Acronis software queries

Hi

I've a few qns on Acronis software and backups.

1. Is it possible for me to create backups/disk images on a hidden partition?

2. If I image using Acronis, can other backup softwares such as Win XP's Backup Utility, WD's backup software and Cobian Software recognise the image I created and create incremental backups against that?

3. Is having more than 1 backup software advisable? Will it conflict like antivirus softwares?

4. If I image and backup music files under compression, will the music quality be affected when I extract it out?

Thx.

 

1. Acronis Security Zone is hidden I believe so the answer must be yes but if you use your own proprietary hidden partition how can Acronis see it ?
2. No is my guess
3. I like Acronis so can see no need for any other. My guess is that some others will work fine but others might not. Only way to know for sure it to test.
4. No - I have been using Acronis and compression for years without problems

 

Yes you could use the Secure Zone.

No. They all tend to be proprietary.

Once you have proven that any one application works with your system there should be no need to run more than one. You could however supplement your backups with occaisional xcopys of important data if necessary.

No. It is lossless - in other words the original data is constructed when it is decompressed. However, you will not get much (any) compression out of files which have already been compressed (e.g. MP3s)

F.

 

I am fairly new here, but let me see if I can answer.

1 - not sure what you mean. What kind of hidden partition? Acronis True Image does offer something called the secure zone, which is a special paritition that is available for standalone restores. The partition is visible using, for example, XP's disk manager - but not its contents. Not sure if that meets your needs.

2 - no

3 - I would not run the different backups simultaneously, but there is nothing wrong with having more than one backup mechanism

4 - no. All backup compresssion is lossless. It would not be a good idea to lose part of an exe file during a restore option.

Dan

 

But isn't Acronis Secure Zone meant for one to recover without a bootable cd? Does this mean that I have to create an image in the Secure Zone and not anywhere else? And for further incremental backups, I'll just assign it to be created in the Secure Zone, am i right?

Does it mean that an image of music files (mp3) will most likely be the same size as the original file? And what do u mean when u mentioned 'lossless'?

 

oh.. and if i create an image of a partition onto another partition on a diff HDD, will the image overwrite the existing files in the destination HDD? Or will it just appear as another file?

 

It is just a file.

F.

 

There are 2 kinds of compression - lossy, which means not all the info is recovered when you uncompress it, and lossless, which means there is no loss of information. Music compression is lossy - you lose quality as you compress more. Jpeg compression is lossy. Compression of real data - like data backups - must be lostless.

And I think that sometimes, compressing a compressed file can create a physically BIGGER file than you had originally - so the backups could take up MORE space than the MP3 files.

Dan

 

Yes if you want to restore the active partition without a boot CD you will need to use the Startup Recovery Manager in conjuction with images stored in the secure zone. You can use the SZ simply as a repository to restore from bootable CD or from Windows (non- active partitions). You can store images in the SZ, or you can store images on a normal partition, or both.

The difference will be very small indeed. Have a look at :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossless_data_compression

F.

 

if i store images on a normal partition and not in the SZ, can I still restore that partition without a bootable cd? and what's the Startup Recovery Manager? is that in Acronis as well? or in XP?

 

Not sure what you mean by "normal". If you mean non-active (e.g. a data only disk) then the answer is yes. You would use True Image under Windows.

It is an optional part of True Image (as opposed to Acronis).

F.

 

What I mean is that if I created an image in a partition without activating secure zone, can I still recover without using a bootable cd?

so.. to recover my image without a bootable cd, i must create an image in a secure zone, am i right?

 

Providing the partition you are restoring to is not the active partition (i.e. the partition which contains the booted operating system)

If the active partition needs to be restored you need to boot from either

- a boot CD (which can use backups from either a SZ or any other partition), or
- Startup Recovery Manager (if installed, which has to use the SZ backups)

Only if you are restoring to the active partition. If you had a dedicated partition which (say) contained photographs on it, and was not your OS partition, then you can restore to this from TI within windows.

Any closer?

F.

 

Hello spider_darth,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

I would like to correct the last foghorne's reply.

Please note that the main purpose of Acronis True Image Bootable CD and Acronis Startup Recovery manager is to restore the system from the image archive if your system does not boot.

If your Windows operating system works properly, you can use Acronis True Image under Windows to restore the image archive. In order to restore the system partition Acronis True Image will prompt you to reboot the computer into its standalone version (no Acronis True Image Bootable CD or Acronis Startup Recovery manager is required). Once the partition has been restored, you will be able to boot Windows in the usual way.

I would also recommend that you find the detailed instructions on how to use Acronis True Image 10.0 Home in the respective User's Guide.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Hi Aleksandr

thank you for the clarification. I was incorrectly confusing the terms 'Startup Recovery Manager' and 'stand alone version', and they are not synonymous.

F.