Acronis TrueImage Home - Backup Software

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I have used acronis for a number of years, and must say it does have some odd issues. First one must know what they are doing to use this program. 90% of bad reviews are from people who have little idea of what they are actually doing. They do NOT read the instructions. If one is going to backup to usb hard drives, they must have a drive that windows will identify easily. Many external drives are little more than a VERY cheap built box with a good hard drive. I buy external boxes from bytecc with a cooling fan. If one is using a box without cooling you are using a hard drive toaster. I have had to take dozens of manufactured external drives apart to get to the drive to remove needed files after they boxes failed to read the drive. If you want to use acronis, MAKE CERTAIN YOU ARE USING THE LATEST UPDATE. If you attempt to recover from usb, MAKE CERTAIN THE USB DRIVE IS CONNECTED BEFORE YOU START YOUR MACHINE WITH ACRONIS BOOT DISK. If one cannot figure out how to use the software properly, they should enlist the help of someone with more savy computer skills. Asking for help from someone who knows computers, will only increase your knoledge, as they can walk you through a procedure. I clone, backup, and maintain dozens of machines with acronis without issues. On odd occasions, usually BECAUSE OF MALWARE PROBLEMS, acronis will not work properly. If you are running windows without proper virus and spyware protection, DO NOT EXPECT ANY SOFTWARE TO RUN PROPERLY. If you are a person who likes to push buttons without understanding what they are doing, DO NOT USE ACRONIS, YOU WILL ONLY BLAME THE SOFTWARE FOR ISSUES YOU CREATED.

After reading Leo's recommendation on ACRONIS backup software, I purchased the product and installed it on my machine. Now, everytime I power on the laptop, I get the message "non system disk hit any key to continue". I hit a key and the machine continues to load. What is that? That scares the hell out of me. What kind of software does that? I removed the software for and everything appears to be working fine again.

Thanks but no thanks. Just write off 50 bucks and move on. When a software package starts fooling around with the system software load process, it is not what I want. All I wanted was a simple backup procedure so that If I loose my harddrive which happened on a previous machine, I would have a mirror copy to reload onto the new hard drive and move on.

Ok, I back up to my D:Drive, my C: is now erratic and I want to make the D:Drive my boot drive. I don't want to recover to an unstable hard drive, what are my options using acronis?

I have been using Acronis since version 8, now using 10 without issues. Love the program. I also build computers.

I've been using Acronis for a few years as an advanced user albeit not a techie. My experience is mixed. When it works, Acronis is a dream. However, on 3 different machines over the past 3 years I have had corruption issues where the backup is confirmed and verified but cannot be accessed - therefore, worthless. In each case, I've had to uninstall the program, then re-install being sure that I have deleted the 'Secure Zone' beforehand. I've experienced this problem with the last 3 versions of Acronis. I'm currently using version 10.

Is there anyway to ghost a hard drive without installing the software? I would like to use Acronis but it must be installed. Can it be installed to a USB drive to carry around so we can back up any computer right from the USB?

If not is there any software you might recommend to do this? And how about DriveImage XML ?

Also how does Acronis and DriveImage compare to WindowsXP backup utility. Can the Windows Backup utility ghost the drive just the same as Acronis?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regarding the comment asking 'Is there a backup software that can create a system backup image without being installed?' You can just use Acronis TIH 2009 Boot CD, there is no need to install the Acronis program, you are able to make a backup image directly this way. I have done this myself and it seems to work on most occasions without any issues. I did encounter one problem creating a backup to an external USB drive, in which Acronis gave an incorrect message that the drive had bad sectors and would not create the backup image, however this only happened once and hasn't occurred since.

I was thinking about purchasing Acronis True Image Home 2009 until I read the comments here and a not to flattering review from PCMag.com dated 12.04.08. I am tempted to go with Leo's positive recommendation, but some doubt has been created...

This is awesome advise. I have been for years not backing up my computer not knowing that there are different ways to do just that. I have not tried the software but, trusting that Acronis is a good choice, things will be much easier. Thank you!

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