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Acronis True Image 11 Home | 
| From: Acronis
List Price: $49.95
Buy New: $32.49
You Save: $17.46 (35%)
New (12) Used (1) from $32.49
Rating:  174 reviews
Sales Rank: 24
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows 2000, Windows Xp
Media: CD-ROM
Operating System: Windows XP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.3 x 1.3
MPN: 2229212
Model: 890204002043
UPC: 890204002029
EAN: 0890204002029
ASIN: B000VLZCEW
Release Date: October 1, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Promotion: Save $10.00 when you spend $50.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout. Terms and Conditions
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Powerful, flexible backup software for the PC | | • | Create an exact copy for a full backup or only important data | | • | Backup emails; backup and restore music, video, and data | | • | Protect PC application configuration settings; privacy protection | | • | Easy rollback of system changes; schedule backups automatically |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Acronis True Image 11 Home provides the maximum flexibility to ensure you are adequately protected and can recover from unforeseen events such as viruses, unstable software downloads, and hard drive failures. Create an exact copy of your PC for a full backup or backup only your important data ? your choice. Creates an exact copy of your PC for a full backup Backs up and restores your music, video, and data Protects your applications Boot your computer even if your operating system has failed and restore your system image from Acronis Secure Zone Backs up your e-mails and Outlook data and settings Try & Decide: easy rollback of system changes Protects your PC application configuration settings Schedules backups automatically by time or system events Privacy protection Supports Microsoft Windows Vista Email notifications Saves to FTP
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| Customer Reviews: Read 169 more reviews...
 Excellent Software for Backing Up Your OS Installation November 4, 2007
Jesse H. Schexnayder (Fairbanks, AK)
118 out of 121 found this review helpful
A couple of months ago there was a power outage, and even though my UPS kicked in, the auto-shutdown software didn't. When I tried to reboot, there was a Blue Screen of Death waiting for me. I tried everything from reinstalling XP, to recovery console, safe mode, BIOS fiddling, nothing worked.
I didn't have any backups, so I was out of luck. But as I went through the incredibly time consuming drudgery of reinstalling Windows and 50 or so other programs that I had on my original install, I kept thinking to myself, "there has to be a better way".
So I decided to spare no expense. My first purchase was a 2TB external hard-drive (split to 1TB with RAID 1), and my second was this software. And it works like a charm for my use (btw, I don't consider DVD backups to be a viable option).
The first step in backing up my new install was to establish a secure zone on my RAIDed drive (about 25 GB). This is a special partition invisible to the OS (and viruses, spyware, etc.) so it can't be accidentally deleted or modified. This was simple to do, and the hidden partition's size can be adjusted at any time.
I performed the initial backup with no problems. A previous reviewer mentioned that the green progress bar wasn't providing sufficient feedback. For my purposes, however, I don't back up individual sets of files or folders, I back up the entire hard drive, bit for byte, to include the MFTs and Boot sectors, etc. I don't need to see what's being copied at any given moment, because I already know its either a '0' or a '1'. Anyway, compression is decent (9 GB for 20 GB worth of files) and fast (usually 10-15 minutes to complete).
I've also set up a scheduled weekly backup which is done "incrementally" and only saves the changes from the original. TrueImage will automatically delete old backups to make room for new ones, as you begin to fill up your "secure zone".
I've actually begun to use this in lieu of "System Restore". I try to keep most of my regularly updated stuff on my RAIDed external drive now (I actually moved "My Documents" there) and anytime I have a serious problem I can actually restore the system to a previous state week by week. I've already done this 3 or 4 times in the past 2 months using a boot CD created by the software and it works flawlessly.
It's a good feeling to know that you can reverse any changes made to your system. There's even a feature called 'Try and Decide' that let's you do this in real-time and undo any changes made during an installation or other activity. If you're looking for a robust backup solution that perhaps doesn't involve backing up to CDs/DVDs, this software will work for you.
 Beware of Relying on this to Restore your Failed HardDrive! January 7, 2008
W. Munro
92 out of 96 found this review helpful
I purchased this software to have a robust ability to restore my hard drive completely (not just user data) in the case of a drive failure. This is what the "image backup" functionality is for, to allow you to re-create a fully-operational version of your system very quickly in the event of a drive failure. (As opposed to just a data backup, which still requires you to reinstall the operating system, programs, and all your user settings again from scratch.)
So, here's my take:
1) First, any of the positive reviews that have not actually tried to use their backups to restore should really not be given much weight. If you can backup fine, but can't restore, what's the point?
2) I am running Windows Vista with a 1 TB drive, and this program worked fine in creating the image backup.
3) When my drive started throwing off errors, and I replaced it with a new one, I went to my Acronis boot CD to restore from my backup image (on an external drive.) Part way through the restore wizard, the restore program just froze, for no apparent reason. And I have been completely unable to restore my system from my backup.
Here is the experience I had with the technical support:
- You should know that by default, technical support is only available via email with a 48 hr response time. While this seems reasonable for only paying $40 for a software product, a 48-hour response time makes the product fairly meaningless in the event of a failure, as I can easily restore the operating system and programs from scrtach in less time than this (and just use the free built-in windows backup for a data restore).
- I went ahead and paid an extra $30 for a single-incident "premium support", which is real-time phone support. However, after 3 separate phone calls, each on hold for 20-30 minutes and NEVER getting a live person (I had to leave a messages), I finally received some email communications which contained solutions that made no impact to my issue.
- The Tech Support emails provided new "CD images" that they wanted me to use instead of my standard boot CD. (I'm not sure, but I doubt most folks have an extra PC and CD burner sitting around to be abe to do this, when their main PC is dead.)
- Then I received an email asking me to reformat a flash drive, plug it into my dead computer, and write a batch script that would execute numerous lines of Linux command line codes. Ok, I'm a pretty technical guy, but I'm not familiar with Linux. And if the solution to a restore problem requires "normal everyday users" who are buying this product for easy home backup/restore to program in Linux, I would suggest this product is not the right fit for most folks.
 Buggy and bad support November 24, 2007
Susanna Hutcheson (Midwest U.S.A.)
76 out of 87 found this review helpful
I would give this five stars but for a major problem. This problem is not unique with me, though I'm sure not everyone will have it. Compared to version 10, it's very good in that when you press F11, you can immediately get the graphic interface and begin your restore. That was not the case with version 10. That's where it ends.
When I install version 11, I immediately lose my file sharing across my network. I've followed all the things to do provided by Acronis and Microsoft to no avail. It looks as if I'll have to find another backup solution if I want to use my network, which I do.
The software works like a dream and is a lifesaver. But right now it's buggy.
In addition, as always, Acronis support is terrible. It just barely exists.
Update: I recovered my laptop with this software using a cloned image I made with version ten. It was fast and smooth and there were no problems. I did notice that in this version, it asked me for a login name and password. This was not in the previous version and I was a bit unsure of how to handle it. So I didn't put in a name but put in my image password. That seemed to be what it wanted as it went fine.
But that said, there should be an area in the software that calls for a login name if a restore asks for it. I can't find any such area of the software.
It would be nice if it actually worked! January 16, 2008
Richard C. Drew (Oak Lawn, IL USA)
57 out of 82 found this review helpful
Acronis used to make some great software. I've shelled out a couple of hundred bucks for their Disk Director Suite and TrueImage Backup. My PC - like many of the ones made today - uses SATA drives. SATA is the new generation of ultra-fast, huge capacity drives. Nowhere on the package or website is this mentioned: Acronis software does not support SATA drives! As soon as the software installation is completed - not during, no pre-test - after - you receive a warning that the software "has detected unsupported hard drives" - it won't do anything. The program runs, but you'll just keep receiving an error that "No HDD detected" and that's it. Since the software has been opened you can't return it.
Acronis? Lousy tech support. When they answer support emails (about the time) it's "this will be addressed in the next version" - yes, but I paid for this version! "sorry" OK, next versions come out - version 11. Guess what? SAME PROBLEM! No support if your PC only has SATA drives!
I thought I did my homework/research ........ May 20, 2008
Cutedeedle (Whidbey Island, WA)
51 out of 53 found this review helpful
Here's a caveat: your mileage may vary! Reviews are reflective of individual preferences and experiences. In the case of software, especially for Windows, there are so many potential gotchas and hazards within each unique system that what is true and good for one system may be disaster for the next. In my case I have three computers and they are all different models, brands, versions of Windows, and my experience with installing the very same software on all three does not always result in the same outcome for all three.
With that said, my two cents' worth on Acronis v. 11 is --- DISASTER waiting to happen. Let me say up front that I've been in the I.T./I.S. biz since 1969, my most recent job was Director of Technology Services for a mid-size company. I know PCs and Windows. When I look for a new product to fulfill a need I always perform due diligence. I thought so, anyway. By process of elimination I decided to install the trial version of Acronis True Image Home v. 11. It installed fine, I set everything up for a full backup three times a week of two SCSI drives. Everything *seemed* to run fine (silly me!) so I purchased the program. After a couple of weeks I decided to dig into the files within the backup archives. Lo and behold, it appeared the only real full backup I actually got was the very first one. Oh, the program claimed that it was faithfully backing up both of my entire hard drives (not a sector-by-sector backup but a full disk file backup) with no errors, and I was feeling pretty secure. So after not seeing any actual files within the archives for subsequent backups, I opened a trouble ticket with Acronis tech support.
My troubleshooting skills are excellent but between Acronis and me, we couldn't get to the bottom of the problem. It was always "try this, try that, try something else." To make matters even worse, the program stopped working at all -- I started getting an error of "unable to create volume snapshot" during the initiation of the backup, and it wouldn't even try to back up. The solution from Acronis was to advise that I stop running various essential programs, such as my anti-virus, anti-spyware, and Norton's GoBack. They seemed oblivious to the fact that Acronis backed everything up fine the very first time. Sigh.
Acronis support also wanted me to completely uninstall Acronis and reinstall. I did so twice, which was quite time consuming, because as any techie knows, you still must go into the Windows registry and clean up debris and clutter that's left over. After wasting about six weeks of troubleshooting with Acronis, I had to give up and move on. I obviously didn't do my homework when searching for a robust backup solution. I found out after the fact, from user comments on various tech forums, that if you have a "complex" system, Acronis is not good at emergency restores and often cannot even boot from the recovery CD. Okay, lesson learned the hard way. At least the program wasn't all that expensive, but gee, I really hated to give up. I will say their support was a little slow to respond initially (it's only via e-mail) but once they started assisting me they were very quick to respond. When I didn't get back to them within a couple of days they always re-contacted me and asked that I update them with my progress.
I'm now running a trial of StorageCraft ShadowProtect Desktop 3.2. So far, so good, it works flawlessly, does full, incremental and differential backups. You can schedule any type of backup to run automagically at any time. I ran one full backup of both hard drives and I run differential backups two times a day, every day. Yep, I checked, the files are really being backed up.
Another difference between these two programs is that Acronis, like most other backup/recovery programs, creates a Linux bootable recovery CD. From what I can discern this can cause problems with "difficult" systems. On the other hand, StorageCraft's software creates an emergency CD that runs a basic version of Windows Vista, which means you'll have many more drivers available for those pesky difficult systems, like mine.
Buyer beware! This was $35 down the drain for me.
Update, 7/1/2008, about the StorageCraft ShadowProtect Desktop 3.2:
I highly recommend it although Amazon doesn't currently sell it. It works flawlessly, does incremental and full backups, as many times a day or week or month as you have room for on the backup device, supports many types of hardware for the backup media; the "bare metal" recovery CD is a Windows Vista OS, which means you'll have many more drivers available than if you have a Linux recovery CD. The term "bare metal" means your hard drive or Windows has died and you have to boot from a CD and essentially restore everything on the backup media. The backup software runs at any time of day or night, does its job super fast and with no errors. I am very pleased with StorageCraft; it's running on two of my PCs, one with WinXP Home, one with WinXP Pro that has two large SCSI hard drives. Finally I can relax and not worry about our backups.
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