by Alan German

My previous review of True Image Home 2009 (http://opcug.ca/Reviews/TrueImage2009.htm) was quite comprehensive and indicated that most users would find this backup utility to be most worthwhile. The product’s downside for me was that it failed to operate properly for a Vista user who was not logged in as an administrator. While I found a work-around for the unscheduled backup process, it proved not to be possible to recover a disk image without having administrator status. Now, none of this would have bothered me, except for the fact that the program just stalled on these tasks. It did not provide any error messages. My problem reports to Acronis dragged on almost interminably and, when finally the issue was acknowledged, no solution was forthcoming. So, when True Image Home 2010 was released, I was keen to see if the problem that I reported had been fixed.

The quick answer is yes. Regular users of Vista can now run an unscheduled backup and can also restore a saved image. The backup wizard needs a minimum of three inputs – the partition to be backed up, the location where the image is to be stored, and the authorization to proceed with the selected tasks. In the 2010 version of the program, the “Run task now” box is checked, and hitting the Proceed button starts the backup process. Recovering a stored image is just as simple. Right-clicking on an image file provides access to the recovery wizard. You can choose to recover an entire partition or just selected files and folders. You then indicate where the recovered items should be located on the target disk, review the options available, and authorize the recovery process to proceed.

One nice feature of the 2010 version is that the backup and recovery processes have now been given separate icons on the main menu which makes selection between the two operations much easier than in the previous version. Otherwise, all of the backup options, plus the various tools and utilities, documented in the earlier review remain available for use. In addition, True Image Home 2010 has a number of new features that may be of interest to some users, although I haven’t yet tested any of these.

The program will now provide “continuous” data protection with a facility named “Nonstop Backup” that automatically creates incremental backups every five minutes. Optional on-line storage services (250 GB at $4.95 per month or $29.95 per year) are available to allow your important files to be backed up “to the cloud”. The scheduler now provides many more options, including the ability to use a calendar view to build schedules and tasks. Default image files (.tib) may be converted to and from virtual hard disk files (.vhd), providing compatibility with the backup system used in Windows 7. In addition, Windows 7 Ultimate users can boot from a disk image (.tib file) containing a backup of their system partition. This provides the ability to test a backup image without having to restore it.

True Image Home 2010 works as advertised - even for non-administrators under Vista! Furthermore, it has a number of new features that may be useful to some users. This program offers powerful backup and recovery options for both your operating system and your data files. And the price is right. Gene and Linda Barlow, our friends at User Group Relations (http://www.ugr.com/TrueImage.html) will let OPCUG members download a fully-licenced copy of the package for just US $29.00. At that price you can’t afford not to backup your system on a regular basis!

Originally published: April, 2010

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