Re: Bad Experience with Acronis Backup Software

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Anna,

I have read your instructions for backing up and restoring one's
computer using Acronis True Image ver. 9, and I found the instructions
to be clear and concise. I appreciate your efforts to help current and
prospective users like me. It also helps me to hear that you and your
co-workers (?) have used this program for a couple of years on 100 or
more systems with little trouble. I feel more confident in trying the
trial version on my computer knowing this.

What bothers me about your approach to helping people is your
intolerance to the position of the person who does not work in the
field of computing or have your level of knowledge, but who wants to do
the right thing and back up regularly. If you stick to the known
computer magazines for reviews of Acronis TI, generally you will find
positive reviews and the articles usually feature ATI and Norton Ghost
as the top imaging backup programs. But you must remember that these
magazines rely on these software companies for revenue, and generally
won't warn you of the shortcomings of the program. Then you can go to
the retailers on the 'net', a lot of which allow anyone to review the
programs on the retail website. Amazon.com is a good example, also
newegg.com. There I have seen a lot of complaints about the software
and the tech support. Also I have seen a lot of complaints in
newsgroups about ATI among others. Probably the scariest place to go is
the Acronis Support Forum. I also am aware that people who have trouble
with a program are the most likely to post a complaint. The satisfied
users don't usually post, myself included (I know I should :-( .

So, I'm out here on my own, trying to preserve my hard drive's
contents, and I'm scared I'll get the wrong software and lose
everything trying to do the right thing. I don't have any friends who
use imaging as a backup strategy, so I rely on the 'net for help.

Leythos has recomended NTBackup so I'm going to check that out next.

You may not believe me, but I DO appreciate your written procedure and
the relating of your experience re: ATI and the 100 or more systems you
maintain.

Sincerely,

Ken T


On Jan 22, 6:43 am, "Anna" <myn...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"JPan" <pando...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1166714867.667566.112310@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The true test of system backup software is when you have a need to
recover a disk. That test came for me with Acronis True Image Home a
few days ago. I am sad to report that it failed miserably. Not only
was their bootable recovery CD software confused (mouse didn't work and
it couldn't see my drives), but also running the recovery under Windows
XP failed without a single message (not even to the error log). All
this has been made worse by the general lack of concern and
responsiveness by their customer sevice department (which conveniently
doesn't seem to publish a phone number). I want to share this with
anyone looking for a backup solution so they don't get burned like I
did. I am a software professional with a BS in Computer Science, so I
assure you I'm not some novice that doesn't understand how to use
software (in case you were wondering).

JPan
Anna wrote:
JPan:
As you've heard from a number of responders to your comment, by & large
the
Acronis True Image has proven to be a very reliable program for both
disk-to-disk cloning and disk imaging. We've been using the program
(primarily their 8 & 9 versions and more recently just started to work
with
their newest version 10 program) for about the past two years and
probably
used it with more than 100 different systems. We too, have found the
program
most reliable both in terms of both backup & recovery. It's hard, if not
impossible, to tell at this point why you experienced the problems you
have
both in terms of using the program and the apparent non-responsiveness of
Acronis tech support. I'm aware that there's an Acronis "forum" on their
website where users post comments & problems. Haven't used it myself but
a
number of users have informed us they have and were generally satisfied
with
the responses they got re their problems. If you haven't used it to date,
perhaps it's worth a try.

In the meantime, I recently posted to this newsgroup some step-by-step
instructions for using the ATI program. The steps, of course, are rather
basic and since you're an experienced user they may not be of any
particular
help to you. But take a look at them anyway just to review your use of
the
program...

Here are the step-by-step instructions for using the Acronis True Image
program. In view of your specific interest in the disk imaging process I
assume you'll be more interested in the second section of these
instructions
dealing with that particular process.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Using the Acronis True Image Program to
Backup
& Restore One's Hard Drive...(SNIP)

<nofear451-tec...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in messagenews:1169440751.896046.316460@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx





Anna,

I really appreciate your extensive instructions on using Acronis True
Image Home software. I have read the User's manual on Acronis TI 9
Home, and have not found it "intuitively obvious". However, I did find
an alternative to the Acronis manual at a web site called "Barry's rigs
'n reviews" which was much more intuitive and which made me feel less
ignorant than the official docs. Once I was feeling better about
tackling the installation and usage of ATI9 Home, Acronis came out with
Acronis True Image Home 10 and revised it's manual accordingly. I
printed out the new manual, and found it as uninspired as the previous
ATI 9 version. In case you haven't figured it out by now, I am not a
"propeller head", but do enjoy using computers. I don't feel that
computers are anywhere close to being user friendly at this point in
time, and it is taking an awfully long time for them to get to that
point.

I haven't read your instructions yet, but they are printed up and I
intend to read them. Once again, I sincerely appreciate your efforts.

I found an article on a blog that expresses my feelings on this backup
software matter. The blog is titled Today @ PC World blog. The article
is titled "We need better backup software" by Lincoln Spector. The URL
is below:

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/001020.html

Not to be contrary, but to show my frustration, there is a comment on
the aforementioned blog that reads:

"And to the peanut gallery- please don't tell me that Acronis works, or
that I should try Norton Ghost. Acronis doesn't work on my computer and
many others (just take a look at the thread in Wilders Security Forum),
and Ghost uses the exact same technology."

I just need something simple and easy to understand to help me protect
my hard drive's contents. I do want imaging software because I have
used it with success in the past, and it is so great to reboot your
computer and have it all there just like it was before I had my
problems.

Wish me luck in my search for the right imaging software that will
allow me to stop worrying about losing everything in a hard drive
disaster.

Sincerely,

KenKen:
You know - I know - the world knows...

There will *always* be users who find fault with this or that program, who
experience one problem or another using this or that program, even though a
vast majority of users find the same program relatively easy to use and
effective in its results. If you, or anyone, is going to totally rely on the
negative experience of this or that user concerning this or that program
you'll never purchase a piece of software again.

When it comes to computer software, be it a backup program, word processor,
video editing program, or *any other* program designed for a PC, the only
criteria to determine its usefulness to you as the individual user, is to
try it out and compare it with similar programs. All the rest is
conversation.

To be sure, I realize that this is not always practical from an economic
standpoint since few of us can afford to purchase a host of programs to make
such comparisons. So it is desirable (if not necessary) to read reports,
reviews, etc. on the type of program you're contemplating purchasing and
glean whatever information you can as to whether that particular piece of
software will meet your specific needs. But as we've continually found over
the years, one must be careful & circumspect in weighing the views of
others - whether they're contributors to this newsgroup or magazine
commentators.

Fortunately, many programs have demo or trial versions available so that
even if they're not full-featured (as compared with the commercial version),
the user can gain a reasonably clear idea as to whether the program will
meet his or her needs. As has been mentioned, Acronis has such a trial
version of their product available and I would encourage you to obtain it.
And, assuming they're available, try out demo/trial versions of other disk
imaging/disk cloning software.

There's nothing much more I can add to my previous comments concerning this
program except to reiterate that over the past two years or so that we've
worked with the program with scores of different machines we've found it to
be a most reliable and effective disk imaging/disk cloning program that will
provide you with a comprehensive backup system that's relatively easy to
establish and maintain on a routine basis.
Anna- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -

.

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