A truly awful experence!

Earlier this year a leading UK PC magazine did a group test on backup software for the home user. The ‘Editor’s Choice’ was TIH 11. I was greatly influenced by this when making my purchasing decision at the end of October. However, by that time the product had morphed into TIH 2009.
Things did not start well. The installation program refused to accept the key despite repeated attempts convinced I had typed it in incorrectly. Then followed an extended on-line ‘chat’ with an extremely helpful support agent. Eventually, after getting an exchange key which also failed, it transpired that the key printed on the envelope was inappropriate for the build on the CD inside! A download of a later build did enable a successful install.
All now appeared well, I created Secure Zone and tested F11 start-up, created boot CD and tested. Created system and selected file backups. I was pretty happy. I then made the fatal mistake of trying to change the scheduled time of a backup, there did not seem to be any way of doing this without creating a new backup. I posted this issue on this forum but the only reply came from some poor guy who had found the same problem.
Decided to check whether there was a later build, there was so installed it. That fixed the task editing issue. Three further problems then manifested themselves. Firstly the destination for the scheduled backup to ASZ was lost. Secondly ‘Protection State’ reported that I had not made a system backup which was manifestly untrue, I had but TI 2009 had lost it! Thirdly when I attempted to test the F11 start-up I got the message:-
Acronis
Loading, please wait . . .
Kernel panic – not syncing VFS Unable to mount root fs on unknown – block(1,0)
How reassuring was that? The kernel panicked! What would I have done had it been for real rather than a test?
I plucked up courage, deactivated Startup Recovery Manager, deleted ASZ and recreated. It does now seem to work.
I think that this has been the worst experience that I have ever had with any commercial software. What any less experienced user would have made of it I cannot imagine. I think that this product is a disgrace and I will write to the magazine referred to above recounting this tale and pointing them to this forum and the extraordinary number of problems that users have faced.

 

That is why backup software must be completely tested before you really need it. This applies to any product not just True Image.

Unfortunately no software manufacturers want to emphasize that fact for fear their product might appear lesser than one that doesn't.

I also wish that Acronis would change the something like "Backup Completed Successfully" message to just "Backup Completed" so there is less of an implication that all is just wonderful without first doing some restoration tests on the PC.

 

Hello marchwood and seekforever,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

Please let us investigate the situation you experienced and do the following:

Please create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post. Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. To expedite the resolution we recommend you to use our Live Chat service after that. We will do our best to investigate the issue and provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Alexander Nikolsky

 

Re: A truly awful experience!

Hello Alexander

It is now nearly 2 weeks since my original post. Since detroying all traces of ATIH 2009 and installing the latest build 12.0.0.9646 all seems to be ok. It will take a while longer to gain complete confidence in the product but my first experience was dreadful. How could the product be shipped with keys that don't work?
I have one outstanding issue. If the option to run on startup if scheduled task is missed is checked then
1) the desktop is corrupted in that personal settings don't get loaded. This is recovered if one logs out and then in again.
2) The PC is effectively unusable for the duration of the task.
It would seem preferable just to have ATIH give one a reminder that the task has been missed.