noob here - how does snapshot work? is it consistent?

I have downloaded the trial and if I can get my questions answered I'm going to buy the product. I used to have Norton Ghost (an older version). When performing image backups over the network to a file server, I booted both computers up with a network PC-DOS floppy that had a DOS version of Ghost on it. One was brought up as Master, the other as Slave.

Anyway, I knew these image backups were good because Windows was NOT running when the image was created. All those open system files and what-not. Now, Acronis True Image gets rave reviews, but I can't find any detailed information on how Snapshot works. I need to get a very good feeling about the consistency of my images created with this product. How can it be a perfect image of the hard disk if 1) Windows system files are open and 2) the user is changing files while the image is being run/created?

Any help is appreciated.

 

This should be of help to you.

 

Hello Sc0rp10n,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

When starting image creation, Acronis True Image creates a snapshot of all the sectors taken by data. Once the snapshot is completed, the product automatically starts imaging the disk or partition. It allows users to continue using applications during image creation. Acronis True Image will not put into the image any modifications or changes made after the image creation process has started.

Please also read the article "Disk Imaging in Windows — Increases user productivity and permits broader range of backup devices" on our web-site.

If you have any questions concerning our software, please feel free to ask us.

Thank you.
--
Irina Shirokova

 

The linked article should tell you *how* it is done. It should also tell you, that snapshot'ing does not equal consistency. Consistency can only be provided by cooperative applications - or an orderly shutdown followed by an off-line backup.