Is is possible to do recovery from DVD?

I have Acronis True Image 10 on a desktop, testing to make sure I can recover in an emergency. It seems as though I may not be able to.

If there is an xp problem and I can't get the computer to boot to xp even from the acronis bootable disk, I will have to use the acronis safe option. That does boot my computer, but doesn't give me the option to find the True Image backup on an external hard drive (usb ports won't work with the safe option). Nor does this safe acronis boot recognize the DVD-ROM. So, there is apparently no way to recover. I can't get to the backup to restore it. Am I missing something here? It seems ridiculous that a restoration software will not restore if the original operating system is corrupt. That seems to be the entire point of it, at least to me.

 

The Acronis boot cd's purpose is not to boot your computer to XP. It is to Recover the Backup Image that you would have previously made. You haven't said that when the cd boots, that you can choose Full mode. So the thing to do is choose Full (not Safe) then check whether the external usb drive can be seen by the Acronis boot CD.

 

Perhaps my guides can help. Check line 2 of my signature below.

 

good

Thank you, and the guides are very good. I will be able to see the external usb from the full mode. That is not a problem. The computer and hard drive are in good shape right now.

But - I'm preparing for the worst. I guess my question is this, does the full mode on the rescue boot disk always work? If the operating system (XP) on the c:\ drive really tanks, will the boot rescue disk always work to start the windows full mode. For instance, if I got a virus that really screwed things up and I can't boot anything from the c:\ drive, I would want to be able to stick the rescue disk in, boot to full windows mode from that rescue disk, and then completely restore the full archive backup which I have already made. Will this work?

I'm asking now, because I'm testing True Image out to make sure it is workable before a disaster strikes. And I want to know if it will handle the worst case scenario as I have described above. What say you, knowledgeable ones...

 

Yes, it will work ... that's the whole purpose of having the boot CD and having your Backup Image on an external drive. But, and it's a big but, you will never be 100% certain that the restore of the Image will be successful until you do an actual restore. And the safe way to do this is to restore the Image to a spare hard drive.

 

OK, I can install the c:\ drive full backup archive backup to another internal hard (e:\) drive I have inside my computer on a pci card. After I do that, how do I check whether the install went ok on the e:\ drive? When I reboot the computer, it will boot from the c:\ drive. So, how can I be sure the archive recovery I put on the e:\ drive is good?

Or, do I have to pull the c:\ drive and replace it with the spare that is now e:\? And if I do that, don't the two hard drives have to be identical size for this to work as a test?

 

Yes, you can simply disconnect the original C drive - most systems nowadays are set to boot from whichever bootable drive it finds, so if C is disconnected, E will boot and will, in fact, become C.

You can restore a Backup to a drive that is smaller or larger than the original as long as the original used space will fit on the drive.

 

Great, then that is what I will try to do. Thank you very much for our help. You have been very helpful. And I can now test everything in advance, safely...

 

Don't forget. My guides emphasized the need to have only one copy of the drives attached during the first bootup following a restore or cloning.

After a success first boot, then the second copy can be attached as a data drive and will assume whatever next drive letter is available.

The boot drive will assume the drive letter of C whenever it is the boot drive.