Pleasantly Surprised
03/30/2013
This review is from: Acronis True Image 2013
Pros:
+ Sensible (if not perfect) user interface.
+ Many different options for backup type (files, disks, partitions, full, incremental... etc).
+ I performed what I would consider a "difficult" restore operation, and Acronis handled it flawlessly (see below).
Cons:
- I have not tested every aspect of this software, but everything has worked really well for me so far.
Overall Review:
I use Windows very little--almost exclusively to play games--so I have never been too protective of the data stored on my Windows drive. Nevertheless, I had an Intel RAID-1 volume as my C: drive. That's the volume Acronis was backing up. As many of you probably know, even switching your SATA controller from AHCI to RAID mode (with or without an actual multi-disk array), or back again, will generally cause Windows to gag, unless you perform some registry incantations, etc, in advance.
Well, I decided to reuse the two disks in the Windows RAID array for something else, and ordered a Samsung 840 Pro from NewEgg to become my new Windows drive. I didn't really need the redundancy of the RAID-1 for Windows (especially with Acronis running backups too), and I did want to boost the loading speed of my games a little with the SSD. So I blew away the RAID, knowing that I had the Acronis backup, so I wouldn't lose any files. Nevertheless, I fully expected the process of restoring Windows onto my new drive in a bootable, happy state was going to be a chore.
The Samsung SSD arrived today, I installed it, and booted the Acronis recovery CD, with my backup drive plugged into the computer. I thought, "no way is this going to be a straight-forward recovery, but I have nothing to lose by giving it a try, and when it chokes I can worry about manually rebuilding Windows later."
It didn't choke. Not even a little bit.
I pointed the Acronis restoration utility at the new Samsung destination drive, and after about 20 minutes it declared it was finished restoring. Windows 8 (in EFI mode incidentally) booted on the first try from my new SSD. I've installed some overdue updates and rebooted several times since the restoration, and it's still working perfectly (and fast, as an SSD should).
To sum up, this was a migration from an image of Windows taken off two disks, in RAID mode, to a single SSD, in AHCI mode, with a completely different capacity, and it still worked flawlessly! Acronis resized the partitions, and fixed Windows' boot settings, all automagically, and without a hiccup. I'm sold (well, I was already sold--I paid for the product after all--but I'd pay for it again based on this experience).
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- Kevin K.
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Verified Owner
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Owned For:
1 month to 1 year
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