Have we Stepped Backwards in Time?

Have I saved myself from making a big mistake?

I have been using Acronis True Image 11 (ATI 11) since it was introduced last year. During the time that I've had ATI 11 I have encountered many installation problems. True Image remained unworkable for approximately 3 months last winter because I could not reinstall the program, nor completely uninstall the corrupted program. I was a loop but finally found my way out and Acronis True Image 11 (ATI 11) has worked well ever since.

A month or so ago I saw a list of features that were advertised as being new to "Acronis True Image 2009" (ATI 2009). After seeing the list I thought that some of those features would be reason enough to upgrade my ATI 11 to the new edition 2009. Just a few moments ago I was getting my information together to order the Acronis True Image Home 2009 edition. Before placing the order I wanted to review the list of new features in ATI 2009. I have not been able to find that list on the Acronis homepage or on my own hard drive.

What I did find is a list of "issues and limitations" connected with ATI 2009. Reading this list is very discouraging and difficult to read and understand. I will give a few examples:

1. Acronis True Image Home is unable to search
A. Archives in Zip and TIB format on removable media.
B. Archives in Zip format using GPS and WGS

I have no idea what TIB, GPS, or WGS mean. Note in the above paragraphs that when I used an abbreviation or acronym I defined it as would any good technical writer.

Acronis bragged on a feature found in ATI 11 that I considered useful. Their statement "explore any archive's content and restore individual files from any archive". Since I can't make out the meaning of what it is that ATI 2009 is unable to search, I don't know if the new edition (2009) is a step backwards, or just a statement of something that can't be done.

There are additional items mentioned in the list of "issues and limitations" that I believe worked properly in ATI 11. I would very much like to know from someone who understands the limitations of ATI 2009 just what those limitations are. Another thing I would appreciate knowing is Acronis planning on correcting the items mentioned in the list of 2009's limitations.

I have not purchased ATI 2009.

KC4COP

 

TIB - Acronis TrueImage Backup file
WPS - Microsoft Works Word Processor Document
GPS - as you say it should have been defined since it's not what I'd call a common file format.
I suppose it could be Geodetic data (.gps) file format
or possibly GPS Exchange (.GPX) file format

See What's New in Acronis True Image Home 2009 from Acronis Knowledge Base.

Do you have a link to the list of "issues and limitations" connected with ATI 2009 that you found ?

 

Yes Sir, I do have a link to the section of issues in Acronis True Image 2009 that caused me to pause before buying the "2009 edition".

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/updates/release-notes/trueimage.html

The section of issues that I quoted can be found toward the bottom of the web page that this link takes you to.

I found it discouraging to see so many problems in the new "True Image" release. It appears to me that many of the "new features" introduced in "Acronis True Image (Home) 2009" are the same as the problems and issues listed for the same product. I hope that I am wrong on this point.

A further area of concern is I did not see any statement from Acronis on how they were going to deal with the problem areas. Will Acronis work toward finding a solution to the problems or has the company just posted a statement saying that there are problem areas so don't look for those features to work correctly?

If the product is fixed, and the program meets the specs posted 0n the early published feature list, I will most likely buy it.

Once that I got Acronis True Image 11 to work correctly I started to enjoy using the program.

 

ATI backups can be vieweed and searched with windows explorer. IN fact, if you do a file search on a drive that contains a backup file, it will unavoidably search the backup.


ATI12/2009 has better hardware support than the dreaded ATI11 -- the bootCD iss more likely to work on your pc than ATI11. Whether ATI12/2009's problems will be fixed at all or fixed before Acronis releases a new version, there is no way to predict. Some of the less serious probs in ATI have been around since at least version 7 or 8. Serious or critical faults are usually fixed in the subesequent version but each new version seems to introduce som new critical faults -- so the best you can do is try a particular version and see if it works for you, on your hardware, and is worth the price.

New versions come out about once per year and you have to pay to move form one version to another. ATI used to release frequent new builds within a version number but that stopped with ATI11, for which there was only one interim build offered that fixed very of ATI11's many problems. So far, ATI12/2009 has had only one interim build, which fixed only some minor stuff.

 

Has anyone gone through the list of feature that Acronis says are new to version 2009 and confirmed that the improvements are actually a part of Acronis True Image 2009's feature set and that they work?

I am too confused to be able to do this myself. There should be a simple way to determine if the product meets its own specifications. Not everyone is going to be able to do this for themselves.

If a product does not do what it is advertised as being able to do then marketing claims need to be revised. An individual might be responsible for deciding if a purchased product will meet his needs but not if a product meets advertised specifications.

 

- You know your requirements (nobody else)
- you have to read in the manual whether the software can do that
- you have to decide to buy and use the software

I don't understand that somebody other has to decide for you.

What you can do here in the forum is:
- tell us your requirements to Acronis Ti2009
- Ask about concrete functions which are very important for you
- use the SEARCH-function of this forum

Perhaps, only perhaps we can recommend the Ti2009. Only recommend. Not decide.

 

MrMorse has given you the right answer. Only you can decide if the product is satisfactory for your requirements. I use TI2009 and for my way of working it is great but I only do manual, full imaging of my C drive when I see fit.

Another complication is that imaging programs are more tightly bound to hardware than most regular applications. For this reason, it is imperative that you run it on your system, the fact it works on mine can be encouraging but is no guarantee that it will work for you.

You can download the trial version and evaluate it for yourself without any cost.

 

Don't think MrMorse addressed the question asked:

Question asked is: Does TI 2009 successfully meet ITS OWN SPECIFICATIONS?

The question asked is NOT: Is TI 2009 "OK for me"?

As one who has successfully used TI 11.0 (except for an occassional glitch I tracked to File Permissions and a sometimes less-than-complete set of attached devices recognized), I think it is a fair question. It is one I'd like an answer to before I commit to upgrading. If it does seem to meet its own spec's, I'd have more confidence in its general viability as a replacement for TI 11.0

Thanks, Ev Merritt

 

Your statement of the question is indeed better.

Short answer is no and TI has never met its own specifications and that goes for the now highly praised TI10. OTOH, what piece of software does? Which brings us back to you have to try it for yourself to see if the specifications that apply to you are satisfactorily operational.