Feature Set:  

With Acronis True Image, you have all the options for making images (exact copies of data on a hard disk) and more. Scheduling automatic backup times for an image is easy and images can be differential and incremental—that means you can choose to backup only data that has changed since the previous backup to save time.

If you need to do more than simply copy data, you can format, partition and even delete a hard drive right from the Acronis control panel. Putting data back onto a hard drive for use (disk deployment) is simple too—just a few steps, and the data is back in action. You can even restore individual files from an image.

The Acronis True Image viewer can open an image you've created as a local drive by assigning it a drive letter (such as D:). This means you can view and access copied files and folders conveniently.

New to this version is the support for Windows 7, virtual hard disk support, new powerful scheduler, continuous data protection, Acronis online backup capability, and Windows 7 boot image.
 

Ease of Use:  

The imaging control panel is designed for anyone; help wizards walk you through each step of disk imaging, and you can reach help or online support from the control panel menu or a help button.

This imaging software is versatile; Acronis is one of few imaging programs with tools that securely delete sensitive data with several passes. Completely deleting data is important if you are selling or donating a computer that was used to store personal financial information.

Acronis True Image can restore an image to multiple computers at the same time. The program can skip copying bulky hibernation and paging files, allowing for faster backups on smaller disk space. Acronis also includes a log viewer so you can watch activities of your system as they occur.

Acronis True Image even incorporates some one-click functions, so getting a backup started is only a single click away. You also have quite a bit of versatility in scheduling automatic backups.

Backup/Restore Process:  

Unlike other disk imaging products, the process of creating a copy in Acronis True Image is an easy, one-step task. Just use the wizard tools and follow the instructions to get the image you want.

We created an image of our hard drive directly to a network drive in less than 20 minutes by imaging just the necessary files. When we created an exact image of a full 34–gigabyte hard drive to a CD-ROM, the process took about 70 minutes—both brief copy times.

Acronis True Image didn't balk at creating images to a network, as some disk imaging programs did. We appreciated this versatility.

Help/Support:  

Acronis True Image customer support is top–notch; when we filled out a technical request, we received an answer within two hours. Telephone customer support is available too.

The Acronis website offers links to FAQ pages, online forums and a link to subscribe to the newsletter.

Summary:  

Acronis True Image is versatile and powerful, but still fairly easy to use. The program includes wizards that walk you through each task, and you can connect to help files and customer support with just one click on the control panel. Best of all, Acronis True Image copies and restores hard drive data with precision and accuracy, and is faster than most disk imaging software.