Acronis true image & support ticket problems???

[Wills]

I will try this another way since I can't get a reply in my other post where I have a number of queries re Acronis and no one has replied

I have been through this forum and see people complaining about outstanding support tickets.
It makes me wonder how reliable this product is.

It is the version 9 that I am looking at purchasing, and wondered if it does a complete back up of programs, files, OE , IE and hi speed internet settings etc.

In other words doe it do an exact clone so that if you have a crash that when you use the boot disk and install the backup that the notebook is back to where it was working fine.
I say working fine as I would not do a b/u unless I had done a defrag, all my updates to that dated and scanned for nasties using my security programs which have protected me for 5 years and that I am didligent with.

Then I would like to do an incremental update doing all of the aforementioned before, thus avoiding a b/u fraught with bugs etc.

I have been using my notebook, ( i am an accountant ) 12 hrs a day + in many cases and want to be independent of a software techie and ghost and have heard good things about this program. That it is user friendly for a clutz like me. I do a lot of reading before I install a program, so that I know the necessities of the install and then follow the instructions on how to use the program.
What I like about this proggy is that there is a Support Forum, but I am wondering about these negative posts re Support tickets and is Acronis going out of business. The store that carries the software did not know much about it. Thus I ask the questions here where experienced users are and Wilders is one of the Best and most reliable sources of quality information.

Hoping that it is user friendly, and that a 5 yr user who can troubleshoot decently would be able to follow the directions. This is the one issue that I guess I keep repeating, however it is fundamental to my needs and so I have it at the top of the list for requirements of the software.
I will be buying another WD storage drive to do this. the One Touch model.

Backup success always frightens me and so I have always had a software tech do it and however the issue is that he fits me in his busy schedule and then I have to leave the notebook for the ghost to be done and wait for the call to pick it up and not know how to install the Ghost if the Screen of death strikes.
I don't like this scenario. I could be w/o my notebook for sometime waiting for him to put the Ghost back on. Thus I want something I can use myself.


It is version 9 that is on sale for $39.99 and that is what I am looking at purchasing.
Is this a good version? any bugs?
Why are there so many people waiting with Support tickets

That makes me a little nervous,

I really would appreciate experienced users of Acronis to respectfully reply to this post.

I am tired of paying a techie and feel that I can do this.

I would appreciate honesty in respect of my query as I don't know anything about b/u programs.
BTW is there a pdf file on their site to instruct me how to use this vers 9.

What about this free vers 7.? Probably worth spending the bucks for the newer version. What is missing in version 7?

I am not cheap and want to use the most user friendly that is free of any bugs issues etc.

Again I look forward to a response to my queries.
Respectful Regards and Cheers!

I find that Wilders is a great forum and thus rely on members advice!!

[Unit01]

Yo,

You can find the manual for v9, and V10 here:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/docs/

As for people not replying to your posts, don't take it personally. There are dry weeks where the regular knowledgeable people just don't have the chance or time to get on and post a reply.

Long winded posts tend to get skipped over quite a bit by my self as I don't always have time to read them.

Your better off with v10 over 7 / 9 for 3 reasons.

1) your on a laptop, laptops tend to have propriatary hardware. Its possible V7 won't have whats required to do the job.

2) v10 is current, has support if you do have issues.

9) 9, while being good, still has ongoing issues with no mention on when a fix to these issues is likely to be released.

Thanks to v10, the developers are going mad sorting things out left right and centre.

If your still unsure, grab the trial give it a whirl, do some testing and see how well it works for you.

[seekforever]

I agree with Unit01. TI is designed do what you want. The issue is that you don't know if you have a workable backup solution until you have created and restored and that is the rub - are you able to restore your HD safely? If you can pop in a different HD and do a restore from a USB external drive and it works then great. If you only have the one HD and a test restore fails, then you have a big problem.

You could have your tech make a backup for you and then test out TI. If it fails then your tech could restore your system. Not an ideal approach but it does offer a degree of safety.

If you can make a backup on a USB drive and validate it, then TI should be able to restore it. Unfortunately, unless you have done a restore this won't give you 100% confidence it will work when you need it. Test restoring to a spare HD is by far the best way.

[Wills]

Thx for the reply indeed, the version available here in Canada at Staples is Vers 9 and no sign of 10 yet however I will phone around.

I respect your comments re these pecualiar laptop problems.

Is this a user friendly program since i have to have a techie do my ghost as there is no documentation on it.

If i have to buy 10 off the internet will it be available with a cd?
Also, again can a non techie like me use it?

Are the issues in 9 difficult to deal with if I can only get that here?

Thankyou for your time.

[Unit01]

Originally Posted by Wills

Is this a user friendly program since i have to have a techie do my ghost as there is no documentation on it.

Having used computers at a growing level since I was 12, I'd say that Acronis is a very easy program to use. Though, I'll say again, the trial is the best way to figure out if its within your grasp. I'm doubtful that you'll have issues, read the manual get to know the concepts and if you don't understand anything, we're here to be annoyed.

Originally Posted by Wills

If i have to buy 10 off the internet will it be available with a cd?
Also, again can a non techie like me use it?

Depends on the purchase option, some places allow you to add a CD, some sell just a download copy. CD's are some what irrelevant. They're usually dated to a previous build, in which case you make an updated CD your self through the software.

Originally Posted by Wills

Are the issues in 9 difficult to deal with if I can only get that here?

Again, depends on your situation, theres no way to tell what issues, if any you'll have until you have them. What may work perfectly for some one else, may drive you through the roof. Until you've tried it, there's no way to know

Originally Posted by Wills

Thankyou for your time.

No worries.

[bodgy]

Digital River (who the online purchasing goes through) do provide the option of purchasing a CD version, but to be honest you don't actually need it.

Once downloaded and registered with Acronis, you always have access to the full download as well as the upgrades.

I store a download copy of the most recent Acronis product on my image drive, but not inside the image + the current install and one before in my download folder on the PC/Laptop.

When burning the rescue CD, you do have the option of copying TI onto it as well.

I just make do with the standard rescue CD (on RW media) as well as a BartPe version because of my wireless USB mouse not working with the Acronis configuration and a copy of the install file on the external image drive.

Colin

[GroverH]

This is in response to your first post above. (The other posts came real quick while I was composing my epistle.)
Suggestion: rewrite your questions in a condensed form so we can easily understand what help you need with your Acronis program. The forum members (volunteers) go out of their way to be helpful and courteous. They want everyone to have successful backups and restorations!

The largest share of people that are happy with the TrueImage program never post to this forum--only a few with problems. Whether you can handle it, that depends on how much you want to get involved. Did your learn how to prepare the quarterly tax report without spending some learning time? Is the tax tables always changing?--so do backup programs. If you want to give the program a fair shake, you should have the skills to handle--but there is a learning curve if you want to find out whether your data is safe and restoration is possible.

As for ease of use, I find it easy. I'm 75 and have used backup programs for years. I currently own TrueImage 8 and 9. Both have saved me valuable time when I need to restore my system back to a prior time. Older versions not supported. Buy the most current version (10).

The product is not expensive. Buy version 10 and get your feet wet. Spend some time and learn how to use it--yes even on your own time if necessary. It will only fill your needs if you are willing to spend time learning how. It is no different than your job skills. You did not acquire those without effort and the same is needed for any backup program--even Ghost! Good luck.

ps: When the posts (like yours & mine) are long, they tend to be hard to read.

[Wills]

Thankyou for the reply: issues

1. am a Noob, software tech is paid to do a ghost from my symantec program on my Notebook and I am tired of waiting for him to be available and for some reason he does not like to do Incrementals, even though the notebook is clean of nasties and defragged etc. and uptodate with all versions of apps??

2, I know nothing of b/u programs and what this relative noob of 5 yrs of using a notebook who is competent in researching and finding solutions to problems with time just like a techie, but have been alarmed by a techie that I may be prone to mess up a b/u due to inexperience and lack of knowledge??

3. I don't even know what a "boot disk" is except that it will start a failed computer, but don;t know how to make one.

4, Have Ghost from Systemworks 2005 but there is no literature about how it works and thus the techie says to leave it to him.

5. Don't Know if this Acronis does, files, programs, OE, IE, Hi speed settings,
In other words I don't know if after my notebook crashes whether I use the Boot Disk and install the Image and it will work like it did before the crash and I don't have to sit and pick away at settings for my ISP provider etc.

6. Notebooks are peculiar animals since their system restore at leasst my toshiba does not separate the M$ from the other proggys inspite of how much you paid for the blessed notebook and should you crash w/o a backup you are messed up big time b/c you have to go back to like the notebook came in the box.

7. I don't use system restore as nasties can hide in the crevices.

8. I am not totally illiterate and can follow instructions, only the vers 9 is available here at Staples in Canada, what is the major difference between this and vers 10??

9. user friendliness and reliability is the key as I am an accountant and rely on my notebook.

10. why all of the Support Ticket issues and what version does this refer to

I posted numerically as the prior poster said my prior post was confusing.

Cheers and best regards and I look forward to comments, thankyou for your time.

[Unit01]

Originally Posted by Wills

Thankyou for the reply: issues

1. am a Noob, software tech is paid to do a ghost from my symantec program on my Notebook and I am tired of waiting for him to be available and for some
reason he does not like to do Incrementals, even though the notebook is clean of nasties and defragged etc. and uptodate with all versions of apps??

Umm?

Originally Posted by wills

2, I know nothing of b/u programs and what this relative noob of 5 yrs of using a notebook who is competent in researching and finding solutions to problems with time just like a techie, but have been alarmed by a techie that I may be prone to mess up a b/u due to inexperience and lack of knowledge??

Its not so much the actual backup you have to worry about. More the restore. Particularly if the backup file you've created is not a valid archive. Simple test to confirm this. A restore will tell you for sure.

Originally Posted by wills

3. I don't even know what a "boot disk" is except that it will start a failed computer, but don;t know how to make one.

Your right, it does allow you to boot the system. For True Image to make one. Tools -> Create Bootable Media -> Next -> Next -> CD -> Next -> Next -> insert cd -> Next.. few too many nexts, but you get the idea.

Originally Posted by wills

4, Have Ghost from Systemworks 2005 but there is no literature about how it works and thus the techie says to leave it to him.

By doing this, its called 'job security'. I'm sure your familiar with the concept of the phrase.

Originally Posted by wills

5. Don't Know if this Acronis does, files, programs, OE, IE, Hi speed settings,
In other words I don't know if after my notebook crashes whether I use the Boot Disk and install the Image and it will work like it did before the crash and I don't have to sit and pick away at settings for my ISP provider etc.

Every thing on your disk gets put into that Tib file, files, settings, even whats in your recycle bin.

Originally Posted by wills

6. Notebooks are peculiar animals since their system restore at leasst my toshiba does not separate the M$ from the other proggys inspite of how much you paid for the blessed notebook and should you crash w/o a backup you are messed up big time b/c you have to go back to like the notebook came in the box.

And thus, TI saves the day... At least if you need to restore your machine.

Originally Posted by wills

7. I don't use system restore as nasties can hide in the crevices.

Smart move, its one of the first things that I kill when on a new system

Originally Posted by wills

8. I am not totally illiterate and can follow instructions, only the vers 9 is available here at Staples in Canada, what is the major difference between this and vers 10??

Pretty much some extra backup features for backup management, and backup types, 10 allows you to backup your email and application settings independently. So if you were to kill an application via changing a setting, restoring application settings would be an awful lot quicker then restoring your entire system.

Then again, it may well be worth restoring the entire system if you've managed to botch it that well.

Originally Posted by wills

9. user friendliness and reliability is the key as I am an accountant and rely on my notebook.

Its pretty simple, lots of wizards, and so on and so fourth. If you feel the need not to install the trial and have a poke around, read the manual, it has screen shots which will give you an idea on the processess involved to backup your system

Originally Posted by wills

10. why all of the Support Ticket issues and what version does this refer to

Both V9, and V10. Don't worry, as people always say, its only the people that have problems that post on here.

Originally Posted by wills

I posted numerically as the prior poster said my prior post was confusing.

Cheers and best regards and I look forward to comments, thankyou for your time.

See, Clear, concise and quicker responses.

[CatFan432]

Wills

I’d recommend you go with version 10. It has some new useful features. More important, as you may have read in this forum, Acronis does a poor job of supporting previous versions. It seems to me that more of the posts regarding V10 are in the “how do I use it” category rather than in the “it doesn’t work” category. Just my impression, I haven’t been keeping a tally.

When you get your program, take your time to learn it. Practice with your new WD drive you mentioned, create a backup and restore it to the WD drive, it’s new and empty so you can’t hurt anything. As with most software, it’s easy once you know it, but not always obvious when learning it. Post questions as you come across them, try not to ask too many at once, you’ll get responses faster.

CatFan

[GroverH]

Originally posted by Wills, Post #8

1. am a Noob, software tech is paid to do a ghost from my symantec program on my Notebook and I am tired of waiting for him to be available and for some reason he does not like to do Incrementals, even though the notebook is clean of nasties and defragged etc. and uptodate with all versions of apps??

• Incrementals cannot be restored without the original and if one incremental is missing, the whole works is useless--this may help explain why he believes in full image backups.

Wills:

2. I know nothing of b/u programs and what this relative noob of 5 yrs of using a notebook who is competent in researching and finding solutions to problems with time just like a techie, but have been alarmed by a techie that I may be prone to mess up a b/u due to inexperience and lack of knowledge??

• Maybe he likes the job security. There is no reason why you cannot do your own backups.

Wills:

3.I don't even know what a "boot disk" is except that it will start a failed computer, but don't know how to make one.

• An Acronis bootable rescure CD is one which provides the platform for doing TrueImage backups and restores. It is easily created by you as simple as clicking a couple options on the Tool/options menu..

Wills:

4. Have Ghost from Systemworks 2005 but there is no literature about how it works and thus the techie says to leave it to him.

• The user manual for Ghost 8 (NSW 2005 is included on the Ghost install CD; or you can download it here.
  Ghost 2003
  http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/hom...3/manuals.html
  NSW2005
  http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/hom...5/manuals.html
  
  NSW 2005 Premier
  http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/hom...e/manuals.html
  
  Ghost V9
  http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/hom...9/manuals.html
  
  You can also learn much about Ghost here.
  http://ghost.radified.com/

Wills:

5. Don't Know if this Acronis does, files, programs, OE, IE, Hi speed settings, In other words I don't know if after my notebook crashes whether I use the Boot Disk and install the Image and it will work like it did before the crash and I don't have to sit and pick away at settings for my ISP provider etc.

• ..a. Creating the Bootable Rescue Media is as simple as clicking a couple options in the Tool menu.
  ..b. If your notebook crashes and you feel it software related, you can use the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media (created by you after program installation) and hopefully restore your system back to when date of your last full backup.
  c. In order to be able to restore your system, you must have previously completed a full image backup A previous backup of files only will not suffice when doing a recovery restore.
  http://www.wilderssecurity.com/attac...hmentid=182030

Wills:

6. Notebooks are peculiar animals since their system restore at least my toshiba does not separate the M$ from the other proggys inspite of how much you paid for the blessed notebook and should you crash w/o a backup you are messed up big time b/c you have to go back to like the notebook came in the box.

• Having an Acronis full disk image (not files & folder) will enable you to restore your system in just a few minutes. I have done an True Image restore many times without fail. TrueImage can overwrite the existing drive and a new drive.

Wills:

7. I don't use system restore as nasties can hide in the crevices.

• Then you should be using a product such as ERUNT. This much more reliable. This makes a copy of your registry files and enables you to restore your registry. I find that ERUNT works very well and is a better replacement for the XP system restore. You can schedule it to run on each bootup; nightly; and at your discretion. Sometimes a simple ERUNT registry restore will fix a issue much quicker and easier and doing a full TrueImage restore.
  http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt

Wills:

8. I am not totally illiterate and can follow instructions, only the vers 9 is available here at Staples in Canada, what is the major difference between this and vers 10??

• I have reconsidered and now suggest that you go ahead and buy 9 rather then 10. Buy and use version 9 and get acquainted with its functions. Immediately after your purchase, register your product and then immediately contact Acronis sales. You will qualify for a free update to V10. You will be provided with a new serial number. Be sure and register the new V10 serial number.
  http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/updates/
  However, I would strongly urge that you do not install V10 until such time as a new update is available to fix a host of problems reported on the forum. Continue to use V9 until many of problems are fixed. You can visit the Acronis Home page and read about the differences. New functions means new problems.

Wills:

9. user friendliness and reliability is the key as I am an accountant and rely on my notebook.

• TI is more user friendly than many of the others. You can handle its bread & butter functions of backup and restore. Suggest you do NOT try backing up direct to CD or DVD. These are ongoing problems for many. Avoid this feature for now! Likewise, I would not use the "Files & Folders" features as this has caused grief for many--mostly on restore locations being wrong.

Wills:

10. why all of the Support Ticket issues and what version does this refer to?

• There were quite a few outstanding V9 issues which still remain. Then V10 was released with a lot of new features. These new features means new problems for many. I should mention that many people just use True Image and never have any problems while others don't seem to be as lucky.
  
  TrueImage functions very well as a simple backup and restore program. It can create good images (when stored on another internal/external drive) and can restore these full image backups. V9 and maybe V10 has problems restoring single (groups) files or folders. I use TI9 solely for "image" backups and never for "Files & Folders" backups. Sometimes the easiest/best backup of a few files is to use another means--such as simple copying or other programs. Even the XP backup program functions well for backing up just a few programs. These xp backup files can be copied to CD/DVD

You can learn a great deal about True Image by reading the postings on this site. Search the forum for your topic of interest. Most every question has been asked and answered multiple times. Good luck.
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...image/faq.html
http://download.acronis.com/pdf/TrueImage9.0_ug.en.pdf

Addendum:
As stated previously by Menorcaman which is applicable here:

Yes, True Image can do what you wish. However, please don't take this the wrong way but can I suggest you read this <fully illustrated guide on the installation and use of True Image 9.0 Home> before you start? This will enable you to home in on specific points that you feel still require additional clarification.
http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/co...6-15-1ati.html