Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! - Page 2

*zapionics<alt>* · 09-12-2009, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBNimble

Zappo,
I pulled those numbers out of a hat. ...

Quote:

...Cloning an entire drive to a separate drive has never failed for me. ...

I create the image and verify it in TI and move it onto an external drive for off-site backup purposes. I only access it when I need to restore which is rare... or rarely when I want to recover specific files...

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*PeterT* · 09-13-2009, 09:36 AM

I have used Ghost and now Acronis TI11 for many years to create drive and partition images to another physical drive. I've used the images many times and I've never had one fail.
One caveat: I do not install the imaging software in the OS or create the images from within the OS. I boot from the imaging media (floppy, CD or USB) and create full backup images, never incremental.

chuckbam · 09-13-2009, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

I have used Ghost and now Acronis TI11 for many years to create drive and partition images to another physical drive. I've used the images many times and I've never had one fail.
One caveat: I do not install the imaging software in the OS or create the images from within the OS. I boot from the imaging media (floppy, CD or USB) and create full backup images, never incremental.

I create a full image each time on a separate drive. I restored for the first time, about 2 months ago, from the recovery media and it worked great.

I will try a backup with the way you do it.

.

JBNimble · 09-13-2009, 10:56 AM

I consider my time and saved work to be much more valuable than the cost of a hard drive. Hence I always use a second same-size hard drive as backup.

I set up the primary drive in two partitions, with C: for the Operating System, etc and E: for my work. The second drive is D: and F:. Those letter IDs were determined by the OS, and I never bothered to redefine them; now I am accustomed to this and don't want it any other way.

I simply am not willing to mess with compression and its potential errors. Long ago, when I had Drive Image 2001 (or some such year) I tried imaging -- it frequently failed. I've never tried imaging with Acronis, and never will try; it's not worth the aggravation.

My first "big" hard drives were 256MB (not GB) and I paid $1200 for two. So now I am happy to pay $65 for 500GB, and the next computer will have at least 1TB drives.

chuckbam · 09-13-2009, 11:03 AM

I think it would be crazy to image a drive on the same drive.

**ctal** · 09-13-2009, 01:24 PM

The problems with imaging that people have reported in various places on the net tend to fall into three categories:

1)The bootable rescue/restore cd cannot see the drive(s), because it does not have the necessary drivers. I believe that was the case particularly with some earlier versions of TI, which uses a Linux-based rescue disk. This shouldn't be a problem even with those versions of the program if RAID is not being used, and/or if AHCI is not being used or is turned off for the restoration process.

2)The image was created by running the program within Windows. Usually works, but can't be counted on.

3)The imaging software is immature or bug-laden. That apparently has applied to some versions of TI at some points in the past, according to many user comments that I've seen.

I've never experienced or read posts by anyone reporting problems due per se to the fact that images are compressed.

JB has expressed here and in the past his preference for cloning, rather than imaging. That's fine, and there is no one right answer that applies to everyone. For me and many others, imaging has worked with 100% reliability, and good convenience. I use Drive Image 2002, produced by PowerQuest, which was subsequently bought out by Symantec. Apparently some of the principals of PowerQuest later founded or became key employees of StorageCraft, which produces the very well reviewed imaging program Shadowprotect:

ShadowProtect Desktop Edition - Product Details.

As noted in my recent front-page article here on imaging, I create an image about once a month, and I store the two or three most recent images on one external and one internal drive, or on two external drives in the case of laptops which only have one internal drive. I do data backups pretty much daily, simply by copying the data and email folders to one or both of those other drives using Windows Explorer or My Computer.

My feeling is that if an imaging program is not run within Windows, and the image is put through a verification cycle after being created (which is very easy to do, at least with the programs I've used, those being Drive Image 2002 and also the programs from TeraByte Unlimited :: Boot Manager :: Partition Manager :: Drive Image :: Disk Copy :: Drive Wipe :: Hard Drive Utilities), and if that program successfully restores an image once on that particular system, it can be counted upon 100% subsequently.

Some of the advantages of imaging and disadvantages of cloning are:

1)Images do not occupy an entire drive. Therefore multiple prior images can be saved, not just one, and they can be saved on multiple internal and/or external drives.

2)Individual files and folders can easily be extracted from an image.

3)Connections don't have to be fiddled with each time, as is necessary with the cloning procedure JB described.

4)If the user unwittingly boots the system with both the original c partition and its clone simultaneously connected, big problems can result.

If it is only a partition which is cloned (rather than an entire drive including the mbr and disk signature), when the original drive is booted and sees the other drive, it will assign a drive letter other than c to the clone, calling it, for instance e. The next time a clone operation is performed, the os on the clone will think of itself as e, while a few zillion internal drive letter references in its registry, local settings, programs, etc., will still point to c. The os on the clone will then be a non-functional mess.

I don't think that would happen if the entire drive is cloned, because the disk signature in the mbr would be duplicated onto the clone drive, but if either drive were subsequently booted with the other in place, problems would likely result from having two drives with the same signature, and/or from the cloned drive assigning a drive letter other than c to itself if it is booted and sees the original drive.

All in all, the only safe thing to do is to NEVER have both drives connected simultaneously when either is booted.

Regards,
-- Al

JimTram · 09-13-2009, 04:06 PM

I am glad you mentioned this. This potential issue is quite possible.

When I have cloned my entire primary hdd, I subsequently left the clone drive in place/connected for future updating. I never had a problem. But the potential is there as you pointed out. I guess strictly relying on the drive order in the BIOS may be a bit shaky especially after a bios update.

I just do images now and store them on a separate drive. Always full images!!!

"I don't think that would happen if the entire drive is cloned, because the disk signature in the mbr would be duplicated onto the clone drive, but if either drive were subsequently booted with the other in place, problems would likely result from having two drives with the same signature, and/or from the cloned drive assigning a drive letter other than c to itself if it is booted and sees the original drive."

ibarnett · 09-13-2009, 05:14 PM

I do similar to JimTran.
HDD's are so cheap now, I have 3, 1 for my "active" drive & aternate cloning to the other 2, In event of a problem with the main drive the cloned drives are ready to go.
I clone from the CD of TI. When cloning from this the "active" drive always shows up as "c" & the drive to be cloned as "d" even though it was previously cloned to"c".
I rarely boot the 2 together into windows, but have never had a problem when doing so(yet!!)

bajo · 09-15-2009, 08:15 PM

Acronis is omnipresent today, being used by most all hdd brands under their own name, as a backup/ clone official software. And it usually shows in the cloned hdd's Device Manager as "Acronis Devices" .

I always use a couple of cloned hdds, and a restore point.. that's it.

maraud · 10-02-2009, 08:49 PM

After reading this review, I purchased Acronis True image Home 2009. It installed flawlessly. There was a neat utility that you can wipe your external disk clean and format it for use. It cleaned the disk but would not format.
I went to tech support where you get a free 30 day Email only support. I fill in all of the required information and hit send. I get a notice that the city is not correct. I retry it a few timrs with the same results. I then phone technical support and the man tells me to use a different city and I tell him that is the city that I live in, can you suggest a city that will work. He excused himself for 5 minutes then came back and said it is a known issue and will be fixed in 24 hours. I then explained my problem to him about the formatting and he asked if he could use his software to control my system to view the problem.
His first program did not work. His second program did work but he was cut off the line. I called back and got a female who said that I could not use that line as it was for contract customers only. I gave her my explanation and she went through the same ritual but instead asked me to send her screen shots.
I asked what country they were from and she replied the Russian Republic and sent me an email of how to make and send screen shots that did not work.
I emailed her and told her of the problem and she never responded.
24 hours later the city code was fixed and I sent the information and received another reply from another female asking me to send a screen shot and I sent her an email saying that I had their procedure for sending and making screen shots and that it did not work and she has not replied.
The Acronis software may work but the technical support is the worst that I have seen from any company that I have dealt with ever and I go back to the 286 processor days. I may go back to Shadow Protect for backup.

**ctal** · 10-02-2009, 08:56 PM

Wow! That's quite a story. Thanks for letting us know, Maraud.

Regards,
-- Al

JimTram · 10-02-2009, 09:23 PM

I have to agree - while their software is tops, their customer support is a different story. Their forum is useful.

maraud · 10-03-2009, 01:27 PM

JimTram, I may try their forum. After almost a week I got a response from the second female referring me to section 15.2 of the users manual. I have responded telling her that , thats where I found that the software does not work and restated in detail what the problem area is. Hopefully I will receive a response in another week or a email notifying me that my 30 days are up and that can no longer give me support.

JimTram · 10-03-2009, 04:17 PM

If I may ask - what exactly is the problem with the software?

Quote:

Originally Posted by maraud

JimTram, I may try their forum. After almost a week I got a response from the second female referring me to section 15.2 of the users manual. I have responded telling her that , thats where I found that the software does not work and restated in detail what the problem area is. Hopefully I will receive a response in another week or a email notifying me that my 30 days are up and that can no longer give me support.

maraud · 10-03-2009, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimTram

If I may ask - what exactly is the problem with the software?

The software recognizes all disks. You click on the disk that you want cleaned. The software asks you which of several algorithms you wish to use. Then it cleans the dish. After cleaning it is supposed to ask you under a post wiping action No action, delete partition or format. It does not give the post wiping action but instead goes to summary and you cannot choose format.
I suspect that it may not installed correctly. So far they have no clue what the problem is possibly due to language understanding.

09-13-2009, 09:36 AM	#17
PeterT CUSL2...GA-EP45-UD3P...? Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Sunny Florida, USA Posts: 2,939	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! I have used Ghost and now Acronis TI11 for many years to create drive and partition images to another physical drive. I've used the images many times and I've never had one fail. One caveat: I do not install the imaging software in the OS or create the images from within the OS. I boot from the imaging media (floppy, CD or USB) and create full backup images, never incremental. __________________ Proud Member: Team-CUSL2 - 'The Old School Crew' Asus Eee PC 1000HE, 1x2GB Corsair DDR2 667 GA-EP45-UD3P, Q9550, 4x2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, EVGA 9800GTX+ 512MB GA-EP45-DS3L, E7200, 4x2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800, Asus EAH4850 TOP 512MB GA-EP45-UD3P, E6600, 4x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066, EVGA 8800GTS 512MB P5B-D in a box at the moment P4P800-D, P4 2.4C, 4x512MB Mushkin DDR 400, ATI AIW X800XT 256MB TUSL2C, P3-S 1.4, 2x256MB Corsair XMS150, ATI 9800PRO 128MB, TB Santa Cruz CUSL2, P3 1.0, 1x256MB & 2x128MB Corsair PC133, Asus V7700D 32MB, SB Live! * Please join ABXZone and participate *
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09-13-2009, 10:56 AM	#19
JBNimble Renaissance Man Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: MD Posts: 1,212	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! I consider my time and saved work to be much more valuable than the cost of a hard drive. Hence I always use a second same-size hard drive as backup. I set up the primary drive in two partitions, with C: for the Operating System, etc and E: for my work. The second drive is D: and F:. Those letter IDs were determined by the OS, and I never bothered to redefine them; now I am accustomed to this and don't want it any other way. I simply am not willing to mess with compression and its potential errors. Long ago, when I had Drive Image 2001 (or some such year) I tried imaging -- it frequently failed. I've never tried imaging with Acronis, and never will try; it's not worth the aggravation. My first "big" hard drives were 256MB (not GB) and I paid $1200 for two. So now I am happy to pay $65 for 500GB, and the next computer will have at least 1TB drives. __________________ Those of you who think you know it all are particularly annoying to those of us who do.
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09-13-2009, 11:03 AM	#20
chuckbam Personal Advocate Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Louisiana USA Posts: 2,549	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! I think it would be crazy to image a drive on the same drive. __________________ Intel Core i7 LGA1366 - 3.60 GHz (20x 180 BCLK) / 4 Cores/ 8 Threads/ 1.25v/ QPI 6.47 GTs 12GB Crucial, Micron D9JNM ICs DDR3 - 1440 MHz, 8-8-8-20 1T, 1.58v, Tri-Channel Radeon, HD 4850 1GB DDR3 16x 2.0 - 700 MHz GPU/ 1950 MHz DDR3 Intel X25-M 34nm 80GB SSD, ICH10R/ Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit 4x MaXLine Pro 500, RAID 0, ICH10R/ OS Intergraded Data ....... System Runs 24/7....... --- system_01
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09-13-2009, 01:24 PM	#21
ctal Eschews Obfuscation Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Connecticut, USA Posts: 1,998	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! The problems with imaging that people have reported in various places on the net tend to fall into three categories: 1)The bootable rescue/restore cd cannot see the drive(s), because it does not have the necessary drivers. I believe that was the case particularly with some earlier versions of TI, which uses a Linux-based rescue disk. This shouldn't be a problem even with those versions of the program if RAID is not being used, and/or if AHCI is not being used or is turned off for the restoration process. 2)The image was created by running the program within Windows. Usually works, but can't be counted on. 3)The imaging software is immature or bug-laden. That apparently has applied to some versions of TI at some points in the past, according to many user comments that I've seen. I've never experienced or read posts by anyone reporting problems due per se to the fact that images are compressed. JB has expressed here and in the past his preference for cloning, rather than imaging. That's fine, and there is no one right answer that applies to everyone. For me and many others, imaging has worked with 100% reliability, and good convenience. I use Drive Image 2002, produced by PowerQuest, which was subsequently bought out by Symantec. Apparently some of the principals of PowerQuest later founded or became key employees of StorageCraft, which produces the very well reviewed imaging program Shadowprotect: ShadowProtect Desktop Edition - Product Details. As noted in my recent front-page article here on imaging, I create an image about once a month, and I store the two or three most recent images on one external and one internal drive, or on two external drives in the case of laptops which only have one internal drive. I do data backups pretty much daily, simply by copying the data and email folders to one or both of those other drives using Windows Explorer or My Computer. My feeling is that if an imaging program is not run within Windows, and the image is put through a verification cycle after being created (which is very easy to do, at least with the programs I've used, those being Drive Image 2002 and also the programs from TeraByte Unlimited :: Boot Manager :: Partition Manager :: Drive Image :: Disk Copy :: Drive Wipe :: Hard Drive Utilities), and if that program successfully restores an image once on that particular system, it can be counted upon 100% subsequently. Some of the advantages of imaging and disadvantages of cloning are: 1)Images do not occupy an entire drive. Therefore multiple prior images can be saved, not just one, and they can be saved on multiple internal and/or external drives. 2)Individual files and folders can easily be extracted from an image. 3)Connections don't have to be fiddled with each time, as is necessary with the cloning procedure JB described. 4)If the user unwittingly boots the system with both the original c partition and its clone simultaneously connected, big problems can result. If it is only a partition which is cloned (rather than an entire drive including the mbr and disk signature), when the original drive is booted and sees the other drive, it will assign a drive letter other than c to the clone, calling it, for instance e. The next time a clone operation is performed, the os on the clone will think of itself as e, while a few zillion internal drive letter references in its registry, local settings, programs, etc., will still point to c. The os on the clone will then be a non-functional mess. I don't think that would happen if the entire drive is cloned, because the disk signature in the mbr would be duplicated onto the clone drive, but if either drive were subsequently booted with the other in place, problems would likely result from having two drives with the same signature, and/or from the cloned drive assigning a drive letter other than c to itself if it is booted and sees the original drive. All in all, the only safe thing to do is to NEVER have both drives connected simultaneously when either is booted. Regards, -- Al __________________ "I didn't say I didn't say it. I said that I didn't say that I said it. I want to make that very clear." -- George Romney, in 1968, while campaigning for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Last edited by ctal; 09-13-2009 at 01:31 PM..
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09-13-2009, 04:06 PM	#22
JimTram Seabees, USN-Retired Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 3,314	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! I am glad you mentioned this. This potential issue is quite possible. When I have cloned my entire primary hdd, I subsequently left the clone drive in place/connected for future updating. I never had a problem. But the potential is there as you pointed out. I guess strictly relying on the drive order in the BIOS may be a bit shaky especially after a bios update. I just do images now and store them on a separate drive. Always full images!!! "I don't think that would happen if the entire drive is cloned, because the disk signature in the mbr would be duplicated onto the clone drive, but if either drive were subsequently booted with the other in place, problems would likely result from having two drives with the same signature, and/or from the cloned drive assigning a drive letter other than c to itself if it is booted and sees the original drive." __________________ ASUS P7P55D Intel i7-860 KVR 1333 4x2G Sapphire 5850 Samsung SyncMaster 940BX SB X-FI Titanium WDC640 Caviar Black, ST3300620AS Iomega eGo 1TB External HDD Sony Optiarc AD7240S, Pioneer 218L Corsair HX 620W PSU Antec 300 Gamer, Scythe 120 Fans (x3), Antec 140 Fan Win7 Home x64
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09-13-2009, 05:14 PM	#23
ibarnett Registered User Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Robina Posts: 65	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! I do similar to JimTran. HDD's are so cheap now, I have 3, 1 for my "active" drive & aternate cloning to the other 2, In event of a problem with the main drive the cloned drives are ready to go. I clone from the CD of TI. When cloning from this the "active" drive always shows up as "c" & the drive to be cloned as "d" even though it was previously cloned to"c". I rarely boot the 2 together into windows, but have never had a problem when doing so(yet!!)
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09-15-2009, 08:15 PM	#24
bajo C1eaner Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: TX, USA Posts: 17,274	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! Acronis is omnipresent today, being used by most all hdd brands under their own name, as a backup/ clone official software. And it usually shows in the cloned hdd's Device Manager as "Acronis Devices" . I always use a couple of cloned hdds, and a restore point.. that's it. __________________ USA "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them." Duke (The Shootist) Gigabyte_AGP_LGA775, PentiumD960_dual core 3.6GHz, SapphireHD3850_AGP512MB_DDR2, WD RaptorX 150GB SATA_clearTop_16MB + Seagate 1TB SATA_32MB, CorsairDominator 2GB 8500_1066MHz, Dell 24" 2408WFP *AGP +DVIx2 +HDMI +DisplayPort +USB2x4, XPproSP3 Inspiron9400 17"uxga CentrinoC2duoT7600_2.39GHz_685MHz 4GB Micron6400@800_675_400MHz GeForceGo7900GSMobileForce_M6Enhanced_256MB 2x500GbSATA_7200rpm_16MBcache Vista hp, VistaP6002_SP2
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10-02-2009, 08:49 PM	#25
maraud Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 345	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! After reading this review, I purchased Acronis True image Home 2009. It installed flawlessly. There was a neat utility that you can wipe your external disk clean and format it for use. It cleaned the disk but would not format. I went to tech support where you get a free 30 day Email only support. I fill in all of the required information and hit send. I get a notice that the city is not correct. I retry it a few timrs with the same results. I then phone technical support and the man tells me to use a different city and I tell him that is the city that I live in, can you suggest a city that will work. He excused himself for 5 minutes then came back and said it is a known issue and will be fixed in 24 hours. I then explained my problem to him about the formatting and he asked if he could use his software to control my system to view the problem. His first program did not work. His second program did work but he was cut off the line. I called back and got a female who said that I could not use that line as it was for contract customers only. I gave her my explanation and she went through the same ritual but instead asked me to send her screen shots. I asked what country they were from and she replied the Russian Republic and sent me an email of how to make and send screen shots that did not work. I emailed her and told her of the problem and she never responded. 24 hours later the city code was fixed and I sent the information and received another reply from another female asking me to send a screen shot and I sent her an email saying that I had their procedure for sending and making screen shots and that it did not work and she has not replied. The Acronis software may work but the technical support is the worst that I have seen from any company that I have dealt with ever and I go back to the 286 processor days. I may go back to Shadow Protect for backup.
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10-02-2009, 08:56 PM	#26
ctal Eschews Obfuscation Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Connecticut, USA Posts: 1,998	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! Wow! That's quite a story. Thanks for letting us know, Maraud. Regards, -- Al __________________ "I didn't say I didn't say it. I said that I didn't say that I said it. I want to make that very clear." -- George Romney, in 1968, while campaigning for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
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10-02-2009, 09:23 PM	#27
JimTram Seabees, USN-Retired Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 3,314	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! I have to agree - while their software is tops, their customer support is a different story. Their forum is useful. __________________ ASUS P7P55D Intel i7-860 KVR 1333 4x2G Sapphire 5850 Samsung SyncMaster 940BX SB X-FI Titanium WDC640 Caviar Black, ST3300620AS Iomega eGo 1TB External HDD Sony Optiarc AD7240S, Pioneer 218L Corsair HX 620W PSU Antec 300 Gamer, Scythe 120 Fans (x3), Antec 140 Fan Win7 Home x64
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10-03-2009, 01:27 PM	#28
maraud Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 345	Re: Acronis True Image 2009 Users Report!!! JimTram, I may try their forum. After almost a week I got a response from the second female referring me to section 15.2 of the users manual. I have responded telling her that , thats where I found that the software does not work and restated in detail what the problem area is. Hopefully I will receive a response in another week or a email notifying me that my 30 days are up and that can no longer give me support.
(Offline)

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