AcronisTI9 Trial
November 26th, 2005, 03:28 PM
Dear Acronis Tech Support and the rest of the Users in this True Image Users Forum:
I’ve been using Norton Ghost 2002 for a couple of years now . . . Version 2002 per this writing (as you know, it only backs up from DOS, doing virtually nothing within Windows). While Ghost "does the job", I've been considering all the latest disk cloning programs that claim to operate within Windows itself and, before purchasing True Image 9.0, I thought I'd give the Trial Version a try to see if the product is worth purchasing. I have read many glowing reviews of True Image in the computer-related magazines & web sites (covering various prior versions and now Version 9 as well) and they especially say that Version 9.0 is a "top-of-class" product. Still, rather than just take their word for it, I thought I could test the product via its offered Trial Version first.
My results thus far: THE TRIAL VERSION CANNOT ACCOMPLISH ANY USEFUL TASK AT ALL (??!!??????!!????).
Why is this? Keep in mind that I am in no way a computer novice. I've been working with computers for nearly 25 years and most people (even other professionals) consider me to be an "expert" (for what that is worth) . . . so, if there be any truth to this “expert” label, I am not stymied by encountering run-of-the-mill or not-so-run-of-the-mill problems with a product. I am, byu nature, a problem solver . . . yet why should such problems be encountered when trying to perform such basic functional tasks? The very basic tasks tried thus far and the results of trying these tasks are as follows:
1. WHEN TRYING TO CREATE A FULL BACKUP OF A FOLDER ON MY C HARD DRIVE NAMED “DATA” (to be backed up to a *.TIB file and stored on my second internal physical hard drive), THE FOLLOWING ERROR MESSAGE OCCURS:
E00640068: Failed to create the scheduled task.
Failed to create the scheduled task. Error 1722 - The RPC server is
unavailable".
Therefore, I can go no further in the task.
2. WHEN TRYING TO CLONE INTERNAL HARD DRIVE C TO INTERNAL HARD DRIVE D (each one a separate physical hard drive): After it first reboots the computer, when Windows is trying to come back up, it gets a completely blue screen with white text saying “Windows Protection Error . . . you must restart your computer” and the computer is completely frozen (must hard-reset the computer).
Can never successfully get past this step (though it does no damage to the system) and can therefore not clone an internal hard drive to another internal hard drive.
3. WHEN TRYING TO CREATE BOOTABLE RESCUE MEDIA, IT GETS THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE:
Error burning the bootable CD-R/CD-RW.
This is the case whether I put in a blank unformatted CD-R disk or whether the CD-R disk is pre-formatted with Roxio DirectCD packet writing software but is otherwise blank. And this is the result whether I have my DirectCD icon of Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.x active in memory or instead disabled and this is the result when trying this step with either of my two internal burners (a DVD±RW/CD-RW and a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive).
**** END OF LISTED PROBLEMS ****
QUESTION TO ACRONIS: Was this Trial Version, by design, made to be wholly "non-functional"? That is, it was just offered to give someone a peek at the "look-and-feel" of the program but not designed to allow anyone to actually test the program's functionality (to test that the program does what it claims it can do)? I mean, if one can't simply accomplish the very core functions of the program ***AT ALL*** (i.e., create bootable rescue media, clone one internal hard drive to another internal hard drive, backup a data folder on a hard drive to an image file), then why offer the Trial Version at all? What exactly is one actually being allowed to "try" with this Trial version?
If, on the other hand, there are workable solutions to the above 3 encountered problems brought up (so that I can truly test that the program does what it says it does before switching from Norton Ghost to your product), please offer corrective steps or else confirm that the Trial Version is not actually meant to be able to truly test the program's functionality but just to give one a sense of the program's "look-and-feel".
(P.S.-- I do happen to be a paid customer for your Acronis OS Selector 5.0 Deluxe program . . . on a different PC).
I’ve been using Norton Ghost 2002 for a couple of years now . . . Version 2002 per this writing (as you know, it only backs up from DOS, doing virtually nothing within Windows). While Ghost "does the job", I've been considering all the latest disk cloning programs that claim to operate within Windows itself and, before purchasing True Image 9.0, I thought I'd give the Trial Version a try to see if the product is worth purchasing. I have read many glowing reviews of True Image in the computer-related magazines & web sites (covering various prior versions and now Version 9 as well) and they especially say that Version 9.0 is a "top-of-class" product. Still, rather than just take their word for it, I thought I could test the product via its offered Trial Version first.
My results thus far: THE TRIAL VERSION CANNOT ACCOMPLISH ANY USEFUL TASK AT ALL (??!!??????!!????).
Why is this? Keep in mind that I am in no way a computer novice. I've been working with computers for nearly 25 years and most people (even other professionals) consider me to be an "expert" (for what that is worth) . . . so, if there be any truth to this “expert” label, I am not stymied by encountering run-of-the-mill or not-so-run-of-the-mill problems with a product. I am, byu nature, a problem solver . . . yet why should such problems be encountered when trying to perform such basic functional tasks? The very basic tasks tried thus far and the results of trying these tasks are as follows:
1. WHEN TRYING TO CREATE A FULL BACKUP OF A FOLDER ON MY C HARD DRIVE NAMED “DATA” (to be backed up to a *.TIB file and stored on my second internal physical hard drive), THE FOLLOWING ERROR MESSAGE OCCURS:
E00640068: Failed to create the scheduled task.
Failed to create the scheduled task. Error 1722 - The RPC server is
unavailable".
Therefore, I can go no further in the task.
2. WHEN TRYING TO CLONE INTERNAL HARD DRIVE C TO INTERNAL HARD DRIVE D (each one a separate physical hard drive): After it first reboots the computer, when Windows is trying to come back up, it gets a completely blue screen with white text saying “Windows Protection Error . . . you must restart your computer” and the computer is completely frozen (must hard-reset the computer).
Can never successfully get past this step (though it does no damage to the system) and can therefore not clone an internal hard drive to another internal hard drive.
3. WHEN TRYING TO CREATE BOOTABLE RESCUE MEDIA, IT GETS THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE:
Error burning the bootable CD-R/CD-RW.
This is the case whether I put in a blank unformatted CD-R disk or whether the CD-R disk is pre-formatted with Roxio DirectCD packet writing software but is otherwise blank. And this is the result whether I have my DirectCD icon of Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.x active in memory or instead disabled and this is the result when trying this step with either of my two internal burners (a DVD±RW/CD-RW and a DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive).
**** END OF LISTED PROBLEMS ****
QUESTION TO ACRONIS: Was this Trial Version, by design, made to be wholly "non-functional"? That is, it was just offered to give someone a peek at the "look-and-feel" of the program but not designed to allow anyone to actually test the program's functionality (to test that the program does what it claims it can do)? I mean, if one can't simply accomplish the very core functions of the program ***AT ALL*** (i.e., create bootable rescue media, clone one internal hard drive to another internal hard drive, backup a data folder on a hard drive to an image file), then why offer the Trial Version at all? What exactly is one actually being allowed to "try" with this Trial version?
If, on the other hand, there are workable solutions to the above 3 encountered problems brought up (so that I can truly test that the program does what it says it does before switching from Norton Ghost to your product), please offer corrective steps or else confirm that the Trial Version is not actually meant to be able to truly test the program's functionality but just to give one a sense of the program's "look-and-feel".
(P.S.-- I do happen to be a paid customer for your Acronis OS Selector 5.0 Deluxe program . . . on a different PC).