Acronis True Image
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| Acronis True Image Home running from the Live CD |
Acronis True Image is disk imaging software, (see "Disk image") developed by Acronis, that creates backups and recovers PC systems. The software allows a user to create an image of a disk while it is running Microsoft Windows or offline by booting from CD/DVD, USB flash drives, PXE, or other bootable media. As a disk imaging software, True Image can restore the previously captured image to another disk, replicating the structure and contents to the new disk, also allowing disk cloning and partition resizing, as well if the new disk is of different capacity. The backups are in a proprietary and non-documented file format which uses a .tib filename extension.
History
True Image has a wizard driven interface,[4] and received positive and mixed reviews from both editors and users alike.[5]
The first version of True Image was launched into the market of drive backup software in 2002 and could create a drive image that was running without shutting down to DOS mode.
The other features were an ability to write an image to DVDs, a drive image creation within Windows and support for a wide range of storage options.
Acronis True Image 2010, added a new option of online backup that saves user’s backups to a secure remote location.
Operation
True Image can restore data and create a drive image without rebooting the system. In case of operating system error or hard disk failure, the PC can be booted to the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager, which returns the system to a previous point in time. True Image creates exact backups of a hard drive sector-by-sector, therefore providing faster restore of user’s operating systems, data, settings, applications, etc. The program can back up a system hard drive while the OS is running. It recovers a computer after the system crash and boots it by pressing the F11 key. Acronis True Image offers several different options for system recovery, including the retrieval of lost files or other chunks of data, as well as entire system recovery due to corruption or failure. The following is a quick list of methods:
- True Image can access files within an existing image file by mounting the image file as if it were a disk, in either read-only or read-write mode. This enables the user to quickly copy data files from the image file back to the local system. A virtual device driver must be installed in the operating system in order to use the mounting feature, but this driver is installed during the original installation of True Image. Separately, files can be read from and, in read-write mode, written to the image, which effectively creates an incremental file, and has the advantage of leaving the original image files untouched by saving the changes in a new file.
- True Image has a bootable media wizard, which creates a recovery environment to CD or other media, and is used to boot the machine to a proprietary environment for quick recovery. While this method also provides the ability to recover lost data, the primary focus is restoring the complete system back to a given point in time in case of complete failure.
- The Acronis Secure Zone is a bootable, hidden partition option created and managed by True Image. This space, which is not accessible to the user or other applications such as malware, is used to store the backup image files. The Secure Zone can be created as bootable, enabling the user to boot directly into the recovery environment by pressing the F11 key, very useful when the machine doesn't contain an optical disk drive or other access to external media.
- The recent version of True Image 2010 has an online backup feature, providing optional off-site data protection and recovery.
File format
Acronis states that True Image provides backward compatibility for image files (with the .tib extension) created with a single previous version, that is, images created with an immediate previous version can be successfully restored. Backups are compatible between different editions of True Image; e.g., between True Image Echo Workstation and True Image Echo Enterprise Server, or between Linux and Windows versions.[6] Third-party support include software by VMware, VMware Converter, which can convert .tib files into files to use in a Virtual Machine.[7][8]
Versions
Acronis has published their Version Comparison and an OEM comparison.
- Acronis True Image Home 6.0 (2002). The version supports creation of disk image on recordable DVD media and external USB drives.
- Acronis True Image Home 7.0 (2003) has a wizard-driven interface, which guides a user through the whole process of backing up. Moreover, this version supports a disk cloning feature, allowing cloning hard drive to another one directly, saving PC resources and time.
- Acronis True Image Home 8.0 (2004) includes options of saving disk image on a remote computer or laptop, and an ability to restore files by exploring an image file.
- Acronis True Image Home 9.0 (2005) includes the SecureZone, which allows backing up an image to a hidden drive partition, making it inaccessible to viruses and most hackers. Another feature, Startup Recovery Manager, helps to configure user’s system, letting boot it up and restore itself without a separate boot disk. This is the latest version supporting Windows 98 and Windows ME operating systems.
- Acronis True Image Home 10.0 (2006) releases new abilities to back up and restore directly to the network share and FTP. It also can save archives of Outlook and Outlook Express, including a user’s Windows Address Book.
- Acronis True Image Home 11 (2007) This version provides users with more options, such as File Shredder that destroys individual files so they can't be resurrected and Try&Decide feature, allowing user to create a temporary, safe place on a hard drive where any changes of the system can be performed.
- Acronis True Image Home 2009 provides a one-click protection that allows a user to back up a computer or laptop a click away. The other features, such as Windows Vista style and an option of full text search, let the inexperienced users perform drive imaging and disk cloning operations easily.
- Acronis True Image Home 2010 provides the following new options, consisting of Acronis Nonstop Backup, which provides continuous data protection, Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) and Microsoft Windows 7 support. This version has Acronis Online Backup, an optional feature, allowing to back up important data to an online vault.
- Acronis True Image Home 2011 (2010) This version of True image includes the following new features: Redesigned GUI, full Windows 7 Integration; USB 3.0 support; Predefined Backup Schemes and Check Points for Acronis Backup Explorer.
- Acronis True Image Home 2012 (2011) The current version of True image has the following new features: File synchronization, NAS support, Nonstop Backup over network, Extended Capacity Disk support, Integrated Online Backup, Improved logs and Improved UI[9]
Problems
For some users, the "Nonstop Backup" feature in version 2010 and 2011 intermittently pauses, turns off or crashes. Acronis states that the feature is working now. Users disagree.[10]
Supported storage media and systems
- Operating systems
- Windows XP SP3
- Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
- Windows Vista SP2 (all editions)
- Windows 7 (all editions)
- Storage media
- Hard disk drives
- Networked storage devices
- FTP servers
- CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R (including double-layer DVD+R), DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-R, BD-RE
- USB 1.0 / 2.0 / 3.0, FireWire (IEEE-1394) and PC card storage devices
- ZIP, Jaz and other removable media
Supported filesystems
File systems supported by software:[2]
In addition to the officially supported filesystems, Acronis True Image also provides raw sector backup and restore options for all other filesystems. 'Raw' mode provides support for a file system that is corrupt, or that isn't officially supported, by capturing a complete image of all sectors on the disk. This method results in a larger image file as it isn't able to compress, resize, or selectively restore files on the unrecognized filesystem.
See also
References
External links