I need upgrade advice

Currently running TI-7.0 on Win2K, and will soon be migrating PCs to XP Pro AND POSSIBLY LATER XP-64bit.

1. If I want to switch from TI-7 (which is now a "Home" product) to Workstation, can I buy the Workstation *UPGRADE*, or must I buy the full version?

2. I'm confused by the TI-WS pricing for support.
-- Is there *NO* support without the "Maintenance and Priority Support subscription", even right out of the box?
-- What support do I get if I just buy an upgrade to TI-Home-9.0?

3. My TI-7 User’s Guide says that DVD can be used DIRECTLY both for backup (page 20), and for restore when booting from a TI boot disk (page 60). So why do the latest versions say that using DVD is a *new* feature? What specifically is new about DVD in versions after TI-7? Some of Acronis.com's pages mention "no need to use third-party drivers" -- but Acronis' own site publishes multiple examples of magazine reviews of TI-9 which say that you DO need to acquire UDF drivers which aren't provided by Acronis.

4. On page 59 of my TI-7 User’s Guide, it explains "How can I prepare Windows XP, NT or 2000 for cloning or transferring to a PC with different hardware?". If I *DON'T* buy Universal Restore, then does TI-WS have any capabilities for "transferring to a PC with different hardware" that are different from TI-Home?

5. TI-WS can "Boot from an image, using Acronis Snap Restore". But TI-Home also has something called "Snap Restore", although it doesn't specifically mention "Boot from an image". Is TI-Home any different in this respect?

6. The "Version comparison" chart at http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATICW/comparison.html
only compares corporate products. Except for the ability to support Universal Restore, the only difference I see between TI-WS and TI-Home is (a) modifying images in read-write mode, and (b) using corporate resources like centralized servers, Remote Administration, Microsoft VSS, and big-metal hardware. Is there anything else?

7. The "Version comparison" chart says that TI-WS doesn't support Windows Server or Linux. I thought that the TI boot-disk boots linux, and can be used to perform a sector-by-sector backup and restore of ANY locally-attached drive and file-system, without booting a specific customer OS. What am I misunderstanding?

8. Does TI-Home *run* under XP-64? And even if not, can't I still backup and restore an XP-64 system using a TI boot-disk?

Thanks!

 

i think backing up to DVDs is the new feature.

it means ATI wont install on those OS but u can still use the rescue disc.

i dont know if ATI supports x64, the rescue disc is always OS independent.

 

ok, sounds like questions 7&8 are answered.
But not #3: as I originally posted, TI-7 supposedly already supports DVD, so what exactly is new about this?

 

could u clarify "supports DVD"?

this is what it says for version 9:

 

using DVD, TI-7 vs. TI-9

WSFuser, that's exactly my point / question:
as you say, for v9 it says, "Save backups directly to DVDs without using 3rd party DVD burning software".

Yet, as I said in item#3 of my original post, my User's Guide for TI-7 says:

-- page 20,
"If you need to create a complete image, you must specify its location on a storage device:
. . .
• removable media drive, such as CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, Iomega Zip or Iomega Jaz."

-- page 60,
"To enable image recording to DVD in Acronis True Image, you should do the following:
• Install DVD UDF recording software.
• Format DVD disks . . .
• Run Acronis True Image, insert a formatted DVD disk into your DVD+RW or DVD-RW drive and create an image. No other special actions are required.
Images stored on DVD disks can be restored under Windows and when Acronis True Image is loaded from its boot disk."

OK, so this sounds like TI-7 requires UDF software, which AFAIK is the same thing as "packet-writing software":
http://www.osta.org/technology/cdr.htm ,
"UDF, Universal Disc Format. A file system endorsed by the Optical Storage Technology Association for use with packet writing recordable optical disc technologies, such as DVD."

But if you look at the magazine reviews which are published ON ACRONIS' OWN WEB SITE, they say that TI-9 ALSO requires third-party UDF software:

http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/company/inpress/2006/04-02-en.html
"backup an image directly to a CD (or DVD if you have packet-writing software installed)."

http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/company/inpress/2006/03-en-pcauth-ati.html
"Images can be saved to just about any media, including . . . DVDs. There is no built-in DVD packet-writing capability though, and it only officially supports Roxio and Nero software."

http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/company/inpress/2006/03-en-pcpro-trueimage.html
"our only gripe is that Acronis True Image is one of just two packages on test to require third-party packet-writing software in order to back up to CD or DVD."

http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/company/inpress/2006/01-en-bsr-trueimage.html
"Needs packet writing software to burn DVDs"

So how is this any different from TI-7?

 

Re: using DVD, TI-7 vs. TI-9

wow, i see your point now. unfortunately, i dont quite know as i never used DVDs or ATI version 7.

 

Re: using DVD, TI-7 vs. TI-9

Hello nusrat,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Please note that Acronis True Image 7.0 can be upgraded to Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation. You can purchase Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation Upgrade on Acronis web site.

Please note that you can always submit a request for technical support via e-mail, this option is free. Acronis Maintenance and Priority Support provides you with additional options like phone based support and free upgrades for your product during the period of subscription. Please have a look at this page for details.

Please note that the direct DVD writing capacity in Acronis True Image 9.0 Home was included not from the first build of version 9.0. As you can see from this FAQ article Acronis True Image has this ability since build 3625. The previous builds of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home as well as previous version (8.0, 7.0, 6.0) were able to burn the images to DVD disks under Windows if DVD UDF recording software is installed on the computer ("How can I burn Acronis True Image images to DVD disks?" page 61 of the Acronis True Image 7.0 Users Guide). So, I believe the magazine reviews you have mentioned are related to the "old" build of the software.

Please note that Microsoft System Preparation Tool (sysprep) assigns a unique security ID (SID) to each destination computer the first time the computer is restarted. Acronis Universal Restore does not strip security identifier (SID). Sysprep allows replacing drivers only for Plug-and-Play devices (sound cards, network adapters, video cards etc.). As for system HAL and boot device driver, they must be identical in the source and target computers. Acronis Universal Restore technology provides an efficient solution for hardware-independent system restoration by replacing the crucial Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and mass storage device drivers. So, without the Acronis Universal Restore plug-in the functionality of Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation and Acronis True Image 9.0 Home in transferring the system to a PC with different hardware is the same.

Please note that by "Boot from an image, using Acronis Snap Restore" means that you can boot the operating system on a crashed computer before the system is completely restored from the image, and start work seconds after the restoration is launched. The restoration will be continued in the background. Acronis True Image 9.0 Home has this ability as well.

You can find more additional information about the difference between Acronis True Image 9.0 Home and Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation here. Please also note that Acronis True Image 9.0 Home can mount the image in read/write mode as well.

Yes, you misunderstood a little bit. In the Version comparison page the "Supported Operating Systems and Processors" have a list of the operating system under which Acronis True Image product can be installed. The Acronos True Image Bootable CD can as you noticed back up partition with corrupted or not supported by Acronis True Image filesystem using sector-by-sector approach.

Yes, Acronis True Image 9.0 Home as it is mentioned here supports Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. And yes, if it is more suitable for you you can use Acronis True Image Bootable CD to perform back up/restore procedure (without booting the operating system). We recommend that you first try to restore data running Acronis True Image under Windows, because this method provides more functionality.

Please note that the articles you have mentioned is related to the builds of Acronis True Image that does not have the direct DVD ability. The build 3625 was released at 2006-05-18, all the articles were posted before this date.

I hope I have answered all your questions. If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Aleksandr, thanks for the comprehensive answers. As it turns out, I already purchased and installed the upgrade to WS on Sept. 1st.

P.S. -- I'd still like to know, where can I download older builds of my licensed products, (so that I can attempt to circumvent any problem I encounter by using an older release)?

 

Hello nusrat,

Please note that if you would like to obtain the build for the outdated version of Acronis Product or the older build for the current version you could submit a request for technical support, provide them with a serial number or any information about your purchase of Acronis software (order number, e-mail, where did you purchase our product, etc.) and we will assist you on this matter.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov