Total noob question

Newbie here, just made a back up (.tib file) of my local C drive and saved the image to my backup F drive which is a hard drive also. I would like to burn this image to DVD to use if I ever need to. Nero says unrecognizable format when I select burn image to disk. What do I need to do to get this done. If my pc crashes, do I just use the boot disk I made with True Image and it will let me install my saved image in place of my crashed one or do I still have to reinstall Windows?

 

> Nero says unrecognizable format when I select burn image to disk.

That's because the TI-image is not an DVD-image. Just treat it like a normal file (open Nero, select create a data DVD or whatever Nero calls it, add the TI-image to the DVD, burn).

Before you do this, you should check the image though. There is a "Check Image" function somewhere in TI I think. If not, here is a program to do that:

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

You can also try to "Right-Click -> Explore" on the image.

And finally, after you have burned the image to DVD, use a checksum verifier (http://www.irnis.net/soft/xcsv/) to verify that the original image on the HD matches the copy on the DVD.

> If my pc crashes, do I just use the boot disk I made with True Image and it will let me install my saved image in place of my crashed one

Yes. Once TI has booted, remove the CD, insert the DVD with your backup image, and get a cup of cofee while TI puts everything back in order.

You should test this as soon as possible, all the way to when TI asks you to "Proceed..." with the restore. That way you will know that the Rescue CD works with your PC.

> or do I still have to reinstall Window?

No.

Edit: Added checksum calculator: http://www.irnis.net/soft/xcsc/.

 

Thanks for responding. You answered my questions perfectly.

 

Just one thing to add to MiniMax's comments, check the size of the backup file. As I understand it, Nero won't burn files larger than 2000MB to DVD. If your backup is larger than that, type in 1490MB in True Image to split it into 1490MB pieces. Three 1490MB pieces will fit on one DVD and use it efficiently.

 

I found that the easiest way to burn to DVD is to create the .tib file in CD (700 MB) size chunks. That way I can burn 6 files to a DVD.

Also if you defragement the HDD where the file(s) is stored the defrag program is handleing 1 - 700 MB file at a time instead of 1 - 5, 10, 15 GB or larger file.

 

Good points. A DVD will hold bit more than 6 x 700MB, but you are only wasting about 280 MB. If you type in 745MB instead of choosing the default 700, you use almost the full DVD (but can't burn the files to CD-R) and still have the advantages you noted.

 

Hello gotcha,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please note when you create the image you should specify the image archive split size and burn them to DVDs later. MiniMax is absolutely right, you can burn the image file like a ordinary file.

Thank you.
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Irina Shirokova