新聞中心

Acronis True Image 9.1 Enterprise Server for Windows ($999) is a new version of the reliable backup application from Acronis that's just as good for consumers as it is for enterprise professionals and content creators. Now Acronis brings that easy-to-use backup confidence to the enterprise market, giving you control of backups across an entire network, and even gives you easy access to Linux machines. We wondered if this Enterprise Server version was as easy to use as the workstation version we tested last year, so we loaded up the software on our network and took it for a test drive.

At its most basic level, Acronis True Image is about the easiest way to back up a computer that we know of. This Enterprise Server version works by taking a snapshot of any hard disk on your network, and then at any time you can mount that image, and take whatever files out of that you would like to restore. It's also proficient at restoring an entire hard drive.

The process is as easy as it could be, where all you need to do is open up the Acronis True Image application, and you're presented with a Pick a Task window (see graphic below). Click on the Mount Image tool, and the application picks a drive letter for your backup disk. In just a couple of minutes, there is a folder opened on your desktop with all of the files available. It's as simple as that. If you'd like to see more details about this powerful backup routine, take a look at this article we wrote last year where we reviewed version 8.0 of the workstation version of the software, which has similar backup functionality.

Take a look at all the functionality of this enterprise-class application.
This is the home base from which you access most of the software's features.

But Acronis True Image 9.1 Enterprise Server goes far deeper than that. One of the new features in this version 9.1 is the ability to modify an image that you've already created, where a dialog box opens and asks you if you would like to mount the image in read-only mode or in read/write mode and apply changes to it directly. This way, you can go in and edit the image, taking out unnecessary files and leaving just the most important ones still backed up.

Another great feature is Acronis Group Server, which you don't even have to have installed on your machine to use. You open the Acronis Management Console on your machine and then connect to the machine where the Acronis Group Server is installed. From there, it's a simple matter to take a look at the status of all the machines on the network, provided they're running Acronis True Image agents. It's a snap to install those on each machine, and then each one can be controlled from one location. We were especially fond of the group task scheduling capability, which lets you set a certain backup time and routine for all of the machines on your network.

DVD burning capability is another one of the new features with this product, but its usefulness was lost on us. In these days of huge disk drives, where most modern backup takes place, we're not accustomed to using DVDs for backup. That said, there are those who do prefer to use DVDs for backup, and in previous versions of this Acronis True Image product, users who wanted to back up to DVD had to use separate DVD burning software. Now it's included in this product.

Not a new feature with Acronis, but one that we felt to be useful across the entire line, is the common ability to automatically set backups for times when the network is unused, such as 3:00 a.m., and we especially like having the flexibility of designating certain types of files to be backed up, entire disks, or individual files. That's the name of the game with Acronis — flexibility.

Also new for version 9.1 is 64-bit Windows support, as well as support for Linux with Acronis True Image Linux Agent. Once you've installed it on any Linux machine on your network, it looks just like any other server on the network, and the fact that it's running Linux is undetectable. You can remotely set backups and administer that machine from any Windows machine on the network without any Linux-specific knowledge. That's a great convenience.

An extraordinary new option for the entire line of Acronis True Image backup software is called Universal Restore ($299 for the Enterprise Server Edition), where you suddenly get the uncanny ability to take a backup that was made on one machine and restore that exact image onto an entirely different piece of hardware. This does require a bit of finesse and is a little tricky because you still need to have the proper drivers for the new machine, but in some instances the standard drivers that were on the old machine will still work on the new one. We were even able to back up a machine over a network with an image from a different machine, although it took about 18 hours to move the 100GB of data over from the backup location to the new PC. It was remarkable.

And then there's the star of the Acronis show, the ability to restore data in the event of a disastrous disk crash or other calamity. Here's where you can either designate a Secure Zone on your PC into which you can easily boot and restore data from another hard drive, DVD or remote location, or you can even do a bare metal restore, where you first create a CD when times are good and then later you can boot from that CD to completely restore your data using your backup media. I actually went through this process with Acronis True Image, and it worked flawlessly. That's the kind of confidence that you need with an application such as this. Bravo.

Using Acronis True Image 9.1 Enterprise Server is a breeze, and its new ability to create an exact server image over the network and centrally control backups throughout the network from any one location is a tremendous strength for this already-great software. You get a lot of confidence for your $999 with Acronis True Image 9.1 Enterprise Server, and it's highly recommended. 9.5 out of 10 stars.

新聞中心

電子報

Acronis True Image 9.1 Enterprise Server

Quick and easy control of data backup across a network

Select your location: