acronis true image 8 and Windows xp

[jim28277]

I am a brand new user (not particulary tech savvy). I recently purchased true image 8 and imaged my (primary) c-drive to an external drive. I am using windows xp. Faq # 5 on the Acronis web site makes special mention of the fact that True Image 8 works with Windows XP. This leave me with the impression that the way true image 8 works with Windows XP is somehow different from the way true image works with any other Windows operating system. Is this true? Am I reading too much into this piece of information?

thanks Jim

[jim28277]

Further to my earlier post.....

It appears 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 8.0 reboots your PC, runs itself before Windows loads, performs restoration, and boots Windows XP upon completion.

I'm not sure what this means. The faq seems to be saying "that a user can restore a non-system partition without the need to reboot however, when you restore a system partition, then True image will reboot the system to log-off XP (and run TI before XP loads) and then reboot again after the restore".

I guess I'm just confused because acronis made such a big deal about XP and the need for rebooting before the restore and rebooting again after the restore. My understanding is that TI works exactly the same way with Windows98 or any other suppoted Windows OS.

[iflyprivate]

My suggestion.....

Just use it and you'll learn quickly.

[jmk94903]

Originally Posted by jim28277

It appears 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 8.0 reboots your PC, runs itself before Windows loads, performs restoration, and boots Windows XP upon completion.

I'm not sure what this means. The faq seems to be saying "that a user can restore a non-system partition without the need to reboot however, when you restore a system partition, then True image will reboot the system to log-off XP (and run TI before XP loads) and then reboot again after the restore".

Hi Jim,

You have it right. Because the boot parition is special, TrueImage has to shut Windows down and reboot into it's own Linux mode to do the restore. It's not quite as automatic as we'd like. You choose to restore the boot partition in TI under Windows, TI says it has to reboot, and then you have to repeat the selection. After the boot partition is restored, when you quit TI, Windows restarts and you are back to the time when you made the image you just restored.

As Iflyprivate says, give it a try, and it's easier than it sounds.

One suggestion, make an image of your entire boot drive that includes all the partitions on the drive if there are more than one. This ensures that the restored image will be bootable if you have to replace the drive. When you restore only the boot partition of a drive with mulitiple partitions to the same drive, it's almost always bootable, but restoring only the boot partition of a drive with multiple partitions to a different drive might not boot. Of course, if your boot drive has only one partition, you don't have to worry about this.

[jim28277]

thanks for the responses and suggestions.

best regards Jim

[Menorcaman]

Just to add that Jim needs to check he can create the TI bootable rescue CD/floppies. Although TI can boot into the Linux based rescue environment from Windows or via the Startup Recovery Manager/Secure Zone, this wont be possible in the event of a hard drive failure.

Regards