Customer Reviews
Simple! 
2007-01-02
While looking for a utility to help me do better backups, the name "Acronis" kept popping up. I ended up getting version 8.0 because it had won so many awards. Maybe I should have gotten the newest version, but I am very satisfied with version 8.0.
Excellent Backup Solution 2006-01-30
I've been using this product for almost 2 years. It creates and restores images of my OS and programs perfectly. Two months ago, I had a hard drive failure in a RAID 0 configuration (2 drives configured as one single drive). After replacing the faulty drive and rebuiding the array, I used the Acronis recovery CD and restored my backup image, (which I keep on an external Seagate hard drive), back to the RAID 0 array. Worked perfectly!! Saved me about 3 months of work rebuilding my system from the bottom up and restoring all my programs. If you read the manual and know what your doing, this software works!
I highly recommend it!!
Freezes XP! 
2005-10-08
This product simply did not work at all on my system. Could be because I had Roxio 7 loaded previously - I read during some resarch to resolve the problem that Roxio and Acronis have some issues if Roxio was installed. The Roxio uninstall leaves the registry loaded with keys, and I think these are the problem when Acronis tries to run. It seems to be something with the CD/DVD burning. On my system it spins up the CD burner, then hangs the whole system. You have to force terminate the program to regain control of the system. Needless to say, it was more software money down the drain for me. I would say that Roxio users should think twice before dropping cash on this mutt.
Don't shred it - and don't shred the CDs you think it's ruined! 2005-09-29
I bought Acronis True Image 8.0 because I have a new laptop from Dell who no longer ship the disks necessary for a complete rebuild of the operating system (instead, there is a Ghost image of the factory build on another partition ON THE SAME DISK). I needed a way of securing my operating system state against a variety of risks - worms, finger trouble, head crashes, regretted purchases of software, etc.
I suspect a lot of you are now in the same boat, especially if your investigations have led you here!
Acronis True Image is slap bang in the middle of the market niche resulting from Dell's new approach. For that reason it gets 5 stars. I used it to create a standalone bootable version of itself on CD (making 2 copies), after which I uninstalled it from my laptop (which I like to keep clean of unused software).
The standalone disk successfully backed up my hard drive to 7 CDs using the self same CD drive that I had booted Acronis standalone from. Subsequently I used it in the same way to rehearse my restore, with 100% success. I did all the partitions on the hard drive in the same operation. This is important if Dell PC Restore (Ctrl-F11) is to survive.
Q: WHY DOES IT GET SUCH A BAD PRESS ???
A: Because the design and implementation are absolutely appalling. This is not sloppiness, it is ignorance and naivety. I can go as far as to say that this product COULD HAVE COST ME UNTOLD CONSEQUENTIAL LOSS AND DAMAGE if I hadn't spent hours on the Internet searching for clues from other users' experiences. All because you don't know whether to believe this bloody message or not!!!
"Error opening file, a possible reason may be poor media quality."
I got to the bottom of this - it is benign. It just means Acronis can't distinguish between hitting a bad patch on the CD and reaching the end. The error message author just wanted to err on the side of pessimism!
Note that on restore, I was asked to feed the disks in in a very strange order, suggesting the product runs through all the disks in the set, after which it returns for one last go at any that were dodgy. In fact, that was NOT what it was doing. The disks were all perfect. In my case, there were 3 partitions in the disk set. In order to restore a partition, Acronis seems to need to vist the first and then the last CD containing any part of the partition in question, before it will deign to restore the body of it.
Overall, this is the right product at the right time. Yes - you could have written it so much better yourself, but it does work, and introduces no clutter. Recall, I uninstalled it after creating my standalone CDs. Indeed it even enables you to dispense with other suppliers' clutter (I have also got rid of Norton virus checker now that I have my preferred form of disaster recovery nailed down).
Far better than Norton Ghost 9 
2005-07-14
After removing Symantec's garbage from my computer I decided to give ATI a try. Installation went flawlessly. The software has worked without a problem so far. It recognizes my external firewire drive (Norton Ghost did not). It DOES support CD-R. Made a bootable CD and it works as advertised. So far I am very happy. This package has saved me once already from having to re-install Winblows XP.
Recommended. I give this 4 instead of 5 stars as I cannot yet comment on their techsupport. Although that cant possibly be worse than Symantec's.
Shredded Acronis disk - feel much better 2005-06-16
The complete disk imaging, system disk backup, and bare-metal restore for workstations and home PCs which can dramatically reduce downtime and your IT costs. Â Acronis True Image allows you to create an exact disk image for complete system backup and disk cloning providing the most comprehensive data protection.
Exactly what I wanted! 2005-06-12
I've tried Ghost and Vertias. They are good software packages, but just too complex.
I wanted something that could simply take an image of my harddrive and store it on another physical device. Both Vertias and Ghost Enterprise edition seemed to make the assumption that I had an external backup server. I don't. And while I'm sure I could have taken extra time to configure Vertias or Ghost to work on my server, I just don't have the time for that.
Acronis is exactly what Vertias and Ghost are not. It is straight forward, user friendly, hassle free. It's exactly what I was looking for. I have had ZERO problems backing up and restoring using Acronis. I recommend it highly!
Caveat Emptor 2005-06-11
I will not describe the many fine operating features of Acronis True Image, because simply stated, while it looks good at first ultimately completely failed to perform as advertised. Maybe it costs extra to get a restore done. I will never know, because as I now see is commonly reported, their tech support is tragic. Read on for a more agonizingly detailed narrative of my experience, otherwise, be very careful before purchasing ATI. If you still do, be sure to test it thoroughly before any warranty has ended.
...
I was attracted to Acronis True Image because I had done just enough research to come to believe recent incarnations of Ghost were overpriced, outdated and could not do what I needed. I did not read far enough to discover many users ultimately found the same to be true of True Image.
I have a Toshiba Satellite notebook and was looking for a simple backup solution using an external USB HD - hardly an unusual situation, I felt. About 3 weeks after purchasing True Image and making a full backup, I was suddenly in need of a full restore. After following the Acronis procedure, the software would not recognize the drive, and I could not proceed. I tried every method imaginable to me for a few hours, but rather than commence yet another hand rebuild of the system, I decided to test their support claims. I knew not only I could repair things myself, but that it would take many hours, and I had believed I had purchased a "one click" type solution.
The only support options offered are fax and email, which is not uncommon these days but still irritating, even more in a crisis such as this. The crash occurred on a Friday afternoon, despite Acronis' claims of "24/7" response, I had no realistic expectations of a reply over the weekend. In a typical setting, total data loss is a serious emergency, and this could have been a chance for the "little guy" to shine, but it was not to be so.
I received a reply the following Monday afternoon. All that was suggested was that I download the most recent version and try again.
And from that point followed over 5 weeks of completely unproductive correspondence, I was asked for and provided over 20 screenshots of the True Image diagnostic programs. I was offered 4 workarounds involving the Linux command line, they were all to no avail, and they finally stopped answering my queries altogether, even a final, ever polite request for resolution before I came to the conclusion you are now reading: Caveat Emptor indeed..
My situation was not life-or-death, and while it did not shut down my network or mean the loss of irretrievable data it was highly annoying and I did in fact miss a few opportunities due to lost appointments and bookmarks, as well as a few Itunes I had not yet ripped. Still, I was grateful to be able to test the product before recommending it or installing it for my small and HO clients, as an IT tech for the past many years, I subscribe to the theory that "an untested backup is no backup at all". Actually, it's worse than none, as one continues to work with the confidence of data security only to one day make the heart-stopping discovery that much more was lost than expected.
I was able to utilize some of the Acronis image to replace missing files and settings, but this is something I could have achieved through any means of backup I have ever used in the past, and is the very least I could expect and about the only reason I was able to remain relatively detached throughout this process. After giving a detailed explanation of this experience, the vendor (not Amazon) unhesitatingly refunded my purchase price, but unfortunately, refused to publish this review.
Dysfunctional software & technical support 2005-06-02
I purchased and used Acronis True Image (ATI) v8.0 for three months, based upon the advertising that extolled its virtues and ease of use. I assumed that it was working as intended. That is, until the time came that I actually needed to open a previous image and extract an individual file. The software refused to work, even though the advertising lauded that particular function.
I worked with ATI Technical Support for two weeks, and they were never able to resolve the issue. At the end of that time, their "support" had devolved to, "Uninstall such-and-such a program that's on your computer, and see what happens." At that point I made the decision to uninstall ATI instead, since I'd already invested a significant amount of hours, and there still seemed no way to make the software actually work as advertised.
I got rid of ATI, then purchased Terabyte Unlimited's "Image for Windows." It worked flawlessly, and while it is slower than ATI, at least it does what it's supposed to do. I hope this review will help others avoid the mistake of purchasing Acronis True Image.
By the way, if you've had the software more than 30 days after purchasing and downloading it, Acronis will not refund the purchase price. Since I had no need to check the functionality of the images until I'd used ATI for about three months, the company would issue no refund. Shafted again!
Answer to my prayers 2005-05-30
I've been through so many bad products, and this one worked so well and with so little effort I'm writing my first Amazon review, which I don't normally do. Installed without a hitch, burned a bootable CD-R effortlessly, and created images to my network-attached storage drive, which Norton Ghost refused to do properly. High recommendation. I wish more products were like this.
