Acronis True Image vs. Terabyte BootItNG

[ErikAlbert]

I'm not going to talk about technical differences, because this is my very first contact with "Image Backup Softwares" and my practical experience with these softwares is ZERO.
I never forget my first contact with softwares, that's how I evaluate its userfriendliness and what I experience during this first contact will be the same for most newbies.

There is a big difference between both softwares, when it comes to userfriendliness and "Acronis True Image Home" (ATI) is definitely the winner.
I tried the most important features of ATI in one fluent movement without any problems.
- made a backup from partition [C:] to partition [D:]
- ran a validation of my backup image.
- restored my first backup to partition [C:] and it worked otherwise I wouldn't be here.
- created an Acronis Bootable Rescue CD and rebooted my computer with it.
ATI really speaks for itself and you don't have to be a genius to use it.
All the rest of ATI is lesser important and I will figure that out when I really start using it.

BootItNG however was a disaster and I couldn't get it work, most probably due to my lack of knowledge of BootItNG and my lack of experience with image backup in general. That's not a problem for me in the future, because I can learn how to use BootItNG, like anybody else. It only will take more time to use BootItNG, that's what I learned from BootItNG today.
One thing I know for sure, I will never recommend BootItNG to newbies anymore at Wilders.

So I will stick to ATI for awhile, until it bores me and then I will try BootItNG.
I still have to reorganize my harddisks (partition C,D and E,F) in order to use ATI properly until I get my external harddisk.

[egghead]

ErikAlbert,

Granted, the users manual of BING is a kind of a disaster.

Take this shortcut:

1. Go to the Terrabyte site and select BING. Terrabyte has put some vid's how for e.g. to install the program.

2. On the same page, see Hefy's helppage. This user has put there vid's how to make an image, to restore an image, to make a partition, to make a bootable disc etc. etc. etc. One vid tells more than a x number of written manual. You will notice this program is very, very simple to use.

There is no utility in this class which is more reliable or better supported.
If you find a flaw in this software I'll buy you Leffe Triples a whole night long.

I consider BING my software buy of the year (even ahead of Kaspersky AV, and that is saying something when I write this)

[ErikAlbert]

egghead,
I've always read good comments about BING, so I'm quite sure this is a reliable software.
But reliable isn't the same as userfriendly and BootItNG isn't userfriendly, except when you know how to work with it.
I didn't have to read the manual of ATI, I didn't saw any videos about ATI, I just used it right after installing it and I had no trouble with understanding it.

I appreciate your suggestions to learn BING faster, but that doesn't change anything.
BING isn't as easy as ATI, if you want to use it immediately.
Once I'm through with ATI, I will give BING a fair chance, but I like to get familiar with image backup in general first, before I start using other backup softwares.
In the past I just copy/pasted my personal files on CD's with DirectCD (Roxio), which isn't really a professional backup system.

[Peter2150]

Erik

1st glad to hear ATI work well. What build were you using?

Also a fairer comparison might be Image to Windows to ATI. I'd give it a try.

Pete

[ErikAlbert]

Originally Posted by Peter2150

1st glad to hear ATI work well. What build were you using?
Also a fairer comparison might be Image to Windows to ATI. I'd give it a try.

This is what the Help/About-window says :
"Acronis True Image Home Trial version 9.0 (build 3.567)"

BTW "Acronis Secure Zone" seems to me only usefull, if you backup on an internal harddisk, but quite useless on an external harddisk. What do you think?

[Peter2150]

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

This is what the Help/About-window says :
"Acronis True Image Home Trial version 9.0 (build 3.567)"

BTW "Acronis Secure Zone" seems to me only usefull, if you backup on an internal harddisk, but quite useless on an external harddisk. What do you think?

Okay, later build of ATI then I have. Think from what I've read I'll stick to the one I have.

Totally agree with you about the "Acronis Secure Zone"

Pete

[ErikAlbert]

I did another RESTORE experiment :

Situation :
Harddisk1 - Local Disk [C:] = winXPproSP2 + Application + Data (bootable)
Harddisk2 - Backup Partition [D:] = MyBackup.tib (not bootable)

Experiment :
1. I rebooted with my ZERO CD.
2. I ran the full erase with zeros on Harddisk1 [C:] = 20 minutes
3. I rebooted with my Acronis Bootable Rescue CD
4. Recovered my Harddisk1 with "D:\MyBackup.tib" = 10 minutes including verification
5. Restarted Windows
6. Everything OK, otherwise I wouldn't be here.
So this experiment was very successfull.
--------------------------------------------------

BUT there is something wrong IMO with the screens of the restore program on the Rescue CD :

Mistake #1 :

Disk Partition Recovery from Archive
From file : "C:\MyBackup.tib"
WRONG, it should be :

Disk Partition Recovery from Archive
From file : "D:\MyBackup.tib"

Mistake #2 :

Restoring Partition
Drive letter : C: -> D:
WRONG, it should be :

Restoring Partition
Drive letter : D: -> C:

After all I'm restoring from "D:\MyBackup.tib" to partition [C:].
This is VERY CONFUSING and I want to see very clearly FROM where TO where, when I do a restore (or a backup).

[crofttk]

Originally Posted by egghead

....Leffe Triples a whole night long.

Leffe comes in a Trippel version ?

Dude, I thought I was doing OK to get Leffe for $30 a case in the US, now I find out there is another Leffe !

Well, I'll see more about this during my visit to Vlaanderen this summer.

ErikAlbert, I've used ATI for about 3 years and BING for about one year now. For BING, reliability is the OPERATIVE word when you compare it to ATI.

When ATI is good, it's REALLY good. But when ATI is bad it's REALLY bad. Yes, if you have a build of ATI that works flawlessly, definitely stick with it as Peter2150 suggests.

I got PUT THROUGH THE RINGER after I paid to upgrade from ATI 8 to ATI 9 last year. I think version 9 has been through a half dozen or more builds -- WOW, I just checked my "Purchased Software" archive and I have TEN builds of ATI 9 stored there ! (the date stamp on the earliest build that I have, 2247, is 9/24/05) Most of those builds gave me problems and I REALLY got disillusioned with ATI. I'm still pissed off.

Yes, BING had a bit of a learning curve, but as egghead said, there is other help out there. There simply have been NO disasters with BING for me.

Maybe I overemphasize reliability, or worse yet, confuse it with "fool proof" in MY case . But I respect the value judgment you make on user friendliness. It's just for me "once bitten, twice shy".

OK, soapbox session is complete.

[f3x]

But reliable isn't the same as userfriendly

You'll not that this is a purely imaginary scenario:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

1)
ATI -> Very easy GUI, Easy to make backup, Easy to press restore.
One the restore procedure is done the computer is unbootable:

> NTLDR cannot be found or is corrupt. The computer will now reboot.

Panic, search the internet with a second computer, end up using repair install of XP. And work.

2)
Hard to use gui. Unconfortable at the first time but after seeing the video you are confident. You also are happy that the complex Gui means your little brother ( or wife, etc depending of your age) will not mess with it.

Press restore, everything work and have estime boost for making work a hard software.


------------------------------------------------------------------


Now does reliability affect userfriendlyness ?
The least you can say is that with backup software, lack of reliability surely lead to bad user experience.

I may exxagerate, but from what i've read ATI is an all or nothing situation.
Either everything works like a charm, or you stuck hunting for a post-disater solution. Wich one would i recomand to a noob ? ... Well the reliable one with nice video ... as the noob surely do not knwo how to deal with disater scenarion.



This is valid for any software. For me reliability is part of the userfirendlyness.
This is why i consider bloated software less userfirendly even if they use nice html like interface with alot of help etc.

[ErikAlbert]

f3x,
I don't agree with you. Never confuse two things, when they have nothing to do with eachother. I learned how to separate problems from one another otherwise I couldn't do my job.

The most unfriendly software can be the best or the worst.
The most friendly software can be the best or the worst.
Userfriendliness has NOTHING to do with reliability.

[crofttk]

Hehe, f3x, I believe you and I are reading from the same page.

[DCM]

Download the trial version of True Image and do a few backups. Then, every few days "validate" them even if they check out OK the first or second time.

Also, go to the Acronis forum and look at the huge numbers of people who are having major problems with the reliability of their backups.

After that, make your decision.

[Peter2150]

HI Erik

On what you experienced relative to the drive lettering from the recovery CD, I would say get usesd to that. The drive letters get scrambled on every program I've looked at using the CD's You have to determine which drive is which by description, size etc. Welcome to the real world.

Pete

[thebigdintx]

ATI version 9 had some problems at first, but seems to be stable now for most users including myself. and, it just saved my bacon cause i needed to use it to restore an image of my hard drive.

[ErikAlbert]

Originally Posted by Peter2150

On what you experienced relative to the drive lettering from the recovery CD, I would say get usesd to that. The drive letters get scrambled on every program I've looked at using the CD's You have to determine which drive is which by description, size etc. Welcome to the real world.

Right, just like getting used to false positives in scanners.
At least my experiment was successfull, that's a comfort. Only the screens tried to fool me. LOL.

Originally Posted by DCM

Download the trial version of True Image and do a few backups. Then, every few days "validate" them even if they check out OK the first or second time.
Also, go to the Acronis forum and look at the huge numbers of people who are having major problems with the reliability of their backups.
After that, make your decision.

I will also take several image backups, because I will install my computer in several steps and each step requires an image backup.

Upto now ATI did a good job for me, but I'm using it only one day.
The backup worked like I expected.
The restore over an existing system partition worked, like I expected.
The restore over an zero-ed harddisk worked, like I expected.
The restore via Acronis Bootable Rescue CD worked, like I expected. I still have to test the backup with this CD.

The problem is, I don't know what all these complaining ATI-users are doing with their computer.
For instance, there are softwares that allow you to add, delete, resize, ... partitions.
I like to plan my partitions, create them while I'm installing winXPproSP2 and
after that I don't like to touch my partitions anymore.
Other users like to play with their partitions and I wouldn't be surprised that this causes problems sooner or later with your backup/restore.

Maybe defragging your harddisk needs also to be executed with care and on the right moment.

Many of them use DVD/CD's as backup medium, that's the cheapest solution but not the very best, because ATI is designed for image backup on harddisks (internal or external).
DVD/CD's aren't reliable enough for harddisk backups.
I would only use DVD/CD's for temporary storage of data, to do something unusual.

As long I don't fool around with my harddisks, I expect from ATI to do its job properly and if it doesn't, I will look for another backup software.

[crofttk]

To be fair, I think we should bear in mind that we have no indicator here of how many ATI users are having a flawless experience and thus have no need to come post in the ATI forums.

[Peter2150]

I think one of the issues is people try and do the complex things ATI is supposed to do. I just take complete disk images, and they have always checked okay. To be fair I've never restored one.

Erik other than you want to play. If I were starting over like you, once my machine was up and running I'd install FD-ISR, then take an image. After that I'd do the interim steps with FDISR archives. I consider them more reliable because I can do non destructive tests with them.

Then if you ever do crash and need to replace the disk you just restore the now obsolete image, and then update your system with the FDISR archive.

Also you can refresh an archive so so much faster than any imaging program.

Pete

[egghead]

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

I did another RESTORE experiment :


BUT there is something wrong IMO with the screens of the restore program on the Rescue CD :

Mistake #1 :

Disk Partition Recovery from Archive
From file : "C:\MyBackup.tib"
WRONG, it should be :

Disk Partition Recovery from Archive
From file : "D:\MyBackup.tib"

Mistake #2 :

Restoring Partition
Drive letter : C: -> D:
WRONG, it should be :

Restoring Partition
Drive letter : D: -> C:

After all I'm restoring from "D:\MyBackup.tib" to partition [C:].
This is VERY CONFUSING and I want to see very clearly FROM where TO where, when I do a restore (or a backup).

Very "userfriendly" indeed. And what about the reliability?
Before you are going to try to restore an image I advice you to get down on your knees and pray to the big G.
I am very much impressed.

[Howard Kaikow]

Originally Posted by ErikAlbert

This is what the Help/About-window says :
"Acronis True Image Home Trial version 9.0 (build 3.567)"

BTW "Acronis Secure Zone" seems to me only usefull, if you backup on an internal harddisk, but quite useless on an external harddisk. What do you think?

Ayup, the socall (in)SEcureZone is a relic of daze gone by and really should not be used.

All too many folkes take the default installationand end up running into problems with the critter.

Take a look at the Acronis forum for discussions of this feature.

[Longboard]

@E-A

Glad to hear ATI was good to you.

I have never used ATI and so cannot compare to anything.

I have used Ghost from V7 to V9 Rollback and now BING with IFW and IFD for imaging and restores and partition management.

Not "pretty" to look at but...

As an absolute dunderhead who has realistically learned all his computer goodies starting from and returning to here and sucking it all up from you guys...I can truly say there is no better software that I have found than the Terabyte apps and utilities.
Price, power, size, speed,user friendly (after a short learning curve and watching the vids), upgrades; slightly difficult but KISS principle adds to the learning and insight of how good these apps are.
Does exactly what it promises, reliably, every time.
BOOT control, DOS, Windows....
USB, Floppy, DVD, CD support :reliably.
Phenomenal person to person support (and a slightly cumbersome forum) even handles my garbled queries. Heh; I bet they wished they had some sort of test that potential users had to pass before getting a license!!

The unseen potential that is revealed as you go deeper into the functions: Mystical experiences I tell you what.

I have been experimenting with these apps lately and, playing within my limits, have had not one shortcircuit of any kind so far.
There are some features that I would like: incremental imaging for one and I would love them to have a clone function although there is the copy/wipe app which I think could be used for that.

I will be sticking with BING/IFD/IFW for the moment.
I am currently checking on various cloneing apps and if any one has any ideas would love to hear them.

Rant over thankyou.

LBD.

[ErikAlbert]

Well, I restored three times with ATI without any problems.
Right now, I stick to ATI, I like to learn the possibilities of image backup first and for that purpose, I can use any image backup software. They all do the same thing : backup and restore and the rest are gadgets.

I created three backups.
1. First backup = WinXPproSP2 + Drivers + Total Uninstall, installed OFF-LINE
2. Second backup = first backup + all non-security softwares, installed OFF-LINE
3. Third backup = second backup + all security softwares. installed ON-LINE.