Image Your System for Real Backup Protection with Acronis

One of the rituals for any computer owner should be that of regularly backing up their system. The simple fact is that it is not a matter of if you will experience computer issues but when. There is no sicker feeling than hitting the power button and having your system just sit there like a recalcitrant child. Then you think of all the photos, videos, tax returns, and who knows what else trapped on your hard drive but you have no way to access them. Sure, you've thought about backing up that system, but you've just been putting it off for when you get time. Too late now. Time has run out. Of course I paint a grim picture but I've experienced that situation as have many of my friends, family, and co-workers. Not a good feeling at all. Well, luckily there are a number of ways to prevent that sinking feeling. You could use one of a zillion backup utilities including the one built right in to your operating system. But I have a better way. Instead of just backing up those cute pictures of little Jimmy's frosting covered face, or him picking his nose in right field as a fly ball lands at his feet, I suggest using Acronis True Image to take a snapshot of your system. What's the difference? Backups typically copy your files and place them in a file that can only be read by that software package. To restore your data from a typical backup, especially to a new system, you need access to the backup application first and then you can attempt to restore your data. This is great for your documents but in the event of a system crash you'll need to reinstall all your applications one by one to get your system back to the desired state. That means hours or even days of reinstalling applications, looking for serial numbers, product keys, and begging vendors to allow you another activation key. When you image your system you're making a bit for bit copy of your hard drive. In the event of a crash, you simply boot your system with the recovery disk and then follow the prompts to bring your system back to the state it was in the last time you took it's image. Acronis True Image makes restoring your system extremely easy. You install the software, create a recovery disk, store the disk in a safe place, then set up a job to take a snapshot of your system. I recommend springing a few bucks for an external USB drive to keep your disk images safe. There's no reason not to as disk drives are cheap now days. In the event of a crash you simply pop in the recovery CD, boot to it, and use Acronis to restore your system from the USB drive. You can even mount the image to recover files and directories if you accidentally delete them. No muss, no fuss. Acronis offers a wide variety of products for home and business. If you maintain systems at work, home, or for friends this is a tool you shouldn't be without. Acronis is affordable, but hey can you really put a price on those pictures of little Jimmy?