Acronis True Image 2012?

[Stan Brown]

Hi, folks! I've got TI Home 2011, and you've seen me posting some of
my beefs with it. It does the basic job, but it's confusing and
annoying to use.

Here's the $20 question: Is TI 2012 enough better to make it worth
spending on the upgrade? For one thing, is it faster? For another,
is the user interface better? Could any of you who have upgraded
from 2011 to 2012 share whether you think it was a good move or not,
and why? $20 for the upgrade isn't that much to spend, these days,
but I'd rather not go through the upgrade exercise without some
reason to believe it will actually be better. We all know by now
that "it's newer, so it must be better" is a fallacy.

 

[MetalStorm©]

Hi, folks! I've got TI Home 2011, and you've seen me posting some of
my beefs with it. It does the basic job, but it's confusing and
annoying to use.

Here's the $20 question: Is TI 2012 enough better to make it worth
spending on the upgrade? For one thing, is it faster? For another,
is the user interface better? Could any of you who have upgraded
from 2011 to 2012 share whether you think it was a good move or not,
and why? $20 for the upgrade isn't that much to spend, these days,
but I'd rather not go through the upgrade exercise without some
reason to believe it will actually be better. We all know by now
that "it's newer, so it must be better" is a fallacy.

stay clear of it. i have TI2011 and purchased the 20 buck upgrade. i
have been using the program since TI2008 and it has saved my life two
times. im always a sucker for upgrades and back up programs are worth
it IMHO. so i install it and reboot. windows stays stuck on the
"starting windows" screen with no disk activity. i reboot into safe
mode and it stops half way through and no disk activity. i rebooted
once more and same thing. being the smart dude that I am, i created a
system restore point before the install. the only way i could get the
computer to boot was to go back in time before the install. im ready
to say screw it and just keep ti2011 which worked fine. i sent
acronis a support email on saturday and have not heard back yet.
perhaps they are on christmas break. i didnt think they celebrated
christmas in india. :>) if i dont hear back from them after the
first, ill dispute my charge with bank of amerika and just keep 2011.

BTW...if anyone has a solution, please post it. i will do anything
except uninstall the previous version, since i have upgraded the
program since 2008 and might have to go back to that point and upgrade
it 3 times to get it to work again. not gonna happen.

 

[Roy Smith]

BTW...if anyone has a solution, please post it. i will do anything
except uninstall the previous version, since i have upgraded the
program since 2008 and might have to go back to that point and upgrade
it 3 times to get it to work again. not gonna happen.

Sorry I don't have a solution to your problem. But go ahead and
uninstall ATI 2011 and then installed ATI 2012. When you enter your
product key in ATI 2012 it will see it as an upgrade and then ask you
for the product key from your previous version. This is what happened
when I installed ATI 2011 on a new PC that I built recently and I don't
see why ATI 2012 would be any different.


--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Thunderbird 9.0.1
Thursday, December 29, 2011 8:17:45 AM

 

[Jan Alter]

Sorry I don't have a solution to your problem. But go ahead and
uninstall ATI 2011 and then installed ATI 2012. When you enter your
product key in ATI 2012 it will see it as an upgrade and then ask you
for the product key from your previous version. This is what happened
when I installed ATI 2011 on a new PC that I built recently and I don't
see why ATI 2012 would be any different.


--

In response to your Q as to whether it's worth it to upgrade you might read
what some purchasers from Newegg of the 2012 version wrote. Of the 5 reviews
most don't appear happy with it. For myself, I've got the 2011 version. I
think I'll live with it for another year.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832200031

 

[Char Jackson]

Hi, folks! I've got TI Home 2011, and you've seen me posting some of
my beefs with it. It does the basic job, but it's confusing and
annoying to use.

Here's the $20 question: Is TI 2012 enough better to make it worth
spending on the upgrade? For one thing, is it faster? For another,
is the user interface better? Could any of you who have upgraded
from 2011 to 2012 share whether you think it was a good move or not,
and why? $20 for the upgrade isn't that much to spend, these days,
but I'd rather not go through the upgrade exercise without some
reason to believe it will actually be better. We all know by now
that "it's newer, so it must be better" is a fallacy.

Until recently, I had 2010, 2011, and 2012 installed on 3 systems
here. During the time I had access to all three, I preferred the 2010
interface over the other two. Now that I've upgraded everything to
2012 I have to say the interface is fine with me. I don't find it
confusing or limiting. As for speed, they're all the same.

Having said all that, my opinion is that 2012 is not a significant
upgrade from 2011. The interface is extremely similar and the features
and capabilities seem to be identical. I mostly think the 2012 version
is targeted to new users rather than 2011 users.

 

[Allen Drake]

stay clear of it. i have TI2011 and purchased the 20 buck upgrade. i
have been using the program since TI2008 and it has saved my life two
times. im always a sucker for upgrades and back up programs are worth
it IMHO. so i install it and reboot. windows stays stuck on the
"starting windows" screen with no disk activity. i reboot into safe
mode and it stops half way through and no disk activity. i rebooted
once more and same thing. being the smart dude that I am, i created a
system restore point before the install. the only way i could get the
computer to boot was to go back in time before the install. im ready
to say screw it and just keep ti2011 which worked fine. i sent
acronis a support email on saturday and have not heard back yet.
perhaps they are on christmas break. i didnt think they celebrated
christmas in india. :>) if i dont hear back from them after the
first, ill dispute my charge with bank of amerika and just keep 2011.

BTW...if anyone has a solution, please post it. i will do anything
except uninstall the previous version, since i have upgraded the
program since 2008 and might have to go back to that point and upgrade
it 3 times to get it to work again. not gonna happen.

Please excuse my ignorance but what is all the buzz about this app in
the first place. I have been using the cloning SW that comes with each
drive and have never seen a need to purchase anything. What could be
different about cloning a HDD that I would want to buy and then
upgrade to do such a simple task?

Al.

 

[BillW50]

Please excuse my ignorance but what is all the buzz about this app in
the first place. I have been using the cloning SW that comes with each
drive and have never seen a need to purchase anything. What could be
different about cloning a HDD that I would want to buy and then
upgrade to do such a simple task?

Al.

A lot of people like buying one huge external (sometimes an internal)
drive and then make multiple backup copies to it. Although you need an
extra step to restore, while cloning does not. And I have learned you
should never trust a backup without restoring to test it (mostly thanks
to Acronis failures). Cloning does the same thing in half the time. So
yes, I am with you. Cloning is far more reliable and does a far better
job in far less time to boot.

 

[Jan Alter]

A lot of people like buying one huge external (sometimes an internal)
drive and then make multiple backup copies to it. Although you need an
extra step to restore, while cloning does not. And I have learned you
should never trust a backup without restoring to test it (mostly thanks to
Acronis failures). Cloning does the same thing in half the time. So yes, I
am with you. Cloning is far more reliable and does a far better job in far
less time to boot.

I've had a few Acronis image failures myself since starting to use their
software with version 8, about six years ago and I was annoyingly
disappointed. However, I have been thankful many more times to have been
saved when the OS crashed and I could not fix it and was able to restore the
computer with an Acronis image. But further, I find being able to make full
images and then add differential backups a simple and time saving feature of
the program on a regular day to day backup regimen.
Acronis has a feature (Pluspack) to allow one to restore an image of
the computer to a different computer with different hardware, including a
different mb.That means one wouldn't have to reinstall all their software
programs with a new build. Though I've never had to do that I've tried it
just to see if it works and I was gratified that it did after the
installation of an image to a completely new computer with different
hardware. And though I haven't found their automatic backup scheduling
feature to my needs I think a lot of folks do. I set the scheduling up for
my mother-in-law a few months ago and she's delighted that every Thursday at
6 pm the computer will save an incremental backup to her eternal drive
without her having to do anything.
It's great that all the major hard drive manufacturers have cloning
software. It makes moving or backing up a complete image quite painless. The
versatility that Acronis and other backup software companies provide make it
a preferable choice to me and obviously a lot of other folks than the basic
image cloners.

 

[BillW50]

I've had a few Acronis image failures myself since starting to use their
software with version 8, about six years ago and I was annoyingly
disappointed. However, I have been thankful many more times to have been
saved when the OS crashed and I could not fix it and was able to restore the
computer with an Acronis image. But further, I find being able to make full
images and then add differential backups a simple and time saving feature of
the program on a regular day to day backup regimen.

Trusting in one developer's backup program isn't a great idea in my
book. As I like to try them all. And the more you try, the more you
dislike Acronis.

Acronis has a feature (Pluspack) to allow one to restore an image of
the computer to a different computer with different hardware, including a
different mb.That means one wouldn't have to reinstall all their software
programs with a new build. Though I've never had to do that I've tried it
just to see if it works and I was gratified that it did after the
installation of an image to a completely new computer with different
hardware. And though I haven't found their automatic backup scheduling
feature to my needs I think a lot of folks do. I set the scheduling up for
my mother-in-law a few months ago and she's delighted that every Thursday at
6 pm the computer will save an incremental backup to her eternal drive
without her having to do anything.

Paragon came out with "Adaptive Restore" long before Acronis came out
with "Restore to Dissimilar Hardware". Plus Acronis charges you 50 bucks
more for that while Paragon gives it to you for free. And have you
actually used "Restore to Dissimilar Hardware" yet? As I have been
waiting and I haven't heard one success yet.

It's great that all the major hard drive manufacturers have cloning
software. It makes moving or backing up a complete image quite painless. The
versatility that Acronis and other backup software companies provide make it
a preferable choice to me and obviously a lot of other folks than the basic
image cloners.

Yes and that is the way it should be. ;-)

 

[Jan Alter]

Trusting in one developer's backup program isn't a great idea in my book.
As I like to try them all. And the more you try, the more you dislike
Acronis.


Paragon came out with "Adaptive Restore" long before Acronis came out with
"Restore to Dissimilar Hardware". Plus Acronis charges you 50 bucks more
for that while Paragon gives it to you for free. And have you actually
used "Restore to Dissimilar Hardware" yet? As I have been waiting and I
haven't heard one success yet.


Yes and that is the way it should be. ;-)

It isn't necessary for me to play 'one upsmanship' with you. The points
that I explained were my reasons for using Acronis beyond basic cloning
software. You mentioned whether or not I had tried restoring an image to
different hardware using the Acronis Plus Pack. I thought I had mentioned
that in my explanation and I said it worked.
I don't know about Paragon. I haven't used it, so I can't give you
details, but from my experience the Plus pack from Acronis does work even if
it costs money. Sometimes it's worth the money for the extra versatility.
Now you've got my interest though, and I'll probably read some about Paragon
to see if it's competitive with Acronis. So thanks for that.

 

[Stan Brown]

Here's the $20 question: Is TI 2012 enough better to make it worth
spending on the upgrade?

Thanks, all! The consensus appears to be that it's not a significant
improvement over the 2011 version, so I'll save my money and possible
aggro by sticking with 2011.

 

[BillW50]

It isn't necessary for me to play 'one upsmanship' with you. The points
that I explained were my reasons for using Acronis beyond basic cloning
software. You mentioned whether or not I had tried restoring an image to
different hardware using the Acronis Plus Pack. I thought I had mentioned
that in my explanation and I said it worked.
I don't know about Paragon. I haven't used it, so I can't give you
details, but from my experience the Plus pack from Acronis does work even if
it costs money. Sometimes it's worth the money for the extra versatility.
Now you've got my interest though, and I'll probably read some about Paragon
to see if it's competitive with Acronis. So thanks for that.

I have zero interest in one-upmanship with anybody. I could be wrong a
zillion times in a row and that isn't important to me. What is important
to me is the truth comes out by somebody. Who exactly I frankly don't care.

And I have at least four versions of Acronis. And I am really puzzled by
some people who thinks there is nothing on the planet like it. Yet there
are lots of things just like it and some are even better. And if you
have a problem, Acronis has one of the worst tech support in the backup
industry. Plus they are almost the highest price ones to boot. So I
wonder how people can say much good about Acronis at all.

I am glad to hear that Acronis "Restore to Dissimilar Hardware" actually
worked for you. This is the first report that I have heard. Although the
process isn't that hard. All Paragon and Acronis does is to plug in
generic drivers which Windows wants to update when you first run, much
like an Windows install.

 

[Char Jackson]

And though I haven't found their automatic backup scheduling
feature to my needs I think a lot of folks do. I set the scheduling up for
my mother-in-law a few months ago and she's delighted that every Thursday at
6 pm the computer will save an incremental backup to her eternal drive
without her having to do anything.

I want one of those eternal drives. ;-)

Seriously, I use the scheduling feature on all of the systems that I'm
responsible for and find that it works well.

 

[Char Jackson]

A lot of people like buying one huge external (sometimes an internal)
drive and then make multiple backup copies to it.

Agreed, that's the usual approach.

Although you need an
extra step to restore, while cloning does not. And I have learned you
should never trust a backup without restoring to test it (mostly thanks
to Acronis failures).

It's not that often that I can find something to agree with you on,
but I agree that backups should be tested. Until you do, you're really
gambling that they'll work when needed.

Having said that, I've never had an Acronis failure in any version of
the program that I've used, going back to about 2003. Have I just been
lucky? The primary reason I've stayed with it this long is that it
just works.

Cloning does the same thing in half the time. So
yes, I am with you. Cloning is far more reliable and does a far better
job in far less time to boot.

Not quite. Cloning is equally reliable, not far more reliable, and
cloning does an equal job, not a far better job. The claim that it
takes less time (to restore) is probably valid, but it takes more
drives. That's a very expensive trade-off, one most people wouldn't
make.

 

[Zaidy036]

Thanks, all! The consensus appears to be that it's not a significant
improvement over the 2011 version, so I'll save my money and possible
aggro by sticking with 2011.

An improvement to control of ATI is Chain2Gen described here:
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/5940

Use it to limit the size/number of the image files being retained.

Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit with ATI Home 2010

 

[Ken Blake]

Agreed, that's the usual approach.

Yes, the usual approach, but not one that I recommend. If the drive
dies you lose all your backups. I think it's much better to have at
least two drives and alternate backing up to them. That way even if
you lose the most recent backup, you still have the preceding one.

 

[Stan Brown]

I could be wrong a
zillion times in a row and that isn't important to me.

I've never seen it said with such pride before.

 

[SC Tom]

I have zero interest in one-upmanship with anybody. I could be wrong a zillion times in a row and that isn't important
to me. What is important to me is the truth comes out by somebody. Who exactly I frankly don't care.

And I have at least four versions of Acronis. And I am really puzzled by some people who thinks there is nothing on
the planet like it. Yet there are lots of things just like it and some are even better. And if you have a problem,
Acronis has one of the worst tech support in the backup industry. Plus they are almost the highest price ones to boot.
So I wonder how people can say much good about Acronis at all.

I am glad to hear that Acronis "Restore to Dissimilar Hardware" actually worked for you. This is the first report that
I have heard. Although the process isn't that hard. All Paragon and Acronis does is to plug in generic drivers which
Windows wants to update when you first run, much like an Windows install.

http://disk-imaging-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Acronis and Paragon review at #1 and #2, and from the looks of the comparisons, there's not a lot of differences between
these two.

I know you said you've had problems with ATI (USB drive problem, wasn't it?), and I have never had a problem with any
version, free or paid (I'm still using ATI Home 2010). I haven't tried the retail version of Paragon, but I did try
Paragon free a few years back and did have problems restoring images with it. I don't recall exactly what the problem
was, but it was enough to make me try something else, and that was the free version of ATI. Since that time, I have used
it to restore a few HDDs, and have had nothing but success in doing so. Since it works and never fails, I'll stick with
it until it does.

 

[Roy Smith]

Until recently, I had 2010, 2011, and 2012 installed on 3 systems
here. During the time I had access to all three, I preferred the 2010
interface over the other two. Now that I've upgraded everything to
2012 I have to say the interface is fine with me. I don't find it
confusing or limiting. As for speed, they're all the same.

Having said all that, my opinion is that 2012 is not a significant
upgrade from 2011. The interface is extremely similar and the features
and capabilities seem to be identical. I mostly think the 2012 version
is targeted to new users rather than 2011 users.

I just upgraded to ATI 2012 and there is a new feature, it's Sync. ATI
now allows one to be able to sync files and folders between PC's and
their cloud storage. Haven't tried it yet, but personally I don't have
much of a need for that feature as it's handled by another program.


--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Thunderbird 9.0.1
Saturday, December 31, 2011 6:22:23 AM

 

[FD]

I just upgraded to ATI 2012 and there is a new feature, it's Sync. ATI
now allows one to be able to sync files and folders between PC's and
their cloud storage. Haven't tried it yet, but personally I don't have
much of a need for that feature as it's handled by another program.

Thanks for this information

i have been using ATI since version 6 and upgraded intermittently.

2009 had issues with windows 7.

I upgraded from 2009 to 2011

I had tried 2010 and preferred the interface to 2011.

Acronis did not offer a downgrade to older version.

In my quest I used isohunt to get it

I am very happy with 2010 and has not failed me and the paid version of
2011 is not being used.


FD