Acronis please take note

I have for some time now been retired, but I spent part of my working life in a hardware and software product development management position.

I have spent the better part of the last two days testing various permutations of just the basic function of creating and restoring full partition images using Acronis True Image 2009.

It is clear that this product does have some issues, some fairly significant, others minor. Some of the issues might vary with specific hardware set-ups, others clearly don't.

Problems like file time stamp errors (incorrect by an amount equalling the time zone offset from GMT) that occur with image files created using the Linux based rescue CD where the image is written to an NTFS drive, or direct to a DVD, but not when it is written to a FAT32 drive, and the problem with the setting of the Archive split size in default backup options, where if one enters 3.9GB it is converted to 3.9MB (which was incidentally not present in version 10) are just two quite repeatable items that should never have got past proper in house Alpha testing.

That these, and other more serious problems, such as the file not found error that occurs if a validation task is appended to the image create task and the image is written to DVD (which had also been reported occurring in version 11), did reach the outside world should be of considerable concern to Acronis Senior Management. The level of reported problems with the previous version 11 release should have in itself generated extra care in the testing of the replacement product. Did True Image 2009 actually go through an in house Alpha testing stage, were the personnel who did the alpha testing asleep at the wheel, or just incompetent, or were the problems found but then either ignored or left unresolved in a race to release the product.

If there was a proper Quality Assurance program in place, Management would have been aware of this, and in my opinion should have done something about it.

As it stands, a product that should have been good, maybe even excellent, is mediocre at best, and the Acronis image has received another major setback. That’s indeed a shame.

 

Hear, Hear!
OTC

 

Absolutely correct. There obviously is no proper QA/testing procedures in place or they are not being followed. I've been using TI since version 9 and every new version is riddled with bugs that indicate they were never properly tested since things just don't work on any PC.

 

Not one comment from Acronis Support, that says something in itself!

 

Generally, Acronis staff do not comment on bugs other than to offer workarounds when workarounds are known, refer folks to Tech Support, or on rare ocassions, to state that a known bug will be addressed in the next build or release or, more vaguely, in some future release -- this last presumably when it is known that Acronis programmers are working on code to address the bug. Sometimes they are addressed in a future build or version and sometimes not.

 

True. One would hope that such commentary is passed up the line but I wouldn't want to bet my life on it. IMO, it is just as well that the front-line Acronis staff don't get involved into discussions about this since they have enough to do with solving the practical problems.

OTOH, it would be nice to see a post from Acronis management saying they are addressing the problem where warranted.