasonable upgrade fee, I decided to try ATI again.
I am so favorably impressed with this new 2011 ATI software. WOW, the guys finally got it right! Intuitive, fast and easy to use. 2011 is everything that 2009 was NOT, for me at least. I really struggled with 2009. I never understood it and never trusted it. I'm glad I decided to take a leap to the upgraded version 2011. Best money I've spent in a while. Everything now makes sense; is where I expect it to be ... just very nice.
And for the record, Techsmith's SnagIt 2010 went on as an update and runs perfectly also ... I use it many times a day. I sure hope you guys (above) are not having other more basic issues with your computers that is affecting how various software installs and runs. Good luck fellows. I've been there and feel your pain.
kda,
a bit off topic about TI 2011, but with SnagIt 10, can you capture scrolling web pages and pdf files? This is what I cannot do and it is my main use of SnagIT. Version 9 works perfectly.
kda wrote:
I am so favorably impressed with this new 2011 ATI software. WOW, the guys finally got it right! Intuitive, fast and easy to use...
So, are you saying that within the True Image Home 2011 program, you can see your individual full backups with their actual, complete file names, and your entered backup comments? This is what I need, and what 2011 could not do for me. I'm guessing it cannot do it for you either. I suspect the differences in our opinions of the software has to do with how we use it: I never let Acronis do anything automatically; I only make images of my system drive, and I do them manually when I decide there are particular reasons to do so (like making some kind of major change or software install to my PC). I put these reasons in the comments, and the date in the filename. So it's imperative that, for multiple backups at a time, I be able to see the actual file names of the backups together with my comments. This enables me to decide which backups are old enough, or not relevant enough, to delete (again, manually).
If I guessed wrong and there is a way to do this with 2011, please tell me how and I'll try 2011 again.
P.S. I know about the convenience of automated backups of everything, system and data etc. But for this function I use WHS (Windows Home Server). I use Acronis only for drive images as described above, and cloning drives for HDD changeouts and upgrades.
KDA
Hello... Coming from 2009 ... a bucket of crabs would look good... 2010 (since TI-11 ) is the best so far.
Regards Fred