Review of Acronis True Image 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 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 Home.

The Acronis True Image 2009 Setup Screen

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

ATI Installation Complete

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.

Acronis One-Click Protection Screen

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.

Backup and Image Creation Operation Status

The operation completed successfully.

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.

Acronis True Image Tasks and Event Log Screen

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.

Select Backup to Restore or Manage

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.

Choose Restore Method

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

Specify Restore Settings

When all of the steps of the Acronis True Image 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.

Summary of Operations to be Performed

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.

System is Protected by 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.

Option to Search Backups

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.

Clean Up Your Personal Data Utility

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 Home 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 2010

Acronis True Image 2010 has just been released with some exciting new features to keep your data safer than ever. The hard drive backup and imaging program still has all of the useful features as before with some great improvements including virtual hard drive support and the Universal Restore feature which allows you to restore an image to dissimilar hardware or a virtual machine. See our Full Review of Acronis True Image Home 2010. True Image now supports Windows 7 and includes an online backup solution to keep your files safe, secure and available. Save 10% by using the Acronis True Image 2010 Coupon Code: NDJATIH2010 This is a limited time offer. See the Review of all of the new features of Acronis True Image Home 2010 here. Download a free trial of the Newest Version.

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

Comments	Date
By Richard	2009-09-03 12:47:05
I used true image 2009 and backed up to my dvd burner it producted 5 disc now when i try to restore it keep asking for volume 1 i've tried all 5 disc and still get the same error.
By Jerry	2009-07-18 00:55:23
@Austin, The problem is actually pretty complicated, but its due to Dell partitioning the LBA of your original HDD to set the drives capacity to 80GB no matter what. It has to do with the Media Direct partition and all this extra junk is copies over when you create a direct image. The fix involves "zero'ing" portions of the one of the LBA. Sorry I don't have the info handy any more, I went through this about 7 months ago. It definitely is a PITA though, but if you google Dell and LBA you may come up with a walkthrough link and the software needed.
By Jen	2009-07-10 12:03:45
Nice review of Acronis True Image. It really helped me with a problem i was having. I just wish i found your site before i purchased it. You sell it a lot cheaper than I paid for it using your coupon code :(
By graham	2009-07-09 02:40:47
I have installed the program as directed onto my Toshiba satellite pro, backed up to an external drive, then the cardreader won't work.
By Bill	2009-07-07 16:56:02
After about a day of experimentation with acronis home 11 version, I have found out some significant limitations. You can't back up/& split files to dvd dual layer disc. It takes forever and exits with many error messages of files that can't be transfered. I tried several times with large and small backup task. There definately needs to be improvement with the software as advertised. unfortunately when I do a full backup of my system, or files/& folders, I dont have the total confidence as I had with the more simpler early versions. I will continue to be the test bed of this product and report finding latter.
By Randy	2009-07-07 08:19:57
You can use the Archive Splitting option found in the Backup Options. I don’t have a dual DVD burner so I can only split the file to 4.7 Gigabytes. Not sure if the program will notice the dual burner and allow the entire 8.5 gigs that it will hold.
By Bill	2009-07-06 18:52:55
I have he same question as Dan, Acronis Home 2009 seems to back up files and folders to CD burner, but thats only 700 MB. I need to back up to a dual dvd burner and store up to 8.5 gig per disc. Am I wanting too much here?
By Tong	2009-07-05 22:50:03
Randy, You mentioned "store from from the same data series:on any local internal or external hard drive." I tried to backup my E: drive which is 3GB to D: drive (still have more than 5 GB free space) to test out the backup speed, Acronis does not give me choice to do that, I can only backup to external drive. I am wondering why this happen?
By Randy	2009-06-19 08:10:45
Dan, Acronis True Image 2009 allows you to save full, incremental and differential backups almost anywhere. You now you have ultimate flexibility in choosing a place to store from the same data series: on a network share, CD/DVD, USB stick, FTP-server, any local internal or external hard drive.
By Dan	2009-06-19 02:25:56
Can I backup the image to a DVD burner with the 2009 version? The Acronis True Image 11 Home would only backup the image to a cd burner.
By Austin	2009-05-22 05:56:34
I cloned my 80GB Dell drive to an external USB drive, then replaced the 80GB drive with a 250GB drive and cloned back. All went well except that the 250GB drive looks like an 80GB one so I have no extra space. Nothing I have been able to do (and I've tried all the tricks mentioned for this problem on the web) enables me to "see" the rest of the 250GB drive. I've gained nothing. Has anyone an easy solution? I'm surprised Acronis doesn't warn about this.
By Austin Adams	2009-05-22 05:53:00
I cloned a Dell 80 GB to an external USB, then replaced the 80GB with a new 250 GB and cloned back. All went well except my 250 GB drive only shows 80 GB and absolutely nothing I've been able to do has made it possible to "see" the extra space. I've tried all the DOS etc tricks I've seen on the web discussing this problem.
By donald	2009-05-21 06:35:43
Hi, I have been using the trial version for the past week and realised something odd about the incremental backup. I'm sure someone has encountered this situation and maybe has a solution. Anyway here goes and sorry for the long post. I first created a full backup (approx. 8GB size). After installing a few last minute drivers, I created an incremental backup(approx. 100MB size). After installing a new application i again made another incremental backup(approx. 80MB). Later i realsied i didnt like the new application and decided to restore from my 1st incremental backup. I did so with no problems. Next i installed another application and did another incremental backup. I was surprised to find this incremetal was almost 7GB(almost as large as a full backup). Long story short. After a restore, if you try to make an incremental backup to the backup you restored from, an incremental backup will take up as much space as a full backup. Seems like it doesn't consider what i had just restored the same as the backup copy.
By steve	2009-05-04 10:00:08
Worked fine apart from a couple failed reading sectors messages on the failing drive that I pressed ignore key to continue. When the new drive booted it did find an error but it did a recovery and fixed the problem.Now works perfectly with os and all programs working.
By Randy	2009-05-02 09:45:39
Steve, That should work just fine. Just clone it over and boot it up! Let us know how it works.
By steve	2009-05-02 07:13:29
my hard drive is failing on my laptop can I clone it to another same size drive using two usb caddy's connected to my desktop which is where acronis is installed. Will the new one boot when put back in the laptop. Or do I have to use a the boot acronis disc. help needed.
By Randy	2009-04-22 08:35:32
You will need to create an Acronis bootable CD to restore the image to a different drive. Acronis makes it easy! http://www.whatsabyte.com/P1/create_cd_ATI2009.htm
By AB	2009-04-21 17:16:15
Building up on what David said, if my hard drive fails (i.e., I can not boot from the HD), and is replaced with a pristine HD, how would you install from a backed up image on an external drive? AT this time you would have access to previously installed true image program that can be used to restroe the image.
By Randy	2009-03-23 13:16:58
David, you can just do the first couple steps of the review after the installation is complete. Use the one-click maintenance to create an image of your drive. Just uncheck the box to refresh the backup. This will create a .tib file or image of your computer for an easy restoration if the need should arise.
By David	2009-03-23 11:20:40
If I wanted to just copy my C hard drive with all applicatitions, which option do I use? All I want to do is have a copy on a separate ex drive, just in case my hard drive crashes or in the situation I had before, my hard drive was defective, and I had to install a new hard drive, and install everything manually again. Thanks, David
By Randy	2009-03-11 09:55:10
Mojo, Acronis True Image 2009 has a Clone Disk Wizard that will assist you with cloning your smaller hard drive to the larger drive. You will need to install the new hard drive as a slave or secondary drive to successfully complete this task. If you are not sure how to do that, you may want to invest in an external drive to make the cloning process a bit easier.
By Mojo	2009-03-10 14:58:55
I currently have a 80 gig drive. Will Acronis True image allow mw to copy or image the entire drive to a 300 gigabyte hard drive? I do not own an external drive so I want to image everything to the new drive without reinstalling Windows. How do I do that?