TI-11: New User Opinion and Experience

This software does what is promised, is simple to use, and I cannot fathom how so many people are having problems with it. I suspect they are not carefully reading the instructions on the pop-up windows that guide you through the backup and recovery processes.

I initially downloaded and tried the Trial version, and recently purchased the full version (now on sale for $29.99 at Best Buy).

I created an image using the trial version several weeks ago, and restored my system to that state using the full version. The first restoration attempt apparently failed, but when I switched to “sector by sector” restore, the program worked flawlessly. I have since created new backup images (sector by sector) and have restored them on three different occasions with no problems.

Timed backups work well. I back up my data to external drives the “old school” way, via batch files that run DOS copy commands. In the wee hours of the morning, Windows Scheduler wakes my computer from standby to launch them. The automatic TI-11 backup is timed to begin after the DOS data backup is completed, and when that is done, the computer goes back to sleep.

When I began working with True Image, I got multiple incremental .tib files when all I wanted was one (in addition to the “Master” image). Backtracking through the scheduled backup steps, and taking a few extra seconds to carefully read the pop-up instructions, was all that was necessary to resolve the issue.

I think the program’s simplicity and ease of use is what trips people up. They expect to encounter complexity, but there isn’t any.

 

There was another user here a while ago who always said that you have to be "part geek" to use this program successfully. Nowadays, I would say that being able to make a dos batch file falls under that category.

Glad to hear it works so well for you.

 

Eric,
You may not need it now, but glance over my guides (links below). Perhaps they can offer some additional assistance.

 

I suppose that's true -- but a geek stuck in the 1980's.

 

Thank you, I will do that. After I explore and use the program's other features, I know I will encounter something buggy.

I say that becuase I downloaded Disk Director, and now have a useless 7MB partition on my drive. The trial version lets you create it, but not remove it, which I think is strange. So now I am bracing myself for surprises with True Image.

 

You can delete partitions in Windows XP Disk Management, so that's not a big problem.

Where people find problems (assuming that TI in both Windows and from the Recovery CD fully supports their hardware - you have booted from the Recovery CD to confirm that all your drives are visible and that you can validate images haven't you?), is in using the scheduler or other features.

 

I previously deleted the partition, but the unallocated space remains.

I have created the recovery CD, and also have the one that came in the box, but have not tried booting from it. Is that where people are also experiencing problems?

 

Wow. I'm impressed. You must have been born under a lucky star.

 

How long does the Sector by sector take?

 

Alas,


Don't forget, for sector by sector you need to run checkdsk first to be sure there are no bad sectors or they will be copied over in the restore?

I to prefer the windows Task Sceduler over ATI's for the simple reason that it can wake a PC from standby (S3 suspend) to run a task. I'm not sure if I'd call the steps to set that up simple compared to just using the ATI scheduler.

I don't think most folks confuse ATI for being more comlicated or simpler than it is. I think most complaints result from the hardware on which prior versions did not work (relatively narrow) and the bugs in version 11.

ATI 11 doesn't do everything promised, at least not for lots of folks. It performs the critical functions for many--sometimes requireing a hop skip and aworkaround, but does not perform them for lots fo others, including folks with teh same hardware that versin 8, 9, and 10 worked on jsut fine. For example, some Intel RAIDs are still not compatible with ATI 11 (8053) even though they were compatible with version 8, 9, and 10. Backup tasks don't run correctly on some hardware set ups if you use diff/incs--no matter how many times you read the manual -- They worked for these folks in Version 9 and 10 but not in 11. File-by file backups don't comlete on some software even though they worked on that some hardware in prior ATI versions. And there's that banner/alert thing, which isn't so much a bug as a misguided feature. And the web site used to say that it encrypted although ATI 11 doesn't.

All in all, I'd say ATI 10 was pretty good at delivery what it promised and ATI 11 (build 8053) is not ready for prime time. No matter how many times one reads the manual. ATI 11 has some genuine, critical faults that need to be corrected if long time ATI users such as I are going to use versions ATI post-10.

 

Eric,
Check out the "Sticky" on Useful forum threads below. Read up on topics such as "Startup Recovery Manager" and "Snap Restore", etc. These are things to avoid until you have a good knowledge as to their benefits and limitatins.

TI excels as an imaging program. Create your full disk backup and it will get you out of trouble. I don't use and have never needed to try all the "bells & whistles". Stick with the basic's and you should have little trouble.

 

So you had a 50% success rate with features and narrowly avoided losing your entire disk.
Hardly a ringing endorsement.

 

33GB took about an hour. Should vary, however, with HD and processor speed. (I consider my machine "slow.")

 

It was simple to use Windows Scheduler to run the back-up batch files; ATI's scheduler just set to run within that timeframe. If the computer is asleep, then ATI does not run. Perhaps Acronis will build in a "wake up Windows" feature in a future update?

(Speaking of updates, I have the retail version which is 8022. It appears I need to be at 8053.)

Since I have not installed new programs, or application settings, I stopped the ATI scheduled backups since there is no reason to create a new, incremental image every day when I have the original image, and all my daily data, backed up to two external drives that are also clones of my primary drive. I also fear that the more I overwrite the same incremental image, the greater the likelihood of corruption issues.

Since I use ATI for one purpose -- creating back-up images/hard drive clones to restore from in the event of a catastrophic failure -- perhaps I was too melodic when singing its praises. Although I have tried some other features, such as the system cleaner (which works well) I have not tried them all, and today realized I can't figure out Try and Decide (i.e., can the Secure Zone be created on an external drive, or must it be on the primary drive?)

At the end of the day, I needed the peace of mind of knowing I will not lose more than about an hour of time if my OS fails and I have to restore it from a backup image; or no more than 5 minutes if my hard drive fails and I have to remove it and install one of the clones. Despite its apparent bugs, ATI-11 has given me that peace of mind.

 

As illustrated by my previous post, I agree 100%. I like the core functionality of ATI, but can live without the rest.

 

I attempted to restore an image I created about two weeks prior with the trial version of ATI-11. The process began, but finished almost immediately, with the computer rebooting normally. I remember thinking, "that was quick" and, after logging in, saw that no changes were made.

In every subsequent image restoration effort (three so far), things worked flawlessly.

Since that was the very first time I attempted recovery, I cannot rush to blame the program. It is possible I did something wrong. Then again... the program should not have executed if I did.

 

Consider yourself lucky... very lucky.

But maybe you're right. After working in IT for 10+ years, I foolishly assumed that I'd have no problems with True Image.
Silly me. I should have read the manual.

 

Funny; I assumed it would be very complicated, so I mentally prepared for a greater challenge than the one I was confronted with.