Acronis has released True Image 2013, the latest edition of its power-packed backup tool. And while the program isn’t exactly the most revolutionary of updates, it does include some important changes.

The new edition is now fully compatible with Windows 8, for instance, good news if you’re planning to upgrade on or near release date.

Acronis Online Backup has now been replaced by Acronis True Image Online. The details remain similar, with a $4.99 monthly/ $49.99 annual subscription getting you 250GB of online storage space, shareable by up to 5 PCs. But it’s now easier to access your data via a browser, mobile devices (iOS and Android) and more, and you’re able to create a public link to share particular files or folders in just a couple of clicks.

Acronis say synchronisation has been enhanced, too, with you now able to sync your data wherever it might be: on a PC, laptop, phone, tablet, network, USB key and so on.

Acronis True Image 2013 has plenty to offer - even if you don't pay extra for online storage space

And top of the more low-level tweaks has to be the new backup naming scheme, which ensures your archives get more meaningful names by default.

When we created our first test backup, for instance, it was saved in a folder, “My partitions”. And the file name then contains the backup method, backup number, sequential number and more (like “My partitions_full_b1_s1_v1.tib”), ensuring you can tell a great deal about any archive from its file name alone.

What’s clearly missing here is any form of free online backup account. Other services commonly manage to give away 2GB of web storage, sometimes more, but all Acronis are willing to do is provide a 30-day trial of the full 250GB account. Which seems a pity.

If you can live without the cloud features, though, there’s plenty of more earthbound backup functionality here. Acronis True Image 2013 can create file or image-based backups; run on-demand, on a schedule, or continuously; save your archives to DVD, USB keys, local, external or network drives; and has a stack of configuration options to ensure everything works just as you’d like. It remains one of the most powerful backup tools around, and a 30-day trial build of the new release is available if you’d like to sample these features for yourself.