Sorry to hear that Starkers (no sarcasm).  That type of thing really torques me off too, and it is often one of the *joys* of o/s upgrades.  If it'll make you feel any better, this old box of mine is going to get Win7 (Win8 is not an option), and even doing that some perfectly fine h/w and s/w is going to become trash.  The short time frame you're talking about does just put the icing on the cake, alas it is reality.

"I feel your pain."

EaseUS ToDo Workstation 4.5 works like a charm. It does something I've never seen before! Every time I boot up it updates each partition. All the work you do during the day changes files/folders and such and the workstation has a protect mode. It reflects those changes when you boot up. Amazing! Also it will back up eveything all at once or you can pick and choose what you want to backup. It will even backup external drives. I'd go with this one.

What is with using these 3rd party backup programs anyway? I just use the built-in backup functions of Windows 7 to do an image backup automatically every Sunday in the early AM hours and never had a problem with it. Works perfectly for me and luckily I have only had to use it once for a restore. I know this feature is available in Windows 8 also, just haven't had a chance to set it up yet though as it's not a critical system at all.

Sorry, Starkers, but it's this exact attitude that sees people pissed off at Stardock when "Thingummy-V-whatever for Windows 7 and older" doesn't work on THEIR-FAULT-FOR-GOING-TO-A-NEW-OS-OUTSIDE-OF-LISTED-COMPATIBILITY.

Get a grip it is NOT Stardock's fault [or in this case Acronis] that your purchase has been made redundant/obselete by YOUR ACTION.

I updated to 2013 myself a few months ago....about the time I was messing with the early 8.  It won't faze me if it doesn't work on 8 ....I bought it for 7.

If the software didn't explicitly support windows 8, then what are you complaining about? This topic makes no sense.

Yes, he does. I, for one, wouldn't want it any other way. Thanks for your input, Paul.(and for quoting me again)  Now if only Windows 8 could throw "your software has been made redundant/obsolete by YOUR ACTION." as an error code. 

Priceless.

Actually, Microsoft has a site which inventories your programs and will let you know what is and isn't compatible:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/win8/CompatCenter/Home?Language=en-US

Jafo, you gotta quit quoting Wiz, it's going to his head....hehe. 

Okay you lot, I get it... it's my fault Acronis 2012 doesn't work because I installed Win 8.

The point is, however, 2012 is not yet over, Windows 8 is all you can get when buying a new machine [thus making it the current OS], yet Acronis will not update True Image 2012 [the current edition] for 1000's of loyal customers who happen to be current with MS' preferred OS.... and you'll see just how preferred it is when support for previous editions ceases in around 12 to 18 months time.

What am I complaining about?  If I were bitching about True Image 2006 I could see your point... because that software is ancient in software terms  However, [see above], what I'm bitching about is a software that was released for 2012, yet is useless for a 2012 released OS... before 2012 is over, and Acronis has no intention of updating it.  I'd say that the topic makes perfect sense

Doesn't matter if I was late to the party or not... it's STILL 2012, is it not?

Um..... how about zero dollars up front.  Why?  Because I would have to replace 2 pieces of software... True Image and the 2012 'Plus Pack', which bundles features [dissimilar hardware, etc] other devs have included as standard in their main backup program.  There's 100's of users bitching on the Acronis forums about that one, among other things [adding bloat without fixing known issues], and many have, or are purchasing alternative solutions to their backup needs.   I may yet do that... though I'll be keeping the $19.99 upgrade price in mind.  Guess I'll see after checking out the competition and how Win 8's backup utility performs.

I went to amazon.com, clicked on 'desktop computer' then clicked on the first computer in the 'best selling' category.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0078RKT36/ref=s9_hps_bw_g147_ir01?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-7&pf_rd_r=1ZGPGPS77KBJ5Y7W60WY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1281815122&pf_rd_i=565098

Operating system is listed under product features, end of the first line.

It's like magazines - they often have a date that is far ahead of the actual date, and often you can't get, say a November magazine when it is very far into November.

Oh the irony of WinCustomize...