Acronis True Image Home 2011 ($50)

Acronis, Inc. is launching Acronis True Image Home 2011, the latest version of its multiple award-winning consumer backup and recovery software.

Acronis True Image Home 2011 is designed to make backing up and recovering files, folders, email, Windows 7 libraries, or even a user’s complete system easier than before. The simple and intuitive interface will allow novice users to perform advanced backup and recovery tasks. Acronis True Image Home 2011 introduces a redesigned Graphical User Interface designed to scale to the needs of both novices and advanced users alike. It also includes a new Drag and Drop shortcut feature to quickly move a backup task to the desktop.

Features including wizards and One-Click protection help users configure the best backup and restore option for their needs, simplifying protection of important files. The new version is integrated with Windows 7 and can run off the control panel, so users can access their backups and update them with less effort. Plus, they can also launch Acronis backups from the Windows 7 taskbar.

Acronis True Image Home 2011 includes near continuous data protection for around-the-clock full-system protection and an online backup option. Acronis protects users with a single application to manage all backup and recovery tasks, whether creating full images of hard drives or saving specific files and folders online. Acronis Online Backup is an automatic, simple and secure way to back up files via the Internet.

"I really like the new interface," said Mario Martinez, a beta tester from Sunrise, Florida. "Acronis never disappoints me. Each year, there is something new. It is really cool to see the new features."

Acronis is also launching a new version of its Acronis True Image Home 2011 Plus Pack solution which allows a user to restore to dissimilar hardware (another make or model of a PC or laptop) so if they do not have identical standby hardware they can still restore the data quickly.

"With almost a decade’s worth of experience in developing this software, and customer feedback from thousands of users worldwide, we are confident that we have one of the most comprehensive solutions on the market," explains Jason Donahue, CEO of Acronis. "What we’ve really tried to focus on with this release is a new interface with additional features which make the software even easier to use."

Other new or improved features in the product include:

• Acronis Nonstop Backup – Automatically creates incremental backups every five minutes. This feature has been expanded to support Acronis Secure Zone, enabling users to recover on the fly, wherever they are, to any point in time, from a secure partition on their hard drive, even if their operating system has failed. This function is especially desirable for notebook users with a single hard disk drive.
• Time Explorer – An easy way to view and manage backup files from a single screen, annotate backup comments and review screenshots that show the state of the desktop at the moment of the backup.
• Predefined backup schemes – Users can select from different backup schemes for disk and file type backups. The program automatically manages the backups from a disk space-efficient scheme suitable for users with limited backup storage capabilities to a scheme for those users who need higher security for their data and system. In addition, users can create a custom backup scheme to suit their needs.
• Check points – The Acronis Backup Explorer timeline shows Windows and software installation and update dates. This feature has been enhanced to see directly from Windows explorer what previous versions of a file are available and to recover from there.
• USB 3.0 support – Acronis True Image Home supports the new USB 3.0 standard. For motherboards that work with USB 3.0 hard disk drives, users can take advantage of the high data transfer speed offered by the new standard to make backups run faster.

Pricing and availability
Acronis True Image Home 2011 is available through select retailers and online. Recommended retail price for Acronis True Image Home 2011 is $49.99. The Acronis True Image Home 2011 Plus Pack add-on is available online and retails for $29.99.