gate1975mlm
Premium
join:2001-09-30
Philadelphia, PA
2 edits | Acronis True Image 8 How does it work?
Hey guys I have my pc up and running great with all my software installed. So I would like to back it up so if I ever have a problem where maybe I can't boot I can just use the back up. How does this all work? I mean if ever I need to use the back up will everything be exactly the same as when I backed it up? I mean every little detail. Also where is the best place to put the backup? And if I can not get into windows then how do I restore my pc to the back up?
My Hard Drives are SATA. |
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richter35
Premium
join:2004-01-03
Croatia
| TI makes exact image copy, bit by bit of your hard drive/partition. So, everything will be exactly the same when you imaged your HDD. You can make image directly from windows, you simply follow wizard, you choose which partition/drive you want to clone, choose destination which can be either another HDD, CD-R(W)/DVD-R(W) or another partition on same disc(which I use). You should create a boot disk which you use to restore your system when needed. TI makes a disc, you need to make sure your system is set to boot from CD, insert disc, boot from it and then just follow instructions to restore your image. You simply browse to location where image is located, select destination where it should be restored, and that's it. It's pretty simple. |
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howie
Premium,MVM
join:2003-04-08
Little Falls, NJ
| reply to gate1975mlm
richter35  pretty much covered it all... 
One thing I'd recommend, though, is to back up to a second physical hard drive (either internal or external) rather than to removeable media such as DVD(RW)/CD(RW). Not only is it much slower imaging/restoring to/from this type of media, it often requires several discs and if even one disc in the backup set becomes scratched, damaged or is otherwise unreadable, you'll lose your entire image. I do image to DVD but only as a backup to my hard drive images. I also imaged a "fresh" XP install to a single CD-R just in case I ever need to re-install the OS. It takes just 3 minutes to restore a new XP install rather than 30-40 doing it the "old-fashioned" way. In addition, you don't have to re-activate XP (assuming it's restored to the same PC).
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"I'm as sure as I can be... without any, you know, proof!" - Adrian Monk |
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richter35
Premium
join:2004-01-03
Croatia
| I'd also recommend another drive, if you can afford it. I use another partition myself because I have a new computer so I'm pretty sure it won't fail me anytime soon. I do have backup on DVD just in case. As howie1253 said, restoring from DVD/CD is much slower, and since you can either use no compression or normal with HDD restoration is fast and you don't have to worry about scratches and stuff.
Make sure to do image check before you burn/save your to make sure image is not corrupted. Also, of course, see if TI plays well with your configuration, which shouldn't be a problem, but you never know. Then enjoy all benefits it provides. You can simply use incremental backups when you install newest patches or upgrade your software, which is god given feature.
My post above might have been a bit confusing, sorry.  I don't think you should have problems with it. Install it, make boot CD/DVD. Test to see if it works. If it's ok, you can proceed with imaging (of course you can always make boot CD later, I just like to be on a safe side it works first). Interface is pretty simple and straight forward. Just follow instructions wizard is giving you, and have coffee until software is done. |
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dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
 ·Comcast
2 edits | reply to gate1975mlm
What richter and howie said! Mine takes about 12 minutes being that it is reading and writing to the same physical HDD(partition "D" to "C"), but it beats the hell out of OS reinstall then the reinstalling of ~ hundred programs that I have in here. :) |
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DaHen
Premium
join:2002-11-08
Brockton, MA |
Likewise. What richter, howie and dadkins said!
And it works great.
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Hope I'm not OT..... |
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jabarnut
Light Years Away
Premium,MVM
join:2005-01-22
Galaxy M31
| reply to gate1975mlm
Likewise. What richter, howie and dadkins and DaHen said!
And it works great.:)
(I also like imaging to a second internal Hard Drive I have).
It is nice to have another image that isn't on the same physical drive too, just in case the whole drive goes south one day. 
Oh, and one more thing:
said by dadkins : it beats the hell out of OS reinstall then the reinstalling of ~ hundred programs that I have in here. :) When he says hundreds of programs, he means hundreds of programs! 
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I had a life once.....now I have a Computer and a Modem. |
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John2g
Qui Tacet Consentit
Premium
join:2001-08-10
England
| reply to gate1975mlm
Likewise. However, I have my HD partitioned with the OS on C with the most used applications. This means that I can keep the image to about 1 Gig. It takes me all of 5 minutes to re-install the image and add the AV and AT updates.
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Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. |
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