Acronis ver9.0 w/external hard drive

I have just received TI ver 9.0 -- still sealed in the box. My intention was/is to use it to backup my C: to an external drive and also to do monthly backups to the external. The more I read the more I think that 9.0 does not work with an external drive. Start-up Recovery Manager is a add-on benefit that I would like to be able to use.

So, do I need to use a CD with Start-Up Recovery Manager? Can I still use the external drive for the back-ups?

I'm also trying to determine if there is a difference between 'cloning' my C: and creating a 'backup' of C:

I realize these are pretty basic questions but - I have some pretty basic uses for TI9.

 

Actually an external drive is the preferred device, after an internal drive, for holding backups, and works with even version 8.

Cloning makes an identical copy of your original drive. This copy will be bootable immediately after the cloning process - or should be.

Backup creates a compress file of your original drive. This backup has to go through the Restore process before the drive becomes usable.

It's entirely up to you which one you do. If you do Backup, you can save several backups on an external drive if it is large enough. You can do only one Clone to a drive.

 

Thank you for the reply.

It may be my misunderstanding of terms but, if an external drive is fine, why is this in FAQ's?

Q- Can I create an Acronis Secure Zone on an external drive?
A - Acronis does not recommend creating the Acronis Secure Zone on a detachable drive. If you activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager and then for some reason disconnect the drive Acronis Secure Zone resides on, your computer may boot with a long delay or not boot at all. You will need to either reconnect the drive with the Acronis Secure Zone or fix the master boot record (MBR).

Probably my misunderstanding of the terms "backup", "cloning", and "Secure Zone"?

 

To use Start-up Recovery Manager you need to have created a Secure Zone. The SZ is not recommended for an external HD.

In case of a disaster where your OS goes belly-up, you boot the the Rescue CD which runs in a Linux environment independent of Windows, access the image on your external drive and restore.

As to the difference between an image and a clone, read this Dan Goodell article.

 

To: dld From: MJK

Thank you, too for a prompt and clear response.

Just to verify what I think you have said.

If I create a Rescue-CD to use in case of disaster I am still okay using the external drive to store backups and scheduled additional backups? If the system crashes, I boot from the Rescue-CD and restore from the most recent backup on the external hard drive?

Any problem keeping the external drive powered-up all the time?

Thanks so much! I just hate to go 'down the road' the wrong way. I often get lost!

MJK

 

Correct

Not really. Also I added an Edit on my previous post.

 

I use external drive to do an image backup.
then I unhook it, loock it in my safe.
this is my insurance against disaster.
I don't want it running all the time; current spikes, wear and tear, surges, theft, etc.
I prefer it to be off more than on, but in theory it is not problematic to leave it on