Acronis True Image Home 2010: worth it?

[DayLaborer]

What does Acronis True Image Home 2010 do that the built-in Win7 (Home Premium specifically) back-up utilities cannot do? In other words, is it worth buying for $50?

Thanks,
Eliezer

 

[aich69]

They're both capable of making a nice image of your PC, Acronis has the added (sometimes optional I believe) ability to backup to an online storage facility - no doubt at an added cost.

Really depends what you want from your backup but I find the built in Windows 7 backup/restore utility to be perfectly adequate and to be honest I really don't like the idea of backing up to some remote data centre somewhere out there... I like my backups where I can see them, so I wouldn't pay just for that feature.

There are plenty of apps out there that you can buy that do what Windows can do itself but to be honest, sometimes Windows (yes really) can do a good job by itself. Give the Windows built in backup a go and then decide if you need a third party app. You could always download their trial and give it a test drive.

Just my opinion for what it's worth.

I used to have a handle on life... but it broke. Cpt. Red Bull

 

[tlpeter]

I have used the W7 backup/restore a couple of times and works fine and quick enough.
Within 10 minutes having a working and clean fresh install again.


ACS IP Office or is it ACSS
ACA - Implement IP Telephony -- ACA - Design IP Telephony
ACA - Voice Services Management
______________
Women and cats can do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea!

 

[kjv1611]

It seems some have had great success with Windows 7 backup, where others have had major headaches. The only way to know for sure is to test it yourself with your hardware/software configurations.

There are other alternatives you could try as well. For instance, there's the tools from TerabyteUnlimited. Don't as me much on details with them myself, as I'm just now in the middle of trying to learn them actually.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[Nocandu]

Hi

I'm using Norton Ghost 16 with Windows 7 64 bit.
Works great, I had no problem creating a bootable restore disk once I downloaded the correct ISO file.

I also created a backup using Windows own utility I just trust the one from Ghost more because I have used Ghost for years and it has saved my tail more then once.

Mike

 

[DayLaborer]

Will the bootable restore disk work without an original Win7 install disk - my HP didn't come with one... (Grrr...)

Does it back up folders on a schedule, too?

 

[Nocandu]

Hi

If you create a backup of your c:\ drive on a second partition
second hard drive, or external hard drive using a program like Norton Ghost it will restore your drive to exactly the way it was when you backed it up without the use of the Windows DVD.

All of you settings, data, etc will be restored.

The whole process takes less then an hour and will repair any kind of Software issue including a really bad virus or Windows crash since the Boot CD has it's own operating system and doesn't need to have Windows running.

I would certainly back up my drive if I didn't have a install disk!

Remember you have to have someplace to back it up, you can't do it on the same disk or partition that you are going to restore.

"note that that was supposed to say Norton Ghost 15 in my post above.

I can't tell you how glad I have been to have a backup when my computer crashed and would not restart.

You will have to keep your backups up to date every month or so so that you don't lose a lot of recent stuff if something happens.

Mike

 

[kjv1611]

What Nocandu stated about Ghost really goes for pretty much any imaging program. If it has a restore option, it should have its own bootable CD/DVD.

Also, Windows Restore would require the Windows Boot DVD if the system fails to start on its own, so you'd have to spend at least the same price as the other apps to get a restore disk from the manufacturer, most likely. It wouldn't hurt to check, regardless of what option you go with, in my opinion, though. If the system is still under warranty, you might could get the disk for cheap, actually... but that's a big maybe. I believe most of the time you pay the full price for that - usually $30 to $60, varies per OS and mfg, I believe.

Here's what I'd do: I'd go with a 3rd party solution for sure! Here's how I'd decide, if it were me:
1. If I didn't want to take much time in learning the product, I'd go with Acronis or Norton. I've heard good and bad about both. I've used both, between the two, I prefer Acronis historically - I've not tried the latest of either.
2. If I were willing to spend some time learning the product, and didn't REQUIRE automated back-ups, then I'd go with Terabyte Unlimited's products. Apparently, you can do the automated backups via scripts. Otherwise, it's not automated. I've seen Acronis' backups in real time, and they seem to work very well - latest used was True Image 2009.

I hope this has been of some help. Sadly, I don't think you'll get a solid 100% choice out of anyone, b/c all products have their pros and cons, and each of us likely prefer one or another.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[tlpeter]

W7 can built it's own system restore disk.
So make a system copy when it is still clean and put it in it's own partition and ofcourse a safe copy on some other (external) disk.

When it doe snot boot anymore then use the restore disk and use the backup copy you have made.
If you want it to run from an external disk then be sure it is in the root of that disk!!!


ACS IP Office or is it ACSS
ACA - Implement IP Telephony -- ACA - Design IP Telephony
ACA - Voice Services Management
______________
Women and cats can do as they please and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea!

 

[kjv1611]

W7 can built it's own system restore disk.

Yeah, I sorta forgot about that.. LOL

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[MitelInMyBlood]

The true beauty of Acronis is it's fast and you can open an image file simply by clicking on it and literally use drag 'n drop to recover any single file you need. I give Acronis 5 stars.

Only my experience, but W7 restore takes forever to build a set of recovery disks. Not something I'd want to ever do on a routine basis.

Original MUG/NAMU Charter Member

 

[DayLaborer]

I know Acronis allows for this (as just alluded to by "MiteInMyBlood") - does Win7 allow this, too: to verify that the backup worked without having to actually restore everything?

 

[kjv1611]

I'm not 100% sure I'd trust Acronis anymore to verify an image is correct without actually testing a restore myself. Reason why is that with at least one previous edition, I ran into issues restore Windows Vista builds, and Windows 7 is based on the same architecture as Vista anyway. If you want to be sure, there's nothing better than giving it a test run - especially if you've an extra hard drive that you can use to test it on.

 

[DayLaborer]

What I meant when I wrote "as just alluded to by MiteInMyBlood" was that you can "peek" into an Acronis backup by "drag 'n drop to recover any single file". Does Win7 have any easy way of validating (ala spot-checking) that a backup worked without actually restoring the whole system?

KJV1611, when you said:

If you want to be sure, there's nothing better than giving it a test run - especially if you've an extra hard drive that you can use to test it on.

How does an extra HDD help? (I think I'm missing something obvious...)

Thanks,
Eliezer

 

[kjv1611]

Well, the extra hard drive helps, b/c you could test-restore your system to the other hard drive while not messing with your currently intact system. Then if it works, you can wipe the tested drive, reconnect your system drive, and be back in business, all the while knowing you had a successful (or not) test.... but without any "real" results to your current system.

 

[DayLaborer]

Does that work with an external HDD?

 

[kjv1611]

Not really. You'd want to connect the "spare" hard drive at the same connection as the failed drive (or same type of connection, at least) in order to get an accurate test. If you run it to an external drive, you'll have to make sure your system will boot from USB/external devices, and then you'll have to use different drivers for getting Windows to boot. I mean, you could TRY, but if it failed, you wouldn't know whether it was Acronis or whether it was a driver issue.. with a restore image, though, I almost think it would work.... if you do give it a try, let us know. I know that's something I've never thought of doing, but it would be a nice way to test a system... sorta.

 

[MitelInMyBlood]

Acronis Home v11 works fine with Win7 Home Premium as I have used it to restore an entire disk image, including the 2 hidden OEM recovery partitions in a new Gateway DX4831. (The original HD crashed).

I concur on the recommendation to test with a spare HDD. I also strongly advocate storing your Acronis image on external media, rather than in a separate partition on the same drive. Had our recovery image been on the same drive we would not have been able to recover.

It's difficult enough to get people to do even 1 backup, least of all schedule regular backups. Acronis makes it so stupidly simple as to remove all excuses for not doing it.

Original MUG/NAMU Charter Member

 

[DayLaborer]

I think I need to clarify the purpose of my question. My PC just died on me. A while ago I was using Acronis on it, but stopped when it was reporting errors on my HDD. I couldn't get them to stop, so I switched to a free ("Karen Replicator") backup tool. OK, OK, easy, people. It was a mistake! In any case, my "Karen" backups seemed to have worked - but when I went to restore from it, the results were disappointing.

In short, I was burned.

As a result, I am a bit neurotic and want to be assured that my backup is 100% valid and useful should I need it.

That is what I need from either Win7's built-in utility or Acronis...

Does that framing of the question change anything?

Thanks so much,
Eliezer

 

[MitelInMyBlood]

Was this Acronis you had prior problems with a legit copy? I've heard horror stories about "warez" w/hacked validation. What version was it? I think ver 11 dot something is current.

Acronis reporting HDD errors may have been trying to tell you that all was not well and disaster was impending...

I've heard nothing but good reports from friends & associates I know that use Acronis and it has always worked well for me. Your mileage may vary.





Original MUG/NAMU Charter Member