Acronis TrueImage

[FanJ]

This thread is about Acronis TrueImage.

TrueImage (TI) is a program with which you can make a full backup image of your entire hard-disk(s) or only some partitions. And in case your system might become corrupted for some reason, you can completely restore it from that backup image.

There are other well-known programs out there with which you can do that too, like Norton Ghost from Symantec and DriveImage (DI) from PowerQuest.
But this thread is about TrueImage.
I think it is a real newbie friendly program.

Website:
http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/

You can find a link to the Helpfile in pdf-format at that site.

Product tour with screenshots and description of the steps for making a backup or restoring an image:
http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/screenshots.html

I thought about making screenshots for you, but I can’t do it better than at that site.


Supported operating systems:
Windows 95 / 98 / Me / NT / 2000 / XP
Supported partitions:
FAT16/32, NTFS, Linux Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS, and Linux SWAP.
Special sector-by-sector support for other partitions and corrupted file systems.
Supported storage devices (disk image destinations):
- hard disk drives
- network drives
- CD-R(W)
- DVD-R(W), DVD+R(W)(*)
- ZIP, Jazz and other removable media
- IDE, SCSI, IEEE 1394 (FireWire), USB 1.0 / 2.0, PC card storage devices.
(*) — requires third-party DVD recording software installed.

When you first install TrueImage, it asks you whether you want to make bootable floppies (4) or CD-ROM with its Bootable Rescue Media Builder. I would strongly advise you to do so. You might need them to be able to restore a backup image.
I would also advise you to write-protect your floppies after having made them.
Make sure (as far as possible) that your system is free of nasties like viruses, Trojans and spyware before you make those bootable floppies.

Acronis frequently publishes an update for TrueImage.
You can find the latest build-numbers and dates here:
http://www.acronis.com/support/updates/
You can download a newer version from that site.
No need to uninstall a previous build-version: the install-process of the update will easily guide you through it.
When you have installed a newer build-version, I would advise you to make new bootable floppies.

The backup process makes an image, bit for bit, of your hard-disk.
But only sectors of your hard-disk that contains data, will be backed up.
That means that, when you have for example a 60 GB hard-disk with 20 GB containing data, only those 20 GB will be backed up.

Before I make a backup image, I run a full system scan with AV, AT and anti-spyware program, and then I do a quick scandisk and a defrag.

As you have seen above, you can directly write a backup to CD-R.
TI gives you the possibility to split up a backup into parts so they fit on a CD-R.
Generally speaking it might be advised to first make a backup to a second hard-disk (if you have the money for that), or to a separate dedicated partition, and after that to write it to CD-R.
Generally speaking making the backup first to HD goes faster, and in doing it that way you avoid possible problems with respect to compatibilities of CD-burners etc.
But don’t forget, when you first make the backup to HD, to split it up into parts of about the size of a CD-R (TI will guide you through that process).
After you have split the backup up into more than one part, I would highly advise you to make notes about the time-sequence in which TI made the parts. When you have to restore an image, you will have to start with the last one (see my example below).

TI lets you choose a name of your backup.
I myself like to do it this way: partition followed by date.
For example: C030425 for a backup of partition C made at 03-04-25 (April 25, 2003).
When you have split-up the backup into more than one part, TI will put a number at the end of the file-name.

For an image of more than one file it is for example something like this:
(name, date, time, size)
C0304251.tib 25-4-03 08:54 599 994 880
C0304252.tib 25-4-03 09:01 599 994 880
C0304253.tib 25-4-03 09:08 599 994 880
C0304254.tib 25-4-03 09:15 599 994 880
C0304255.tib 25-4-03 09:19 244 368 384

So in this case ALL files automatically get a number from TI at the end of the file-name.
For restoring you have to start with the file that was made as last; as you can see at the times, that is: C0304255.tib

For an image of only one file it is like this: F030425.tib
Again: that name was chosen by me (partition followed by date).

Now let’s say that your last backup is made in April, and that in June you need or want to restore it.
Since your last backup in April you might have installed new programs, patches from Microsoft etc.
And after restoring your backup you might want to install again some of these programs and patches.
How do you know which changes you have made since that time?
For that reason I would advise you to keep somehow a separate log-file in which you write down your changes; you might like to do that on paper.

It could also be possible that you want to put back for example your emails received/sent since April, and your new favourites.
In that case you have to make a separate backup of them before you restore your backup image from April.
But keep in mind, in case you needed to restore your backup image due to a severe virus-infection, that these emails and favourites might also have been infected by that virus.

Off topic note:
To make such backups of your OE-emails and IE-favourites you could use for example a program called ExpressAssist (not from Acronis).
Website of ExpressAssist:
http://www.ajsystems.com/ea7.html
A very good site in this respect is:
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/

[FanJ]

I would like to thank my fellow-mods/admins for their suggestions, and the posters at the DSLR-software-forum who frequently post about TI:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/sware

[the Tester]

FanJ.

I have Acronis True Image.
I can vouch for it being "newbie" friendly!
It has to be if I can operate it! ;)

[FanJ]

Acronis True Image 6.0 FAQ:

http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/faq.html

There are several topics discussed there.
I guess that I don’t need to list them here, you can read them at that site.
I list a few topics:

- Windows XP:
Quote:
Acronis True Image 6.0 can be installed and ran in Windows XP — that is, it creates disk/partition images and restores any partition or disk (as well as separate files and folders). Unlike other programs, Acronis True Image 6.0 lets you create an image of any disk or partition without rebooting your PC. You can restore any partition under Windows XP except a system partition. System partition restoration, however, can be started in Windows XP. In this case Acronis True Image 6.0 reboots your PC, runs itself before Windows loads, performs restoration, and boots Windows XP upon completion.
End quote.

- Shared drives and folders in Windows NT-2000-XP.

- Easy CD Creator v4-v5.

- NTFS partitions and bootable disc.

- Roxio GoBack.

[FanJ]

At the moment TrueImage does not have an image verification option build in it.
Probably it will be build in in the next version; we have to wait for that.
(thanks to DP and others at the DSLR-software-forum for mentioning that).

[Mr.Blaze]

;Dyup this product kick but i love it

[FanJ]

I wrote that TrueImage does not have a build-in option for verifying your backup image.

However, Acronis has a stand-alone tool on their website that performs that job.
The tool is called CheckImage.
The direct download link is:

http://www.acronis.com/files/support/CheckImage.exe

I have not yet used that tool myself, so at the moment I cannot tell you much about it.
I hope to use it somewhere in the coming days or weeks, so maybe I can tell you then more about it.

Once again I would like to thank DP who posted the link at the DSLR-software-forum:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,6859549~root=sware~mode=flat

[FanJ]

I am going to ask Acronis a few questions.
I will let you know their reply; they have a good email-support.
Three questions:

1.
I installed build 335 today.
After the installation I made the bootable floppies with their Bootable Rescue Media Builder.
As I told you that takes 4 floppies.
As you can see in the first screenshot, it told me indeed to prepare 4 floppies.

[FanJ]

However, after the fourth floppy was made, I was asked to insert a fifth floppy.
I tried it two times; both times with clean formatted floppies.
Well, certainly not a big problem as it seems to me, but nevertheless.

[FanJ]

2.
As far as I remember, for the last several times in which there was a build-version-update, the Acronis site told every time that the changes were something like:

Changes:

Fixed incompatibility with Yamaha CD writers
Fixed incompatibility with Highpoint ATA RAID controllers (stripe only).

I am wondering whether that was right, or that by mistake an old change-text was put on the server.


3.
I will ask Acronis also whether they would like to tell us a bit more about that CheckImage-utility:
what does it exactly and how does it work.
For example: does it calculate a checksum for the original files and the imaged files in some way and then compare those, or does it work in another way?


Well, I'll try to keep you informed ;)

[FanJ]

Hi,

I've got an answer from Acronis (within 10 hours in the weekend (a night included): great!!!).

1.
Build 335 of Acronis True Image requires indeed 5 floppies.

2.
Some features and fixes that were added:

-Added ability to save images to rescue CDs.
-Fixed incompatibility with Yamaha CD writers
-Fixed incompatibility with Highpoint ATA RAID controllers (stripe only)

3.
CheckImage verifys image archives (it's integrity).

[FanJ]

In case you would like to know:

Acronis True Image uses a Linux kernel with it's own drivers when being started via rescue media.

Seen on this thread at DSLR-software-forum:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,6887582~root=sware~mode=flat

[FanJ]

Hi all,

My postings in this thread are in serial form.
I hope that that doesn't make it all too confusing......

[FanJ]

I wrote that updating to a newer build is very easy, and that you don’t need to uninstall a previous build.
I will show you now part of a screenshot about it.

Let’s suppose that you have TI build 335 installed on your system.
And you have just downloaded build 337 from the Acronis site.
The file that you have downloaded, is always named (for the English version):
TI60_u_en.exe

Note:
I am talking here about version 6.0 of TI.

Now you double-click on that file TI60_u_en.exe
You will see a screen coming up; part of that screen you see in my screenshot.
The update-file has detected that you have already TrueImage installed on your system.
And the box “Repair/Upgrade Acronis True Image” is checked.
All you now have to do, is to go on with the process, and your new build will be installed.
After the update-installation process is finished, you will (most probably) be asked to reboot your system.
And that’s it.
Don’t forget to make new bootable rescue floppies or CD-ROM.

[FanJ]

Hi,

About the required number of bootable floppies:

I wrote that the process of making bootable floppies tells you to prepare 4 floppies, while in fact the latest build needs 5 floppies.

Acronis told me that they will fix this number (as told to prepare) in the nearest future.

It takes 5 floppies !

[FanJ]

Thanks to Snoopy2 at DSLR-software-forum in this thread:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,7077366~root=sware~mode=flat

As Snoopy2 wrote: "Slick TrueImage shortcut" :

Left click "My Computer", then Right click the drive you want to image and a window pops up...select "Create Image" and VOILA! TrueImage comes up immediately with the drive already selected for imaging.

[Smokey]

{QUOTE-> quoting: FanJ link=board=9;threadid=9111;start=0#msg63029 date=1053904513]
Hi,

About the required number of bootable floppies:

I wrote that the process of making bootable floppies tells you to prepare 4 floppies, while in fact the latest build needs 5 floppies.

Acronis told me that they will fix this number (as told to prepare) in the nearest future.

It takes 5 floppies !

<-QUOTE}

It is fixed in the newest version 341. ;)

[FanJ]

Thanks Smokey :)

[FanJ]

Using the TrueImage CheckImage Utility

Thanks to dp at DSLR-software-forum:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,7154157~root=sware~mode=flat

This is for those of you who split up their images and then store them on another harddrive.

Quote from DP:
I store my images on another hard drive and I wasn't sure if I had to check each volume separately or not so I asked Acronis.

If all the volumes reside in the same directory then selecting any one of them will check the entire image.

Of course, if checking CD images then you have to swap out each CD

-end quote-

[TAG97]

Hello Fan J:
I have Drive Image and it doesn't work with Iomega Zip 750 USB Drive. It sets up alright but when it boots into Dos it doesn't recconize ( in my case) the H drive.
How does Acronis TrueImage work with Iomega Zip 750 USB Drive ? Has anyone created an image on zip drives. I read where it is compatable with Zip Disks but havn't seen to much information on it.
Regards
Tim
PS Oh by the way Fan J, great work. I wish Drive Image had some kind of display like you created because it does create a perfect image which I've used too many times thanks to Windows ME. :)

[FanJ]

Hi Tim,

I myself don't have an USB ZIP 750 drive, so from own experience I cannot tell you much about it.

But I have an external USB 2.0 harddisk (Maxtor).
That drive is connected to a Sitecom USB 2.0 card in my PC.
I run Windows 98 SE.
I let TrueImage write directly the backup image to that USB drive:
goes perfect :)
And while making that image, I split it up in parts of about 600 MB so I can -if I would wish to do so- later burn them onto CD-ROM.

When I want to restore a backup image, I first copy it to a partition (that I created for that purpose) on an internal harddisc, and from there I restore the image.

Because it works with my external USB drive, I guess it also works with your USB ZIP 750 drive.
(You could try the trial version to be sure).

I hope this helped you a bit.
Cheers, Jan.

[FanJ]

About restoring from an external USB 2 or firewire harddisk:


It might be not completely clear whether you can restore a backup image from an external USB 2 or firewire harddisk.
Acronis states clearly that you can make a backup to such an external drive, but -depending on how you read it- you could have asked yourself "Can I also restore from such an external drive?".

The answer is YES.

1-
About making a backup to an external USB 2 drive:
I myself do it every time: no problem.

2-
About restoring from an external USB 2 drive:
I just restored my C drive from an external USB 2 harddisk (Maxtor), using TrueImage (build 345) running from its bootable floppies (TI uses then its own Linux kernel).
No problem!

3-
About restoring from an external firewire drive:
Others have posted that restoring from an external firewire drive is also no problem.
See:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,7358514~root=sware~mode=flat

[FanJ]

How do you know which version of TrueImage you are using?

There are two ways:

1.

Go to:
C:\Program Files\Acronis\TrueImage\TrueImage.exe
or where you have installed it.
Right click that TrueImage.exe
Then properties, then version, and you will see the version.


2.

(Thanks to Fedorov999 at DSLR-Software-forum).
Run TrueImage, and click the Control menu (top-left corner) on the first screen, there is an "About" option in there which shows you which version you have installed.

See the following two screenshots.
First screenshot:

[FanJ]

Second screenshot:

[FireDancer]

Hi Fanj,

As always great work on the post :). I have a few questions pertaining to Acronis ans maybe you can help me to understand. First off I am a real newbie to alot of things and am working real hard to understand. I recently posted about a product called Nero 5.5 that I recieved with a new CD-RW I bought. I thought this would give me a opportunity
to create a back up or a rstore of my HDD (20Gig Maxtor).

Well.. it seems Nero wasnt really designed well for this type of back up as it defaults on a HDD back up to a bit by bit process which you have referd to earlier in this posting. With a bit by bit process on a 20 gig HDD it would require 31 CD's :( as LowWaterMark, Phantom and myself found out by doing the math :(

You say Acronis willl only back up the data on the drive, not the whole drive (60 gig HDD, 20 gig used ..so only 20 gig goes to the back up.) is this correct? Is this with a partition? I am not sure I am following. You see I have a 20 gig HDD with only 5 gigs used and no partitions and I want to create a back up/ image of the exsisting data with out useing 31 CD's!!!! :)

Will Acronis create this back up for me with out useing the whole 20 gigs? I became familiar with Acronis about 2 weeks ago as ROOT has suggested it in a post of his and I wanted to read about it and find out cost to purchase it.

I belive cost via on line is about 44.95 right now... but I dont see anywhere on the site that I can per say trial the product for a time to determine if it is what I need. Can this product be trialed?

Hope I have not been to non discript or vauge with my post.

Very Best Regards,
FireDancer

[FanJ]

Hi FireDancer,

I will answer you more later today or tomorrow; at the moment I have to leave off home.

If you have for example only 5 GB used on your harddisk, then TrueImage will only make a backup image of those 5 GB and not of the whole 20 GB.

[FanJ]

For trial version, see this page:

http://www.acronis.com/download/

Quote:

Download Center
Try Acronis products before you buy them!

[FanJ]

Hi FireDancer,

First of all: sorry that I was a little bit short in my first replies to you !

{QUOTE-> quoting: FireDancer link=board=9;threadid=9111;start=15#msg83067 date=1061996284]
Hi Fanj,

As always great work on the post :). <-QUOTE}

Thanks ;)

{QUOTE->
I have a few questions pertaining to Acronis ans maybe you can help me to understand. First off I am a real newbie to alot of things and am working real hard to understand.
<-QUOTE}

Please feel free to post your questions !
We can all learn from it !

{QUOTE->
I recently posted about a product called Nero 5.5 that I recieved with a new CD-RW I bought. I thought this would give me a opportunity
to create a back up or a rstore of my HDD (20Gig Maxtor).

Well.. it seems Nero wasnt really designed well for this type of back up as it defaults on a HDD back up to a bit by bit process which you have referd to earlier in this posting. With a bit by bit process on a 20 gig HDD it would require 31 CD's :( as LowWaterMark, Phantom and myself found out by doing the math :(

You say Acronis willl only back up the data on the drive, not the whole drive (60 gig HDD, 20 gig used ..so only 20 gig goes to the back up.) is this correct? Is this with a partition? I am not sure I am following. You see I have a 20 gig HDD with only 5 gigs used and no partitions and I want to create a back up/ image of the exsisting data with out useing 31 CD's!!!! :)

Will Acronis create this back up for me with out useing the whole 20 gigs? I became familiar with Acronis about 2 weeks ago as ROOT has suggested it in a post of his and I wanted to read about it and find out cost to purchase it.
<-QUOTE}

Yes, you understood it right !
You have a 20 GB harddisk with only 5 GB used of it.
So Acronis TrueImage will only make a backup image of those 5 GB which are used on your hardisk.
There is no need to backup the non-used part of your harddisk, and TrueImage will not do that. It only makes a backup image of the part of your harddisk that is used.

And there is more:
TrueImage lets you choose between several compression levels.
There is a product-tour on the Acronis site with screenshots.
I highly advise to have a look:
http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/screenshots.html
The following page shows a screenshot where you can choose your compression-level.
http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/tour.html?tour=2&tour_page=4
I quote from that site:

"A compression level can be selected by moving the slider. If you select zero compression, files will be moved to an archive file without any compression, which is inefficient. On the other hand the work speed might drop and image creation time might increase, if you select the maximal compression. Certainly, the optimal compression level depends on the type of files, stored on a disk/partition, and can only be determined empirically."

So what that page is telling you, is:
You can choose a high compression level. The higher the compression-level, the lesser CD-R's you will need; BUT at the other hand: the higher the compression-level, the more time it will take.
So it might be wise to choose a compromise: choose not the highest level and not the lowest level of compression, but somewhere in between.


Another thing, speaking more in general:
In general it might be wise to first make a backup image onto another harddisk or onto another partition, and then later -if you wish to do so- burn it onto CD-R(W).
The reason: Making a backup image to another harddisk goes faster and you avoid possible compatibility-problems.
BTW: in most cases you will not find such a compatibility-problem !
But what if you don't have a second harddisk and you only have one partition?
I understood from you that that is your situation (only one harddisk with only one partition).
Well, in that case you have only one choice: let TrueImage burn your backup image directly to CD-R(W); it IS able to do so. Recently I did so on a friend's PC (an old one with a slow CD-R-burner).
Maybe if you have the money, you could later buy a Partitioning Program and make a second partition (or buy a second harddisk).
But I have a strong warning in general:
Before you ever use a Partitioning Program: always make a full backup image of your harddisk.
It cannot be said enough; I really do advise to do that. It is always possible that something goes wrong while using a Partitioning Program and in that case you might loose everything on your harddisk!!!

And there is this question:
"Is it wise to make a backup image onto another partition on the same harddisk without burning it also (later) onto CD-R(W)?"
The answer might be: "No".
Because when that harddisk dies, you will also loose your backup image.....


I hope that I was able to answer your question.
Please feel always free to post your question !!!
The only "dumb" question, is the question that was not asked. And we ALL are here to learn from each other.

Cheers, Jan.

[the Tester]

Here's one little tip about burning an image to cd's with Acronis;

Use a good cd-r or cd-rw.
I use cd-r's and I found that the cheap Imation disks don't work well at all.

Luckily,I horde cd-r's. ;)

Memorex(Cool Colors)and TDK(Extreme) cd-r's are cheap and I haven't had any trouble burning an image to them yet.

[FanJ]

Thanks for the tip, the Tester !

Karma cookie for you :)

[the Tester]

Thanks FanJ.


I found that just cuz I can burn with Nero doesn't neccessarily mean that particular type of cd-r will work with Acronis!

[FanJ]

Fedorov999 posted some news about a new version of TrueImage (version 7; but we have to be patient: it will take some time before that one will be published !!) at DSLR:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8183376~root=sware~mode=flat

Quote:

Just got the latest info from Acronis about v7.0 .....
========================================
We are planning to release Acronis True Image 7.0 the end of this year and the start of beta testing is going to be announced on our site within the near future.

The CheckImage utility will be embedded into the program and even available from bootable rescue media as well, just as we promised. Incremental backups will also be possible. You will be able to taste the new version very soon and all your comments and questions will be, of course, very welcome.

---end quote---

[the Tester]

Thanks for the news on True Image FanJ.

Sounds interesting and available at the end of this year?
I'm looking forward to that release. :)

[FanJ]

Hi The Tester,

Well, I guess we have to wait until Acronis tells us more about it.
Until that moment we have to be patient.
And, of course as with every program: I guess indeed some beta-testing has to be done.

So let's wait and give them the time needed; and until that moment: TI 6 is doing its job fine ;)

Cheers, Jan.

[FanJ]

Folks,

Version 7 of TrueImage is coming near :)

It is already available in Germany.
Here is the German Acronis site for it:
http://www.acronis.de/products/trueimage/

Once again thanks to the posters at DSLR-Software-Forum who posted about it:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8534553~root=sware~mode=flat

So, we have to be a little patient till the English version will be published.


PS:
Question for the admins/mods:
What shall we do: start a new thread for version 7 or go on in this thread?

Cheers, Jan.

[Acadia]

Hey FanJ, did you happen to see this article in pcmag:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1094490,00.asp

TrueImage is looking GOOD. :D

Acadia

(Damn, why does that link keep breaking?)

[FanJ]

Hi Acadia,

Thanks for the link.
TrueImage is indeed very nice !

PS-1:
That review is for the existing version 6.

PS-2:
You can fix the link by putting url-tags around it ;)

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1094490,00.asp

Cheers, Jan.

[FanJ]

Hi,

I just saw that the Server-version of TrueImage has now version 7.
The workstation-version is still at version 6.

http://www.acronis.com/products/

[FanJ]

First Impression of Acronis TrueImage Server edition version 7:

Nice posting from Howie here:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8595039~root=sware~mode=flat

[tepi]

Hi All:

As a result of this thread and one at DiamondCS forum I became interested in Acronis TI and installed the trial version recently. It seems fairly easy to use and I've made a backup of my C: drive onto CDs and also onto my D: drive (or partition). I also made the 5-floppy set of bootable floppies, have tested them, and was happy to find that they work.

To round things out I also made the "Bootable CD" the program allows for, but I'm left wondering how to use it. How do you boot from a "Bootable CD" if you haven't first booted up some other way so that you can open the CD tray? What exactly does Acronis mean by "Bootable CD"?

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Pieter_Arntz]

Hi tepi,

Some general information on bootable CD's can be found here:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~rossstew/drs/sec1.html#bk12

In order to use them you probably have to alter your BIOS settings.
n the BIOS Setup program, the user can choose to boot from a diskette drive, hard drives, CD-ROM, or the network. The default setting is for the diskette drive to be the first boot device, the hard drive second, and the ATAPI CD-ROM third. The fourth device is usually disabled.

To boot from the CD you will have to change that following order so the CD-ROM comes before the hard drive.

HTH,

Pieter

[tepi]

Hi Pieter:

Thanks. That's more or less what I'd suspected - resetting the BIOS. But since the mere idea of fiddling with the BIOS terrifies me I think I'll leave well enough alone and just settle for using the floppies - if and when the need should arise, which I'm hoping it won't.

Regards,

tepi.

[Pieter_Arntz]

Hi tepi,

Not resetting the BIOS, but changing a setting. It is not as scary as it seems. But if you are not comfortable with it, I am the last one that will try to convince you to use that option. ;)

Regards,

Pieter

[tepi]

Hi Pieter:

I see. Yes, well I've heard so many horror stories of changes to the BIOS leaving computers inoperable that, as a non-techie (and coward!) , I've always kept well away from it and will probably continue to do so. But thanks very much for clueing me in.

Regards,

tepi.

[FanJ]

Hi Tepi ;)

A little hint with respect to the bootable floppies:

Not so long ago I wanted to restore a TI backup image using the bootable floppies.
Alas, one of the floppies wasn't working anymore ??? :o
I was lucky: it was not a critical situation, and I could make another set of floppies.

So: it might be a good idea to have a second set of floppies, just in case......

Cheers, Jan.

[tepi]

{QUOTE-> quoting: FanJ link=board=9;threadid=9111;start=30#msg107206 date=1070649873]
Hi Tepi ;)

A little hint with respect to the bootable floppies:

Not so long ago I wanted to restore a TI backup image using the bootable floppies.
Alas, one of the floppies wasn't working anymore ??? :o
I was lucky: it was not a critical situation, and I could make another set of floppies.

So: it might be a good idea to have a second set of floppies, just in case......

Cheers, Jan.
<-QUOTE}

Hi Jan:

Thank you. Yes, very good idea. I've had the same thing happen in the past more than once. It's for that reason that I now keep my critical floppies in shielded cases that block magnetic fields. But I'm going to go ahead and make another set anyway.

Cheers

[FanJ]

Hey Tony,

Thank you too for your hint.
I didn't even know that such shielded cases were existing. If you might have a link, please :)

Cheers, Jan.

[tepi]

{QUOTE-> quoting: FanJ link=board=9;threadid=9111;start=45#msg107448 date=1070702995]
Hey Tony,

Thank you too for your hint.
I didn't even know that such shielded cases were existing. If you might have a link, please :)

Cheers, Jan.
<-QUOTE}

Hi Jan:

Sorry. I'm afraid I don't have a link. My wife bought the cases in Tokyo. They hold just 10 floppies and all it says on the case is:

ACTIS FLOPPY DISK MAGNETIC SHIELD CASE. This case has the special value of a magnetic shield effect.

Maybe a Google search might turn up something, although perhaps some sort of metal box might serve just as well.

Cheers

[controler]

NO backup program will work in DOS mode unless you have DOS drivers for that
peice of hardware.
I experienced this along time ago with Drive Image and a SCSI DVD-Write drive.
I never did find a way.
So, if you want to use DOS to restore an Image, you need to get DOS drivers, NOT Windows.
My gripe was, If your system is trashed and you can't boot to windows, how can you restore from a SCSI, USB or Firewire without DOS drivers for the hardware?

controler

[FanJ]

{QUOTE-> NO backup program will work in DOS mode unless you have DOS drivers for that
peice of hardware.
I experienced this along time ago with Drive Image and a SCSI DVD-Write drive.
I never did find a way.
So, if you want to use DOS to restore an Image, you need to get DOS drivers, NOT Windows.
My gripe was, If your system is trashed and you can't boot to windows, how can you restore from a SCSI, USB or Firewire without DOS drivers for the hardware?

controler <-QUOTE}

Hi Controler !

I'm not sure whether I understand your question right....

I myself (on W 98 SE) have had no problems with restoring a backup image made by TT-6.
I've done it more than once ;)
The backup image was on an external USB HD connected at an USB-2 card in my PC.
When I want to restore a backup image, I restart my PC with the first bootable TI floppy in it.
After restarting the PC the PC then boots from the floppy, completely without getting into Windows.
The PC runs then from the TI-floppies using TI's own Linux kernel.
So, it doesn't run from Windows and it doesn't run from DOS, but it runs from the Linux kernel of TI.
Of course TI does need to "know" your hardware. That's why you often see, when there is an update for TI, in the change-log at the Acronis-site things like "added support for hardware xyz".

I hope that helps ;)


Off topic:
Oops oops, just a few hours ago my external HD crashed :'(