Which is the most reliable version of ATI?

I have read with some horror the many problems people have reported on this forum with ATI 11 Home. I also have experienced ATI 11 Home hanging repeatedly on backups. There have been numerous complaints about other versions of ATI Home as well, and some insinuations that ATI Echo Workstation works more reliably. My current computer is a Dell Optiplex 755 running Windows XP Pro SP2, and I use 3 other Dell computers, all running XP Pro. I have used ATI since version 7, always with some problems.

I am a physician and medical researcher and need completely reliable backups. There is no time to chase around trying several different possible fixes and generating the reports that the ATI support team seems to demand of people that request technical support from them. I just need a backup program that backs up and restores absolutely reliably without a problem.

I originally chose ATI because unlike some other image backup programs it lets you select specific folders to backup and can exclude selected folders (eg those with ATI backups of other drives) from image backups. Can any of the following programs do this reliably?

1. ATI 10 Home build 4942
2. ATI Echo Workstation (Build #?)
3. Other non-ATI products that can back up selected folders and exclude folders from image backups.

I have already ruled out ATI 11 Home build 8053 based on my own and others' experiences, and would be willing to go back a version or two if it were more reliable. Cost of the program is not a big factor, cost of my time wasted with an unreliable program is a huge factor. I'm all ears.

 

I purchased version 9 in August 2006 and it has performed great for me. But if you only want to back up data files have a look at SecondCopy at http://www.centered.com/ it has a good range of options.

 

I agree about one thing that true image is not the best program for backing up files and folders. I also use secondcopy to backup data folders because it only backups the files that have changed and can be program to do backups every hour/day/week/ etc and backsup reliably to externals/lan etc. (the program works in the background without bothering you)

True image (version 9) has work ok for me but sometimes I run into problems where I need to use another program to fix the restored drive to get it to boot , I only use it to backup my system partition. The only problem I ever encountered while using windows xp pro is drive letter change problems. To fix those you need a "boot corrector" or be fluent in manually editing the registry. From the many backups and restores that I have done, and I've done many, that's the only problem I have ever encountered. As far as hardware problems, there are ways around that.

The latest version (build) of the boot corrector is in the "paragon partition manager version 9.0". It's a bootcd that can edit the registry on a non-booting hard drive. I've used the original boot corrector to fix drive letters and get a restored hard drive to bootup. The latest version is compatible with the latest sata drives, I've tested it on one sata drive computer and it did work. As long as I have a boot corrector that can bootup my computer I can restore with true image everytime. I agree with you about wasted time, I prefer not to redo all the steps if all I need to do is spend 5 minutes to fix a simple drive letter problem.

I don't think there is one version of true image that is better than the other. Some work good in one computer configuration but not on another. But all versions will behave about the same when backing up and restoring windows xp (producing the same problems) , you just have to know how to fix those problems when they come up.