My miserable experiences in testing and "removing" the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup

[Richard A. Landkamer]

To Whom It May Concern:

I am sharing with this list an accounting of my experiences in testing and "removing" the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product on my computer, which are described in detail in the following 2 forwarded e-mails that I have sent to (e-mail address removed).

Does anyone on this list know of any Backup product other than Norton Ghost that will create a true Image Copy Backup of Windows XP Pro SP2, and which takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing System Files? To my knowledge, only Norton Ghost takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing System Files. If there is any other Backup Utility that takes its backups in this manner, then I would like to evaluate this product. Thank you.

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: Richard A. Landkamer
To: (e-mail address removed)
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 1:25 PM
Subject: Update RE: My previous evaluation of your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product


To: (e-mail address removed)

I sent you my previous evaluation of your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product before I actually attempted to Remove/Uninstall this bloatware product from my computer, which brought on a whole new set of problems. In short, it took me over an hour to manually remove most of what I could easily find of this product on my computer after the Remove process for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs" appears to have removed nothing except the entry for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs".

I made the following three attempts to Remove your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my computer:

In the first attempt, I simply clicked on "Remove" for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs. After about 20 minutes of doing nothing, I clicked on Cancel in the running Remove process, the latter of which actually did work after running a few minutes. I then decided to use the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility to "Remove" your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my computer. This took less that 30 seconds. Subsequent investigation disclosed that the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility only removed the entry for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs".

For my second attempt, I first had to reinstall your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my original download of this product. This reinstall took about 15 minutes. When it came time to Remove this product from my computer, I turned off ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, which I did not do the first time. I then clicked on "Remove" for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs. This time the Removal process did not hang, and ended "normally" after running a few minutes. Unfortunately, the results were identical to when I previously used the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility to "Remove" your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my computer.

My third attempt was to spend over an hour manually removing most of I could easily find of your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product on my computer. I began by searching for files that had "Acronis" as part of their name, and attempting to delete these files. I quickly found several modules that could not be deleted, since they were being used. I then used the Windows Process Explorer Utility, which is described at <http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx>, and found two running Processes with Acronis on their name. I killed these two running Acronis processes, but I still could not delete these Acronis modules. I then used the Windows AutoRuns Utility, which is described at <http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx>, to delete everything that I could find related to the Acronis modules that I could not delete and/or the above running Acronis processes that I had found.

When I originally installed my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost, which I referred to in my following forwarded previous posting, Norton Ghost came as part of a bundled product called Norton SystemWorks 2004. This latter product has several other utilities, including Norton WinDoctor under Norton Utilities. I used Norton WinDoctor to delete around 200 entries that this utility found in the Windows XP Pro Registry for this Acronis product after I had deleted many of the Acronis files that I referred to in the previous paragraph. This is in addition to the Start Up entries in the Registry that I deleted with the above Windows AutoRuns Utility.

I then rebooted my computer, after which I was able to delete the Acronis modules that I could not previously delete. According to the Windows AutoRuns Utility, I still have some Acronis modules and drivers in C:\Windows\System 32 - which I will probably get around to researching and deleting eventually.

Bottom line in this whole miserable experience: Not only could I not get the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product to Restore my Hard Drive from two Acronis Disaster Recovery Backups that I took to DVD-RWS, but I subsequently discovered that this Acronis bloatware product is obviously not intended to ever be Removed/Uninstalled from anyone's computer after it has been installed. Beware!

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: Richard A. Landkamer
To: (e-mail address removed)
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 2:11 AM
Subject: Re: Evaluation period of Acronis True Image 10.0 comes to the end


To: (e-mail address removed)

Actually it was Acronis True Image 11 Home at <http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/features-backup.html> that I tested. Unfortunately, your product failed my testing.

I tested two "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backups to Ativa DVD+RW 4.7 GB Disks on a new DVD-RW Drive that I recently purchased. The System Information name of this drive is listed as "Name TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D". The sales receipt that I got lists this drive somewhat differently as "DVDRW+- 18X Samsung Drive". Both times I used "High" compression, since this was one of the options available to me. The first backup was just a regular complete backup. The second backup was a Sector by Sector backup if I recall your Acronis terminology correctly. I encountered no difficulty in making these backups, which I also put through your "Verify" process with no errors.

However, when I attempted to Restore these alleged "True Image" Backups to my Hard Drive, both times I got a pop up window informing me that these Backups were "corrupted", and could not be restored. So what good is an alleged ""True Image" Backup of any kind if it cannot subsequently be Restored? Also, just what does your alleged "Verify" process attempt to verify???

For the past few years, I have been using an old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost for my Image Copy Backups. Incidentally, before I tested your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product, I took two Image Copy Backups of my C: Hard Drive with this old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost. The first backup was to my D: Drive, which is a separate internal removable device of 120 Gig. (My C: Drive is 80 Gig.) The second backup was to my above new DVD-RW Drive. I expected my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost to give me some kind of device error on this new DVD-RW Drive, but that did not happen. I was even able to Restore my C: Drive with my 1st test Backup to this new DVD-RW Drive with this old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost, and I used High compression in this Backup. If an old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost can do this, then surely your latest "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product should have been able to do the same. I was hoping to be able to replace my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost with some version of Acronis, but it now appears that I will have to upgrade to the current version of Norton Ghost instead.

I believe that there is a fundamental design flaw in your Acronis Backup products. Before I tested your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product, I never thought that you would attempt to take an alleged "True Image" Backup of any version of Windows XP while actually running Windows XP with all of its open and constantly changing System Files, particularly in the Windows XP Pro SP2 System Restore System. I think that you are attempting to do the impossible. As I presume you are aware, Norton Ghost takes all of its Backups only under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing System Files. I find it difficult to believe that any other kind of Image Copy Backup could possibly work and not be corrupted.

Another problem that I had with your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product was that I could not get it to recognize my internal removable D: Drive as a Backup Device for Disaster Recovery purposes. I was able to take some kind of logical Backup to my internal removable D: Drive with your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product, but I could not use this Backup as an Image Copy that can be Restored in a Disaster Recovery situation. My old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost can Restore any of its Image Copy Backups on my internal removable D: Drive. Why can't your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product do the same?

For some additional background information, you might want to look at a recent issue that I have opened in the Microsoft Sysinternals Forum at <http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12723>. You will note that Microsoft's own RootkitRevealer Utility hangs on "Scanning C:\System Volume Information\catalog.wci" every time that I attempt to run RootkitRevealer. Since both RootkitRevealer and the System Restore System are Microsoft products, I think that Microsoft should be able to fix this problem. To date, Microsoft has not responded to my November 11, 2007, posting at: <http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12723>.

At least your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product did not hang attempting to Backup any files in my Windows XP Pro SP2 System Restore System. Or does Acronis even attempt to Backup any of these constantly changing System Files???

In conclusion, if Acronis ever develops a real True Image Backup that can actually be Restored, let me know. I think that you will only be able to do this if you take your Backups under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing System Files.

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: "Richard Landkamer" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 12:03 AM
Subject: Evaluation period of Acronis True Image 10.0 comes to the end

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I note that your correspondence is dated yesterday and today.

I would have thought that a fair and reasonable course of action
would consist of you giving the supplier a chance to respond to
your complaint instead of dragging this issue through a public
news forum, well before the supplier could read your notes.

This is actually the wrong forum for your post - it is a WinXP
newsgroup, not an Acronis newsgroup. It is likely that the Acronis
FAQs have some pointers about your problem

 

[philo]

To Whom It May Concern:

I am sharing with this list an accounting of my experiences in testing and
"removing" the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product on my
computer, which are described in detail in the following 2 forwarded e-mails
that I have sent to (e-mail address removed).

Does anyone on this list know of any Backup product other than Norton Ghost
that will create a true Image Copy Backup of Windows XP Pro SP2, and which
takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System where there are
no open and constantly changing System Files? To my knowledge, only Norton
Ghost takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System where
there are no open and constantly changing System Files. If there is any
other Backup Utility that takes its backups in this manner, then I would
like to evaluate this product. Thank you.

Richard A. Landkamer

<snip>


I've used Acronis 11 a number of times and it worked fine for me.
I found that it creates the image upon reboot and before the OS loads...
so it can copy any files that would normally be not copyable.

The only thing is...I never tried the high-compression option...
so that *might* be where the problem lies.

Why not try again with "no" or "low" compression

 

[Anna]

To Whom It May Concern:

I am sharing with this list an accounting of my experiences in testing and
"removing" the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product on my
computer, which are described in detail in the following 2 forwarded e-mails
that I have sent to (e-mail address removed).

Does anyone on this list know of any Backup product other than Norton Ghost
that will create a true Image Copy Backup of Windows XP Pro SP2, and which
takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System where there are
no open and constantly changing System Files? To my knowledge, only Norton
Ghost takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System where
there are no open and constantly changing System Files. If there is any
other Backup Utility that takes its backups in this manner, then I would
like to evaluate this product. Thank you.

Richard A. Landkamer


Richard:
Without addressing the specific issue you've had with the Acronis True Image
program (I've snipped the copies of your email messages to Acronis which
were included in your posting to this newsgroup)...

While you've indicated (at least as I interpret your posting) that your
specific interest is with reference to a disk imaging program (as opposed to
a disk cloning program), I would assume that your *basic* objective is
utilizing a backup program that is designed to back up your entire system,
i.e., your operating system, all programs & applications, and user-created
data. And to do so effectively and with reasonable speed.

If my assumption is correct, let me suggest a program that might interest
you. While it is a disk-to-disk cloning program rather than a disk imaging
program, perhaps it will meet your basic objective of a comprehensive backup
program...

We've been working with this Casper 4.0 disk cloning program for nearly a
year now. Based on our experience to date with this program (in an XP
environment) after using it with a few score systems and performing hundreds
of disk-cloning operations, we have finally recommended this program to
users.

Of the few dozen users of whom we're aware who have been using the program
with some regularity, all of them - without exception - have commented
favorably about the program. In every instance it has become their
disk-cloning program of choice. Many of these users had heretofore been
using the Acronis True Image & Symantec's Norton Ghost programs (among
others) for their disk imaging/disk cloning needs and after working with the
Casper program *all* of them now prefer the Casper 4.0 program as their
primary day-to-day comprehensive backup program.

The beauty of this program lies in its simplicity of use, speed of backup
operations, and overall effectiveness. While not totally flawless, it
certainly comes close in our experience.

Here are some details about the program for you and for those of you who
might be interested...

First of all, potential users should note that this is a *disk cloning*
program - not a disk imaging program - in the sense that the program is
designed to create (for all practical purposes) a bit-for-bit copy of the
source HDD so that if the recipient of the clone is an internal HDD, that
cloned HDD will be bootable and its data immediately accessible, unlike the
situation where a disk image is created on the recipient HDD (or other
media) and a recovery process is necessary to restore the image to a
bootable, data-accessible state. Note, however, that should the recipient of
the clone be a USB external HDD - since that device is not ordinarily
bootable - its contents (although accessible from the boot HDD) would need
to be "cloned back" to an internal HDD should the recovery/restore process
be necessary to create a bootable HDD. On the other hand, should the HDD
encased in the USB enclosure be removable, it could be installed as an
internal HDD in the PC and thus the user would have a bootable functioning
HDD.

The Casper 4.0 program also has the happy capability of cloning individual
partitions from one HDD to another HDD, not merely creating a "disk image"
of the partition(s). (See details below).

In general, the chief advantage of a disk-imaging approach rather than a
disk-cloning one has always been that following the initial creation of a
disk image, subsequent incremental (or differential) disk images can be
created and this allows for a significant (and obviously desirable) increase
in backup speed as compared with the time it takes for a user to create a
disk clone every time the user backs up his or her system.

There's also a relatively minor (in our view) advantage of creating disk
images rather than disk clones in that the resultant disk image file can be
compressed in size, thus saving some disk space. However, this advantage
generally disappears (or at least is substantially reduced) after a number
of incremental backup disk image files are created following the initial
(original) backup file ("archive"). And given today's relatively inexpensive
large-capacity hard drives we do not feel this advantage is of major import
for most users. Additionally, disk imaging obviously lends itself better to
using DVDs as the backup media, however given the rather large amount of
data usually being backed up by most users in today's systems most users
prefer to use hard drives (internal or external) as the recipient of the
disk image backup when employing that approach rather than disk cloning. In
any event if one's primary or exclusive interest is in disk imaging rather
than disk cloning then one need not consider the Casper 4.0 program.

The significant advantage of the Casper 4.0 disk cloning program over other
disk cloning programs that we're familiar with, e.g., Acronis True Image or
Symantec's Norton Ghost, is its ability to create *incremental* disk clones
following the creation of the original (first) disk clone. Employing what
Casper calls its "SmartClone" technology the program can create subsequent
disk clones of the source HDD usually at a fraction of the time it takes to
create a "full" disk clone. This results in a decided incentive for users to
undertake frequent complete backups of their systems knowing that they can
create "incremental" disk clones in a relatively short period of time.

The Casper 4.0 program's capability in creating these incremental disk
clones results in a significant savings of time as compared to the usual
time it takes to create a cloned disk using other disk-cloning programs.
Knowing that this incremental disk cloning process will take only a
relatively short period of time provides the user with increased motivation
to back up their systems on a much more frequent & systematic basis than
they might otherwise do - a most desirable result as I think most PC users
would all agree.

Another positive feature we've discovered with the Casper 4.0 program (at
least based upon our experience to date) is that unlike other disk cloning
programs such as the Acronis & Ghost programs, when the recipient of the
clone - the destination HDD - is an *internal* HDD, the user need not
disconnect the source HDD from the system and make an *initial* boot
following the disk cloning operation with only the destination HDD
connected. Again, we're referring here to a disk cloning operation where the
recipient of the clone (the "destination" drive) has been an *internal* HDD.
As many of us know, there has been a problem with disk cloning programs in
general with this situation in that if immediately following the disk
cloning operation both the (internal) source & destination HDDs are
connected and an *initial* boot is made to the source drive, there can be a
subsequent problem with that destination drive in that it will fail to boot
if at a later time it is the only HDD connected in the system. Because of
this anomaly our advice - as well as from others including the developers of
these disk cloning programs - has heretofore always been to disconnect the
source HDD from the system *immediately* following the disk cloning
operation and make that initial boot with *only* the destination (internal)
HDD present. (And, of course, to determine that the clone has "took" - the
cloned HDD is bootable & functional).

While this problem does not always happen along the lines described above,
it does occur with sufficient frequency that we feel this cautionary note is
required. Note that where the recipient of the cloned contents of the source
HDD is an *external* HDD, such as a USB external HDD, this potential problem
does not exist since the USB external HDD is not ordinarily a bootable
device. Again - based on our experience with the Casper 4.0 program to date
using a fairly wide variety of systems together with both PATA & SATA HDDs
in a variety of combinations, e.g., SATA-to-SATA, PATA-to-PATA,
SATA-to-PATA, etc., we haven't experienced a single problem (as described
above) in this area.

Using the Casper program is simplicity itself. There's virtually no learning
curve in undertaking the disk cloning process as one navigates through the
few easy-to-understand screens with a final mouse-click on the button which
will trigger the disk-cloning process. After undertaking one or two
disk-cloning operations it should take the user no more than 20 seconds or
so to get to that point.

Here's a more-or-less typical example of using the program to clone the
contents of one HDD to another HDD (internal or external)...
1. Access the Casper 4.0 program.
2. Click on the opening screen's "Copy Drive" icon.
3. Click on the Next button on the "Welcome..." window.
4. Select the "Copy an entire hard disk" option, then the Next button.
5. The next window will reflect the HDD to be copied, presumably your boot
drive. Click Next.
6. The next window will list the "destination" HDD, i.e., the drive that
will be the recipient of the cloned contents of the drive you're copying.
Highlight that drive listing and Click Next.
7. A warning screen will appear indicating the destination HDD is "currently
in use" and that "all data on that disk may be lost if you continue". It's
just a cautionary note so click Next.
8. Since you're cloning the entire contents of your source HDD to the
destination HDD, just click Next on the next screen to accomplish that.
9. Select the "Perform the copy now" option and click Next and then Next
again on the following screen.

The disk-cloning operation will proceed with a final screen indicating its
successful conclusion.

BTW, the program is also capable of scheduling the disk-cloning process on a
daily, weekly, or other time period selected by the user.

The program is not particularly inexpensive as disk cloning programs go.
Cost for a single-license is $49.95. AFAIK, the program is available for
download only from the developer at http://www.fssdev.com and this does not
include the "Casper Startup Disk" which sells for an additional $9.95. That
"Startup Disk" is a really essential piece of the program since in many
cases it would be the only way to effect a recovery of the system when the
installed Casper program could not be accessed from the Windows environment
because the program resides on a HDD that has failed or has become
unbootable. The usual scenario for using the Startup Disk is when the
recipient of the clone has been an external HDD - most likely a USB external
HDD - and the original source disk has become defective or dysfunctional
(unbootable) so that there is no opportunity to access the installed Casper
program. Since the USB external HDD containing the cloned contents of the
source drive is not bootable, one must use the Startup Disk in that
situation in order to clone the contents of the external HDD back to a
non-defective internal HDD in order to recover the system.

The developer does have a 30-day trial version available - see
http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/trial/. The trial version is somewhat
crippled in that the cloned partition on the destination drive will be the
same size as the partition on the source drive - they will not be expanded
to a larger size or to fill
up available space on the new hard drive. In any event the trial version
should give a user some reasonable insight as to how the program works.
However note that the trial version does not include the program to create
the "Startup Disk" described above. That would have to be separately
purchased.

This Casper 4.0 program is advertised as being compatible with Vista,
however, except for some cursory experience we've had using Casper with that
operating system, we feel we haven't had sufficient experience with that OS
to form any absolute judgment as to its effectiveness (or lack of) in that
environment. I will say the relatively few times we've used Casper in the
Vista OS with a number of different systems it has performed flawlessly. And
we've received favorable reports from users who have been using the program
in a Vista environment.


Using the Startup Disk...
The Startup Disk will ordinarily be employed in those recovery-type
situations where the user cannot gain access to the installed Casper program
because the HDD to be restored (on which the Casper program resides) is
unbootable due to a corrupted operating system or has become
mechanically/electronically defective, and the drive that contains the disk
clone is a USB or Firewire external HDD which is ordinarily unbootable thus
preventing access to the installed Casper program from that device.

When using the Startup Disk remember to connect only the two HDDs that will
be involved in the disk-cloning (recovery) process; disconnect any other
storage device(s) from the system. The booting-up process with the Startup
Disk is usually quite lengthy - we've generally found that it takes between
6 to 9 minutes before the program loads and the disk-cloning process can
begin. Thereafter the disk-cloning operation (recovery) should go reasonably
quickly & smoothly.
Anna

(Addendum re potential problem with the recipient drive of the clone...)
Based on our experience to date with the Casper 4.0 program (about a year
now), we have yet to run into that potential problem as we did with every
other disk cloning program we've used in the past. We've probably performed
more than two hundred disk cloning operations over this time using the
Casper program with a variety of systems using a variety of internal PATA -
SATA HDDs in various configurations. In every case immediately following the
disk-cloning operation, we booted the system with *both* drives (source &
destination) connected - something we ordinarily would not do with the other
disk cloning programs because of the (potential) problem I've previously
detailed. In every case where we later booted to the newly-cloned
solely-connected drive we did not encounter a boot problem as we sometimes
experienced with other disk cloning programs when both the source &
destination drives were still connected immediately following the
disk-cloning operation and a boot was made to the source HDD while those two
drives were connected. I'm hopeful that this unbroken string of successes
will continue since this is a real advantage to this program as compared
with other disk-cloning programs.
Anna


Cloning partitions with Casper 4.0

Using XP's Disk Management utility, set up desired partitions on the
destination hard drive (see example following these steps).

1. Access the Casper program and click on the "Copy Drive" icon.

2. Following the "Welcome to the Casper..." screen, select the option "Copy
a specific drive". Click Next.

3. On the "Select Drive" window that opens, select (highlight) the source
hard drive containing the specific partition you want to copy. Click Next.

4. On the "Select Copy Destination" window that opens, select the option
"Copy to an existing drive" and click Next.

5. On the "Select Destination Drive" window that opens, select (highlight)
the destination hard drive containing the partition that will be the
recipient of the clone. Ensure that you've selected the correct destination
drive and partition. Click Next.

6. On the next screen, click Next to confirm that you want to overwrite the
data on the destination drive.

7. On the next screen, select the option "Perform the copy now" and click
Next and then Next again to start the cloning process.

As an example...
1. Let's say you want to clone the contents of your old 40 GB HDD to a
newly-purchased 200 GB HDD (roughly 170 GB in binary terms).

2. You plan to set up your 200 GB HDD with three partitions - one of 50 GB,
one of 55 GB, and the third of 65 GB.

3. After installing the 200 GB HDD in your current system in preparation for
the disk (partition)-cloning operation, use the XP Disk Management utility
to create the desired three partitions on that disk. Assign whatever drive
letters are available to each of the three partitions and ensure that the
first partition (presumably the partition that will be the recipient of the
cloned operating system) is designated "Active" during the process. You
needn't be concerned that you assign a drive letter other C: to that first
partition. The disk-cloning process will assign the C: drive letter to that
partition. Also, you can later change the drive letters of the other
partitions using the Disk Management utility on the newly-cloned HDD.

4. Then, using the above "Cloning partitions..." steps, clone the contents
of your 40 GB HDD to the first partition of the destination HDD.

5. Shut down the system, disconnect the old 40 GB HDD, and if not already so
connected, connect the 200 GB HDD as Primary Master if it's a PATA HDD, or
to the first SATA connector on the motherboard if the disk is a SATA drive.
Boot with only the new 200 GB HDD connected to assure that the drive boots &
functions without problems.

6. Reconnect the 40 GB HDD if you plan to continue to use that disk as a
secondary drive in your system.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

What have you heard from Acronis?
It can be assumed that since you sent a complaint to Acronis and are
now posting it here, there was a response to help clear your issues.
Or have you posted here without giving any chance for Acronis to
answer?
Acronis has a very good reputation even with their latest versions.
Perhaps there is something wrong that Acronis may help resolve?

Your options may be limited since it seems you chose to actually test
the evaluation product so late that a resolution before trial expired
was nearly impossible.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
http://www.dts-l.org


To Whom It May Concern:

I am sharing with this list an accounting of my experiences in testing
and "removing" the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup
product on my computer, which are described in detail in the following
2 forwarded e-mails that I have sent to (e-mail address removed).

Does anyone on this list know of any Backup product other than Norton
Ghost that will create a true Image Copy Backup of Windows XP Pro SP2,
and which takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System
where there are no open and constantly changing System Files? To my
knowledge, only Norton Ghost takes all of its Image Copy Backups under
a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing
System Files. If there is any other Backup Utility that takes its
backups in this manner, then I would like to evaluate this product.
Thank you.

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: Richard A. Landkamer
To: (e-mail address removed)
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 1:25 PM
Subject: Update RE: My previous evaluation of your "Acronis [alleged]
True Image 11 Home" Backup product


To: (e-mail address removed)

I sent you my previous evaluation of your "Acronis [alleged] True
Image 11 Home" Backup product before I actually attempted to
Remove/Uninstall this bloatware product from my computer, which
brought on a whole new set of problems. In short, it took me over an
hour to manually remove most of what I could easily find of this
product on my computer after the Remove process for this product in
Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs" appears to have removed
nothing except the entry for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or
Remove Programs".

I made the following three attempts to Remove your "Acronis [alleged]
True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my computer:

In the first attempt, I simply clicked on "Remove" for this product in
Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs. After about 20 minutes of
doing nothing, I clicked on Cancel in the running Remove process, the
latter of which actually did work after running a few minutes. I then
decided to use the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility to "Remove" your
"Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my
computer. This took less that 30 seconds. Subsequent investigation
disclosed that the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility only removed the
entry for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs".

For my second attempt, I first had to reinstall your "Acronis
[alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my original download
of this product. This reinstall took about 15 minutes. When it came
time to Remove this product from my computer, I turned off ZoneAlarm
Internet Security Suite, which I did not do the first time. I then
clicked on "Remove" for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove
Programs. This time the Removal process did not hang, and ended
"normally" after running a few minutes. Unfortunately, the results
were identical to when I previously used the Windows Installer Clean
Up Utility to "Remove" your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home"
Backup product from my computer.

My third attempt was to spend over an hour manually removing most of I
could easily find of your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home"
Backup product on my computer. I began by searching for files that
had "Acronis" as part of their name, and attempting to delete these
files. I quickly found several modules that could not be deleted,
since they were being used. I then used the Windows Process Explorer
Utility, which is described at
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx>,
and found two running Processes with Acronis on their name. I killed
these two running Acronis processes, but I still could not delete
these Acronis modules. I then used the Windows AutoRuns Utility,
which is described at
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx>,
to delete everything that I could find related to the Acronis modules
that I could not delete and/or the above running Acronis processes
that I had found.

When I originally installed my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost, which
I referred to in my following forwarded previous posting, Norton Ghost
came as part of a bundled product called Norton SystemWorks 2004.
This latter product has several other utilities, including Norton
WinDoctor under Norton Utilities. I used Norton WinDoctor to delete
around 200 entries that this utility found in the Windows XP Pro
Registry for this Acronis product after I had deleted many of the
Acronis files that I referred to in the previous paragraph. This is
in addition to the Start Up entries in the Registry that I deleted
with the above Windows AutoRuns Utility.

I then rebooted my computer, after which I was able to delete the
Acronis modules that I could not previously delete. According to the
Windows AutoRuns Utility, I still have some Acronis modules and
drivers in C:\Windows\System 32 - which I will probably get around to
researching and deleting eventually.

Bottom line in this whole miserable experience: Not only could I not
get the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product to
Restore my Hard Drive from two Acronis Disaster Recovery Backups that
I took to DVD-RWS, but I subsequently discovered that this Acronis
bloatware product is obviously not intended to ever be
Removed/Uninstalled from anyone's computer after it has been
installed. Beware!

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: Richard A. Landkamer
To: (e-mail address removed)
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 2:11 AM
Subject: Re: Evaluation period of Acronis True Image 10.0 comes to the
end


To: (e-mail address removed)

Actually it was Acronis True Image 11 Home at
<http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/features-backup.html>
that I tested. Unfortunately, your product failed my testing.

I tested two "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backups to Ativa
DVD+RW 4.7 GB Disks on a new DVD-RW Drive that I recently purchased.
The System Information name of this drive is listed as "Name TSSTcorp
CD/DVDW SH-S182D". The sales receipt that I got lists this drive
somewhat differently as "DVDRW+- 18X Samsung Drive". Both times I
used "High" compression, since this was one of the options available
to me. The first backup was just a regular complete backup. The
second backup was a Sector by Sector backup if I recall your Acronis
terminology correctly. I encountered no difficulty in making these
backups, which I also put through your "Verify" process with no
errors.

However, when I attempted to Restore these alleged "True Image"
Backups to my Hard Drive, both times I got a pop up window informing
me that these Backups were "corrupted", and could not be restored. So
what good is an alleged ""True Image" Backup of any kind if it cannot
subsequently be Restored? Also, just what does your alleged "Verify"
process attempt to verify???

For the past few years, I have been using an old 2003 Version of
Norton Ghost for my Image Copy Backups. Incidentally, before I tested
your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product, I took two
Image Copy Backups of my C: Hard Drive with this old 2003 Version of
Norton Ghost. The first backup was to my D: Drive, which is a
separate internal removable device of 120 Gig. (My C: Drive is 80
Gig.) The second backup was to my above new DVD-RW Drive. I expected
my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost to give me some kind of device
error on this new DVD-RW Drive, but that did not happen. I was even
able to Restore my C: Drive with my 1st test Backup to this new DVD-RW
Drive with this old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost, and I used High
compression in this Backup. If an old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost
can do this, then surely your latest "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11
Home" Backup product should have been able to do the same. I was
hoping to be able to replace my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost with
some version of Acronis, but it now appears that I will have to
upgrade to the current version of Norton Ghost instead.

I believe that there is a fundamental design flaw in your Acronis
Backup products. Before I tested your "Acronis [alleged] True Image
11 Home" Backup product, I never thought that you would attempt to
take an alleged "True Image" Backup of any version of Windows XP while
actually running Windows XP with all of its open and constantly
changing System Files, particularly in the Windows XP Pro SP2 System
Restore System. I think that you are attempting to do the impossible.
As I presume you are aware, Norton Ghost takes all of its Backups only
under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly
changing System Files. I find it difficult to believe that any other
kind of Image Copy Backup could possibly work and not be corrupted.

Another problem that I had with your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11
Home" Backup product was that I could not get it to recognize my
internal removable D: Drive as a Backup Device for Disaster Recovery
purposes. I was able to take some kind of logical Backup to my
internal removable D: Drive with your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11
Home" Backup product, but I could not use this Backup as an Image Copy
that can be Restored in a Disaster Recovery situation. My old 2003
Version of Norton Ghost can Restore any of its Image Copy Backups on
my internal removable D: Drive. Why can't your "Acronis [alleged]
True Image 11 Home" Backup product do the same?

For some additional background information, you might want to look at
a recent issue that I have opened in the Microsoft Sysinternals Forum
at <http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12723>. You
will note that Microsoft's own RootkitRevealer Utility hangs on
"Scanning C:\System Volume Information\catalog.wci" every time that I
attempt to run RootkitRevealer. Since both RootkitRevealer and the
System Restore System are Microsoft products, I think that Microsoft
should be able to fix this problem. To date, Microsoft has not
responded to my November 11, 2007, posting at:
<http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12723>.

At least your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product
did not hang attempting to Backup any files in my Windows XP Pro SP2
System Restore System. Or does Acronis even attempt to Backup any of
these constantly changing System Files???

In conclusion, if Acronis ever develops a real True Image Backup that
can actually be Restored, let me know. I think that you will only be
able to do this if you take your Backups under a basic DOS System
where there are no open and constantly changing System Files.

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: "Richard Landkamer" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 12:03 AM
Subject: Evaluation period of Acronis True Image 10.0 comes to the end

 

[Charlie]

I have run Acronis for years on several computers and never had a problem. It has saved my behind several times. I have also used their support center a couple of times and was very pleased. I think its a great product.
To Whom It May Concern:

I am sharing with this list an accounting of my experiences in testing and "removing" the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product on my computer, which are described in detail in the following 2 forwarded e-mails that I have sent to (e-mail address removed).

Does anyone on this list know of any Backup product other than Norton Ghost that will create a true Image Copy Backup of Windows XP Pro SP2, and which takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing System Files? To my knowledge, only Norton Ghost takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing System Files. If there is any other Backup Utility that takes its backups in this manner, then I would like to evaluate this product. Thank you.

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: Richard A. Landkamer
To: (e-mail address removed)
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 1:25 PM
Subject: Update RE: My previous evaluation of your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product


To: (e-mail address removed)

I sent you my previous evaluation of your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product before I actually attempted to Remove/Uninstall this bloatware product from my computer, which brought on a whole new set of problems. In short, it took me over an hour to manually remove most of what I could easily find of this product on my computer after the Remove process for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs" appears to have removed nothing except the entry for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs".

I made the following three attempts to Remove your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my computer:

In the first attempt, I simply clicked on "Remove" for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs. After about 20 minutes of doing nothing, I clicked on Cancel in the running Remove process, the latter of which actually did work after running a few minutes. I then decided to use the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility to "Remove" your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my computer. This took less that 30 seconds. Subsequent investigation disclosed that the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility only removed the entry for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs".

For my second attempt, I first had to reinstall your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my original download of this product. This reinstall took about 15 minutes. When it came time to Remove this product from my computer, I turned off ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, which I did not do the first time. I then clicked on "Remove" for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs. This time the Removal process did not hang, and ended "normally" after running a few minutes. Unfortunately, the results were identical to when I previously used the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility to "Remove" your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my computer.

My third attempt was to spend over an hour manually removing most of I could easily find of your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product on my computer. I began by searching for files that had "Acronis" as part of their name, and attempting to delete these files. I quickly found several modules that could not be deleted, since they were being used. I then used the Windows Process Explorer Utility, which is described at <http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx>, and found two running Processes with Acronis on their name. I killed these two running Acronis processes, but I still could not delete these Acronis modules. I then used the Windows AutoRuns Utility, which is described at <http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx>, to delete everything that I could find related to the Acronis modules that I could not delete and/or the above running Acronis processes that I had found.

When I originally installed my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost, which I referred to in my following forwarded previous posting, Norton Ghost came as part of a bundled product called Norton SystemWorks 2004. This latter product has several other utilities, including Norton WinDoctor under Norton Utilities. I used Norton WinDoctor to delete around 200 entries that this utility found in the Windows XP Pro Registry for this Acronis product after I had deleted many of the Acronis files that I referred to in the previous paragraph. This is in addition to the Start Up entries in the Registry that I deleted with the above Windows AutoRuns Utility.

I then rebooted my computer, after which I was able to delete the Acronis modules that I could not previously delete. According to the Windows AutoRuns Utility, I still have some Acronis modules and drivers in C:\Windows\System 32 - which I will probably get around to researching and deleting eventually.

Bottom line in this whole miserable experience: Not only could I not get the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product to Restore my Hard Drive from two Acronis Disaster Recovery Backups that I took to DVD-RWS, but I subsequently discovered that this Acronis bloatware product is obviously not intended to ever be Removed/Uninstalled from anyone's computer after it has been installed. Beware!

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: Richard A. Landkamer
To: (e-mail address removed)
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 2:11 AM
Subject: Re: Evaluation period of Acronis True Image 10.0 comes to the end


To: (e-mail address removed)

Actually it was Acronis True Image 11 Home at <http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/features-backup.html> that I tested. Unfortunately, your product failed my testing.

I tested two "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backups to Ativa DVD+RW 4.7 GB Disks on a new DVD-RW Drive that I recently purchased. The System Information name of this drive is listed as "Name TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D". The sales receipt that I got lists this drive somewhat differently as "DVDRW+- 18X Samsung Drive". Both times I used "High" compression, since this was one of the options available to me. The first backup was just a regular complete backup. The second backup was a Sector by Sector backup if I recall your Acronis terminology correctly. I encountered no difficulty in making these backups, which I also put through your "Verify" process with no errors.

However, when I attempted to Restore these alleged "True Image" Backups to my Hard Drive, both times I got a pop up window informing me that these Backups were "corrupted", and could not be restored. So what good is an alleged ""True Image" Backup of any kind if it cannot subsequently be Restored? Also, just what does your alleged "Verify" process attempt to verify???

For the past few years, I have been using an old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost for my Image Copy Backups. Incidentally, before I tested your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product, I took two Image Copy Backups of my C: Hard Drive with this old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost. The first backup was to my D: Drive, which is a separate internal removable device of 120 Gig. (My C: Drive is 80 Gig.) The second backup was to my above new DVD-RW Drive. I expected my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost to give me some kind of device error on this new DVD-RW Drive, but that did not happen. I was even able to Restore my C: Drive with my 1st test Backup to this new DVD-RW Drive with this old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost, and I used High compression in this Backup. If an old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost can do this, then surely your latest "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product should have been able to do the same. I was hoping to be able to replace my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost with some version of Acronis, but it now appears that I will have to upgrade to the current version of Norton Ghost instead.

I believe that there is a fundamental design flaw in your Acronis Backup products. Before I tested your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product, I never thought that you would attempt to take an alleged "True Image" Backup of any version of Windows XP while actually running Windows XP with all of its open and constantly changing System Files, particularly in the Windows XP Pro SP2 System Restore System. I think that you are attempting to do the impossible. As I presume you are aware, Norton Ghost takes all of its Backups only under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing System Files. I find it difficult to believe that any other kind of Image Copy Backup could possibly work and not be corrupted.

Another problem that I had with your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product was that I could not get it to recognize my internal removable D: Drive as a Backup Device for Disaster Recovery purposes. I was able to take some kind of logical Backup to my internal removable D: Drive with your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product, but I could not use this Backup as an Image Copy that can be Restored in a Disaster Recovery situation. My old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost can Restore any of its Image Copy Backups on my internal removable D: Drive. Why can't your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product do the same?

For some additional background information, you might want to look at a recent issue that I have opened in the Microsoft Sysinternals Forum at <http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12723>. You will note that Microsoft's own RootkitRevealer Utility hangs on "Scanning C:\System Volume Information\catalog.wci" every time that I attempt to run RootkitRevealer. Since both RootkitRevealer and the System Restore System are Microsoft products, I think that Microsoft should be able to fix this problem. To date, Microsoft has not responded to my November 11, 2007, posting at: <http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12723>.

At least your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product did not hang attempting to Backup any files in my Windows XP Pro SP2 System Restore System. Or does Acronis even attempt to Backup any of these constantly changing System Files???

In conclusion, if Acronis ever develops a real True Image Backup that can actually be Restored, let me know. I think that you will only be able to do this if you take your Backups under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing System Files.

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: "Richard Landkamer" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 12:03 AM
Subject: Evaluation period of Acronis True Image 10.0 comes to the end

 

[Richard A. Landkamer]

Jupiter:

After I sent my first e-mail to Acronis, I expected to spend about 15
minutes uninstalling Acronis, and move on to something else. Then I
ran into the Remove/Uninstall problem that I never expected. It is
not uncommon to Remove/Uninstall a product, and find an unusable
Icon for that product remaining on one's Desktop. However, before
this episode, I have never done a Remove/Uninstall of a product, after
which I clicked on what should be an unusable Icon, and then had that
product come up like it did before. In addition, the Windows Process
Explorer Utility indicated that I still had 2 running Processes for what I
had just "removed". After sending a follow-up e-mail to Acronis regarding
my Uninstall problems, I decided to share my miserable experience with
others who might be considering testing or purchasing this product.
Hence, I posted what I did to this list.

There is also an Acronis Forum web page at
<http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=65>, and I made
the same posting there. I am not the only person who is unhappy with
what I just tested.

The first form letter e-mail that I received from Acronis right before my
trial expired stated:

"Please feel free to contact us at (e-mail address removed) if you have any
questions."

After doing this, I received a second form letter e-mail response stating:

"Thank you for contacting Acronis!

"In order to improve the speed and quality of customer service Acronis
introduced changes in its support practices: new requests should be
submitted via web form.

"To submit a new request, please follow one of the links given below.
If you are an owner of an Acronis product, please click here:
https://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/support/index.html?ab=1&[email protected]

"If you do not own any Acronis product, please click here:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/company/contacts/request/?t=2&[email protected]"

This gives me the impression that the proverbial "left" hand of Acronis
does not know what the "right" hand is doing, which does not inspire
my confidence.

I am an ordinary mortal who works during the day. Testing the
Restore function of any Backup product requires several hours of
continuous time, which is usually only available to me on weekends.
First, I have to take (in my case) old Norton Ghost backups, which
consumes at least 2 hours of time, before I can even begin testing the
Restore function of any other Backup/Restore product. Yes, this
does make it difficult to do much testing within a 15 day trial period.

I have never installed or tested any other Acronis product before
this episode, so this is my first experience with Acronis. However,
what I read and heard about Acronis from others was generally
favorable. Consequently, I was very surprised at my miserable
experiences in testing this product.

If I expected anything, it was that the Acronis Restores would
run OK, only to subsequently discover that I could not reboot my
computer afterwards. Hence, I felt it necessary to 1st take (in my
case) old Norton Ghost backups just in case.

It is not uncommon for some vendors to aggressively hype and
promote as a fully functional product what is actually a beta test
product at best. I cannot help but wonder if this is what has
happened in my case.

Richard A. Landkamer

What have you heard from Acronis?
It can be assumed that since you sent a complaint to Acronis and are now posting it here, there was a response to help clear your
issues.
Or have you posted here without giving any chance for Acronis to answer?
Acronis has a very good reputation even with their latest versions.
Perhaps there is something wrong that Acronis may help resolve?

Your options may be limited since it seems you chose to actually test the evaluation product so late that a resolution before
trial expired was nearly impossible.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
http://www.dts-l.org


To Whom It May Concern:

I am sharing with this list an accounting of my experiences in testing and "removing" the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home"
Backup product on my computer, which are described in detail in the following 2 forwarded e-mails that I have sent to
(e-mail address removed).

Does anyone on this list know of any Backup product other than Norton Ghost that will create a true Image Copy Backup of Windows
XP Pro SP2, and which takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing
System Files? To my knowledge, only Norton Ghost takes all of its Image Copy Backups under a basic DOS System where there are no
open and constantly changing System Files. If there is any other Backup Utility that takes its backups in this manner, then I
would like to evaluate this product. Thank you.

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: Richard A. Landkamer
To: (e-mail address removed)
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 1:25 PM
Subject: Update RE: My previous evaluation of your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product


To: (e-mail address removed)

I sent you my previous evaluation of your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product before I actually attempted to
Remove/Uninstall this bloatware product from my computer, which brought on a whole new set of problems. In short, it took me over
an hour to manually remove most of what I could easily find of this product on my computer after the Remove process for this
product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs" appears to have removed nothing except the entry for this product in Windows XP
Pro "Add or Remove Programs".

I made the following three attempts to Remove your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my computer:

In the first attempt, I simply clicked on "Remove" for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs. After about 20
minutes of doing nothing, I clicked on Cancel in the running Remove process, the latter of which actually did work after running a
few minutes. I then decided to use the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility to "Remove" your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home"
Backup product from my computer. This took less that 30 seconds. Subsequent investigation disclosed that the Windows Installer
Clean Up Utility only removed the entry for this product in Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs".

For my second attempt, I first had to reinstall your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my original
download of this product. This reinstall took about 15 minutes. When it came time to Remove this product from my computer, I
turned off ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, which I did not do the first time. I then clicked on "Remove" for this product in
Windows XP Pro "Add or Remove Programs. This time the Removal process did not hang, and ended "normally" after running a few
minutes. Unfortunately, the results were identical to when I previously used the Windows Installer Clean Up Utility to "Remove"
your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product from my computer.

My third attempt was to spend over an hour manually removing most of I could easily find of your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11
Home" Backup product on my computer. I began by searching for files that had "Acronis" as part of their name, and attempting to
delete these files. I quickly found several modules that could not be deleted, since they were being used. I then used the
Windows Process Explorer Utility, which is described at
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx>, and found two running Processes with
Acronis on their name. I killed these two running Acronis processes, but I still could not delete these Acronis modules. I then
used the Windows AutoRuns Utility, which is described at
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx>, to delete everything that I could find related
to the Acronis modules that I could not delete and/or the above running Acronis processes that I had found.

When I originally installed my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost, which I referred to in my following forwarded previous posting,
Norton Ghost came as part of a bundled product called Norton SystemWorks 2004. This latter product has several other utilities,
including Norton WinDoctor under Norton Utilities. I used Norton WinDoctor to delete around 200 entries that this utility found
in the Windows XP Pro Registry for this Acronis product after I had deleted many of the Acronis files that I referred to in the
previous paragraph. This is in addition to the Start Up entries in the Registry that I deleted with the above Windows AutoRuns
Utility.

I then rebooted my computer, after which I was able to delete the Acronis modules that I could not previously delete. According
to the Windows AutoRuns Utility, I still have some Acronis modules and drivers in C:\Windows\System 32 - which I will probably get
around to researching and deleting eventually.

Bottom line in this whole miserable experience: Not only could I not get the "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup
product to Restore my Hard Drive from two Acronis Disaster Recovery Backups that I took to DVD-RWS, but I subsequently discovered
that this Acronis bloatware product is obviously not intended to ever be Removed/Uninstalled from anyone's computer after it has
been installed. Beware!

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: Richard A. Landkamer
To: (e-mail address removed)
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 2:11 AM
Subject: Re: Evaluation period of Acronis True Image 10.0 comes to the end


To: (e-mail address removed)

Actually it was Acronis True Image 11 Home at <http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/features-backup.html> that
I tested. Unfortunately, your product failed my testing.

I tested two "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backups to Ativa DVD+RW 4.7 GB Disks on a new DVD-RW Drive that I recently
purchased. The System Information name of this drive is listed as "Name TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182D". The sales receipt that I got
lists this drive somewhat differently as "DVDRW+- 18X Samsung Drive". Both times I used "High" compression, since this was one of
the options available to me. The first backup was just a regular complete backup. The second backup was a Sector by Sector
backup if I recall your Acronis terminology correctly. I encountered no difficulty in making these backups, which I also put
through your "Verify" process with no errors.

However, when I attempted to Restore these alleged "True Image" Backups to my Hard Drive, both times I got a pop up window
informing me that these Backups were "corrupted", and could not be restored. So what good is an alleged ""True Image" Backup of
any kind if it cannot subsequently be Restored? Also, just what does your alleged "Verify" process attempt to verify???

For the past few years, I have been using an old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost for my Image Copy Backups. Incidentally, before I
tested your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product, I took two Image Copy Backups of my C: Hard Drive with this old
2003 Version of Norton Ghost. The first backup was to my D: Drive, which is a separate internal removable device of 120 Gig. (My
C: Drive is 80 Gig.) The second backup was to my above new DVD-RW Drive. I expected my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost to give
me some kind of device error on this new DVD-RW Drive, but that did not happen. I was even able to Restore my C: Drive with my
1st test Backup to this new DVD-RW Drive with this old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost, and I used High compression in this Backup.
If an old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost can do this, then surely your latest "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product
should have been able to do the same. I was hoping to be able to replace my old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost with some version of
Acronis, but it now appears that I will have to upgrade to the current version of Norton Ghost instead.

I believe that there is a fundamental design flaw in your Acronis Backup products. Before I tested your "Acronis [alleged] True
Image 11 Home" Backup product, I never thought that you would attempt to take an alleged "True Image" Backup of any version of
Windows XP while actually running Windows XP with all of its open and constantly changing System Files, particularly in the
Windows XP Pro SP2 System Restore System. I think that you are attempting to do the impossible. As I presume you are aware,
Norton Ghost takes all of its Backups only under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing System Files.
I find it difficult to believe that any other kind of Image Copy Backup could possibly work and not be corrupted.

Another problem that I had with your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product was that I could not get it to
recognize my internal removable D: Drive as a Backup Device for Disaster Recovery purposes. I was able to take some kind of
logical Backup to my internal removable D: Drive with your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product, but I could not
use this Backup as an Image Copy that can be Restored in a Disaster Recovery situation. My old 2003 Version of Norton Ghost can
Restore any of its Image Copy Backups on my internal removable D: Drive. Why can't your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home"
Backup product do the same?

For some additional background information, you might want to look at a recent issue that I have opened in the Microsoft
Sysinternals Forum at <http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12723>. You will note that Microsoft's own
RootkitRevealer Utility hangs on "Scanning C:\System Volume Information\catalog.wci" every time that I attempt to run
RootkitRevealer. Since both RootkitRevealer and the System Restore System are Microsoft products, I think that Microsoft should
be able to fix this problem. To date, Microsoft has not responded to my November 11, 2007, posting at:
<http://forum.sysinternals.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12723>.

At least your "Acronis [alleged] True Image 11 Home" Backup product did not hang attempting to Backup any files in my Windows XP
Pro SP2 System Restore System. Or does Acronis even attempt to Backup any of these constantly changing System Files???

In conclusion, if Acronis ever develops a real True Image Backup that can actually be Restored, let me know. I think that you
will only be able to do this if you take your Backups under a basic DOS System where there are no open and constantly changing
System Files.

Richard A. Landkamer


----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: "Richard Landkamer" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 12:03 AM
Subject: Evaluation period of Acronis True Image 10.0 comes to the end

Hello Richard Landkamer,

Your evaluation period for Acronis True Image 10.0
will expire tomorrow and we wanted to take this opportunity to thank you
for letting Acronis Inc. be your computing partner. We invite you to visit the Acronis online
store at http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/sales/online/ , where you
can place your order for the full version of this software. If you
prefer to buy from a local reseller, you can find a list of U.S. and
Canadian resellers on our Web site http://www.acronis.com/ .

Please feel free to contact us at (e-mail address removed) if you have
any questions.

Once again, thank you for your confidence and consideration.

Happy computing!


You received this message because you downloaded a trial copy of Acronis True Image 10.0.


The Acronis Team
http://www.acronis.com/

Compute with confidence...

 

[Richard A. Landkamer]

Jupiter:

In my previous posting to your questions on November 18, 2007,
I stated the following, among other things:

"It is not uncommon for some vendors to aggressively hype and
promote as a fully functional product what is actually a beta test
product at best. I cannot help but wonder if this is what has
happened in my case."

I no longer believe my above previous hypothesis, Instead, I
now believe that my failed Restore attempts are some version
of the problem that is described at
<http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=185256>.
What I find so interesting is that John Meyer, the person who
made this original posting on September 11, 2007, made the
following statement in this posting:

"I am using TI 9.0, build #3854, but based on posts in this forum
and elsewhere on the Internet, version 10 doesn't seem to have
fixed these fundamental problems."

Based upon this information, what happened to me does not
appear to be a new problem. Instead, this appears to be an old
problem that Acronis is not in any hurry to fix.

Not surprisingly, I have not received any response from Acronis
either to this posting, or to the other posting of this same issue
that I made at
<http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1123722#post1123722>.

Also, since my other posting was made in the "Acronis True Image
Product Line" Forum at
<http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=65&page=2&order=desc>,
this other posting generated more interest than the one I made in
this forum.

From one of the responses that I received to my posting in this other
Acronis forum, I learned that Acronis has posted "a detailed guide
on manual uninstallation of Acronis True Image 11 Home" at
<http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1120006&postcount=4>.
This "detailed guide" posting is dated November 18, 2007.

Richard A. Landkamer

 

[Charles W Davis]

With Windows Vista back up program's astonishingly simple and accurate back
up and restore, why buy any other product?