In 2003 Symantec gobbled up PowerQuest, the company that produced PartitionMagic, DriveImage, and V2i Protector. I still use the desktop version of V2i Protector, but have recently got hold of some equivalent Acronis packages, specifically version 11 desktop, server and home versions of their True Image software. We’ll be putting out a review of the desktop/server suites in the New Year, but for now, here’s my thoughts on the home user package.

It looks pretty similar to V2i Protector both GUI-wise and with respect to the functionality. However, it does have extras which make it relatively easy for home users to protect their systems. It has a ‘clean up’ disk tool, which flushes all the caches and temporary files, so if you have a couple of gigabytes worth of web content gumming up the ‘C’ drive, this can get rid of it prior to making an image of your OS. It does differential backups as well, so if you’re used to continually trying out new software, it means, for example, you could apply Microsoft's monthly patch bundle and do an differential backup. If something breaks, roll back to before it broke - simple. True Image can also securely clean up your disk, if you’re selling it on and you don’t want hackers digging out all those credit card details.

How long does it take? Well, imaging a 12GB XP Professional system took around 50 minutes, but I did choose to compress the image to the highest degree possible. The compressed backup only used 50 percent of the space taken up by the operating system on the C drive, and it's best to store these images on a network drive. Restoring the image took just over 20 minutes. An incremental backup after installing Microsoft's December patches took

If you think you have a virus or some malware, it may be quicker to re-image your system rather than run a virus scan, since some scans take significantly longer than the re-imaging process. Plus, you can be sure that you’ve got rid of whatever your system picked up - unless of course, the virus writer has somehow managed to infect your BIOS.

Another neat feature is the Try&Decide mode. Here, Acronis sets aside part of your disk as a ‘Secure Zone’ and writes, in effect, a virtual OS to this area, so if anything nasty happens – you can roll back. This feature looks to be tailor-made if you’re planning on visiting any dodgy websites or installing applications of unknown provenance.

All in all, a pretty impressive and comprehensive package.

Warning : if you’re playing games on your system and you’ve just got through that phenomenally hard level – make an incremental backup, because if you have to roll back to an earlier image of your system, you’ll loose the current state of your trek through the game, and have to battle your way through that level all over again!