How to clean install XP Home with Acronis True image 11
Alex
I have done a clean install of windows xp home and I have spent the
last 2 weeks updating, reinstalling and configuring programs the way I
want it to be. Since I now have a fresh install with everything set
and installed as I want, now I would like to 'freeze' this computer
state so that I can restore the system in no time in case of a crash
or just when doing the next clean install. I have been reading how to
use Acronis True Image 11 and if I understand this well, it is best to
create a disk image for this purpose and not a clone, right?
When later the need to start with a fresh/clean install arises, which
of the 2 methods do I have to follow:
1) install xp the classic way: boot with xp cd, delete partition,
create partition, quick format partition and install xp via the user
interface. Then reboot, install all drivers, install Acronis True
image 11 and use it to restore the disk image that I created.
OR
2) Simply use Acronis True image 11 to restore the saved disk image
without going through the xp setup stuff.
Will I have problems with windows activation/registration warnings
after I did the restore?
If using method 2 from above, will my boot drive be erased and
overwritten with the clean image (in other words, no more junk that
slows down the system)?
Last question: when does a bootable rescue media cd come into play? I
know how to create it but what's the advantage of having one? From
what I understand, it's a bootable cd that also contains the Acronis
True image 11 program so that you can boot up with it after your
computer crashed and start Acronis True image 11 from the CD and then
use it to restore your saved image?
Thanks in advance for the help
Alex
Patrick Keenan
news:ee4d2dcc-f4f7-4e00...@b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> Hello all,
>
> I have done a clean install of windows xp home and I have spent the
> last 2 weeks updating, reinstalling and configuring programs the way I
> want it to be. Since I now have a fresh install with everything set
> and installed as I want, now I would like to 'freeze' this computer
> state so that I can restore the system in no time in case of a crash
> or just when doing the next clean install. I have been reading how to
> use Acronis True Image 11 and if I understand this well, it is best to
> create a disk image for this purpose and not a clone, right?
Yes. For my usage, the term "clone" is to a new active hard disk, "image"
is for a stored file.
> When later the need to start with a fresh/clean install arises, which
> of the 2 methods do I have to follow:
> 1) install xp the classic way: boot with xp cd, delete partition,
> create partition, quick format partition and install xp via the user
> interface. Then reboot, install all drivers, install Acronis True
> image 11 and use it to restore the disk image that I created.
That would be rather pointless. Even ntbackup ASR doesn't require it.
> OR
> 2) Simply use Acronis True image 11 to restore the saved disk image
> without going through the xp setup stuff.
It's #2. You boot from the Acronis CD and point it to the image.
>
> Will I have problems with windows activation/registration warnings
> after I did the restore?
You might need to activate, you might not. This isn't a real problem,
since at worst it is a quick and free phone call.
> If using method 2 from above, will my boot drive be erased and
> overwritten with the clean image (in other words, no more junk that
> slows down the system)?
Yes. But it's also not "no more junk", it's "no more data".
So before you restore, you need to be sure that you did actually also save
your data.
Restoring this way is a commitment.
> Last question: when does a bootable rescue media cd come into play?
See your own explanation below, and your question above.
> I
> know how to create it but what's the advantage of having one?
See your question above for the reason.
> From
> what I understand, it's a bootable cd that also contains the Acronis
> True image 11 program so that you can boot up with it after your
> computer crashed and start Acronis True image 11 from the CD and then
> use it to restore your saved image?
Yes. But the restored image won't include data created after the image, so
casual use after a "crash" may not be appropriate.
HTH
-pk
Big_Al
Also have Acronis make a boot CD.
When you need to restore, you put the boot CD in the drive, boot, pick
the image (hopefully on some external media right?!) and restore it.
The restore rebuilds the HD. Its not a format but it just re-writes
everything back to day one.
I suggest you also test this procedure, not to the point of reloading
but I suggest you boot from the CD and try to find your image. Just
simply find it. Some people seem to have issues with external USB
drives or whatever. If you can find the image file and then abort
you're more than likely good to go.
The boot CD has value in that if you are horribly infected you can't
boot some times. Also I can't begin to count the number of problems
you would have running Acronis from a HD and trying to reload it at the
same time. A quite improbable function.
Max Wachtel
<news:ee4d2dcc-f4f7-4e00...@b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
after much thought, came up with this jewel:
You want to create the bootable disk with the Acronis program. Then if
you get in trouble you can restore the image using the Acronis boot disk
(just follow the prompts). If you activated windows before you made the
image, then you will not have to do it again. You do not need to
partition or format or use the windows install disk again because you
already have a clean/fresh install from the image of your fresh/clean
install. Works very well- I have never had a problem using it.
--
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Gary Brandenburg
"Alex" <ad1...@telenet.be> wrote in message
news:ee4d2dcc-f4f7-4e00...@b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
Alex-
You don't need to create a boot disk if you have the Acronis install disk, in spite
of what the last 2 responders say.
(perhaps they didn't see the part about you having this disk,already)
~Gary
Unknown
news:ee4d2dcc-f4f7-4e00...@b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>
> I have done a clean install of windows xp home and I have spent the
> last 2 weeks updating, reinstalling and configuring programs the way I
> want it to be. Since I now have a fresh install with everything set
> and installed as I want, now I would like to 'freeze' this computer
> state so that I can restore the system in no time in case of a crash
> or just when doing the next clean install. I have been reading how to
> use Acronis True Image 11 and if I understand this well, it is best to
> create a disk image for this purpose and not a clone, right?
It's best to store the image backup file to external media.
>
> When later the need to start with a fresh/clean install arises, which
> of the 2 methods do I have to follow:
> 1) install xp the classic way: boot with xp cd, delete partition,
> create partition, quick format partition and install xp via the user
> interface. Then reboot, install all drivers, install Acronis True
> image 11 and use it to restore the disk image that I created.
> OR
> 2) Simply use Acronis True image 11 to restore the saved disk image
> without going through the xp setup stuff.
You use the True Image "Rescue CD" and boot from this CD to
restore the PC back to that "fresh install with everything set and
installed" state.
Note: You need to create the "Rescue CD" after you install True
Image, so the user's manual on how to create the CD.
>
> Will I have problems with windows activation/registration warnings
> after I did the restore?
No.
>
> If using method 2 from above, will my boot drive be erased and
> overwritten with the clean image (in other words, no more junk that
> slows down the system)?
Your boot drive will be overwritten and only contains what was on
the boot drive when you created the image backup. So all updates
to Windows and applications installed after creating the
image backup will need to be reapplied
>
> Last question: when does a bootable rescue media cd come into play? I
> know how to create it but what's the advantage of having one? From
> what I understand, it's a bootable cd that also contains the Acronis
> True image 11 program so that you can boot up with it after your
> computer crashed and start Acronis True image 11 from the CD and then
> use it to restore your saved image?
If your hard drive should fail then the only way you can restore the
image is by booting from the CD and using that image file you save
on external media.
Note: I use Norton's Ghost and that is the exact process I used
(Norton's Restore CD) to restore the image file to a new drive
yesterday as my old boot drive was failing.
This is the PC I'm using now and it's exactly as it was when I created
the image backup file.
>
> Thanks in advance for the help
>
> Alex
Gary Brandenburg
Make that-the last 3 responders.(before mine)
You have a bootable disk with the Acronis disk.
From the user manual:
<snip>
If you purchased the boxed product, you already have such a bootable CD, because the
installation CD contains, besides the program installation files, the Acronis True
Image Home standalone bootable version.
If you purchased Acronis True Image Home on the Web, you can create bootable media
using the Bootable Rescue Media Builder.
<end of snip>
~Gary
RMD
wrote:
Alex,
I've restored XP computers quite a few times from a C-drive image
file. (Which btw must use the Acronis TI boot CD to do this, as others
have said.)
I've never had to reactivate XP, even when I've upgraded the C-drive
to a new bigger drive.
Btw I always do my image backup to a second hard drive (or a second
partition on a single drive), since I have sometimes had trouble
getting the Acronis TI boot CD to find USB external drives with some
computers. With an internal second drive or partition Acronis TI is
sure-fire never-fail.
Ross
Lil' Dave
news:ee4d2dcc-f4f7-4e00...@b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>
> I have done a clean install of windows xp home and I have spent the
> last 2 weeks updating, reinstalling and configuring programs the way I
> want it to be. Since I now have a fresh install with everything set
> and installed as I want, now I would like to 'freeze' this computer
> state so that I can restore the system in no time in case of a crash
> or just when doing the next clean install. I have been reading how to
> use Acronis True Image 11 and if I understand this well, it is best to
> create a disk image for this purpose and not a clone, right?
A simple answer to this may reside in what type of media you intend to save
this data to. This you never divulge in your post, only ask regarding a
bootable CD containing TI's boot files. A clone can only be saved to
another hard drive with adequate empty space for another partition, not free
file space.
>
> When later the need to start with a fresh/clean install arises, which
> of the 2 methods do I have to follow:
> 1) install xp the classic way: boot with xp cd, delete partition,
> create partition, quick format partition and install xp via the user
> interface. Then reboot, install all drivers, install Acronis True
> image 11 and use it to restore the disk image that I created.
TI doesn't use the virtual boot image method used by another maker of
imaging software for restoration of the boot partition. So, this method
will not work for the your intended purpose.
> OR
> 2) Simply use Acronis True image 11 to restore the saved disk image
> without going through the xp setup stuff.
>
If you boot from TI's boot CD, yes.
> Will I have problems with windows activation/registration warnings
> after I did the restore?
>
As long as the hardware did not change since you made the original image.
If the hardware has since changed, you open a Pandora's box of what ifs and
what hardware changes will cause the activation requirement to be required.
> If using method 2 from above, will my boot drive be erased and
> overwritten with the clean image (in other words, no more junk that
> slows down the system)?
The boot partition will be wiped, a new partition written based on the data
on the saved image, then the file system and corresponding files will be
recreated from the data on the saved image, subsequently, the master boot
record of the hard disk drive will be updated..
>
> Last question: when does a bootable rescue media cd come into play? I
When you intend to recreate your boot partition from media that only
contains the image file. Or, when a CD written with the TI boot files fails
to recognize the boot section of the CD while attempting to boot from that.
> know how to create it but what's the advantage of having one? From
> what I understand, it's a bootable cd that also contains the Acronis
> True image 11 program so that you can boot up with it after your
> computer crashed and start Acronis True image 11 from the CD and then
> use it to restore your saved image?
See my reply above.
--
Dave
Theslaz
your eggs all in one basket. Use two different programs to back up your
data. I now use Acronis and a small free ware program called DriveImage
XML. Reason being; just last week I attempted to restore my computer via
a Acronis back up image I had; half way through the restore procedure;
Acronis said that the back up image was corrupt and it couldn't proceed.
Was left with a computer with no operating system and of course no
files. Had to do a restore from the original setup disk. No big deal;
but that won't happen again.
I also agree with a previous poster that mentioned that you should
"Test" your back up file; just to see if it is a good working file.
One mans opinion!!
Mike Torello
> From personal experience; I would suggest to anyone that you do not put
>your eggs all in one basket. Use two different programs to back up your
>data. I now use Acronis and a small free ware program called DriveImage
>XML. Reason being; just last week I attempted to restore my computer via
>a Acronis back up image I had; half way through the restore procedure;
>Acronis said that the back up image was corrupt and it couldn't proceed.
>Was left with a computer with no operating system and of course no
>files. Had to do a restore from the original setup disk. No big deal;
>but that won't happen again.
Might be a good reason to keep a couple older backups.
Alex
image and saved it on my external usb drive. Then I created a bootable
rescue cd. I started the pc with the cd and I could navigate through
the acronis user interface. From there I selected the option to
validate backup image. It appears to be a valid backup since I didn't
get any warnings.
Some questions:
1) when making a disk image, there was a box that I left unchecked
that said "create an image using the sector-by-sector approach". Is it
recommended to use this method or not? I left it OFF (default) since I
got an indication that the backup would be 4 times smaller.
2) another option was to split the archive. I left this setting to
automatic. Now I have 9 separate backup files of each around 4GB
large. Can't it make one large file? There was no option for not
splitting.
3) when validating the backup, do you have to do this for each of the
9 files or is it sufficiënt to highlight the number 1 file? It takes
about 20min to validate one file. And if the validation process is
successful, does that mean that a restore would be successful too?
Unknown
drive is formatted FAT32, which has a file size
limit of 4GB.
Most USB drive manufactures format USB drives
as FAT for compatibility with other Operating Systems.
If the Image Backup you created was a test
backup, then start over by formatting the USB
drive as NTFS and then create another image
backup.
As for your other two questions I can't help
as I use Norton's Ghost, and if you had Ghost
you would still see nine files.
"Alex" <ad1...@telenet.be> wrote in message
news:4ed731f9-0451-43a8...@r10g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
Twayne
> successfully
> created a disk image and saved it on my external
> usb
> drive. Then I created a bootable rescue cd. I
> started the
> pc with the cd and I could navigate through the
> acronis
> user interface. From there I selected the option
> to
> validate backup image. It appears to be a valid
> backup
> since I didn't get any warnings.
>
> Some questions:
> 1) when making a disk image, there was a box
> that I left
> unchecked that said "create an image using the
> sector-by-sector approach". Is it recommended to
> use this
> method or not? I left it OFF (default) since I
> got an
> indication that the backup would be 4 times
> smaller.
Sector-by-sector would usually be a "clone"
operation but I don't know what TI does; I'm a
Ghost user myself. That way when you do a
Restore, everythign goes back to exactly the same
position on the disk; fragmentation and all. Not
sure what TI is about though; see the manual, I
guess.
>
> 2) another option was to split the archive. I
> left this
> setting to automatic. Now I have 9 separate
> backup files
> of each around 4GB large. Can't it make one
> large file?
> There was no option for not splitting.
As someone mentioned, if the disk is FAT
formatted, 4 Gig is the largest file size it can
manage. The other possibility if it's an NTFS
formatted drive is that it chunked the files so
they could be copied to DVD (abt 4.3 Gig max more
or less actually fits on them) unless you have the
newest types.
I create 3.9 Gig chunks on mine so anytime I
want to I can create a set of DVDs for permanent
storage if I wish to, in order to keep various
configurations around. Once in a great while I
want something from one of those old archives
that's not on the machine anymore.
If the drive is NTFS formatted, then I'm sure
TI could create just one file instead of the
several smaller ones. Time to RTFM, probably.
I've never heard anyone say TI can't make just one
file for a backup and I'm sure it would have been
discussed were that the case. Am I wrong?
>
> 3) when validating the backup, do you have to do
> this for
> each of the 9 files or is it sufficiënt to
> highlight the
> number 1 file? It takes about 20min to validate
> one file.
> And if the validation process is successful,
> does that
> mean that a restore would be successful too?
Everybody is liable to have a different opinion
here. When something is new, I usually have it
validate everything the first several times. If
no validation errors ever occur, then I turn it
off for any backups that don't occur unattended.
To me it's just a way to make sure your machine is
perfectly compatible with the software and once
you're sure it is, there's no more need to
validate everything unless you think there are
problems occurring; in which case I'd turn it back
on if it was off.
Once you get going, the extra time cost of things
like validation aren't really an issue because
you'll likely schedule backups, incrementals,
whatever, to happen overnight whle the machine is
unattended. It gets real old in a hurry watching
a backup happen and trying to do other things too,
which just extends the length of time the backup
takes. Basically, I don't watch pots boil; the
novelty can wear off pretty quick<g>.
HTH,
Twayne
Alex
> The reason you have nine files is that your USB
> drive is formatted FAT32, which has a file size
> limit of 4GB.
>
> Most USB drive manufactures format USB drives
> as FAT for compatibility with other Operating Systems.
>
> If the Image Backup you created was a test
> backup, then start over by formatting the USB
> drive as NTFS and then create another image
> backup.
Great, that explains the split files. I had the external usb drive
attached as a NAS to my router and apparently I couldn't format the
drive in NTFS so it was FAT. I plugged the external drive directly to
my pc now and formatted it in NTFS as it should be! Now I have only
one backup file of around 36GB. I think I now know the most important
stuff how to use a disk image, thanks all for that.
Now that I mentioned NAS, does anyone know why the original file dates
get changed as soon as I copied a file to the external usb drive that
was connected to my router? For instance, a file last edited 2 weeks
ago would after copying it to the NAS have the actual date and time.
This is annoying since an incremental backup would overwrite ALL files
instead of only the changed ones. I have this question in another
thread but it's still unanswered. Thought you backup-pro's would
know:) Maybe it's a problem inherent to usb nas drives only but not
when you have a real NAS with fast/gigabit ethernet port?
Thanks!
spamme0
are some things to consider.
Job ONE at M$ is prevention of software piracy. The will do everything
possible to prevent copying. That significantly complicates backing
up/restoring.
Job TWO at M$ is security. They don't want you to be able to access
other's data via a backup.
Because of those, I suggest you ALWAYS boot from the rescue media
when imaging your drive. While you can backup from within windows, you're
at the mercy of the latest M$ security and antipiracy "fixes".
Remove any extra memory devices. I've had issues when TI
enumerated drives differently from Windows.
Always test your images by restoring to a blank disk. Just yesterday,
I had a TI restore go to 100% then crash...sorry for any inconvenience.
Always have a windows install disk handy. fixboot has saved my bacon more
than once.
Alex
So what you're saying is when you make backups with TI you should do
this from a non-windows environment by booting with the TI rescue disk
and running the backup form there, just as you would with a restore
process? Thanks for this important info, I haven't read this anywhere
yet.
PS: You forgot M$'s most important job: screw all users by making NON-M
$ software+hardware incompatible with their products and screwing them
even more by making sure everyone has to continuously upgrade their M$
software+hardware to maintain compatibility WITHIN M$ products. User
friendliness is what they call it I think. What will be their next
step, a toilet seat that runs on windows PISSTA v1.2.5.62.1./5b for
which you have to download updates to be able to flush it??
Anna
Alex:
I know you've rec'd quite a few responses to your post so perhaps your
queries have been answered to your satisfaction. But in case they haven't...
Perhaps the following step-by-step instructions for using the ATI program
may be of some value to you. I prepared them some time ago for members of a
local computer club and as you will note they apply to versions 9 & 10 of
the ATI program, so I'm not entirely sure whether they will likewise apply
to your version 11 although I believe the general steps should apply with
some minor modifications. In any event, here they are...
Step-by-Step Instructions for Using the Acronis True Image Program to Backup
& Restore One's Hard Drive...
Using the Acronis True Image program there are two different approaches one
can take to back up the entire contents of one's day-to-day working HDD,
i.e., the operating system, all programs & applications, and user-created
data - in short, *everything* that's on one's HDD...
1. Direct disk-to-disk cloning, or,
2. Creating disk images
By using either of these strategies the user can restore his or her system
should their day-to-day working HDD become inoperable because of
mechanical/electronic failure of the disk or corruption of the system
resulting in a dysfunctional operating system.
In undertaking either of these two backup & recovery processes you're
dealing with two hard drives - the so-called source & destination disks -
the source disk being the HDD you're backing up and the destination disk
being the HDD that will be the recipient of the cloned contents of the
source disk or the recipient of the disk image you will be creating.
When using either process it's usually best for most users to use an
external HDD as the destination drive, i.e., the recipient of the cloned
contents of the source disk or the recipient of the created disk image. This
can be either a USB or Firewire or SATA external HDD. While another internal
HDD can also serve as the destination disk there's an additional element of
safety in using an external HDD since that drive will be ordinarily
disconnected from the system except during the disk cloning or recovery
process.
One other suggestion. After you install the Acronis program on your computer
it's a good idea to create what Acronis calls their "Bootable Rescue Media"
(CD). In most cases the recovery process (described below) will utilize that
Acronis bootable CD to restore your system. This "rescue" CD is easily
created from the program by clicking on the "Create Bootable Rescue Media"
icon on the opening Acronis screen and simply going through the screens to
create the bootable CD.
The Acronis True Image program CD is also bootable.
The following are step-by-step instructions for using the Acronis True Image
9 program to clone the contents of one HDD to an external HDD. (The steps
are essentially the same using the newer ATI 10 version):
1. With both hard drives (source & destination disks) connected, boot up.
Ensure that no other storage devices, e.g., flash drives, ZIP drives, etc.,
are connected. It's also probably a good idea to shut down any programs you
may have working in the background - including any anti-virus anti-spyware
programs - before undertaking this disk-to-disk cloning operation.
2. Access the Acronis True Image 9 program and under "Pick a Task", click
on "Clone Disk". (In the ATI 10 version click on "Manage Hard Disks" in the
"Pick a Tool" area and on the next screen click on "Clone Disk").
3. On the next "Welcome to the Disk Clone Wizard!" window, click Next.
4. On the next "Clone Mode" window select the Automatic option (it should
be the default option selected) and click Next.
5. On the next "Source Hard Disk" window, ensure that the correct source
HDD (the disk you're cloning from) has been selected (click to highlight).
Click Next.
6. On the next "Destination Hard Disk" window, ensure that the correct
destination HDD (the disk you're cloning to) has been selected (again, click
to highlight). Click Next.
7. On the next window, select the option "Delete partitions on the
destination hard disk". Understand that all data presently on the disk that
will be the recipient of the clone will be deleted prior to the disk cloning
operation. Click Next.
8. The next window will reflect the source and destination disks. Again,
confirm that the correct drives have been selected. Click Next.
9. On the next window click on the Proceed button. A message box will
display indicating that a reboot will be required to undertake the disk
cloning operation. Click Reboot.
10. The cloning operation will proceed during the reboot. With modern
components and a medium to high-powered processor, data transfer rate will
be somewhere in the range of about 450 MB/min to 800 MB/min when cloning to
a USB external HDD; considerably faster when cloning to another internal
HDD.
11. When the disk cloning operation has been completed, a message will
(usually) appear indicating the disk cloning process has been successful and
instructs you to shut down the computer by pressing any key. Do so and
disconnect your USB external HDD. If, however, the destination drive (the
recipient of the clone) has been another *internal* HDD, see the NOTE below.
12. Note that the cloned contents now residing on the USB external HDD take
on the file system of the source drive. For example, if prior to the
disk-cloning operation your USB external HDD had been FAT32-formatted and
your XP OS was NTFS-formatted, the cloned contents will be NTFS-formatted.
There is no need to format the USB external HDD prior to the disk-cloning
operation. Similarly, there is no need prior to the disk-cloning operation
to format an internal HDD should you be using an internal HDD as the
destination drive .
13. Restoration of the system can be achieved by cloning the contents of the
data residing on the external HDD to an internal HDD through the normal
disk-cloning process as described above.
NOTE: Just one other point that should be emphasized with respect to the
disk cloning operation should the recipient of the clone be another internal
HDD and not a USB or Firewire external HDD. Immediately following the disk
cloning operation the machine should be shutdown and the source HDD should
be disconnected. Boot ONLY to the newly-cloned drive. DO NOT BOOT
IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CLONING OPERATION WITH BOTH DRIVES CONNECTED.
There's a strong possibility that by doing so it is likely to cause future
boot problems with the cloned drive. Obviously there is no problem in this
area should a USB or Firewire EHD be the recipient of the clone since that
device is not ordinarily bootable in an XP environment.
Disk Imaging: The following are step-by-step instructions for using the
Acronis True Image 9 Program to create disk images for backup purposes and
using those disk images for recovery of the system. (The steps are
essentially the same using the newer ATI 10 version):
Note: The recipient of the disk image, presumably a USB external HDD or an
internal HDD, ordinarily must be a formatted drive and have a drive letter
assigned to it. Recall that in the case of a disk-to-disk cloning operation
as previously described, an unformatted or "virgin" HDD can be used as the
destination disk.
Before undertaking this disk imaging process it's probably best to close all
programs running in the background including your anti-virus and other
anti-malware programs.
1. With both your source and destination hard drives connected, access the
Acronis program and click "Backup" on main menu.
2. The "Create Backup Wizard" screen opens. Click Next.
3. The "Select Backup Type" screen opens with two options: a. The entire
disk contents or individual partitions. b. Files and folders. Select a. and
click Next.
(In the ATI 10 version four options will be listed: My Computer, My Data, My
Application Settings, and My E-mail. Select the My Computer option and click
Next.)
4. The "Partitions Selection" screen opens. Disk 1 and Disk 2 are listed
with their drive letter designations. Check the disk to be backed up -
presumably Disk 1 - and click Next.
5. An informational message appears recommending an incremental or
differential backup if an original full backup had previously been created.
Since this will be the first backup we will be selecting, just click OK to
close the message box. (You can tick the box not to show that informational
message in the future).
6. Next screen is the "Backup Archive Location". In the "File name:" text
box, (in ATI 10 version it's the "Folder:" text box) enter your backup drive
letter and enter a file name for the backup file, e.g., "F:\Backup 6-25".
The Acronis program will automatically append the ".tib" file extension to
the filename. Click Next.
7. "Select Backup Mode" screen opens. Select "Create a new full backup
archive" option and click Next.
8. "Choose Backup Options" screen opens with two options:
a. Use default options
b. Set the options manually.
If you select the b. option, you can select various options listed on the
next screen. Two of them are of interest to us:
Compression level - Four options - None, Normal (the default), High,
Maximum. There's a "Description" area that shows the estimated size of the
backup archive depending upon the option chosen, and the estimated "creation
time" for each option.
Backup priority - Three options - Low, Normal, or High
Low - "backup processed more slowly, but it will not influence other
processes running on computer."
(Default) Normal - "normal speed but backup process will influence other
processes running on computer."
High - "normal speed but backup process will strongly influence other
processes running on computer."
With respect to the compression levels, we've found that when using the
Normal option the original data is compressed by about 20% - 25% (in some
cases much greater) and that the High and Maximum options will result in a
compressed backup file only slightly higher. However, the amount of time to
create the backup files when using the High or Maximum compression level is
substantially greater than when using the Normal compression level. So
unless disk space is very tight on the destination drive, i.e., the drive
where the backup file will be saved, we recommend using the Normal
compression level (at least initially).
NOTE: You can set the Compression level and Backup priority defaults from
the Acronis Tools > Options > Default backup options menu items.
9. "Archive comments" screen opens allowing you to add comments to the
backup archive which you can review during the Recovery process. Click Next.
10. The next screen summarizes the backup operation to be performed. Review
the information for correctness and click the Proceed button.
11. The next screen will display status bars reflecting the progress of the
backup operation. After the backup operation finishes, an informational
message will appear indicting the operation was successfully completed.
Incremental Backups (Disk Images)
1. After the initial backup archive has been created you can create
incremental backups reflecting any data changes since the previous backup
operation. This incremental backup process proceeds considerably faster than
the initial backup operation. This, of course, is a major advantage of
creating disk images rather than undertaking the disk-to-disk cloning
process. Then too, since these created disk images are compressed files they
are reasonable in size. And because the incremental disk images can usually
be created very quickly (as compared with the direct disk-to-disk cloning
process), there's an incentive for the user to keep his/her system
up-to-date backup-wise by using this disk imaging process on a more frequent
basis than the disk-cloning process.
Note that you must create the incremental backup files on the same HDD where
you stored the original backup archive and any subsequent incremental backup
files.
2. Access the Acronis program as detailed above and move through the
screens. When you arrive at the "Backup Archive Location" screen, click on
the original backup archive file, or if one or more incremental backup files
were previously created, click on the last incremental backup file and
verify that the correct drive letter and file name are shown in the "File
name:" text box. After clicking Next, the program will automatically create
a file name for the incremental backup archive file, using the original file
name and appending a consecutive number - starting at 2 - at the end of the
file name. For example, say you named the original backup archive file
"Backup 6-25". The first incremental backup file will be automatically named
"Backup 6-252" and the next incremental file "Backup 6-253", etc.
NOTE THAT ALL YOUR INCREMENTAL BACKUP FILES MUST BE PRESENT FOR RECOVERY
PURPOSES. DO NOT DELETE ANY OF YOUR PREVIOUSLY-CREATED INCREMENTAL BACKUP
FILES FOLLOWING THE CREATION OF A CURRENT INCREMENTAL BACKUP FILE. YOU CAN
DELETE THE INCREMENTAL FILES ONLY AFTER CREATING A FULL BACKUP ARCHIVE AS
DESCRIBED IN THE PREVIOUS SECTION.
3. On the following "Select Backup Mode" screen, select the "Create
incremental Backup" option, click Next, and proceed through the screens as
you did in creating the initial backup archive.
Recovery Process (Disk images): We'll assume the recovery will be to either
a non-defective HDD that has become unbootable for one reason or another, or
to a new HDD. The HDD to be restored need not be partitioned/formatted since
the recovery process will take care of that function.
Note that in most cases you will be using the Acronis "Bootable Rescue
"Media" (CD) that you created when you originally installed the Acronis
program. If you didn't create that bootable CD at that time, you can create
it now from the Acronis program (assuming You can access the program at this
time) by clicking on the "Create Bootable Rescue Media" icon on the opening
Acronis screen and simply going through the screens to create the bootable
CD.
The Acronis True Image program CD is also bootable.
Note: If the recovery will be made to a HDD that is still bootable and
you're able to access the Acronis program on that drive, then you can
undertake the recovery process without the need for using the "bootable
rescue" CD.
1. With both the drive containing the backup disk images and the drive you
want to restore connected and with the bootable rescue CD inserted, boot up.
2. At the opening screen, click on "Acronis True Image Home (Full Version)".
3. The program will open after some moments. On the "Pick a Task" screen
that opens, click on "Recovery".
4. The "Welcome to the Restore Data Wizard!" screen opens. Click on Next.
5. The "Archive Selection" screen opens. Navigate to the drive containing
the backup archive file(s) and select the last incremental backup file or
the original full backup file if no incremental backup files were
subsequently created. Ensure that the correct drive letter and filename are
entered in the "File name:" text box. Click Next.
6. In the Acronis version 9 program, the "Archive Date Selection" screen
opens. Select (highlight) the last incremental backup file from the listing
and click Next. This screen does not appear in version 10.
7. The "Restoration Type Selection" screen opens. Select the option,
"Restore disks or partitions" and click Next.
8. The "Partition or Disk to Restore" will open. Click on "Disk 1" and click
Next.
9. After some moments the "Restored Hard Disk Drive Location" screen opens.
Select (highlight) the HDD to be restored and click Next.
10. On the next screen select the "Yes" option to delete all current
partitions on the destination HDD. Click Next.
11. On the next screen select the "No" option and click Next.
12. On the next screen you have the option to validate the backup archive
before restoration. Click Next.
13. The final screen before the restoration operation begins will open.
Confirm that the information as shown is correct. Click Proceed.
14. Click OK when following completion of the recovery operation a message
appears indicating a successful recovery operation.
15. Remove the Acronis bootable rescue CD and close the Acronis program. The
system will reboot. A Windows "Found New Hardware" message followed by the
"System Settings Change" message box may appear on the Desktop. If they do,
click Yes for a reboot.
Again, I prepared the above step-by-step instructions re the ATI v9 & v10
programs. Hopefully they will apply (for the most part) to v11 as well.
Anna
Mike Torello
>So what you're saying is when you make backups with TI you should do
>this from a non-windows environment by booting with the TI rescue disk
>and running the backup form there, just as you would with a restore
>process? Thanks for this important info, I haven't read this anywhere
>yet.
Because it's totally unnecessary. Do it from within Windows.
Jonathan Harker
>Alex:
>I know you've rec'd quite a few responses to your post so perhaps your
>queries have been answered to your satisfaction. But in case they haven't...
Holy CRAP! 300+ lines, not including the quoted material!!!
That's just plain excessive.
Alias
Get the fuck over your anal tendencies.
Alias
Cody Jarrett
Ya think!? <g>
Alex
have written the manual for the program, it's simple and
straightforward.
One thing isn't clear yet though: I have looked up the terms
differential and incremental backup in the manual but the explanation
is chinese to me. First of, the manual says "All archive files must be
in the same folder. This folder can span multiple CDs or DVDs". Isn't
this contradictory? How can one and the same folder be on disk 1 as
well as on disk 2? Or do they simply mean that the folder NAME
containing the backup files should be the same, e.g. disk 1 has a
folder named "My_backups" containing one full image and 5 incremental
images, while disk 2 has the same "My_backups" folder containing the
last 3 differential backups?
Second, what I understand is that incremental backups save changes
since the last full or incremental backup so you have at least 1 full
image file and 1 or more incremental files. A differential backup
however records changes since your first, full backup so does this
mean that with differential you always have 2 files: the full and the
differential and when you want to make another backup, then delete the
differential and create a new differential?? I need an aspirine.
Examples maybe illustrating the difference. Sorry about the noobish
question but I don't talk bits and bytes.
Anna
Alex:
I thing you've got the distinction between incremental & differential files
(or what Acronis terms "archives") just about right.
Here's a description of each straight from Acronis...
"Incremental backup:
Backs up only changes that occurred since the last backup. When starting for
the first time, the incremental backup requires a full backup archive. All
subsequent archives are based on the most recent incremental backup. An
incremental archive file requires less storage space, but for restoration
from the archive, you will be prompted to provide the base full archive and
all subsequent backups. All archive files must be in the same folder.
Incremental backup:
Backs up only changes that occurred since the last full backup. A
differential archive file requires less storage space than a full backup but
more space than an incremental one. For restoration from the archive, you
will be prompted to provide the base full archive and differential backup
only. Both must be in the same folder."
I also have the following in my notes and I think these are also direct
quotes from Acronis, but I'm not absolutely certain of that...
"Both differential and incremental backups are "smart" backups that save
time and disk space by only backing up changed files. But they differ
significantly in how they do it - and how useful the result is.
A full backup created from within Windows, of course, backs up all the files
in a partition or on a disk by copying all disk sectors with data to the
backup image file. Creating a full backup for unknown or damaged file
systems Acronis True Image copies all sectors to the image file, whether or
not the sector contains data. This is the simplest form of backup, but it is
also the most time-consuming, space-intensive and the least flexible.
Typically full backups are only done once a week and are part of an overall
backup plan. Sometimes a full backup is done after a major change of the
data on the disk, such as an operating system upgrade or software install.
The relatively long intervals between backups mean that if something goes
wrong, a lot of data is going to be lost. That's why it is wise to back up
data between full backups.
Most of the information on a computer changes very slowly or not at all.
This includes the applications themselves, the operating system and even
most of the user data. Typically, only a small percentage of the information
in a partition or disk changes on a daily, or even a weekly, basis. For that
reason, it makes sense only to back up the data that has changed on a daily
basis. This is the basis of sophisticated backup strategies.
Differential backups were the next step in the evolution of backup
strategies. A differential backup backs up only the files that changed since
the last full back. For example, suppose you do a full backup on Sunday. On
Monday you back up only the files that changed since Sunday, on Tuesday you
back up only the files that changed since Sunday, and so on until the next
full backup. Differential backups are quicker than full backups because so
much less data is being backed up. But the amount of data being backed up
grows with each differential backup until the next full back up.
Differential backups are more flexible than full backups, but still unwieldy
to do more than about once a day, especially as the next full backup
approaches.
Incremental backups also back up only the changed data, but they only back
up the data that has changed since the last backup - be it a full or
incremental backup. They are sometimes called "differential incremental
backups," while differential backups are sometimes called "cumulative
incremental backups." Confused yet? Don't be.
If you do an incremental backup on Tuesday, you only back up the data that
changed since the incremental backup on Monday. The result is a much
smaller, faster backup. The characteristic of incremental backups is the
shorter the time interval between backups, the less data to be backed up. In
fact, with sophisticated backup software like Acronis True Image, the
backups are so small and so fast you can actually back up every hour, or
even more frequently, depending on the work you're doing and how important
it is to have current backups.
While incremental backups give much greater flexibility and granularity
(time between backups), they have the reputation for taking longer to
restore because the backup has to be reconstituted from the last full backup
and all the incremental backups since. Acronis True Image uses special
snapshot technology to rebuild the full image quickly for restoration. This
makes incremental backups much more practical for the average enterprise."
And this explanation is from another source that I once came across on the
net...
"What is differential backup?
A differential backup contains all files that have changed since the last
FULL backup. The advantage of a differential backup is that it shortens
restore time compared to a full backup or an incremental backup. However, if
you perform the differential backup too many times, the size of the
differential backup might grow to be larger than the baseline full backup.
Description of the differential backup type:
There is a significant, but sometimes confusing, distinction between
differential backup and incremental backup. Whereas incremental backs up all
the files modified since the last full backup or incremental backup,
differential backup offers a middle ground by backing up all the files that
have changed since the last full backup. That is where it gets its name: it
backs up everything that's different since the last full backup.
Restoring a differential backup is a faster process than restoring an
incremental backup because only two backup container files are needed: the
latest full backup and the latest differential.
Use differential backup if you have a reasonable amount of time to perform
backups. The upside is that only two backup container files are needed to
perform a complete restore. The downside is if you run multiple differential
backups after your full backup, you're probably including some files in each
differential backup that were already included in earlier differential
backups, but haven't been recently modified.
Advantages:
Restore is faster than restoring from incremental backup
Backing up is faster than a full backup
The storage space requirements are lower than for full backup
Disadvantages:
Restore is slower than restoring from full backup
Backing up is slower than incremental backup
The storage space requirements are higher than for incremental backup"
In any event you might want to try both approaches to see if you're
particularly
comfortable with one or the other. One of our chief concerns is with the
speed of the backup process (we're not particularly concerned with the speed
of the recovery process since (hopefully!) that would be a rare event) so
we've found that the incremental backup process better suits us. But do
experiment for yourself.
Anna
Alex
differential backup iso incremental backup, but I've got your point so
no worries. I never thought backups could be so confusing. Having read
all this I was wondering how my backup would look like in the
following example:
Assume I want to backup on a daily basis and after 2 weeks I do a
complete backup:
METHOD 1(incremental):
Day 1: full backup
Day 2: incremental backup 1
Day 13: there will be 12 Incremental files
Day 14: Make a new full backup and delete all previous backup files.
METHOD 2(differential):
Day 1: full backup
Day 2: differential backup 1
Day 3: differential backup 2 and delete differential backup 1 since
differential 2 already contains all changes since the full backup
Day 13: there will be 1 full backup file and 1 differential file
Day 14: new full backup and delete the previous 2 backup files
Difference:
METHOD 1:
+ Faster backups than method 2
- Slower restore than method 2
+ On day 13 all 13 files(1 full + 12 incremental) take less space than
the 2 files in method 2 (1 full + 1differential)
METHOD 2:
- Slower backups
+ Faster restore
- Takes more space
Did I get this all right?
If correct, I would indeed prefer to use method 1 (incremental) too.
Thanks
Unknown
14.
I would keep at least a few earlier backups just in case your most recent
backup
is corrupted, contains a virus your not aware of until after day 14, or for
whatever
reason you want to roll your PC back to an earlier date.
"Alex" <ad1...@telenet.be> wrote in message
news:cfa1b3d2-f679-4dd0...@35g2000pry.googlegroups.com...
Anna
> OK, there's a typing error in paragraph 3 that should read
> differential backup iso incremental backup, but I've got your point so
> all this I was wondering how my backup would look like in the
> following example:
> Assume I want to backup on a daily basis and after 2 weeks I do a
> complete backup:
> METHOD 1(incremental):
> Day 1: full backup
> Day 2: incremental backup 1
> Day 13: there will be 12 Incremental files
> Day 14: Make a new full backup and delete all previous backup files.
>
> METHOD 2(differential):
> Day 1: full backup
> Day 2: differential backup 1
> Day 3: differential backup 2 and delete differential backup 1 since
> differential 2 already contains all changes since the full backup
> Day 13: there will be 1 full backup file and 1 differential file
> Day 14: new full backup and delete the previous 2 backup files
>
> Difference:
> METHOD 1:
> - Slower restore than method 2
> the 2 files in method 2 (1 full + 1differential)
> METHOD 2:
> - Slower backups
> - Takes more space
>
> Did I get this all right?
>
> If correct, I would indeed prefer to use method 1 (incremental) too.
>
> Thanks
Alex:
Sorry about the typo. It was pretty much a "cut & paste" job and while I
made some minor editing changes (mostly stylistic), I may have inserted a
typo or two.
Anyway, most users (in my experience) prefer the incremental backup routine
over the differential route for the basic reason you mentioned - it's
generally considerably faster in creating backups and that's really the
operation most users are primarily concerned with when employing a
comprehensive backup program such as the Acronis imaging program. Unless you
have some unusual needs you'll be backing up your system far more many times
than restoring the system.
Another advantage of the incremental backup process for some users is that
it provides the capability of creating "generational" copies of one's system
at different points-in-time. This capability can be particularly useful for
some users.
For the most part, given today's large-capacity disks no longer is providing
disk-space for backup files ("archives") a major consideration for most
users. Depending upon the size of these backups and their frequency, there
might not be much appreciable difference between the two approaches in terms
of disk-space requirements.
Still, why don't you experiment with both approaches? Get a feel for each
and then determine which best meets your specific needs.
Anna
Alex
Allright, I just made an incremental backup and it looks
straightforward to me. Now for the restore I would like to test this
on my secondary hard drive (D:) which may be formatted anyway. The
restore process won't be a problem I'm sure but what about when I want
to boot with the secondary drive just to test if all programs, files
and settings are put back as it was? Do I simply unplug the IDE cable
of my main hard drive (C:) and startup pc with only the D: drive
connected? My hard drives seem to be attached to 2 different slots on
the mobo with 2 different IDE cables as far as I can see. And when I'm
done testing the drive I re-attach everything the way it was and
startup again? I have a feeling that this is more tricky than I think
considering windows activation issues, a D: drive that suddenly
becomes a C: drive and then a D: drive again, and who knows what else.
spamme0
Backups are a problem because vendors plan and users don't.
The vendor objective is to have the biggest hard drive and the fewest
support calls...so you get one huge partition.
The user doesn't know any better or how to fix it.
Backing up a huge partition is so time/media consuming that users don't
do it.
Incremental backups are attractive because they only store the changed
stuff.
The bad news is that you can be in big trouble if your dog eats one
of the discs/tapes from the middle of the sequence.
The solution is to PLAN the backup FIRST.
WHY are you backing up and which method to use???
You need an image of the boot partition to overcome all the anti-piracy
and security roadblocks that M$ puts in your way. You need to be able to
restore the boot partition without jumping through a bunch of hoops.
Acronis is great for this. You want it to be quick, painless and foolproof.
Let me say that again...If it's hard do backup, you won't do it.
A backup strategy must be EASY to do.
You do NOT need a disk image to back up non-OS stuff, especially things
that don't change. You do not need continuous backups of fixed databases
like mapping programs. You do NOT need continuous backups of your music
collection or your porn collection. You do NOT need frequent backups of
stuff that's easy to reinstall.
I have multiple partitions on my hard drive.
For XP, I use 8GB.
For Vista, I use 14GB.
If you have a lot of memory and insist on having your swapfile
on c:, you may need more. Ditto if you use hibernation.
C: has the operating system and the few programs that won't install
elsewhere. Anything requiring activation or online
"mothermayIprettypleaseuseMYsoftware" needs to be part of the image.
There's no need to have a gigabyte of MS streetsandtrips
on c:. Put it on d: and don't back it up. It's trivial to reinstall
if you ever need it and takes little reconfiguration.
Consider the media you'll be using. My objective was to have a compressed
backup of c: fit on ONE DVD-RW.
Two, or three or six DVD's doesn't sound like a lot until you realize
that you have to sit there and watch it so you can swap the media.
If it's 14 or 21 or 42 CDRW, it's absurd. You WILL NOT DO IT often enough.
I have an external USB hard drive that I use to COPY data files from d:,
e: etc. I also save a copy of the c: image there. The external drive
is turned off 99.9% of the time so it doesn't get corrupted by malware.
If you want to backup to a USB hard drive, there's a speed issue to
consider. Some disk image programs have trouble with USB2.0. Backing
up/restoring at USB1 speeds is excruciating. For example, Acronis 8
rescue media
works fine at USB2.0 speed on my old system with the PCI USB card
using a NEC chipset. It only does USB1 speed on my newer system
with motherboard USB2.0 ports.
I bought a 16GB USB flash drive with the intention of backing up to it.
Much to my dismay, all my disk imaging programs think a USB flash drive
is a floppy and get all upset.
In a couple of clicks, I can painlessly do a full image of c:
to a DVD-RW or to a directory on d:
People give me grief when I insist on booting from the rescue media
to do a backup. Well, here's why...
If you always boot from the rescue media, you always get the same result.
You're gonna invest a lot of time making your first backup and
verifying that it works. To do it right, you have to replace your hard
drive and
restore to bare metal. Otherwise, you'll never know if the process works.
Once you get it working, it will always work.
If you backup from within windows, you're at the mercy of the latest
M$ critical update that sneaks in some more stuff to protect YOU
from piracy and breaks your backup/restore system.
Shouldn't be a problem, but it wouldn't be the first time
that an update screwed up something.
Sure, you can take the risk, but why?
After your hard drive dies is NOT the time to learn that your backups
haven't worked for the last six months.
Are we having fun yet?
Well, at least we're thinking...
mike
Alex
Thanks for the input. Everyone has his/her own backup strategies,
that's for sure. But what about the questions in my previous post: I
have a disk image on my external usb drive. I want to restore this
drive image to my secondary drive (D:) and boot with this drive only
to test if everything is restored properly. After that, I want to boot
up with my main C: drive as I used to, format my D: drive and use it
for data and backups. Do I leave all drives connected and change the
boot drive from BIOS or do I disconnect my main C: drive so that it
can only boot with D:? Or will my system detect that there are 2 boot
drives and ask me with which one I wish to boot? Or is it not as easy
as this?
Anna
On Jan 29, 11:23 pm, "Anna" <myn...@myisp.net> wrote:
> Alex:
(SNIP)
> Anyway, most users (in my experience) prefer the incremental backup
> routine over the differential route for the basic reason you mentioned -
> it's
> generally considerably faster in creating backups and that's really the
> operation most users are primarily concerned with when employing a
> comprehensive backup program such as the Acronis imaging program. Unless
> you have some unusual needs you'll be backing up your system far more many
> times than restoring the system.
>
> Another advantage of the incremental backup process for some users is that
> it provides the capability of creating "generational" copies of one's
> system at different points-in-time. This capability can be particularly
> useful
> for some users.
>
> For the most part, given today's large-capacity disks no longer is
> providing disk-space for backup files ("archives") a major consideration
> for most
> users. Depending upon the size of these backups and their frequency, there
> might not be much appreciable difference between the two approaches in
> terms of disk-space requirements.
>
> Still, why don't you experiment with both approaches? Get a feel for each
> and then determine which best meets your specific needs.
> Anna
"Alex" <ad1...@telenet.be> wrote in message
news:d155536e-092e-4d8a...@s9g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
Allright, I just made an incremental backup and it looks
straightforward to me. Now for the restore I would like to test this
on my secondary hard drive (D:) which may be formatted anyway. The
restore process won't be a problem I'm sure but what about when I want
to boot with the secondary drive just to test if all programs, files
and settings are put back as it was? Do I simply unplug the IDE cable
of my main hard drive (C:) and startup pc with only the D: drive
connected? My hard drives seem to be attached to 2 different slots on
the mobo with 2 different IDE cables as far as I can see. And when I'm
done testing the drive I re-attach everything the way it was and
startup again? I have a feeling that this is more tricky than I think
considering windows activation issues, a D: drive that suddenly
becomes a C: drive and then a D: drive again, and who knows what else.
Alex:
First of all you *cannot* restore the same disk that contains your backup
files (archives). The Acronis True Image program will not permit this.
What you could do is move or copy those backup files (archives) that you
created from their present storage on your secondary HDD to your source HDD
and then use the restore process to determine if the restoration has been
effective by "restoring" your secondary HDD.
So you can save the backup files (archives) to, for example, a folder you
create in your root C: directory, e.g., "Acronis backup files" and store the
files (archives) there. Understand this is solely for testing purposes since
it's obviously a poor idea to store backup files that are designed to be
used in the restoration process on the same physical disk that presumably
will be the drive that requires restoration. Should that source HDD fail
obviously there would be no way to access the backup archives in order to
restore the drive.
There's no need for any hardware configuration following the restoration
process. Following the recovery process you'll access your BIOS and change
the boot priority order to boot to the destination drive, in this case your
secondary HDD.
The process is not "tricky" at all. Just proceed through the Acronis screens
with reasonable diligence and you should have no problem.
Incidentally, I revised the step-by-step instructions for the Acronis v11
program as it involves its disk-imaging process. I would appreciate it if
you (or anyone familiar with the ATI Home v11 program) would check out the
following step-by-step instructions and let me know if there are any
misstatements or unclear material. I don't generally use the Acronis program
for comprehensive backup purposes any more since I prefer the Casper 5
disk-cloning program. (Casper does not have disk-imaging capability).
Thanks.
Disk Imaging: The following are step-by-step instructions for using the
Acronis True Image Home 11 program to create disk images for backup purposes
and using those disk images for recovery of the system...
Note: The recipient of the disk image, presumably a USB external HDD or an
internal HDD, ordinarily must be a formatted drive and have a drive letter
assigned to it.
Before undertaking this disk imaging process it's probably best to close all
programs running in the background including your anti-virus and other
anti-malware programs. It's also best that the only storage devices
connected to the PC are the two hard drives that will be involved in this
disk-imaging process - the "source" and "destination" drives.
1. With both your source and destination hard drives connected, access the
Acronis program and click "Backup and Restore" on the main menu.
2. On the following "Backup and Restore" screen click Backup.
3. The "Welcome to the Create Backup Wizard!" screen opens. Click Next.
4. The "Select Backup Type" screen opens. Select the default "My Computer"
option and click Next.
5. On the next screen select the default "Disks and partitions" option. By
so doing you will be backing up your entire system. Click Next.
6. The "Partitions Selection" screen opens reflecting the source and
destination disks and their partitions. Assuming you want to back up the
entire contents of your source HDD, check all the source disk's partitions.
Presumably this disk will be listed as "Disk 1" in most cases. Click Next.
7. On the next screen - "Source Files Exclusion" - do not check any of the
boxes; just click Next.
8. An informational message appears concerning the incremental or
differential backup process. Since this disk-imaging operation is the first
backup of your system, just click OK.
9. On the "Backup Archive Location" screen that opens click on the "+"
symbol next to the "My Computer" item so as to list all the drives connected
in the system. Select (highlight) the disk and folder you want to serve as
the destination drive for the disk image. The program will enter the drive
letter of that disk (we'll assume it's F: in this example) in the "Folder:"
text box at the bottom of the screen. Enter a file name for the backup file,
e.g., "Backup 1-30" so that the entry reads "F:\Backup 1-30.tib". Note that
the Acronis program automatically appends the ".tib" file extension to the
filename. Click Next.
10. The "Select Backup Mode" screen opens. Select the "Create a new full
backup archive" default option and click Next.
11. The "Choose Backup Options" screen opens with two options:
a. Use default options
b. Set the options manually.
If you select the "b." option, you can select various options listed on the
next screen. Two of them are of interest to us:
Compression level - Four options - None, Normal (the default), High,
Maximum. There's a "Description" area that shows the estimated size of the
backup archive depending upon the option chosen, and the estimated "creation
time" for each option.
Backup priority - Three options - Low, Normal, or High
Low - "...backup processed more slowly, but it will not influence other
processes running on computer."
(Default) Normal - "...normal speed but backup process will influence other
processes running on computer."
High - "...maximum speed but backup process will strongly influence other
processes running on computer."
With respect to the compression levels, we've found that when using the
Normal option the original data is compressed by about 20% - 25% (in most
cases in our experience closer to the former than the latter) and that the
High and Maximum options will compress the backup file (archive) only
slightly more than the Normal option. However, in general the amount of time
to create the backup files when using the High or Maximum compression level
is substantially greater than when using the Normal compression level. So
unless disk space is very tight on the destination drive, i.e., the drive
where the backup file will be saved, we recommend using the Normal
compression level (at least initially). Afterwards you may want to
experiment with selecting different options.
We generally select the "High" backup priority & "Normal" compression level
options.
NOTE: You can set the Compression level and Backup priority defaults from
the Acronis Tools > Options > Default backup options menu items.
12. The "Archive Comments" screen opens allowing you to add comments to the
backup archive which you can review during the Recovery process. Click Next.
13. The next screen summarizes the backup operation to be performed.
Carefully review the information for correctness and click the Proceed
button.
14. The next screen will display status bars reflecting the progress of the
backup operation. After the backup operation finishes, an informational
message will appear indicting the operation was successfully completed.
Incremental Backups (Disk Images)
1. After the initial backup archive has been created you can create
incremental backups reflecting any data changes since the previous backup
operation. This incremental backup process proceeds considerably faster than
the initial backup operation. This, of course, is a major advantage of
creating disk images rather than undertaking the disk-to-disk cloning
process. Then too, since these created disk images are compressed files they
are reasonable in size. And because the incremental disk images can usually
be created very quickly (as compared with the direct disk-to-disk cloning
process), there's an incentive for the user to keep his/her system
up-to-date backup-wise by using this disk imaging process on a more frequent
basis than they might otherwise do using the disk-cloning process.
Another advantage of the disk-imaging process is that it facilitates the
maintenance of "generational" copies of one's system. This allows the user
to create a copy of his or system at a particular point-in-time more easily
allow the user restore his/her system as of a *specific* point-in-time.
Note that you must create the incremental backup files on the same HDD where
you stored the original backup archive and any subsequent incremental backup
files.
2. Access the Acronis program as detailed above and navigate through the
screens. When you arrive at the "Backup Archive Location" screen, click on
the original backup archive file, or if one or more incremental backup files
were previously created, click on the last incremental backup file and
verify that the correct drive letter and file name are shown in the
"Folder:" text box.
After clicking Next, the program will automatically create a file name for
the incremental backup archive file, using the original file name and
appending a consecutive number - starting at "2" - at the end of the file
name. For example, if you named (as in our example) the original backup
archive file "Backup 1-30", the first incremental backup file will be
automatically named "Backup 1-302" and the next subsequently-created
incremental file "Backup 1-303", etc.
NOTE THAT ALL YOUR INCREMENTAL BACKUP FILES MUST BE PRESENT FOR RECOVERY
PURPOSES. DO NOT DELETE ANY OF YOUR PREVIOUSLY-CREATED INCREMENTAL BACKUP
FILES FOLLOWING THE CREATION OF A CURRENT INCREMENTAL BACKUP FILE. YOU CAN
DELETE THE INCREMENTAL FILES ONLY AFTER CREATING A FULL BACKUP ARCHIVE AS
DESCRIBED IN THE PREVIOUS SECTION.
3. On the following "Select Backup Mode" screen, select the "Create an
incremental backup" option, click Next. Proceed through the screens as you
did in creating the initial backup archive.
Recovery Process (Disk images): We'll assume the recovery will be to either
a non-defective HDD that has become unbootable for one reason or another, or
to a new HDD. The HDD to be restored need not be partitioned/formatted since
the recovery process will take care of that function.
Note that in many, if not most, cases you will be using the Acronis
"Bootable Rescue Media" (CD) that you created when you originally installed
the Acronis program. If you didn't previously create that bootable CD, you
can create it now from the Tools menu. The Acronis True Image program
installation CD is also bootable.
Note: If the recovery will be made to a HDD that is still bootable and
you're able to access the Acronis program on that drive, then you can
undertake the recovery process without the need for using the "bootable
rescue" CD.
1. With both the drive containing the backup disk images and the drive you
want to restore connected and with the bootable rescue CD inserted, boot up.
2. At the opening screen, click on "Acronis True Image Home (Full Version)".
3. The program will open after some moments. On the "Backup and Restore"
screen that opens, click on "Restore".
4. The "Welcome to the Restore Data Wizard!" screen opens. Click on Next.
5. The "Backup Archive Selection" screen opens. Navigate to the drive and
folder containing the backup archive file(s) by clicking on the "+" symbol
next to the drive letter, and from the list of the .tib files select the
last incremental backup file. Or if no incremental backup files have been
created following creation of the original full backup file (archive),
select that file. Just ensure that the correct drive & file name is
reflected in the "Folder:" text box. Click Next.
(If you want to restore the system as of a particular date *prior* to the
date the last incremental file (archive) was created, select the appropriate
incremental file (archive) from the list.)
6. The "Backup Date Selection" screen opens. Select (highlight) the
appropriate incremental backup file (archive) from the listing. This will
usually be the latest incremental file (archive) that was created, but if
you desire to restore a "generational" copy of your system as of a different
date, then select the appropriate incremental file (archive). Click Next.
7. The "Restoration Type Selection" screen opens. Select the default option,
"Restore disks or partitions" and click Next.
8. The "Partition or Disk to Restore" screen will open. Click on "Disk 1"
box and click Next.
9. After a few moments the "Restored Hard Disk Drive Location" screen opens.
Select (highlight) the HDD to be restored, presumably "Disk 2", and click
Next.
10. The "Non-empty Destination Hard Disk Drive" screen opens. Select the
"Yes" option indicating that all partitions on the destination HDD will be
deleted. Any data on that drive will be lost. Click Next.
11. On the next screen select the "No" option (if applicable) indicating you
do not want to restore another partition. Click Next.
12. Navigate through the "Choose Restore Options" screen.
13. The final screen before the restoration operation begins will open.
Confirm that the information as shown is correct. Click Proceed.
14. Click OK when following completion of the recovery operation a message
appears indicating a successful recovery operation.
15. Remove the Acronis bootable rescue CD if it has been used in the
restoration process and close the Acronis program. The system will reboot. A
Windows "Found New Hardware" message followed by the "System Settings
Change" message box may appear on the Desktop. If they do, click Yes for a
reboot.
Thanks for reviewing the above material.
Anna
spamme0
What you suggest oughta work. Problem is when you don't do exactly
what you suggest. What if the system reboots before you swap the drive,
windows gets hold of it and tries to "fix" it?
The boot process has a lot of variables even if you don't count the
deliberate effort by M$ to prevent you copying the OS. It's very easy to
have a perfectly good backup that just won't boot...sorry for any
inconvenience...reinstall windows.
Sometimes, you can use the bios to boot from a secondary drive,
but that only works if EVERY part of the process gets fooled.
I wouldn't bet my data on it. The drives have hardware addresses
based on their positions on the cables and which plugs are used.
Those get handed to the OS. But a modern OS has the option to
ignore those and use its own map. If you changed the configuration,
windows can get confused. The symptom I've seen most often is that the
system starts to boot. It puts up the splash screen and the progress
bar indicates that it's well into the process when it gives a stop
error complaining that it can't find the boot device. It's taken
megabytes of data off that boot device already, but it can't find it?
Windows has just pulled the rug out from under itself. Sometimes,
you can fix it with fixboot and fixmbr. Sometimes you can't.
I'm not an expert with solutions, but I am very experienced with boot
failures.
Take out the C drive. mark it clearly so you can't get it confused.
Put it in a drawer so you can't accidentally pick it up.
Plug the old D: drive on the plug where the C: drive came from.
Boot the emergency recovery CD and restore the backup.
If it completes successfully and the system can be booted, you've
verified the backup process.
I'd also check that M$ is still happy by doing something that requires
activation/confirmation. msoobe /a is supposed to do this, but I've
never understood whether it's actually working. M$ is big on taking
away your system, but there seems to be no way to actually verify
that it's good before the fact. For those of us without a spare
hard drive lying around, we get to blow away our working system
BEFORE we get to discover that our new system won't work.
Wouldn't it be cool if you could
call from the garage sale and ask M$ if they were gonna activate the
software you're about to buy?
M$ has the option to revoke your activation at any time for no reason.
Or at least for reasons not due to anything you did.
All it takes is some key generator to spit out your key and get blacklisted.
The probability of that happening is zero...unless it happens to
you and the probability becomes ONE. You just won the lottery...
If you can believe what you read on the web, it happens way more
often than statistics would suggest.
All this assumes that the secondary drive is at least as large
as the data contained in the restore file plus all the overhead plus
a couple of gigabytes of swap space.
Acronis 7/8 can resize the partition as long as the data will fit.
Assume newer versions can still do that.
MANY disk imaging programs cannot resize partitions and have various
failure modes when you try to restore to a partition that's not
exactly correct.
I don't recall the drive sizes, but if they're the same speed, I'd
vote to put the smallest one in the C: position. I'd further recommend
partitioning the primary drive as discussed earlier. If you do that
before your restore test, you get to experiment to see if you like the
result without hurting that C: drive in the drawer. But you can't do
that if you've already got gigabytes of programs installed on your system
in the one partition that you imaged.
You can easily come up with a reason to have two drives in a system.
But for most of us, one relatively small drive internal to the system
and a larger drive in an external USB 2.0 box is a better solution.
Newer USB boxes spin down when not in use, so they don't wear out as fast.
And if you turn them off completely for the 99.9% of the time you don't
need access, they can't get corrupted by malware.
Windows seems to be extremely tolerant of adding/removing usb drives.
Windows is extremely INtolerant if you're moving internal drives around.
Sorry for ranting on peripheral topics.
Alex
them while checking all steps in acronis TI Home 11 and it answered a
few minor questions/doubts that I still had. The acronis help file is
so unstructured, as if random articles were thrown together. I was
reading the following in the program's help file and I can't seem to
find it in the restoration wizard, neither in your step by step
instructions. It does sound very important though so maybe you can
help me out:
quote:
"Changing the Restored Partition Type
When restoring a partition, you can change its type, though it's not
required in most cases. By default, the original partition type is
selected.You can choose one of the following:
• Active - active partition is used for loading an operating system
from it. Selecting Active for a partition without an installed
operating system could prevent your computer from booting.
• Primary - if you are going to restore a system partition, choose
this parameter. Acronis True Image Home automatically corrects the
boot.ini file and Windows Registry during restore of the system
partition to make it bootable even if it was restored to a non-
original partition (or disk).
• Logical - logical partitions are used for data storage. If you
restore a system partition to another hard disk with its own
partitions and OS, most likely you will need only the data"
unquote.
I am figuring this should belong somewhere in step 9 of your
description on how to restore the image:
quote:
"9. After a few moments the "Restored Hard Disk Drive Location" screen
opens.
Select (highlight) the HDD to be restored, presumably "Disk 2", and
click
Next."
unquote
But I can't find the option/checkbox. I assume that by highlighting
the disk 2 this drive will automatically be configured as a primary or
bootable partition?
PS: my images are on the external usb drive and I would do the test
backup towards the internal secondary D drive, that's why I said the D
drive my be formatted anyway but I guess you overlooked this. It's
common sense that you cannot restore to the same drive that contains
your disk image files (source=destination won't work)
Anna
Alex:
Thanks for looking over my step-by-step instructions for the Acronis True
Image Home v11 program. Actually I've done a fair amount of revisions since
the original draft I posted. I'm really not that familiar with the ATI v11
program since I prefer (and generally recommend) the Casper 5 disk-cloning
program as a comprehensive backup program for most users. So I haven't
worked very much with the ATI program over the past few years. I prepared
the basic instructions for using the ATI version 9 & 10 programs some time
ago in response to both customer & computer club member requests, virtually
all of whom were interested in a reasonably simple-to-use comprehensive
backup program that was capable of creating straightforward disk-to-disk
clones or (in the case of ATI) as well as using the program for its
disk-imaging capabilities.
Yes, you're right...somehow I was under the (mistaken) impression that you
were storing the backup files (archives) on the internal HDD that you were
planning to restore.
As to your query...
I really don't think you (or virtually every other user of the ATI program)
need be concerned with partition-type changes. In virtually every case the
program will handle this aspect quite well without user intervention in the
normal course of events where the backup "archives" are disk-images of
one's entire system and the user will simply be using those disk-images for
restoring their system to a functional state. But perhaps someone coming
upon this thread who is more familiar with the Acronis program than I am can
better respond to your specific question re that aspect.
Here's the revised draft that I prepared re the step-by-step instructions
for using the disk-imaging process of Acronis True Image Home v11. Would you
be good enough to look it over and again I would appreciate learning from
you (or anyone coming upon this thread who is familiar with the ATI v11
program) whether this revision contains any errors or lack of clarity.
Thanks again.
Disk Imaging: The following are step-by-step instructions for using the
Acronis True Image Home 11 program to create disk images for backup purposes
and using those disk images for recovery of the system...
Note: The recipient of the disk image, presumably a USB external HDD or an
internal HDD, ordinarily must be a formatted drive and have a drive letter
assigned to it.
Before undertaking this disk imaging process it's probably best to close all
programs running in the background including your anti-virus and other
anti-malware programs. It's also best that the only storage devices
connected to the PC are the two hard drives that will be involved in this
disk-imaging process - the "source" and "destination" hard drives.
It's also a good idea to create a folder on the HDD where your backup files
("archives") will be stored.
1. With both your source and destination hard drives connected, access the
Acronis program and click "Backup and Restore" on the main menu.
2. On the following "Backup and Restore" screen click Backup.
3. The "Welcome to the Create Backup Wizard!" screen opens. Click Next.
4. The "Select Backup Type" screen opens. Select the default "My Computer"
option and click Next.
5. On the next "Data to Back Up Selection" screen select the default "Disks
and partitions" option. By so doing you will be backing up your entire
system. Click Next.
6. The "Partitions Selection" screen opens listing all connected drives.
Assuming your "source" HDD (the drive you want to back up) is "Disk 1",
click its box to insert a checkmark. Click Next.
7. On the next screen - "Source Files Exclusion" - do not check any of the
boxes; just click Next.
8. An informational message appears concerning the incremental or
differential backup process. Since this operation is the first backup of
your system, just click OK.
9. On the "Backup Archive Location" screen that opens click (if necessary)
on the "+" symbol next to the "My Computer" item so as to list all the
drives connected in the system. Select (highlight) the disk and folder you
want to serve as the destination for the disk image. We'll assume you
previously created a folder named "Acronis backup archives" on the
destination drive. The program will enter the drive letter of that disk
(we'll assume it's E: in this example) and the folder name in the "File
name:" text box at the bottom of the screen. Enter a file name for the
backup file, e.g., "Backup 2-04" so that the entry reads "E:\Acronis backup
archives\Backup 2-04" and click Next. Note that the Acronis program will
automatically append the ".tib" file extension to the filename. Click Next.
10. The "Select Backup Mode" screen opens. Select the "Create a new full
backup archive" default option and click Next.
11. The "Choose Backup Options" screen opens with two options:
"Use default options" and "Set the options manually".
If you select the second option, you can select various options listed on
the
next screen. Two of them are of interest to us:
Compression level - Four options - None, Normal (the default), High,
Maximum.
There's a "Description" area that shows the estimated size of the backup
archive depending upon the option chosen, and the estimated "creation time"
for each option.
Backup priority - Three options - Low, Normal, or High
Low - "...backup processed more slowly, but it will not influence other
processes running on computer."
(Default) Normal - "...normal speed but backup process will influence other
processes running on computer."
High - "...maximum speed but backup process will strongly influence other
processes running on computer."
With respect to the compression levels, we've found that when using the
Normal option the original data is compressed by about 20% - 25% (in most
cases in our experience closer to the former than the latter) and that the
High and Maximum options will result in a compressed backup file only
slightly higher. However, in general the amount of time to create the backup
files when using the High or Maximum compression level is substantially
greater than when using the Normal compression level. So unless disk space
is very tight on the destination drive, i.e., the drive where the backup
file will be stored, we recommend using the Normal compression level (at
least initially). Afterwards you may want to experiment with selecting
different options.
We generally select the "High" backup priority & "Normal" compression level
options.
NOTE: You can set the Compression level and Backup priority defaults from
the Acronis Tools > Options > Default backup options menu items.
12. The "Archive Comments" screen opens allowing you to add any comments you
may wish to make to the backup archive and which you can review during the
Recovery process. Click Next.
13. The next screen summarizes the backup operation to be performed.
Carefully review the information for correctness and click the Proceed
button.
14. The next screen will display status bars reflecting the progress of the
backup operation. After the backup operation finishes, an informational
message will appear indicting the operation was successfully completed.
Incremental Backups (Disk Images)
1. After the initial backup archive has been created you can create
incremental backups reflecting any data changes since the previous backup
operation. This incremental backup process proceeds considerably faster than
the initial backup operation. This, of course, is a major advantage of
creating disk images rather than undertaking the disk-to-disk cloning
process. Then too, since these created disk images are compressed files they
are reasonable in size. And because the incremental disk images can usually
be created very quickly (as compared with the direct disk-to-disk cloning
process), there's an incentive for the user to keep his/her system
up-to-date backup-wise by using this disk imaging process on a more frequent
basis than they might otherwise do using the disk-cloning process.
Another advantage of the disk-imaging process is that it facilitates the
maintenance of "generational" copies of one's system. This allows the user
to create a copy of his or her system at a particular point-in-time and more
easily allows users to restore their systems as of a *specific*
point-in-time.
Note that you must create the incremental backup files on the same HDD where
you stored the original backup archive and any subsequent incremental backup
files.
2. Access the Acronis program as detailed above and navigate through the
screens. When you arrive at the "Backup Archive Location" screen, click on
the original backup archive file, or if one or more incremental backup files
were previously created, click on the last incremental backup file and
verify that the correct drive letter, folder, and file name are shown in the
"File name:" text box. Click Next.
3. The "Select Backup Mode" screen opens. Select the "Create an incremental
backup" option and click Next.
Note that the program will automatically create a file name for the
incremental backup archive file, using the original file name and appending
a consecutive number to the end of the file name. If, for example, on
February 4 you created your original (first) backup archive file and gave it
the filename of "Backup 2-04", the first incremental backup file (regardless
of the actual date created) will be automatically named "Backup 2-042" and
the next subsequently-created incremental file "Backup 2-043", etc.
NOTE THAT ALL YOUR INCREMENTAL BACKUP FILES MUST BE PRESENT FOR RECOVERY
PURPOSES. DO NOT DELETE ANY OF YOUR PREVIOUSLY-CREATED INCREMENTAL BACKUP
FILES FOLLOWING THE CREATION OF A CURRENT INCREMENTAL BACKUP FILE. YOU CAN
DELETE THE INCREMENTAL FILES ONLY AFTER LATER CREATING A FULL BACKUP ARCHIVE
AS DESCRIBED IN THE PREVIOUS SECTION.
4. Proceed through the screens as you did in creating the initial backup
archive. Note that when the "Archive Comments" screen appears, you will have
an opportunity to add comments re this current incremental file (archive)
you're creating. You might want to do so should you find it useful to add a
comment concerning any significant changes you made to your system since the
previous backup.
Recovery Process (Disk images): We'll assume the recovery will be to either
a non-defective HDD that has become unbootable for one reason or another, or
to a new HDD. The HDD to be restored need not be partitioned/formatted since
the recovery process will take care of that function.
Note that in many, if not most cases you will be using the Acronis "Bootable
Rescue Media" (CD) that you might have created when you originally installed
the Acronis program. You'll need that bootable CD in the event you cannot
access the ATI Home program because of a defective source HDD or otherwise
unbootable system.
If you didn't previously create that bootable CD, you can create it now from
the Acronis program (assuming you can access the program at this time) by
clicking on the "Create Bootable Rescue Media" item on the "Tools" menu that
appears on the opening Acronis screen and then simply going through the
screens to create a bootable CD.
The Acronis True Image program installation CD is also bootable.
Note: If the recovery will be made to a HDD that is still bootable and
you're able to access the Acronis program on that drive, then you can
undertake the recovery process without the need for using the "bootable
rescue" CD.
1. The only drives (storage devices) that should be connected during this
recovery process are the drive to be restored and the drive containing the
backup disk images (archives). Boot to the "bootable rescue" CD (if
necessary) to access the program.
2. At the opening screen, click on "Acronis True Image Home (Full Version)".
3. The program will open after some moments. On the "Backup and Restore"
screen that opens, click on "Restore".
4. The "Welcome to the Restore Data Wizard!" screen opens. Click on Next.
5. The "Backup Archive Selection" screen opens. Navigate to the drive and
folder containing the backup archive file(s). If no incremental backup files
have been created following creation of the original full backup file
(archive), select that file (archive). If one or more incremental backup
files (archives) are listed, then click on the last incremental backup file
(archive) - assuming you want to restore the system as of the latest backup.
Recall that the backup file name(s) will end with the .tib file extension.
Ensure that the correct drive & file are reflected in the "File name:" text
box. Click Next.
(Note that if you want to restore the system as of a particular date *prior*
to the date the last incremental file (archive) was created, select the
appropriate incremental file (archive) from the list.)
6. The "Backup Date Selection" screen opens. Select (highlight) the
appropriate incremental backup file (archive) from the listing. This will
usually be the latest incremental file (archive) that was created, but if
you desire to restore a "generational" copy of your system as of a different
date, then select the appropriate incremental file (archive).
Note this screen will reflect the date the archive was created and any
comments you may have inserted in "Archive Comments" when you previously
created the backup file (archive). Click Next.
7. The "Restoration Type Selection" screen opens. Select the default option,
"Restore disks or partitions" and click Next.
8. The "Partition or Disk to Restore" screen will open. Click on the "Disk
1" box and click Next.
9. After some moments the "Restored Hard Disk Drive Location" screen opens.
Select (highlight) the HDD to be restored, presumably "Disk 2", and click
Next.
10. The "Non-empty Destination Hard Disk Drive" screen opens. Select the
"Yes" option indicating that all partitions on the destination HDD will be
deleted. Understand that any data on that drive will be lost. Click Next.
11. On the next screen select the "No" option (if applicable) indicating you
do not want to restore another partition. Click Next.
12. Navigate through the "Choose Restore Options" screen.
13. The final screen before the restoration operation begins will open.
Confirm that the information as shown is correct. Click Proceed.
14. Click OK when following completion of the recovery operation a message
appears indicating a successful recovery operation.
15. Remove the Acronis bootable rescue CD if it has been used in the
restoration process and close the Acronis program. The system will reboot. A
Windows "Found New Hardware" message followed by the "System Settings
Change" message box may appear on the Desktop. If they do, click Yes for a
reboot.
Anna
Bill in Co.
> "Alex" <ad1...@telenet.be> wrote in message
> news:c645aa33-5cec-4081...@u18g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks Anna for the step by step instructions. Great work! I followed
> them while checking all steps in acronis TI Home 11 and it answered a
> few minor questions/doubts that I still had. The acronis help file is
> so unstructured, as if random articles were thrown together. I was
> reading the following in the program's help file and I can't seem to
> find it in the restoration wizard, neither in your step by step
> instructions. It does sound very important though so maybe you can
> help me out:
>
> quote:
> "Changing the Restored Partition Type
> When restoring a partition, you can change its type, though it's not
> required in most cases. By default, the original partition type is
> selected.
And that's the whole essence of it. The correct type is normally
automatically selected for you, end of story. Why would you want to change
it? Just procede to use "Next" through the wizard, unless you notice
something is obviously an incorrect choice.
<snip>
> As to your query...
> I really don't think you (or virtually every other user of the ATI
> program)
> need be concerned with partition-type changes. In virtually every case the
> program will handle this aspect quite well without user intervention in
> the
> normal course of events where the backup "archives" are disk-images of
> one's entire system and the user will simply be using those disk-images
> for
> restoring their system to a functional state.
Correct.
> But perhaps someone coming
> upon this thread who is more familiar with the Acronis program than I am
> can
> better respond to your specific question re that aspect.
Think you have the essence of it.
Alex
Some minor changes in your description as I noticed. Looks clear
enough to me, no need for that confusing&long, boring acronis help
file.
Thanks a lot all for the help!-)