If you can't afford extended down time when disaster strikes your PC, you need Acronis True Image. It lets you take a snapshot of an entire partition and save it as a compressed file to another partition or to an external drive, network drive or removable media.

You can also upload back-ups via FTP or even create a hidden area on your hard disk drive for storing them. When your operating system decides not to operate, it's simple to restore the entire partition to its previous state in a few minutes rather than waste hours troubleshooting the problem. True Image lets you back up and restore from within Windows (2000, XP or Vista) at boot time or from a recovery disc. We recently switched from Norton Ghost to Acronis True Image because we found Ghost 12 wouldn't play nicely with Vista or with computers running more than one operating system. Ghost 12 also insists you dig up the installation disc every time you want to restore, which is annoying.

The key new feature of Acronis True Image 11 Home is "Try & Decide", a rollback feature that lets you test new software and then decide if you want to keep or discard the changes. To use Try & Decide, True Image 11 Home creates a "Secure Zone" on your PC for details of changes you've made. It's a quick and painless process, although it does mean sacrificing some space on your hard drive.

We already use True Image 10 Home in the Upgrade Research Lab for software testing and disaster recovery but the Try & Decide feature in True Image 11 Home is a handy bonus because you don't need to manually make a back-up before you run it. You can tinker with your PC with impunity, safe in the knowledge that when you reboot everything will be back to the way it was. You can also set Try & Decide to automatically run every time you boot, which is handy for protecting novice users from themselves.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to trial software that requires a reboot after installation. In such circumstances, you must manually create a back-up file. If you're looking for software for protecting public computers, or software that will let you trial applications that require a reboot, take a look at HD GUARD (www.eye4you.com.au).

 Like its predecessor, True Image 11 has a few key features that make it a better choice for power users than Norton's Ghost or Save & Restore applications. It backs up and can optionally restore the hard disk's Master Boot Record, partition table and other important data - which helps on machines with more than one operating system installed. It's a feature you'll rarely need but, when you do, it's a godsend. True Image 11 comes with a few other utilities such as system clean-up and secure file deletion. Whether it's for a work computer, a home computer or a media centre PC, True Image is one of those must-have applications.

However, the biggest shortcoming of True Image 10 Home hasn't been addressed in True Image 11 Home. It still doesn't offer the option of automatically consolidating incremental back-ups, only keeping the last few so your hard drive doesn't fill up. Norton's Save & Restore offers this feature, and if it was added to True Image it would truly be set-and-forget solution.Acronis' True Image 11 retails for $62.99. Details, (02) 9922 4650 or www.acronis.com.au.

Make the call

Polycom has released three new desktop VoIP phones for use with Microsoft's recently launched Office Communicator and Office Communications Server 2007. The CX200 is a USB peripheral with a full duplex speakerphone, handset and large presence status indicator. The CX400 Cordless Phone is a wireless handset with a desktop base station that connects via USB. It features a presence display, 10-metre wireless reception range and 10-hour talk time. The CX700 IP Phone is a stand-alone IP telephone that has presence and directory capabilities with a colour touch screen, USB and ethernet ports as well as a fingerprint reader. The already released CX100 Speakerphone is a compact USB peripheral that connects to a laptop or desktop PC for hands-free communications.Polycom's desktop VoIP phones retail from $145. Details, 1800 355 355 or www.polycom.com.au

Blu two

Sony's second-generation Blu-ray burner, the BWU200S, supports both 25 GB and 50 GB Blu-ray discs. An internal Serial ATA device, the BWU200S boasts 4x BD-R and 16x DVD+R recording speeds. The drive comes with CyberLink's BD Solution software suite for capturing, authoring, editing, burning and viewing high-definition video captured in the native HDV 1080i format. Up to 230 minutes of high-definition HDV 1080i video can be stored on a BD-R/RE 50 GB disc. In addition, the software supports recording on DVDs and CDs, as well as playback of DVDs recorded in the Advanced Video Codec High Definition format.

Sony's BWU200S Blu-ray burner retails for $899. Details, 1300 720 071 or www.sony.com.au

Small packages

LaCie's Little Disk is a compact USB 2.0 external storage drive offering 60 GB of storage. Weighing in at 126 grams, the Little Disk features an integrated USB cable and requires no drivers under Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Mac OS 10.3 or higher. It comes with LaCieSync synchronisation and encryption software (Windows only), LaCie "1-Click" back-up software (Windows/Mac) and LaCie SilverKeeper back-up software (Mac) as well as a carry case.LaCie's Little Disk retails for $179. Details, (02) 9669 6900 or www.lacie.com/au