As time goes by, it gets more and more urgent the need to keep our important files conveniently backed up. However, doing this manually is a hard and time-consuming task that might lead us to accidentally lose critical files. That's why we need to resource to specialized applications such as Acronis True Image Home, which is one of the most powerful backup and sync tools available nowadays.
After you install the program, you need to create an account with Acronis to be able to use its functions. The service includes a cloud drive you can select as a destination for your backup and synchronization jobs. The program's user interface is quite intuitive and can be easily understood by practically any PC user, even those with basic skills. All the program's features are easily accessible through a clear and self-descriptive side menu located at the left side of the window.
The most relevant function is probably "Backup" and it allows you to create copies either of your entire PC, specific disks/partitions or specific files/folders. As a destination, you can select among the mentioned Acronis cloud drive, an external drive or a local folder, and then you can manually execute the backup job. If you are an advanced user, however, you can configure additional options that include scheduling your job, setting it as an incremental/differential backup, excluding certain file types from the job and setting a password for the protection of your backup, among many other advanced options. Whatever configuration you choose, your files are not copied directly but they are packed inside an Acronis True Image file (with .tib extension).
Another very important function of the program is "Archive". It is designed to locate large and too old files that are not vital to your system and move them to an external drive or to the Acronis cloud drive, so you can recover that wasted disk space. Next is the "Sync" function, which allows you to synchronize the contents of a specific folder of your PC with a remote folder located either on the Acronis cloud drive or on a remote computer. For the latter option, you need to also execute Acronis True image with the same account on the remote computer and click the "Join Sync" button on both ones. You can use the same technique to synchronize your folders among multiple PCs and portable devices.
The "Tools" option of the menu gives you access to multiple extra utilities offered by the program like Clone Disk, the Rescue-Media Builder, the "Try & Decide" tool and the System Clean-up tool. Finally, the "Active Protection" section allows you to enable/disable and configure one of the most powerful functions the program offers - the real-time protection against ransomware, one of the most dangerous and lethal kinds of malware that threatens the sensitive data of both individuals and companies nowadays.
In a nutshell, Acronis True Image Home is a very powerful suite of tools that, even though it specializes in data backup and synchronization, it also offers you many additional utilities and options to protect your data effectively. Despite all that functionality, there are other editions of the program - the Advanced and Premium ones -, which offer you, even more, possibilities like electronic signatures and end-to-end data encryption for the data transfers.
v19.0 [Sep 30, 2015]
New Features
Full support for high-DPI screens.
Custom text labels in the subject of the email notification messages that simplify monitoring backup statuses.
Timing of the product notifications has been coordinated.
An option to limit the upload speed when you back up data to Acronis Cloud.
When creating a WinPE media, there is no need to download Acronis Media Add-on because it is included in the product installer.
An option that allows a user to force or to delay a computer shutdown while a backup is in progress.
Switching between UI elements has been accelerated and improved.
NVMe drives and eMMC drives are supported in both the normal and standalone (bootable media) versions of Acronis True Image.
Different issue fixes, increased stability, and performance improvements.
Fixed issues
This release includes the following issue fixes, increased stability, and performance improvements:
Acronis True Image 2016 disables Windows 10 fast startup
The message about terminating current operations prevents a computer from shutdown
Under bootable media, Acronis True Image 2016 (build 6027) doesn't see the internal disk on Microsoft Surface 3 and Microsoft Surface 4
The error "Cannot create a database" appears when starting Acronis True Image 2016
The default subject of email notification messages is changed to the computer name
A disk cloning operation fails, and the computer boots directly to Windows
The default sync was deleted after the product update
Only the first custom backup scheme is saved correctly
The current Try&Decide changes are discarded after you select to keep them when the computer restarts
A P2P sync fails when you join this sync on the second computer
