Data Backup Digest

Acronis True Image, currently on the 2014 version, is a piece of software that will perform an image backup and recovery of your whole system. That means everything from your photos, music, documents, emails, settings, applications and more. You can perform a complete image backup of your system in order to maintain the exact configuration that you’re used to, including all your settings and files.

Let’s take a look at Acronis True Image and see whether it’s worth your money.

A good thing about the software is that, after the initial image backup, it’ll only perform incremental and differential backups. This means that only changes made since the last backup will be captured. It’d waste a whole load of time and storage a completely new image was taken every time – most of the data on your computer isn’t going to be changing on a daily basis. The program will back data up as you work, meaning you can set it up and relax.

A feature called Time Explorer allows users to turn back the clock and restore individual files and folders that are no longer on the current system. If, for example, you accidentally delete a file and then realise it’s not there a few days later, Time Explorer will let you restore it with ease. Additionally, the feature will also let you do a complete system restore, meaning that everything on the computer will be turned back to how it was at that moment in time.

You can perform these image backups locally, but the program will also let you take it to the cloud. This means that your data is double protected and is secured with personal key encryption. What this also means is that you’ll be able to access your data from any web browser, iOS or Android device at any time.

Speaking of cloud, the service also comes with 5GB of extra cloud storage for a year. This means that if you’re running out of physical hard drive space then you have a bit of leeway with what you’re able to store. This can be upgraded to 50GB, 250GB or 500GB should you decide to want to store even more data in the cloud.

New in the 2014 version of Acronis True Image is complete compatibility with Windows 8. The premium version of the software also lets you migrate a single file, folder or the whole system image to another computer. You can also restore anywhere you need, whether it is something like a dynamic disk or a Windows Pre-installation Environment.

Acronis True Image 2014 is available now and costs £39.95 for a single PC license. Alternatively, you can pay £59.95 and have the software licensed for three computers. There is also the ability to upgrade, should you have been using a previous version of the software and now want the latest features.

Still not convinced if it’s right for you? There is a thirty day free trial available from the official Acronis website, allowing you to give the whole service a spin before committing.