not good enough

bought two copies of true image 10 - and i am very unhappy

the main reason was to have a complete backup of my pc and a method to recover in the event of a crash - i also implemented raid mirroring

first i find there is no phone support when i have problems implementing that whatever zone because i have this obscure product called mcafee - so i go through all the crap to send in a problem request to find that: it won't work with mcafee - that was the answer - wish i knew that before spending the money - not good enough

i did successfully use the clone function when migrating to raid - one success

when troubleshooting a problem, i was advised that windows had to be reinstalled - i took some comfort knowing i had a full true image backup taken on january 13th and a recovery disk created that same day

the problem i was troubleshooting was network related - i had no access - i tried a standalone restore of my backup before performing a reinstall - i can't recall why i could not get it to work, but used my pdaphone to search for a solution - the solution was to install a fix for true image - well that is great - the backup was of no use to me - not good enough

so i reinstall windows, buy another nic card and finally a new motherboard to pacify my isp - since the motherboard is a discontinued product, i have a different brand - which means i lost raid mirroring, probably the best news in this ordeal

network problem identified - and i am going back to my original motherboard and deal with all the driver reinstalls and raid - but before i do, i wanted to clone the hard disk to what was my spare (which i wiped and reinstalled xp to pacify my isp) - but true image can't seem to find any hard drives - e000101f4 as best i recall - the problem seems to be that drivers were probably overwritten - in some cases, people have reported that windows update did it - the 'solution' is to download the acronis drivers again - not good enough

when i needed it, it would not work - can't call for phone support unless i pay them to help me fix their faulty product - i guess i have to turn off windows update or somehow monitor if an update is installed that true image does not like - if i do get all the 'fixes', i have no guarentee that it will actually work (i thought it worked without the 'fixes' but i was wrong - and based on past history, i have no confidence a 'fixed' version will work) - i also can't use the zone thingy function because of a product conflict (that i was not warned about before purchase)

i did get to waste pc resources running their tasks for months, thinking i had a working product - i got to purchase a couple of hundred cds for backups (that were useless) and spend several hours performing backups (that were useless)

this expensive product is way too buggy to be relied upon - and way too expensive to charge more for phone support - and should have a disclaimer about product conflicts - and a disclaimer that updates to drivers may render it useless

not good enough - i'm off to c/net to warn other people about it

 

wow. your experience is 100% different than mine. I'm not saying the issue is between the chair and keyboard but I am saying that murphy's law worked overtime on your configuration an circumstances. Good luck.

 

A perfect example of a situation where it is infinitely better to use the Bootable True Image Rescue cd for all Backup, Recovery and Clone functions.

And you started off in the most difficult way possible by backing up directly to optical media. But even if you were successful in backing up to CDs the really nasty surprise will come when you try to restore from the Cds. See this thread:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=183442

 

If you already bought the program, I would at least try and make it work for you.

I had the same problem with true image 9.0. I almost gave up on it, because my restores only worked half the time. "not good enough for me". All my problems where drive letter change related. Once I've learned how to fix that, I can restored any hard drive with true image everytime 100 percent success rate.

As far as hardware configuration problems, theres workarounds for all of that, I've never had to use a bartpe cd (that everyone talks so highly about).

I've never dealt with RAIDS or exotic motherboards, but I know it would take me all of 30 minutes to figure out my own procedure on how to back it up and restore them without a bartpe or even reading the manual. I can do that only because I know how the program reacts in different situations.

This program requires a lot of trial and error but once you figure it out. the program can be very reliable.

 

~no need to quote the whole first....Bubba~

~snipped un-necessary verbage~

It's all part of life to run into challenges, so get used to it! What matters is facing those challenges maturely, and seeking a solution. You will find most of the time the solution is rather simple. So in the words of Winston Churchill: "Never ever ever ever ever give up!"

Secondly, no company on Earth, and that includes Acronis, can foresee every single event that users experience. Acronis cannot know every piece of software that the user has installed, there are millions of different products out there.

Thirdly, you can go running to c/net like a drama queen and cry baby all you like. The professional users and people with half a brain won't take anything you say seriously anyway, because they will realise that everyone has challenges and that the proper thing to do is learn for a solution, not simply give up and cry about it.

Fourthly, Acronis Trueimage is the best product I have ever bought. It is amazing and has helped me so many times. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Fifthly, name one product on Earth that has never had any user challenges. Can you? ANSWER: OF COURSE NOT! So why do you expect Acronis to be any different?

Lastly, no product on Earth is perfect so get used to it, and make the best of what you have. There is ALWAYS a solution to any issues or challenges a person runs into with Acronis TrueImage.

~snipped un-necessary verbage~, and learn how to use Acronis Trueimage properly, because it is the best product out there !

 

What can the Bartpe boot CD with Acronis plugin enabled do that the Acronis rescue boot CD cannot do?

 

Bartpe can supply the newer drives that you need. It uses the drives resident in your copy of windows. The rescue CD uses Linux drivers which always seem to be behind. Hence if True Image sees your hard drives in the windows environment ( which is nearly 100% of the time) then BartPe will too.

 

But the Acronis created boot rescue CD, which is based on Linux as you say, is really fast are backing up and restoring. It only takes 10-15 minutes for me.

So if I use the VistaPE boot CD with Trueimage plugin enabled, you mean by back up and restores will go faster due to later drivers?

Besides, I press F11 at boot-time and do it that way. That would be using the windows drivers too, right?

 

By all means continue this discussion but do so without the name calling\un-necessary verbage.

Thanks,
Bubba

 

Sorry Bubba. Wont happen again.

 

Whenever you restore the active partition Windows cannot be running and TI boots the PC into the recovery mode which is a Linux environment. Even if you start the restore in Windows this happens - the inputted data is passed to the recovery environment when the PC reboots. If the partition(s) being restored are not the active one, typically C, then it can all be done in Windows.

The degree of speed and even success you have with the Linux environment depends on how well they fit your hardware. Some people have slow restores others a bit slow and others run at as good a speed as anything. Generally, the Linux recovery is 1-2X slower than Windows. It isn't that the drivers are "later" but that they are Windows drivers and they tend to be faster and better at least when the hardware is released.

The BartPE or VistaPE environments are great if the Linux one doesn't work or works very slowly. However, you have to insert the CD and boot the system up to access it and I find that BartPE takes longer to load than the TI CD.

 

I stand corrected thanks seekforever

This is what I find too. By the time VistaPe or Bartpe boot I could be almost half way finished using the Rescues CD. So far I have had very good luck with the Linux based drivers. ( On two entirely different computers, one I just purchased)

 

Yeah good point Besides, 15mins for my backups and restores is ok anyway. Gives me time to get a nice cup of green tea

 

I tested the VistaPE boot CD with Trueimage plugin that I created. And I am using TI version 11, yet it still worked as a plugin for VistaPE.

And to my surprise, it only took 7 minutes to backup my 10GB Vista C: compared to 14mins it takes using the Acronis created rescue CD.

So I can now see how using windows drivers on the VistaPE is a lot faster (50% faster) then using the linux based Acronis boot CD.

However, it did take 3 minutes longer for the VistaPE CD to load, yet that still leaves the process 4 minutes faster I can now use that 4mins for better things hehe

 

My XP Pro system takes about 15 minutes to back up in Windows, but about an hour when I used the Acronis Boot CD. Restore with the Boot CD is about an hour as well. Since the back up and restores I've done so far have been flawless, I'll gladly accept that. (I can still remember what it was like using an Iomega tape drive back up. )

~Dave

 

drama queen weighing in here

thanks to all that offered constructive suggestions

that would not include the one calling me names and offering philosophy of life suggestions - but I will offer my own to him

unless you have a financial stake in acronis, you are far too invested in a software product - a faulty one at that

I have more to share, but will have to continue in another post - since I cannot recover my pc, I am using my pdaphone - a device that is quite challenge free

 

Yeah I agree. I personally have spent the last 1 year fine-tuning Vista exactly how I like it. So even if it takes 1 hour to restore an image, it's better than losing a whole years worth of work, and would have to start again.

But for me it's even better than that due to it only taking 10mins to 14 mins to restore my Vista, depending how I restore.

 

You say "a faulty one at that". But I say "so is every single program on Earth". And when you say "faulty", do you define that is not being perfect? Define "faulty" for me please so I understand exactly what you mean.

The reason I ask is because I challenge you to name one program that is 100% perfect without one single bug or flaw or fault. Can you?

Also remember that Acronis TI works beautifully for me and thousands of others. So just because you are having a challenge in getting it to work for you, doesnt mean you should generalise and call the program "faulty".

 

not everything in life is a challenge - ii have a hammer that has served me quite well and been trouble free - I will grant that complextiy increases the possibility of problems, but some address the complexity better than others - better products seem to thrive under capitalism - I don't see a product that fails to meet one of its primary functions as one of these better products - and will do my part to warn others before they rely on it to revover the contents of their pc

I also think you offered an apology to the wrong person

and yet more to follow

 

as it happens, I don't have time to surround myself with products that offer challenges - not only pc products, but every product in my life - the ketfob that unlocks my ford is trouble free - I don't understand every aspect of how it works - nor do I want to

while the keyfob is a convenience for me, I would not consider it as mission critical to my life as say, a kidney - unlike this software, I don't have to revisit the components that comprise the keyfob when I have the oil changed

the keyfob also works when I choose quaker state instead of penziol

if a software product is reliant on specific drivers, it should find a method of monitoring the drivers required for its proper operation

like keyfobs and kidneys, other software vendors find a way to make theirs work

yet more pearls of wisdom before sows' silk purses to follow

 

I do not consider myself a pc nerd - I have a basic undersranding of them - built a few - worked on some hardware - attended ibm's repair classes and labs when the pc/xt and pc/at were the only two choices - I also have a little knowledge of cpu architecture and instruction sets

nor am I an expert on the windows operating system - I do have a fairly good understanding of operating system concepts - I earn my keep by installing and maintaining one particular os

which brings me to address your rant about challenges - I thought it beneficial to my rant to explain that I am a mainframe nerd - more than that - I am a mainframe bigot - while I have never supported storage administration, I have some knowledge in the area

and like most systems programmers, I can determine and explain the function of any single bit in the memory of the os I support

which brings me to complexity - you seem to think a pc software product is something just shy of rocket science - and with all the possible combinations of software and hardware, its not knitting either - however - other vendors seem to cope much better than this one - fewer challenges with their products

and my systems work too - a little more complex - and not marketed to people for home use, but complex - and - they work

the missive continues

 

missive discontinued at moderator's request and a sudden attack of common sense that descended on the author

 

I'm sorry TrueImage didn't work for you. It has worked for me on a whole range of computers.

I notice that you have a much higher opinion of backup products that you haven't used. Not one has failied you.

Good luck.

 

its true that I have not tried any other backup products - and happy it worked for you

I have one pc in my home - when I needed to restore the hard drive from the backup, it failed to work - no pc to access the internet - the product failed to do what I needed

though I might not have evaluated any other products, I can say they could not be worse than this one - failure is failure

and judging from the number of problems people post, others may agree - probably won't be here to post about it though

there is another thread where the guy recommended another product - I forget the name - but if it fails me like this one did, i'll have the satisfaction of knowing I paid less than $75 for faulty software

if I get my pc back, i'll post the thread and product name for other casual pc users like me

 

and maybe it will fail in the backup function rather than leading me to believe I have the security of a working backup

speaking of - I should test my keyfob backup plan - you never know if the key will work without trying it