Things happen. Hardware fails without warning. Natural disasters occur every day, wiping out homes and businesses. Data gets lost forever, because someone didn’t think they needed a backup of their information. Life happens. This is why using a product like Acronis True Image 2011 just makes sense. I’ve written about previous iterations of this software, and were more than happy to take a look at the newest offering. I’m definitely not disappointed in any way.

Acronis True Image is a backup program that’s been pumping iron at the gym for several years. Most simple backup programs only allow you to archive your files onto another location. True Image qualifies as a full-blown disaster recovery solution. In addition to backing up your personal files, it has the capability to revert your entire Windows install to a previously working – healthy – state of being.

If you’re hit with some nasty malware and need to go back back in time, True Image can DO that. This is not a normal “system restore,” folks. The software will revert your entire PC to a state when everything – all programs and files – were in perfect working order. Seriously. I’m not kidding. And yes – the malware will no longer be present.

Some of the top long-time features of this program are ones that will make you sit up and take notice:

• Full, Incremental and Differential backups. – Acronis True Image Home 2011 gives you alternatives to performing full backups every time by offering incremental and differential backups. Both capture changes only and save disk space with Acronis data compression.
• Disk Imaging and Clone Drive. – Backup the entire system on the fly with our patented disk imaging technology. It ensures the recovery of your operating system and applications without reinstalling any software. Copy your entire Hard Drive and replace it with a new one without reinstalling operating systems and applications, saving hours of effort.
• Smart Scheduling. – Run backups automatically at preset or elapsed time, when the user is idle, on user logon/logout, on system startup/shutdown, or in coordination with other events.
• E-mail backup. – Acronis True Image Home 2011 allows you to back up messages, accounts and settings for Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010, Microsoft Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and Windows Live.

However, it’s the newest goodies found inside of True Image 2011 that will convince you this is the software solution for you:

• Complete Windows 7 Integration – Enhancements include Acronis integration within the Backup and Restore section of the Windows 7 Control Panel; the ability to view and restore previous file or volume versions from the Context menu; backup and restore of Windows libraries; and the ability to launch Acronis True Image Home 2011 backups.
• USB 3.0 Standard Support. – The software supports the new USB 3.0 standard. If your motherboard can work with USB 3.0 hard disk drives, you can use the high data transfer speed offered by the new standard to make your backups run much faster.
• Predefined Backup Schemes. – Use the program’s predefined backup schemes designed for specific user needs – 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. The program offers different backup schemes for disk and file type backups. You just select a scheme and the program automatically manages your backups. In addition, you can create a custom backup scheme which will exactly suit your needs.
• Check Points for Acronis Backup Explorer. – The Acronis Backup Explorer timeline shows Windows and software installation and update dates. Moving your mouse over a check point opens a balloon with information about the update or software. With check points you can check the changes to your system and recover the system to a specific backed up state.

Sure, you can back up your pictures and documents onto some random external hard drive… but can you then use that hard drive to completely restore your system the way you want it? Isn’t that peace of mind worth just about any price?