Acronis True Image and Bioshock

[Metroplex]

Hi, I just joined, first off I do not yet own a copy of Bioshock for many reasons: I can't run it with my current hardware and I am saving up for a decent graphics card to play it, waiting for the price to come down a bit and waiting until this 'limited installs' issue is resolved.
However seeing that it may be sometime before #3 happens and because I want to play this game as soon as #1 & #2 are met:

Why not do this, clean install Vista and apply all patches and all the programs you need, install Bioshock and activate it and apply any patches, then install Acronis True image 11 and do a complete back-up of of your HD and place it onto an external HD, Acronis can copy an exact image of a HD- Operating system and all- and put it back in without the system being any wiser.

Put this complete 'image' onto a safe place.

Now you can trash your normal HD like always it will come a time where it needs a reformat, do it, then use the special DVD to start restoring the system with the 'image' you made, there no more Bioshock problems for as far as they are concerned you have just activated it once!

Frorm:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...es-backup.html


Backup your entire PC with our patented disk imaging technology
Protect your entire system, including the operating system, applications, all updates and data.

Any comments?

[yogibbear]

What happens when every game has one of these systems and then you need a separate image for every single game?

Hassle + effort = angry customers

EDIT: oh and btw nice advertising... in the words of JD's inexplicably high pitched voice: "Lame"

[SydneyBlake008]

I'm not so sure myself, but I think the issue is not so much limited installs...I think it's limited uninstalls.

[Bioshock_FTW!]

Something is telling me this won't work...and I think it's because SecuROM looks for any changes made to your system in just about any way (windows reinstall, new hardware, etc), and will throw up a red flag if something looks different. Just a theory, not based on fact.

[CherryIcee]

It would work since Securom would not be aware that anything had changed (provided nothing hardware-wise has changed.) However this does sound like a pure advertisement considering he has only the 1 post and he's trying hard to push Acronis.

Personally I really like Acronis, but there are freeware apps that work just as well and are obviously free. DriveImageXML works great and costs $0.00

[Metroplex]

Look this isn't pure advertising like somebody said, I just wanted you to see the benefits of the software, but if you don't want to thats OK just keep complaining about the 'limited installs and uninstalls' then, I just thought this may take care of the problem.
Sure there are free versions but as always they offer less features and support, yet, if you want to use them that is your choice.
The thing with backup software is that you can also do incremental backups, so you can add to the image you made to accomodate any changes you have made and new games you have installed and unistalled without having to do a full on backup.
The issue with securom is a two edged sword you can either keep doing what you have been doing and get the same results or you can try something different and hope this time things turn out different, as long as you keep your system the same without any hardware changes this could work, besides it may be smart to upgrade BEFORE you install any of these new games on the market just to future-proof and avoid hassle down the road, changing memory and graphics card won't take more than a few hours anyway.
The Bioshock server computer or Securom won't see the difference as the system would be the same, just like it would be if you had turned off your PC for a few months and are now turing it on, the backup software would have copied everything axactly as it was since your last backup so no one is the wiser.
You only need to connect to the net to REGISTER your copy of bioshock, you don't have to connect everytime you need to play afterwards, so with backup software you can do backups, use PC, reformat, reinstall image and keep on playing Bioshock.
But if you want to do it the old way, go ahead, just don't complain when you have used up all your install/unistall limits and can no longer play Bioshock.

[BioShockWins]

Since this is SecuROM based, I'd appreciate it if you moved this to the DRM/SecuROM thread in the Off-Topic forum.