Backup Project - Newbie. Help needed.

[weese237]

Hello, I just purchased Acronis True Image 10. Have used Ghost for years and finally decided try something that looks reliable.

Hopefully you can point me in the right direction. I've been reading the users guide and I can't seem to find exactly what I need for this project.

I have just spent two weeks during my not working time, to rebuild a friend of mine's computer. I have installed a new larger hard drive and reloaded Windows XP and a lot of his software. I know he will corrupt and make a mess of things again in the future so I would like to make a "restore disk" so that I can bring it back to the condition it is now without doing all the work again. I also plan on keeping the backup disks here so that he doesn't lose them.

I have a USB 2 to IDE adapter so I can take his hard drive and plug it into my computer as an additional USB drive and hopefully make complete backups on DVD using Acronis. This way, I won't have to install Acronis on his computer since it's not his.

I created a bootable CD and it works great on my computer but doesn't boot at all on his. My plan was to boot from the "bootable" CD and then restore from the DVD backups I did of his HD. I can't figure out how to do this with Acronis. Can someone give me direction?

Thank you very much,

Louise

[DwnNdrty]

You will have to find out why the TI cd doesn't boot on his computer, since that is what you will have to do to restore the backup.
Is the boot order set in the bios so that the system boots from the CD ahead of the hard drive?

[GroverH]

As I understand the EULA, Acronis can only be used on one computer. Since you will be using it to restore to another computer, you will need a second license. Should you have a Seagate or Maxtor hard drive in the computer being built, you can get a free copy of MaxBlast
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=175584
which is a reduced features copy of Acronis TrueImage Home 10--support from Seagate.

Depending upon hardware, TrueImage10 is not always successful in creating a archive image via a direct burn to cd/dvd. A more problem free solution would be to store the backup on the host (internal or external) and then copy the *.tib files direct to DVD as a secondary copy function-- a.k.a. the 2 step burn process.

By "creating a bootable CD" were you referring to the creation of the Acronis Rescue CD which is bootable for backup and recovery?

[weese237]

Hi, I was about to answer that I had the boot sequence correct since I installed Windows XP through the Windows XP disk, but just double checked it and for some reason it had gone back to CD being the third choice. I changed it again and it boots from the boot disk correctly now.

Thank you very much!

[weese237]

GroverH, I understand what you are saying. It's being used only on my computer not his. I'm doing this to save myself a lot of time and effort in the future, which may or may not come, he may behave himself! or learn how to use a computer! . Thanks for the tip on MaxBlast and the 2 step process.

By "creating a bootable CD", I meant the "Bootable Rescue Media" as described in the manual. Thanks to DwnNdrty, that now works correctly.

Thanks again.

[DwnNdrty]

One problem solved. Now the next thing you need to be sure of is that after you boot with the CD that it will see where you have the backup Images stored.

And the most important thing is that you should carry out an actual restore to a spare drive and make sure the drive will boot afterwards. A successful verification of the image is not foolproof as some users found out too late.

[weese237]

Great idea! I should have a spare drive hanging around that I could try. Might even use his old one. Will give it a shot next chance I get.

Thanks again.