Acronis True Image WISH-LIST thread

1. Ability to Eject the Tape after a backup is complete.
2. Can the format of the tape be compatible with Microsoft's NTBackup?

Thank you,

 

During my last install of Windows XP, I made backup images along the way. With each backup I included notes as to what programs I installed, what tweaks I made, etc. The only problem is the only way to access the notes is by selecting the recovery process, etc...

It would be great if I could print the notes and even better if I could combine the notes from a selected set of backups with all the incremental backup notes into perhaps a Word doc or notepad text.

 

When you use the boot CD and want to recover, the disk/directory list of backup files doesn't show the date stamps on the files. It would be helpfult to have the dates. Those of us that do regular automated backups cannot use the name alone to discern the which backup was made before or after which.

 

Ability to backup from multiple servers to a single tape device used with backup server without overwriting eachothers backups on the tape.

also support for tape libraries

 

1. have a choice to do "secter to secter" backup. then we can save the same HD structure image to another HD without keeping current HD. this will be very usful if the data is marked as deleted in OS. if we have sector by sector backup, we still can use other data recovery tool such as r-studio to recovery deleted data.

2. and easy way to restore image to a different size HD. it is auto-adjustable to a different size HD or just left an extra untouch space behind. this can be done now buy wizard type but it is confusing and not easy to use. it will be good like GHOST to see everything in a table view and just adjust the paritition size in the table. save time and less confusing in that table type.

 

One SPAM reply removed. Please keep in mind that this is the Acronis support forum and this is an Acronis wish-list thread - not the "SPAM your stuff here!" forum

 

Ability to edit for example a boot.ini file from the resque cd.
Option to simple copy paste files to and from network etc from bootcd.

Thanx in Advance

 

Would really like to have the ability to mount acronis OS images in VMWare or Virtual PC. This feature is a HUGE benefit for planning and implementing disaster recovery.

Non Acronis support comments removed. - Ron

 

In Veritas they have "exclude dates" or "specify dates" which was great for having full backups every two weeks and incrementals on the same day but every week. I would like to see the scheduler tweaked.

 

I would like a *home* version of TrueImage that will create an image of a Linux partition from within (i.e. while booted to) Linux. I would also like to have the ability to mount an image of a Linux partition and extract an individual file.

BTW, I understand that there is a server version of TrueImage that will do what I want, but, unfortunately, I cannot pay $600 for backup software for a home computer. Is there a reasonably-priced (i.e. around $50) version of TrueImage that will do what I want?

Thanks

 

I agree!

We, your customers, are ultimately responsible for protecting our data, and the integrity of our systems, and are using Acronis programs to help us do that. Please provide us the full detailed information we need to make informed decisions at each step. Even if it is only made available to registered users.

When to upgrade. When to install drivers, and what specifically they contain. What hardware is known to conflict, or work flawlessly, with True Image and other Acronis programs. When a boot code is about to be re-written, and why. What specifically is about to happen when we say, commit. Or, proceed. How to back out of conflicts that occur. What error codes mean. Clear logging in English, so we can see what has gone right, or wrong, and make informed, and timely decisions.

And, to whatever extent possible, provide all instructions and support advice in terms that can be readily understood by all levels of users. At times I've found that even the advice given in these forums by Acronis Support is too technically oriented, or assumes a level of fluency many lack. Add in-depth comments, or links to such explanations, to all support posts.

Have clear, simple instructions for what to do, for example, when a hard drive fails. Even step-by-step videos available. When things really go wrong is the time many users will need the clearest, simplest help getting their systems back up and running. Without searching these excellent forums for solutions. How about taking the gems from these forums, and linking them into resources, by topic?

Ideally, have tiers of assistance available, so that advanced users can get on with their tasks, while novices can also get the help they need, with clear examples, even tutorials, available. And make the information available, to all levels of users. We want, and need, to know.

 

For a number of reasons, I retain some file backups in the form of .tib files on my hard disk.

When I do a full disk image, I would like these .tib files to be excluded. (In other words, avoiding .tib files containing .tib files!)

 

wish #1: to explore/view/open/edit files in the File Backup (not Image Backup) like a mounted disk volume.

wish #2: schedule full backups to be made after X incremental backups in the same task schedule. Automatically manage the number of copies made via # days or # cycles (eg keep images for 30 days and 2 cycles).

In relation to this wish, I read in an earlier post in this thread about using two TIB file names to make two sets of backups. I think the method doesn't work if the backups are made to the Secure Zone, for backups there do not have file names.

wish #3: to manage the Secure Zone like a real partition, like to delete individual old backups manually, find out the size of each backup image (instead of just the total size used by all backups), migrate backups to outside the Secure Zone, migrate TIBs from the file system into the Secure Zone, etc.

wish #4: have a Secure Zone on each physical disk. I like the idea of having a hidden logical partition for the back images, so it doesn't mess with my file system. Yet it doesn't make sense to have Secure Zone sitting on a single disk. I have multiple disks (for that matter, four). I never store the backup image of a partition (of files of a partition) on the same physical disk, for failure of the whole disk is pretty common (common enough to make me do backups).

wish #5: flexibal file inclusion/exclusion, such as true regular expression dirctory/file/fullpath names, file dates, file attributes, file sizes, etc.

 

This one is easy: Better backup scheduling. In Ghost I could tell it to do a full backup on monday, and then incrementals for the rest of the week, then repeat the next week. I could tell it to keep 3 backups and it would keep 3 weeks worth of backups, one full and 4 or whatever incrementals for each week then discard the oldest when creating a new one.

With TrueImage, I dont have anywhere near that level of control. I tell it I want to create a weekly backup and to do weekdays only and it creates 1 full backup then does incrementals forever. What happens if one of my many incrementals becomes corrupted? I can only restore from the incremental previous to that file and lose all stuff after? I wish the scheduling could be a little more flexible and smart.

The other item is an error I ran into the other day. Kind of minor, but annoying none the less. I had my schedule all set up and due to unforseen circumstance my external hard drive's letter changed. Acronis would only complain about a problem with the destination, but would not let me edit the schedule (would give an error about the destination and that is it). Make it so you can edit the schedule regardless of the status of the destination, so you can fix the problem. The only thing I could do was delete the schedule and redo it completely. Just an unnecessary step and annoying.

Thats all I have, otherwise the product is GREAT! Much better than Ghost in every aspect I have dealt with (except the scheduling mentioned above .

 

Wish: substantiality reduce the number of steps or pages in the Backup or Restoration wizards. For instance have source and destination on the same page etc.

 

I wish for a good uninstall feature because it takes a lot of time to uninstall the program and then go back into the registry and try and get all the bits and pieces that were left behind. This is especially important in a program like Acronis True Image where you often have to uninstall an old build and reinstall the new build.

 

I would like there to be a utility on the ATI Recovery CD that resets the disk IDs to help when Windows incorrectly assigns drive letters in some unusual multicontroller situations. This could be done by overwriting the disk id in the MBR or by a registry edit.

Fairy

 

I'd like to see the Universal Restore option work with the Disk Cloning option (instead of just when restoring from a .tib file).

It would make recovering from a failed mother board, etc. quicker (without having to first take an image of the drive and then restore it).

And another vote for being able to run Universal Restore on a drive straight without having to run as part of a restore/clone. I know this could be "dangerous" in the wrong hands - but if I want to run with scissors, let me.

 

#1 Please refer to the article describing how to manually uninstall your product and apply that information into your uninstaller.

#2 Remove the need to reboot after installing each component of TI workstation. Allow us to do chained installs.

#3 Allow us to perform upgrades either directly via .msi or .msp files instead of uninstalling.

#4 Include the API update in the next release.

#5 Include an update notification tool in the non-demo version.

#6 User/Admin guide including walkthroughs as well as more detailed instructions.

#7 Last, but not least, more comprehensive and SEARCHABLE help.

 

Re: Acronis True Image WISH-LIST thread (take 2)

#8 Group Manager - Allow the creation of logical groups that computers can be assigned to. e.g. <User configurable group name> Mobile -for laptops and mobile users or Execs - for executives. This way specific tasks could be assigned to a selectable group instead of having to select all computers with an agent or ticking each one individually. Also, allow a default account to be defined for connecting to computers. phew, said that in one breath.

#9 Group Manager - Allow defaults to be defined for group tasks. i.e. compressions level, alerts, events, service account information used to connect to computers (workstations and file server to store images), etc..

#10 Group Manager - Allow tasks to be MODIFIED, copied and backed up via some method.

#11 Group Manager - I second another users request to consolidate some of the dialogues. #9 could help this too as it would require less information be entered each time.

#12 Group Manager - Allow for additional variables in the image path. i.e. [ComputerName] can be used for the file name, allowing [ComputerName] to be part of the path would help in keeping images better separated \\server\share\[ComputerName]\[ComputerName].tib for example.

As you can tell I have been working in "Group Manager" as of late. I hope you find these suggestions helpful.

Thanks!!

 

parity disks

Please add an option to create parity disks for an Acronis backup set. Let the user specify the amount of extra space they're willing to allocate (up to 100%), to reduce the chance that one lost byte invalidates the whole backup set. E.g. I'd be willing to use 50% more disks for a much greater assurance of being able to restore.

 

validate each disk before going to next one

Have a mode to validate each disk (by reading back and comparing the data to the original) before backing up the next disk. This cuts in half the manual effort in switching disks, although it doubles the time until you have a complete backup. Often the tradeoff makes sense.

 

- Fix the BootCD to work with Intel Macs (Currently no navigation possible since no mouse/keyboard support, workaround: Use the BartPE plugin)
- Make backups and recoverys of MacOSX-Partitions (support the HFS-fileformat. Currently images of this format get very large...)

dartrax

 

Ability to clear or erase the DiskID signature field of a hard drive from the TI rescue boot CD.

 

Ability to "fixmbr" (write or rewrite a standard mbr) from the Acronis boot Recovery cd.

Newer PC's from Dell, HP, and others have non-standard master boot records so that Ctrl-F11 or other combination invokes a special oem boot recovery process from a recovery partition. When a hard drive is enlarged using TI by copying only the XP ntfs partition to the new had drive, it's possible to end up with a new hard drive that won't boot because of the non-standard mbr.

(Also, as mentioned by others, the ability to edit boot.ini from the Acronis boot Recovery cd.)