Acronis has now released their latest version of their hard drive backup utility — Acronis True Image Home 2009. We had some hints that something was coming. The new version is here…but do we need it?

First, what’s an image backup and why should I use one?

Tech Tip
An “image backup” is effectively your own “recovery disk” or “recovery partition”, complete with all your installed programs and data files, too. You can back up onto DVD’s, to external hard drives, to other computers, to another partition on the same hard drive, or to another hard drive in the same computers. Of course, not all of these destinations provide the same level of reliability — if you back up to another partition on the same hard drive, it can save you from a “brain freeze” problem, but not from a hard drive failure!

Some image backup programs can work only with the entire partition, either backing up or restoring the whole partition. Other programs can back up entire partitions, and can also back up only the files that changed since the last full backup. Similarly, some can restore entire partitions, and are also able to restore individual files and folders of files from the backup file.

I’ve used disk imaging for system backups for my computers since about 1995, starting with DriveImage 2 from the former PowerQuest. Ultimately PowerQuest Corporation was purchased by Symantec in 2003, who used Drive Image 7 as the basis of its next Norton Ghost version.

Continue reading Acronis Releases New Acronis True Image Home 2009

• If you don’t already have a copy of Acronis True Image, you can order a copy directly from Acronis, and can download it and even order a backup CD.
• If you don’t already have a copy, you can buy two licenses for Acronis True Image Home 2009 for only $20 more than the price of one (this is not a choice on the web site, it’s available only via special links like this one
  
• If you already have a copy of an earlier version, you can upgrade to Acronis True Image Home 2009 for 40%-off.