Copying entire disk.

I note that when copying a full disk to a larger disk there seem to be 2 problems.

First: I do not want to make the new disk the boot/system disk partition at this time. There seems to be no way to avoid this. How can I do it.

Second: I've been reading the threads here on using a USB disk as my second disk but there seems to be a problem with TI v9.1 to copy the system partition and 2 other partitions on a 40 gig disk which is my boot disk to the second disk which is an empty 120 gig disk connected as an external USB disk.

Is Acronis atuned to these situations and removing the impediments to execute disk copy routines to allow the above operations?

Regards,
Werner

 

Hello quincey3,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please be aware that there are two approaches available:

Clone Disk - transfers the entire contents of one disk drive to another;
Backup - creates a special archive file for backup and disaster recovery purposes;

Please take a look at this FAQ article explaining the difference between Clone Disk and Backup approaches in more detail.

There are several advantages of creating an image over the disk cloning procedure such as: you can create an image without rebooting your PC, image creation can be scheduled for the particular point in time, Acronis True Image allows you to create incremental and differential images, image archive contains only the actual data and so it has a smaller size, images are ordinary files and so they can be stored on any type of the supported media, etc. However, the final choice is always up to your needs.

You can find more information on how to use Acronis True Image 9.0 in the respective User's Guide. Please

Please note that Acronis True Image 9.0 recognizes all hard disk drives connected to the PC, along with a wide variety of removable media drives with P-ATA (IDE), S-ATA, SCSI, USB, IEEE1394 (Firewire) and PCMCIA interfaces including: CD-ROM / DVD-ROM and CD-R(W) recorders and burners, magneto-optical drives, Zip and Jazz devices, and many others. You are able to clone your hard drive as to USB hard drive and also from USB hard drive. Also you are able to store the images created with Acronis True Image 9.0 to USB devices.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

You have not answered my question in any respect.

I asked you to answer my query: I do not want to clone my boots drive I want to copy it nor do I want to back it up at this time.

The clone option advises that it will delete all files and directories on the original drive. I do not want that to happen. I want a mirror image of my system drive and the other 2 partitions on that 40 gig drive.

I want to make as mirror copy onto 120 gig drive. I will someday maybe exchange the two drives or maybe not. I will decide that when necessary.

Also the destination drive is a USB (external) drive which I see from posts here is a problem.

Can you look at my questions again and give me a specific answer based on the question not on information I can get from the FAQ.

Thank you

Regards,
Werner

 

I will answer your 2 questions.


1.
To synchronize your data between two drives:
1. Create full disk image of your current 40GB drive with the 2 partitions. Save the image to DVD's or a 3rd Hard Drive if available.
2. Unplug the 40GB Drive and plug in the 120GB drive which is now empty.
3. Restore the image created on the DVD's or 3rd Hard Drive to the 120GB Drive and boot the drive to verify it works.
4. Unplug the 120GB Drive and do what you will with it.
5. Plug in your 40GB Drive back where it was before.
6. Done

OR

1. Create full disk image of your current 40GB drive with the 2 partitions. Save the image to DVD's or a 3rd Hard Drive if available.
2. Perform clone operation copying 40GB drive to 120GB Drive which wipes the data and erases the 40GB Drive.
3. Boot into Windows and verify 120GB Drive working.
4. Unplug the 120GB Drive and do what you will with it.
5. Restore the image created on the DVD's or 3rd Hard Drive to the 40GB Drive and boot the drive to verify it works.

If your request was to have a constant mirroring of your 40GB Drive to your 120GB, then True Image is not your product. What you could then use is Backup Exec, which is excellent for real-time mirroring tasks between a variety of media types. As a fact I am mirroring some RAID's to NAS devices at my work domain currently so if that's what's desired, go that route.....



2.
As for backing up to USB Hard Drives, I personally had little problem using 2.0 or 1.1 speeds. Try using the bootable media to create your image if you run into trouble in Windows.

P.S. - double check the User Guide. I believe deletion of the cloned drive is optional and can be disabled.

Hopefully I answered your questions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hello Werner,

Please be aware that this is not obligatory to delete all files and folders on the original hard drive. Acronis True Image 9.0 allows you not to delete this data. Please read Chapter 7 of Acronis True Image 9.0 User's Guide which describes both Automatic and Manual modes of the Clone Disk wizard in more details.

Please also note that we recommend you to unplug one of the hard drives prior to booting into Windows for the first time, since keeping both original and cloned hard drives connected might cause different boot or drive letter assignment problems.

If you have any further questions on how to perform the disk cloning process then please let us know what exact steps\actions described in the above mentioned User's Guide you are unable to understand\perform.

Please be aware that Acronis True Image 9.0 supports cloning to\from the hard drives connected to the computer via USB. If you encounter any problems while trying to perform this operation then please provide us with the following information:

- What exact version and build number of Acronis True Image do you use?

You can find the full version name and build number by going to Help -> About... menu in the main program window;

- What operating system is installed on your computer?

- Did you try to perform the disk cloning process when Acronis True Image was running from under Windows or when your computer was booted from Acronis True Image Bootable Rescue CD?

- Did you receive any error messages? What exact messages? When exactly did you receive them?

- Describe actions taken before the problem appears step-by-step.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov