Review by Snap, Crackle and Pop

THE QUICK TAKE: Acronis True Image is very useful as part of a backup plan, as well as for tasks such as replacing a hard drive. Stick to the core features and it will serve you well.

A PROVEN TOOL: I’ve used Acronis True Image (ATI) for years, and is has saved me time and saved some important files. For me, ATI is very useful to do two important jobs:nn(1) Maintaining a current and complete backup of Windows, all installed programs and their settings, and user files, andn(2) Cloning a disk partition image to upgrade or replace a hard drive.

ATI CAN BACK UP A RUNNING WINDOWS SYSTEM: Perhaps those who (like me) have been forced to learn far more about Windows than they ever wanted to, will be able to appreciate something I consider to be a minor miracle: ATI can back up a running Windows system! Windows is absurdly complex, and trying to back it up while it’s running is a challenge. But in the real world, that’s an important capability to back up programs or user file directories on a regular schedule, to be prepared for a failure or other disaster.

USE ATI TO RUN SCHEDULED BACKUPS: I always put my system and programs files on a separate hard disk partition from my user files. I have ATI set to back up the user files often; and the system and program partition from time to time, as that doesn’t change as quickly and I can always recover them the hard way if needed.

The value of backing up your user files should be clear. What may be less clear is that if you ever need to recover a system installation, it’s an incredible time saver to have the disk image of the systems and programs. Installing Windows from scratch, then all the updates, then all your programs and settings is a huge time sink. But if you have a recent disk image of your Windows and program files partition, you can very quickly be up and running and back doing your real work.

REPLACE YOUR HARD DRIVES AFTER 2-3 YEARS, BEFORE THEY FAIL: Hard drives are cheap, and they keep getting cheaper, fast. Given that, one of the best strategies for protecting your data and your time is to just replace your hard drives every 2-3 years of steady use, before they fail. ATI makes that easy. And as a bonus, you’ll get a bigger, faster hard drive, given technology trends. Trying to recover a failed hard drive, on the other hand, can be difficult or impossible.

STICK TO THE CORE FEATURES: I agree with those who wonder about some of the features added to ATI. Things like Try & Decide are just asking for trouble, to me.

NO RESTORE TO DISSIMILAR HARDWARE? It seems odd to me that the feature to restore to dissimilar hardware isn’t included in the basic version. When hardware fails, I sometimes decide to replace a computer. The ability to restore to dissimilar hardware should be included in all versions of ATI.

BACKGROUND PROGRAMS: My other, more minor, complaint about ATI is that I wish it were customizable to allow you to control the background processes it installs and runs all the time. It’s not a big deal, especially given the amount of memory installed in today’s computers, and the way virtual memory is managed. And it is necessary to have some of those run from boot time - you can’t start them later. But if I’m never going to use a feature, I don’t see why it has to run 24x7 on my computer. I can reboot if I need to start it.

One other note - you can add the software to burn a bootable DVD or CD to your backups, to make it easier to restore the hard drive in an emergency or to guard against losing your ATI disc. But you have to do that from within Windows. You apparently can’t do it by booting up the ATI disc instead of Windows.