Acronis Software comment

[Shane Devenshire]

Hi Folks,

A week or so ago I requested information on how to upgrade a laptop hard
drive and was given the recommendation to use Acronis software, which I could
download and test for free.

Fair warning - the documentation was not all that hot - it took quite a
while to find the clone disk command under Utilities, since the
documentation, over 100 pages, did not seem to mention this. I first tried
the backup and restore approach which took many hours but in the end failed.

But worst of all when I discovered the clone disk command it allowed me to
clone my hard drive to an external drive in preparation for cloning it back
to the new hard drive, a process that took a couple of hours. However, when
you attempt to clone the external copy back to the new hard drive you get a
message saying that the trial copy is not really the complete software as
seemed to be stated at download, but an abridged version which will not let
you do complete the process.

I believe that Acronis is misleading users at its website by saying you are
downloading a 15 day full version of the software. I can express a certain
amount of anger having waste 3/4 of a day attempting to use the software,
when if they had chosen to be upfront I could have made a choice about buying
it or not.

I do appreciate the those of you who recommended the software, but I want
you to be aware of this questionable practice. I have been a Excel MVP for
many years, and I can assure you that the general public would become
extremely angry if they downloaded the full version of Office 2007 (with a 60
day trial period!) and it wouldn't do many of the things the regular version
does.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire

 

[Randem]

One question Why did you need to clone the drive twice? Cloning the old
drive to the new drive would have been sufficient.


--
Randem Systems
Your Installation Specialist
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
Disk Read Error Press Ctl+Alt+Del to Restart
http://www.randem.com/discus/messages/9402/9406.html?1236319938

 

[mazorj]

Hi Folks,

A week or so ago I requested information on how to upgrade a laptop
hard
drive and was given the recommendation to use Acronis software,
which I could
download and test for free.

Fair warning - the documentation was not all that hot - it took
quite a
while to find the clone disk command under Utilities, since the
documentation, over 100 pages, did not seem to mention this. I
first tried
the backup and restore approach which took many hours but in the end
failed.

But worst of all when I discovered the clone disk command it allowed
me to
clone my hard drive to an external drive in preparation for cloning
it back
to the new hard drive, a process that took a couple of hours.
However, when
you attempt to clone the external copy back to the new hard drive
you get a
message saying that the trial copy is not really the complete
software as
seemed to be stated at download, but an abridged version which will
not let
you do complete the process.

I believe that Acronis is misleading users at its website by saying
you are
downloading a 15 day full version of the software. I can express a
certain
amount of anger having waste 3/4 of a day attempting to use the
software,
when if they had chosen to be upfront I could have made a choice
about buying
it or not.

I do appreciate the those of you who recommended the software, but I
want
you to be aware of this questionable practice. I have been a Excel
MVP for
many years, and I can assure you that the general public would
become
extremely angry if they downloaded the full version of Office 2007
(with a 60
day trial period!) and it wouldn't do many of the things the regular
version does.

Thanks, I had downloaded the trial version but hadn't tried it yet. I
hate it when they do that.

Unfortunately, that still is a common practice for trial versions. I
don't mind when an author allows a free download that will do 95% of
what you were expecting and asks a few bucks for the "professional"
version that has a few extra non-critical bells and whistles. But
many "trial" versions are little more than marketing teasers. You get
a taste of what the program can do for you - but just when you can
hardly curb your bursting enthusiasm, you discover that you can't do
it unless you buy the full version.

I've ended up buying some apps that way because I desperately needed a
fix ASAP. But most of the time I mutter a few X-rated curses,
uninstall the useless piece of crippled junk, and mentally put the
vendor on my doo-doo list.

FWIW, someone on one of the groups recommended Agent Ransack for file
searches. It works fine with the free version.

 

[JP]

I do appreciate the those of you who recommended the software, but I
want
you to be aware of this questionable practice. I have been a Excel
MVP for
many years, and I can assure you that the general public would become
extremely angry if they downloaded the full version of Office 2007
(with a 60
day trial period!) and it wouldn't do many of the things the regular
version
does.

My concern lately with Acronis has been the fact that it's a Russian
software and much of today's SPAM, viruses and fiching also originates
in Russia. How do we know what data is mined in our PCs and sent back to
them through the Internet? Business ethics hardly exists there and
judging from the latest sable rattling from Putin & Co., recalling the
tone of Cold War, I also have to wonder if the successor of KGB might
use Acronis for more than its intended purpose. My 2 cents worth.
JP

 

[mazorj]

My concern lately with Acronis has been the fact that it's a Russian
software and much of today's SPAM, viruses and fiching also
originates in Russia. How do we know what data is mined in our PCs
and sent back to them through the Internet? Business ethics hardly
exists there and judging from the latest sable rattling from Putin &
Co., recalling the tone of Cold War, I also have to wonder if the
successor of KGB might use Acronis for more than its intended
purpose. My 2 cents worth.
JP

I'm far from being a conspiracy theorist but I asked myself the same
question way back when Tetris muscled its way to the top of the list
of time-wasters for office workers.

With the downfall of the Evil Empire a lot of Russian programmers had
to scramble to make a living. Some went into legitimate enterprises
like Tetris, some went to the Dark Side. I share your discomfort but
I would think that any nefarious malware planted in the code would
have been uncovered by now. Maybe not, but I'm not going to lose any
sleep over it.

This kind of bad activity doesn't need to hide in commercial software.
Practically all loss of sensitive personal and commercial data is the
result of the two usual suspects - stupidity and greed. Stupidity in
losing laptops and data tapes, weak identification/password barriers,
clicking links in dubious e-mail, indiscriminant surfing, and not
installing and updating good security software. Greed in the form of
inside theft jobs, and in the irrational belief that this time the
offer really will give you something for nothing. From what I've
read, those are the same avenues being pursued by highly sophisticated
organized gangs in former U.S.S.R. states and elsewhere. Not all the
malware out there comes from pimply-faced teens working in their
parents' basements. It must work or the organized gangs wouldn't be
expanding their efforts. Why kick down the door when you can get
someone to open it for you?

 

[Spirit]

For data backup use Replicator, and for drive image use DriveImage XML.

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp

http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

Both are free to home users.

 

[Manny Weisbord]

My concern lately with Acronis has been the fact that it's a Russian
software and much of today's SPAM, viruses and fiching also originates
in Russia. How do we know what data is mined in our PCs and sent back to
them through the Internet? Business ethics hardly exists there and
judging from the latest sable rattling from Putin & Co., recalling the
tone of Cold War, I also have to wonder if the successor of KGB might
use Acronis for more than its intended purpose. My 2 cents worth.
JP

Which is completely worthless.

Go put on your tinfoil beanie.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Hi Folks,

A week or so ago I requested information on how to upgrade a laptop hard
drive and was given the recommendation to use Acronis software, which I
could
download and test for free.

Fair warning - the documentation was not all that hot - it took quite a
while to find the clone disk command under Utilities, since the
documentation, over 100 pages, did not seem to mention this. I first
tried
the backup and restore approach which took many hours but in the end
failed.

But worst of all when I discovered the clone disk command it allowed me to
clone my hard drive to an external drive in preparation for cloning it
back
to the new hard drive, a process that took a couple of hours. However,
when
you attempt to clone the external copy back to the new hard drive you get
a
message saying that the trial copy is not really the complete software as
seemed to be stated at download, but an abridged version which will not
let
you do complete the process.

I believe that Acronis is misleading users at its website by saying you
are
downloading a 15 day full version of the software. I can express a
certain
amount of anger having waste 3/4 of a day attempting to use the software,
when if they had chosen to be upfront I could have made a choice about
buying
it or not.

I do appreciate the those of you who recommended the software, but I want
you to be aware of this questionable practice. I have been a Excel MVP
for
many years, and I can assure you that the general public would become
extremely angry if they downloaded the full version of Office 2007 (with a
60
day trial period!) and it wouldn't do many of the things the regular
version
does.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire

If it was Acronis Disk Director, there is a warning before you get to click
on the download button..

Acronis® Disk Director Suite 10.0 trial version has the following
limitations:

•All the operations are shown in the software interface and can be planned,
but not executed – no changes to your hard drives / partitions will be done
•The only allowed operation is the creation of partitions of minimum
possible size (usually, 1 cylinder ~ 7,8 MB) – only if you have the free
unallocated space on the drive
•Acronis OS Selector (if installed) trial period expires after 15 days, and
then starts with a 15 seconds delay

 

[Anna]

Hi Folks,

A week or so ago I requested information on how to upgrade a laptop hard
drive and was given the recommendation to use Acronis software, which I
could
download and test for free.

Fair warning - the documentation was not all that hot - it took quite a
while to find the clone disk command under Utilities, since the
documentation, over 100 pages, did not seem to mention this. I first
tried
the backup and restore approach which took many hours but in the end
failed.

But worst of all when I discovered the clone disk command it allowed me to
clone my hard drive to an external drive in preparation for cloning it
back
to the new hard drive, a process that took a couple of hours. However,
when
you attempt to clone the external copy back to the new hard drive you get
a
message saying that the trial copy is not really the complete software as
seemed to be stated at download, but an abridged version which will not
let
you do complete the process.

I believe that Acronis is misleading users at its website by saying you
are
downloading a 15 day full version of the software. I can express a
certain
amount of anger having waste 3/4 of a day attempting to use the software,
when if they had chosen to be upfront I could have made a choice about
buying
it or not.

I do appreciate the those of you who recommended the software, but I want
you to be aware of this questionable practice. I have been a Excel MVP
for
many years, and I can assure you that the general public would become
extremely angry if they downloaded the full version of Office 2007 (with a
60
day trial period!) and it wouldn't do many of the things the regular
version
does.

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire

Shane...
About a couple of weeks ago you posted a similar query to the MS
vista.installation_setup newsgroup. Just curious if you tried out the trial
version of the Casper 5 disk-cloning program I suggested to you and if so,
what did you think of it?
Anna

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

My concern lately with Acronis has been the fact that it's a Russian
software and much of today's SPAM, viruses and fiching also originates
in Russia. How do we know what data is mined in our PCs and sent back to
them through the Internet? Business ethics hardly exists there and
judging from the latest sable rattling from Putin & Co., recalling the
tone of Cold War, I also have to wonder if the successor of KGB might
use Acronis for more than its intended purpose. My 2 cents worth.
JP

Also, "much of today's SPAM, viruses and fishing also originates in" the
United States...

No more American software for me!

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Shane...
About a couple of weeks ago you posted a similar query to the MS
vista.installation_setup newsgroup. Just curious if you tried out the trial
version of the Casper 5 disk-cloning program I suggested to you and if so,
what did you think of it?
Anna

Don't know about Shane, but I have bought that program (but not yet
installed it). It's another case where the crippled trial version leaves
you wondering how it will work in real life, though.

There is no x64 trial, and the x86 trial version will not make a clone
larger than the source...So I had to buy on faith.

BTW, I had about three questions for Casper's tech support, and my e-mails
were very quickly answered.

 

[Anna]

Don't know about Shane,
but I have bought that program (but not yet

installed it). It's another case where the crippled trial version leaves
you wondering how it will work in real life, though.

There is no x64 trial, and the x86 trial version will not make a clone
larger than the source...So I had to buy on faith.

BTW, I had about three questions for Casper's tech support, and my e-mails
were very quickly answered.

Gene:
Actually I'm a strong proponent of the Casper 5 program. We've been using
the program for about the past two years or so (mostly in an XP OS
environment) and we strongly recommend this program for the great majority
of PC users. Many of my acquaintencences and former customers who have used
the program extensively in the Vista OS system tell me the program works
just as well there.

As you no doubt know from using the trial version of the program, it is a
disk-cloning (and partition-cloning) program. It does not have disk-imaging
capability. I had recommended the program to the OP (suggesting the trial
version) when he raised a query (in the newsgroup I noted above) about
backing up his Vista system to an external HDD.
Anna

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Don't know about Shane,
but I have bought that program (but not yet


Gene:
Actually I'm a strong proponent of the Casper 5 program. We've been using
the program for about the past two years or so (mostly in an XP OS
environment) and we strongly recommend this program for the great majority
of PC users. Many of my acquaintencences and former customers who have used
the program extensively in the Vista OS system tell me the program works
just as well there.

As you no doubt know from using the trial version of the program, it is a
disk-cloning (and partition-cloning) program. It does not have disk-imaging
capability. I had recommended the program to the OP (suggesting the trial
version) when he raised a query (in the newsgroup I noted above) about
backing up his Vista system to an external HDD.
Anna

Of course I knew. The very reason I ran the trial version is that I wanted
a program that works the way Casper claims to work. I got tired of having
to run a program to mount a proprietary image when I wanted to fetch
something. There are more reasons, such as Acronis breaking my Vista
installation just by being installed, and no risk-free way in my setup to
be *really* sure that Acronis or Macrium could restore my system if need
be.

While I was trying out Macintosh OS X, I used a program that works much the
same way as Casper. Part of why I liked it: I could easily recover a couple
of files, or, if necessary, I could boot from a backup so I could do
something dangerous

I'm not sure what you mean by contrasting disk cloning and disk imaging.
I'm guessing that you define imaging as creating an image in a proprietary
format and cloning as making an exact copy. I'll look it up later.

Anyway, as I said, I have already bought the program. I am currently
getting ready to organize my external drives and then backup the systems
with the old software. Real soon now, I'll finish all that and install
Casper

Your remarks about Casper are very encouraging to me. Looks like I might
have made the rare correct decision! Thanks, Anna.

Gene

 

[Woger]

My concern lately with Acronis has been the fact that it's a Russian
software and much of today's SPAM, viruses and fiching also originates
in Russia. How do we know what data is mined in our PCs and sent back to
them through the Internet? Business ethics hardly exists there and
judging from the latest sable rattling from Putin & Co., recalling the
tone of Cold War, I also have to wonder if the successor of KGB might
use Acronis for more than its intended purpose. My 2 cents worth.
JP

Gee what a Nut you are, we are past the McCarthyism era..

 

[Woger]

I'm far from being a conspiracy theorist but I asked myself the same
question way back when Tetris muscled its way to the top of the list
of time-wasters for office workers.

With the downfall of the Evil Empire a lot of Russian programmers had
to scramble to make a living. Some went into legitimate enterprises
like Tetris, some went to the Dark Side. I share your discomfort but
I would think that any nefarious malware planted in the code would
have been uncovered by now. Maybe not, but I'm not going to lose any
sleep over it.

This kind of bad activity doesn't need to hide in commercial software.
Practically all loss of sensitive personal and commercial data is the
result of the two usual suspects - stupidity and greed. Stupidity in
losing laptops and data tapes, weak identification/password barriers,
clicking links in dubious e-mail, indiscriminant surfing, and not
installing and updating good security software. Greed in the form of
inside theft jobs, and in the irrational belief that this time the
offer really will give you something for nothing. From what I've
read, those are the same avenues being pursued by highly sophisticated
organized gangs in former U.S.S.R. states and elsewhere. Not all the
malware out there comes from pimply-faced teens working in their
parents' basements. It must work or the organized gangs wouldn't be
expanding their efforts. Why kick down the door when you can get
someone to open it for you?

So why does MS use Kaspersky software..

 

[Woger]

Shane...
About a couple of weeks ago you posted a similar query to the MS
vista.installation_setup newsgroup. Just curious if you tried out the trial
version of the Casper 5 disk-cloning program I suggested to you and if so,
what did you think of it?
Anna

Gee even Seagates Diskwizard is made by Acronis, and it work 100% Plus its
FREE..

 

[mazorj]

.

Of course I knew. The very reason I ran the trial version is that I
wanted
a program that works the way Casper claims to work. I got tired of
having
to run a program to mount a proprietary image when I wanted to fetch
something. There are more reasons, such as Acronis breaking my Vista
installation just by being installed, and no risk-free way in my
setup to
be *really* sure that Acronis or Macrium could restore my system if
need be.

I can't even uninstall the Accronis demo (it's not really a "trial
version"). It came with no uninstall routine, and using Vista to
uninstall does not delete it from the Vista list of programs to be
uninstalled. All I can find are a few traces of Acronis environment
statements in the registry, but the damn thing is still on the Vista
program uninstall list and won't go away.

While I was trying out Macintosh OS X, I used a program that works
much the
same way as Casper. Part of why I liked it: I could easily recover a
couple
of files, or, if necessary, I could boot from a backup so I could do
something dangerous

I'm not sure what you mean by contrasting disk cloning and disk
imaging.
I'm guessing that you define imaging as creating an image in a
proprietary
format and cloning as making an exact copy. I'll look it up later.

Anna, can you explain the difference, both in structure and the
advantages / disadvantages of cloning vs imaging? Thanks.

Anyway, as I said, I have already bought the program. I am currently
getting ready to organize my external drives and then backup the
systems
with the old software. Real soon now, I'll finish all that and
install
Casper

Your remarks about Casper are very encouraging to me. Looks like I
might
have made the rare correct decision! Thanks, Anna.

Gene - let us know how it went with Casper. I'm thinking of buying it
but as you said, they don't have a 64-bit Vista trial version. Oddly
enough, you have to buy it in order to try using the bundled 64-bit
version.

Why? "Ours is not to reason why, ours is to buy, buy, buy." :-D

Seriously, though, I'll be looking for your observations.

 

[Anna]

Anna wrote...

Of course I knew. The very reason I ran the trial version is that I wanted
a program that works the way Casper claims to work. I got tired of having
to run a program to mount a proprietary image when I wanted to fetch
something. There are more reasons, such as Acronis breaking my Vista
installation just by being installed, and no risk-free way in my setup to
be *really* sure that Acronis or Macrium could restore my system if need
be.

While I was trying out Macintosh OS X, I used a program that works much
the
same way as Casper. Part of why I liked it: I could easily recover a
couple
of files, or, if necessary, I could boot from a backup so I could do
something dangerous

I'm not sure what you mean by contrasting disk cloning and disk imaging.
I'm guessing that you define imaging as creating an image in a proprietary
format and cloning as making an exact copy. I'll look it up later.

Anyway, as I said, I have already bought the program. I am currently
getting ready to organize my external drives and then backup the systems
with the old software. Real soon now, I'll finish all that and install
Casper

Your remarks about Casper are very encouraging to me. Looks like I might
have made the rare correct decision! Thanks, Anna.

Gene

Gene:
If your experience with the Casper 5 program parallels that of the many
users of that program (and there's every reason to believe it will) I'm sure
you will be mightily pleased with the program.

As many users of that program have told me...their only regret is that they
didn't find it earlier!

I just wanted to make this additional comment...

While the program's straightforward design, simplicity of use, and general
effectiveness in carrying out what it's supposed to do are all hallmarks of
the program, it's most significant advantage (in my view) is its rather
extroardinary ability to create what might be called "incremental clones",
i.e., what Casper terms its "SmartClone" technology. Keeping in mind that
this "incremental clone" is a complete clone of the source disk, *not* an
incremental "file". The result of this incremental clone process is that it
takes the user only a fraction of the time to create subsequent clones of
the source HDD than it would otherwise take using the typical disk-cloning
(or even disk-imaging) methodology. As you can imagine this process gives
the PC user an enormous incentive to *completely* back up his/her system on
a routine, frequent basis thus ensuring that the user maintains a reasonably
up-to-date comprehensive backup of their system. It's hard to imagine a
better backup system for the typical PC user.
Anna

 

[Pete]

Gee even Seagates Diskwizard is made by Acronis, and it work 100% Plus
its
FREE..

I don't think it's free anymore.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

While the program's straightforward design, simplicity of use, and general
effectiveness in carrying out what it's supposed to do are all hallmarks of
the program, it's most significant advantage (in my view) is its rather
extroardinary ability to create what might be called "incremental clones",
i.e., what Casper terms its "SmartClone" technology. Keeping in mind that
this "incremental clone" is a complete clone of the source disk, *not* an
incremental "file". The result of this incremental clone process is that it
takes the user only a fraction of the time to create subsequent clones of
the source HDD than it would otherwise take using the typical disk-cloning
(or even disk-imaging) methodology. As you can imagine this process gives
the PC user an enormous incentive to *completely* back up his/her system on
a routine, frequent basis thus ensuring that the user maintains a reasonably
up-to-date comprehensive backup of their system. It's hard to imagine a
better backup system for the typical PC user.

That particular feature worked quite well in the demo and is part of why
(1) I looked at the program in the first place, and (2) decided to buy it.

Thanks for your encouraging words (which I clipped )

As I'm about to tell mazorj, I haven't installed the program yet, mostly
because my current state of backups is too disorganized, and I want to free
up a drive or two before I proceed.