Must Have Application - Acronis True Image

Acronis True Image Workstation by Acronis, Inc.

by Michael E. Callahan aka Dr. File Finder �

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Acronis True Image: The Series

Acronis True Image, by Acronis,Inc. is a powerful product for backing up your hard disk, doing a complete image of a hard disk, and totally restoring a system to a new computer, what's commonly called a "bare-metal restore". The program comes in several versions, including:

• True Image Workstation
• True Image Server for Windows
• True Image Server for Linux
• True Image Enterprise Server for Windows

These product variations provide protection for everything from one computer to many being run on a server. In my view, Acronis True Image is a "Must Have Application"in all of its forms, depending on your needs. For our purposes here, I'm going to focus on Acronis True Image Workstation and each of the other products will be reviewed individually in my Dr. File Finder's Picks in the future.

Your Data - Safe and Secure!

Acronis True Image Workstation is the product I use to keep the data on the computers in my network safe and secure. The program, while having plenty of power, is also extremely easy-to-use. That makes it perfect for users with all levels of experience. That's an important fact, because a program that's too complex to understand won't do you any good.

Acronis True Image Workstation creates an "image" of a disk or part of a disk. If you do a complete image of your hard drive,say drive C, the program incorporates everything into the image, and that includes the operating system. You can also use the program to backup just specific files and folders. The ability to create a full image of a hard drive gives you tremendous power if you have a system crash.

Restoration Made Easy

For anyone who has ever had to restore a computer that's crashed, it's a tedious and time-consuming task. That's assuming you have a backup. If not then the task of total restoration in impossible. With Acronis True Image Workstation this worry can be eliminated. The program can restore your entire system including operating system, programs, and data. And, it can restore it to a new computer, to the existing computer, or even to a "virtual machine." That's impressive.

This ability to restore an entire drive saves a great deal of time,effort, and money. That's true for an individual and it's even more true for a business. You can schedule backups so they take place at regular intervals -- I have them done every day. In this way your disk "image"is nearly always totally complete and you can restore your machine in record time.

Managing The Process

The things I've described so far can be done if you have one computer or ten. Acronis True Image Workstation comes with a "Management Console" that lets you manage backups on other computers in your network. You can create images, control what's backed up, and when, and do it all from one computer.

Acronis True Image Workstation also has a cool feature that lets you create a hidden partition on a drive and place images in it. This feature, called Acronis Secure Zone

keeps your images safe by isolating them from the main system, away from the operating system. The images in the Secure Zone can be utilized in a variety of ways so you can restore your system completely without needing a "boot disk", an Internet connection, or even a network connection. Slick!

The Ultimate Restore!

Anyone who has restored a computer from an image knows that there is always one problem. What's that? The image is an image of a specific computer, making it impossible to restore an image to a different computer with different hardware. Acronis has recently released Acronis Universal Restore which can restore an image toany hardware configuration. This product will be covered in a separate review, but I wanted to mention it here as well. It really is the ultimate restore tool.

Summing It Up

Acronis True Image Workstation is a full-featured product that makes it easy to backup, and restore, one computer or twenty! It has support for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows so it can cover both new and old systems alike. Another feature I really like is the fact that all images are automatically verified so you know they'll work if you really need them. You can backup other computers on your network, do incremental backups that are scheduled, backup only specific files and folders, and much more.

Acronis True Image Workstation is an impressive product to say the very least. As mentioned earlier, there are different versions ofTrue Image to suit different needs. Whether you have one computer at home, five on a network, or twenty on a server, Acronis True Image is absolutely a Must Have Application! Take the time to download it and evaluate it for yourself. I did and I've been using it for my own network backups ever since. So, give it a try, you won't be disappointed - I recommend it!

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• Visit the Acronis, Inc. Web Site
• Download the Acronis True Image Workstation Trial NOW!

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