HELP making a backup in my dell laptop?

Hio can anyone help me please? I have Acronis true image home version 10. It has been a few days im trying to understand the program but i dont!

Now I have a laptop with all widows installed and programs installed including drivers. Before using it, I would like to be able to do something that will let me restore to this actual settings (windows and programs and drivers included) in a later time (ex: a virus) without having to reformat again the windows and all the programs and drivers installed! Is there a way?

Also, If possible, I like to do all this "backup" if that is called that way into dvd+rw. But I don't know how, can anyone tell me step by step, because I am not familiar with the product at all!

I am using ROXIO

Thanks

PS 3 questions:

1- I heard we need a bootable disk. So if my backup needs 2 DVD, I will need an additional DVD only for a bootable? If not, that means I can included the bootable into a DVD, but how? And why if I make a rescue bootable media (I dont even know what it does) in a dvd takes only 16 mb and while I make its iso in my computer, it is 46 mb with full and safe included, and if I burn that iso to a dvd, it is 46 mb and not 16 mb.
2- Can we make a full backup into 2 pieces on a drive, and then Burn it with Roxio on dvd? Is it the same as burning the backup directly to dvds? Because when I try to backup directly into DVDs, it shows errors logs like the DVD is no good while it`s a brand new dvd+rw memorex.
3-DVD+RW = 4.3 GB? DVD-R = 4.7?

 

and also, when i put a password, i am able to open the backup with my password when it is saved into a hard disk, but when it is saved into a dvd, the password doesnt work. why?

 

Hello l4cky,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Please note that using Acronis True Image you will be able to achieve this goal. Acronis True Image allows you to create an image of your system, which includes the operating system, registry, drivers, software applications and data files, as well as system areas hidden from the user. This procedure is called “creating a disk image,” and the resulting backup archive is often called a disk/partition image.

You can store images created in Acronis True Image on almost any PC storage device: local hard drives, network drives or a variety of IDE, SCSI, FireWire (IEEE-1394), USB (1.0, 1.1 and 2.0) and PC card (formerly called PCMCIA) removable media drives, including CD-R(RW), DVD+R(W), DVD-RW, magneto-optical, Iomega Zip and Jaz drives.

I would also recommend that you check this FAQ article regarding burning image archives to DVD discs with Acronis True Image.

Please note that when backing up to CD or DVD you can make this media bootable by writing to it additional components. Thus, you will not need a separate rescue disk. You can also include One-Click restore option when backing up to CD\DVD discs. Please check chapter 6.3.9 "Media components" in the Acronis True Image 10.0 Home User's Guide for details.

As for the size, please note that it depends on the components you have selected: full version required approximately 15 MB and the safe version - 13 MB.

Yes, you can also use "Archive-splitting" option of Acronis True Image to split image archive into multiple files of the specified size. Store the created image on a hard disk with a view to burning the archive to CD-R/RW or DVD+R/RW later on.

As for the issue with direct DVD burning, please make sure you use the appropriate time of DVD (as described in the FAQ article I have mentioned above).

If the issue still persists, please collect the log file from Acronis True Image 10.0 Home that contains the error message. In order to do so please do the following:

- run the program;

- select Show log on the toolbar or from the Tools menu;

- select the log with error messages;

- click "Save the log entry to file" (the diskette icon)

Please also create cdrecord.log file the way described in this previous post of mine.

In addition, create Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

To find the answer to this question, please take a look at my reply in this thread File split defaults to 4.34 GB.

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Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

On my dell latop i simply created a small acronis secure zone to hold an image of my basic os with all drivers and app installed. If anything goes wrong i can easily restore the image and as its in a secure zone i'm not going to accidentally delete it.

 

However, if your HD fails, you lose the image file in your secure zone. That is why many users choose to save their image files on a separate hard drive - internal or external. You'll read that many expert users forego the secure zone concept.