TI 2009 Installed - A Disappointment

I have used TrueImage (and still have all of the Rescue Media) for years - versions 6,7,8,9,10,11, and now 12 (a.k.a.2009.)

I uninstalled 11, and installed 2009 this day, then I prepared my Rescue CD and Thumb Drive. So far, so good.

I then tested the new version's Clone capability (that's the only thing I use!) and it was a disappointment over version 11.

1. Wacom user interface support (Graphire pad and mouse), which was excellent through version 10, and disappeared with version 11, continues to be AWOL! It works until you select the Home Version Program. That is a big bummer, and requires me to quickly install a spare wireless mouse.

2. The biggest disappointment is that the cloning process, compared to version 11 on a specific machine is 10 minutes SLOWER going out, and 5 minutes slower coming in. I explain the routine:

Lenovo T60 laptop, with PCMCIA eSATA card and rescue media inserted. eSATA connects to an external drive, same size as the Lenovo's SATA drive - both 7200 RPM, 200 GB.

Step 1: Boot to TI2009 Rescue CD, and clone the drive to the external drive. Time with TI2009, 44 minutes. (With TI-11 it is 34 minutes.)

Step 2: Remove the T60 main drive and replace it with a like drive. The old drive now is the Reserve Drive, and is put into the T60 travel case.

Step 3: Clone the external eSATA drive to the newly inserted SATA drive in the T60. Time with TI2009 is 16 minutes. Time for the same operation with TI-11 is 11 minutes.

Perhaps there is better performance in the backup/restore function, but I almost never use it. The Clone function in TI2009 is a disappointment - especially the continuation of the no Wacom/mouse bug that I complained bout in version 11.

 

This may be a very daft question but why do you keep cloning your drives? Are you doing this in place of performing full image backups to another drive as I'm quite puzzled by your procedures?

 

I do both , clone and backup on separate hdd just to be totally safe and sure

 

I have always cloned my drives so I can ROTATE them periodically. Backup images are nice, but they are useless without restoration. A cloned drive is immdiately useable with no restoration. Ity is a duplicate drive. I have duplicate drives on every system ibncluding laptops.

My data drives do have backups on externals - but those are back ups for RAID 1 arrays.

I rotate my drives about every two weeks or whenever major changes/updates occur. Cloning is the process that best supports that.

To switch from one drive to another is easy - just a matter of a power switch, turn 0 off and 1 on, or vice versa.

If a drive fails, I can be back up in less than 2 minutes. Restoring an image takes a lot longer than that.

 

My only disappointment so far with v2009 is that I was hoping it would support 120 GB REV drive, but just like v11, the drive is absent from the drive list.

Fortunately this problem has a simple work around which is to manually enter the backup location, but still...

I was told in another post that they were working on it for a future version.

Now I feel like I've been deceived (lied to).

 

Don't forget my first gripe - no Wacom tablet support! It was good all the way through version 10 and disappeared in 11 - did not come back in version 2009. This really annoys me.
For cloning, Paragon;s Disk Copy Pro does a better job and faster and more accurate.

Oh yeah - TI does not really clone a drive. It makes a copy of the drive but does NOT preserve key locations like Page files, Metadata files and MFT reserved zone.

 

I suppose that it just depends how swappable your HD's are. Mine are in bog standard cases under my desk so I have to get on hands and knees, disconnect all my wiring lift the case onto a table and start taking the PC to bits. Not difficult but a good 30 minute exercise.

 

And those SATA cables don't like to get jostled much and trying to be delicate also can make swapping longer than a restore, which for me only takes 8 minutes.

 

SATA drives are easily switched with Vantec EZ_Swap mobile racks, MRK-200ST. Cables are never jostled. n See attached illustration.

How about getting back to the issues and not the process?

 

The issues: ATI 12 still missing some drivers. This can probably be resovled or worked around via a custom iso for a bootcd from Acronis or by using a BartPE or Mustang's VistaPE.

 

Those are reasonable suggestions. One would hope that the next build will fix the driver problem, but after notifying Acronis when 11 first came out, and the next build still did not have them, and now 12 does not either - sort of does not inspire a lot of confidence.

I'll see what I can do with Bart, etc.

Thanks!

 

Update from my previous post.

I have just now tried to do my weekly backups with TI2009 and could not get it to work at all.

Every attempt to do a backup would end with a generic "This process failed." error with no information why to help troubleshoot the cause.

Thought about going back to TI11 but remembered it won't edit tasks, so I went back to TI10 since everyone says it was the best version.

It might actually be time to see what, if any, competition TI has and consider abandoning TI completely.

As important as backups are, the current trend doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the program.

 

Well, for strictly cloning, I find that Paragon's DiskCopy Pro wins hands down. TI does not actually make a duplicate disk - i.e., it does not put the target disk files in the same place as the source disk's files - primarily the page file and the metadata and mft files. TI shoves them all up together - not good.