Review of Acronis True Image 2009 Home

Acronis has just released their newest version of the True Image hard drive imaging and computer backup solution for home users.  Our previous reviews of the True image software left little room for improvement but Acronis has definitely added some nice new features including a slick new Windows Vista interface.  Some of the features added to this new addition are a new One-Click Protection scheme, Full Text Search of backups and images and Set and Forget backups.

This review of Acronis True Image 2009 Home shows how easy it is to image and restore your computer and explores some of the other new features of the backup and imaging utility.  The computer used for the review is running Windows Vista Ultimate.  Acronis offers a free trial of the software so you can follow along with the tutorial if you desire.  Once you download the software and run the executable file this is the setup screen that greets you.  Simply click to install Acronis True Image 2009 Home.

The Installation was uneventful but there is a required reboot so you should have all other applications closed during the installation. 

After the reboot, the first screen you will see when you open Acronis True Image 2009 Home is one of the new features of the backup utility.  Here you can create a backup task quickly and easily with just one click.  I specified an external drive for a backup location and clicked the Protect button to create a backup of the computer including the system volume and Master Boot Record.

This is the Operation Progress Screen.  Notice that you can work while the backup operation is in progress and it doesn’t look like it will take too long.

The operation completed successfully.

When the image was created and the backup completed, you can see that the computer is now scheduled to run a backup at the same time every week.  The scheduled times and intervals can be easily changed to anything you feel will protect your computer data.

If the need arises that you need to restore the image or backup that was just created, that process is just as simple as creating the image of the computer in the first place.  Simply click on Backup and Restore on the main menu and highlight the image backup that you want restored and click the Restore button.

Then you will be given the option to choose your restore method.  You can restore whole disks and partitions or you can choose to restore only the select files or folders from the original disk backup.  I will choose to restore the entire image that was just created.  It is a good idea to test the image restore feature before you really need it.  The Acronis True Image products are rock solid but you never know.

The next step is to specify the restore settings and mark the partition as active. 

When all of the steps of the Acronis True Image 2009 Restore Wizard were completed you are shown the following options screen.  It simply says that it will delete the primary partition and restore the original image and the Master Boot Record.  The Restore Wizard also states that a reboot is required so I quickly saved this web page and smacked the Proceed button to restore the image.

The restore of the partition went just as fast as the creation of the computer image.  When the computer booted back up, there were a couple of other tasks that needed to be completed.  I needed to create a bootable CD using the Acronis Media Builder.  Here is a review of the bootable CD creation process. I also activated the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager.  The Acronis Startup Recovery Manager allows you to restore your computer at boot time before the operating system starts by pressing the F11 key at boot time.  This is a nice feature to have at your disposal in case your computer won’t boot to the operating system.  By clicking on the Protection State button, I can see that my system is protected to the max with Acronis True Image 2009 Home.

Another nice feature that Acronis added to the True Image 2009 backup utility is the ability to perform a search of your backup archives.  I did a search for Acronis in the backups and it quickly displayed the results.  It also allows you to expand the search with either Windows Search or you the Google Desktop search.

Acronis True Image 2009 Home has a few extra cleanup utilities that should be mentioned.  The Acronis Drive Cleanser destroys confidential information on your hard drives using a selected data destruction method for secure data destruction on your hard drive.  The File Shredder destroys all traces left by your files and folders using a selected data destruction method for guaranteed destruction of your files and folders.  The System Clean-Up utility destroys your computer usage history like your usernames and passwords.

This review of Acronis True Image 2009 Home version shows that Acronis has truly improved an already award winning computer imaging and backup solution.  An image of Windows Vista was created and restored in a matter of minutes and a backup schedule was created to ensure future data protection.  This Acronis product does everything that it claims to be able to do.  For that reason, Acronis True Image 2009 gets an honorable Brontobyte on a scale of bytes to Brontobytes.  This is a recommended computer backup and imaging solution to have in your toolbox.

Acronis True Image 2009

Acronis True Image 2009 - Just released!. The complete disk imaging, system disk backup, and bare-metal restore for workstations and home PCs. Great for Seamless Hard Drive Upgrades: Transfer Windows and all installed programs from one drive to another. A perfect solution if you're looking to upgrade your hard drive and don't want to reinstall Windows. See all of the Features of Acronis True Image 2009. Get 10% off Acronis True Image 2009 by entering the following coupon code when you order: Coupon Code: PromoATI10OFF  This is a limited time offer!

Acronis AcroPack 2009

Acronis has just come out with the most comprehensive data backup and disk management bundle called Acropack 2009. The bundle combines True Image Home with Disk Director Suite 10.0. With Acronis True Image 2009, you can smoothly back up and restore your entire hard drive, including the Operating System, all applications, user settings and data. Acronis Disk Director 10 allows you to resize, move and split partitions without losing your data, and to install multiple Operating Systems on a single machine.

Post Comments or Give your own Review of Acronis True Image 2009 Home:

Comments	Date
By Randy	2008-12-03 08:15:45
Grant - Not sure what Dons problem was with the Acronis customer support. Acronis offers a variety of ways to contact them for support including an online support submission form, 24/7 Live Chat support and an extensive knowledge base full of solutions. Support doesn’t get much better than that. One of the first things I do when reviewing a product is contact customer support and the Acronis support team has always been very quick to reply with a solution. Don’t forget that you can chat with Acronis 24/7 for any support problems.
By Grant	2008-12-02 22:54:29
I am looking at buying just such a product for disaster recovery, and really like the sound of Acronis. I am put off when I hear that customer support is "non-existent" - will look for other similar products...
By Joey	2008-11-14 10:29:02
Don, how did you contact support? Did you use the Online Support form or just an email to Acronis in general? I have also used the Acronis products for years and have used the online support form several times and the response has been very quick. I wonder if your response got stuck in your email filters for some reason. I have had good luck with Acronis and hope you will get your problem resolved.
By Don	2008-11-13 22:02:44
Been using Acronis since 2003. Worked just great when I had to replace a hard drive. when my Dell laptop went down recently, I attempted to restore my drive. Acronis said it (backup *.tib file) wasn't a valid file.) E'mailed Acronis multiple times and they have yot to respond over a period of at least 6 weeks. Software is very good but take your chances as they don't reply to e'mail help as they say they will. Again software is good but help is non-existent.
By Bill Morrison	2008-10-14 09:27:52
I tried True Image 2009 and I really like the new interface and the One-Click protection scheme – Thumbs up to Acronis for improving the product!

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