Disk Imaging Software for SMBs

Acronis True Image Workstation with Acronis Universal Restore
Acronis True Image Workstation is designed primarily for easy backup and recovery. Images can be differentially backed up, and differential backups can be scheduled and triggered remotely. I tested True Image 9.1.

True Image's interface (which Figure 2 shows) is intuitive, well explained, and easy to use. Just minutes after I installed each element of True Image (the local application, the workstation tools, and the administrative-tools), I was able to create a new backup and schedule a backup task. True Image would be a good tool to use to implement an ongoing service level agreement (SLA)-based backup and recovery strategy.

One major advantage of True Image is that you can create backups from within the OS while other applications run. By using VSS, True Image can create a complete disk image backup while applications are running and files are open. As a result, scheduling backups isn't as difficult. Of course, restoring a disk does require booting to a preinstallation environment.

In my test, creating a 4GB image over a network connection took 8 minutes. Restoring the same image to the same workstation took 12 minutes. This is much faster performance than Ghost, on an individual machine. However, Ghost's multicast feature would give Ghost the performance edge in a larger deployment.

Although not specifically targeted toward deployment, True Image includes some features and add-ons that make it useable for small deployments or desktop refreshes. When you design an image restore, you can define pre- and post-installation tasks for True Image to perform, such as initiating Microsoft Windows User State Migration Toolkit (USMT) and Sysprep. With these scripted tasks and Acronis Universal Restore (described below), an administrator could refresh a desktop or migrate a client with True Image.

Because True Image simply copies an image of a partition or drive, it's not on its own suited to large-scale deployments. However, the add-on product Acronis Universal Restore allows driver injection and preserves the current SID of the target computer. Universal Restore can restore an image to a replacement computer even if the replacement doesn't have the same hardware as the failed machine.

True Image includes a feature called Secure Zone, which lets you create a recovery partition on a workstation and automatically schedule backups to that location. Users can recover individual files or restore an entire drive from this partition without the assistance of IT personnel and without access to the network. Of course, this is only a partial recovery solution—it wouldn't be of help in instances where the entire disk is damaged or inaccessible.

True Image does have an administrative remote control that you can use to connect to a remote workstation and perform all the tasks that you can perform locally. Using this management tool, you can launch group jobs or manage individual clients running the True Image agent. However, this isn't a tool that a large organization could rely upon—the remote console isn't capable of controlling groups.

Acronis True Image is easy to use and can be quickly deployed. Its backup features would definitely come in handy in a small organization in which its relatively high price isn't a problem. However, it's not an ideal image deployment tool for a 10,000workstation enterprise. Look to this tool for data protection and disaster recovery or, with the addition of Universal Restore, workstation imaging in a small network. Particularly advantageous is the use of VSS to allow for backups while the computer is in use.