Replacing system disk.

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by jlanpheer, Apr 21, 2008.

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  1. jlanpheer

    jlanpheer Registered Member

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    Due to space considerations, i am replacing my computer's system disk (currently running Windows XP). The existing drive is currently partitioned into C and D drives. The new drive needs to be installed, formatted and partitioned. I purchased Acronis True Image 11 for the purpose of making the transition easier. However, i don't see any step-by-step instructions on how to do this.

    I HAVE created an image of that system disk on an external USB hard drive. It contains 5 .tib files. However, i don't understand how to move this image over

    Here's what i need to do:
    1. Install new hard drive.
    2. Boot computer (somehow... Can i boot from the backup image that i created on the external drive directly? Do i have to create a windows bootable disk first? Do i later recover the image from the external drive somehow once the PC is booted?)
    3. Partition it (don't need instructions on how to do this, but would like input on where in the process this should happen)
    4. Get image from old drive (or from backup on external drive to new drive)
    5. Get computer back to state it was at before.

    Does anyone have a complete set of easy-to-follow steps on how to do this for replacing a SYSTEM disk? If you can refer me to a technical note that describes it, that's great, i haven't found one that is specific to this task.

    Many thanks!
    cheers,
    Jim Lanpheer
     
  2. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    If you look for any message in the forum by GroverH, he has some very good beginnuer's guides. But in a nutshell here's how to procede:

    1. You already have the Backup on the usb drive. It consists of 5 files because the usb drive is formatted as fat 32 and not as NTFS. This doesn't matter.
    2. Make the bootable Rescue Media CD from the installed True Image software.
    4. Take the original drive out and install the new drive in its place - you do not need to preformat it.
    5. Boot with the Rescue CD and choose the Recovery feature.
    6. When asked to choose the Archive, navigate to the usb drive and select the first .tib image. True Image will know there are five of them.
    7. When asked to select the Destination, choose the new drive.
    Follow the rest of the prompts to complete the restore to the new drive.
     
  3. jlanpheer

    jlanpheer Registered Member

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    Thanx for the advice, i will look up GroverH and proceed with your steps.

    You indicate that i do not need to do any partitioning. If that is the case, what will my new drive look like (partition-wise and space-wise) once complete?

    My current system disk has 9gig for C and 27gig for D for a total of 40. I'd ideally be replacing this with 50-60gig for C and 450gig-ish for D. Will i have to go back and re-partition manually?

    Thanx again!
    cheers,
    jim.
     
  4. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    Sorry I missed that you had it partitioned in two. Check into GroverH's guides and see if he covers that. None of my drives have more than the one partition so I don't know how TI handles that.

    My guess though is that if during the restore you put the check mark against Disk 1 when selecting what to restore TI will do it for you.
     
  5. jlanpheer

    jlanpheer Registered Member

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    Thanx, i did find a document by GroverH with regards to partitioning which i will read later. Am still wondering about the merits of going Grover's way vs. merely partitioning the disk using the Windows utility and proceeding with the restore from there. Thanx for the tip on GroverH though.

    Partitioning hints, suggestions from others welcome....
    thanx,
    jim.
     
  6. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    Check line 3 of my signature below. It shows how to perform a Partition Restore with Resizing. This will enable you to restore on a larger drive but a "disk" option backup is needed--as illustrated by my guides.

    Have you checked your Windows Disk Management to see the partition makeup of your existing drive. This is something you should do as you may have some hidden partitons.

    The backup that you need is a "Disk" backup which must include C & D plus any hidden or diagnostic partitions. Then, the Restore with resizing is easy.

    Should you choose to manually create your own partitiions, be sure you check Disk Management for possible hidden or diagnostic partitions which also must be recreated and restored.

    Don't forget the TrueImage simulation as stated in any of my guides. You can test doing any function up to the point where you get asked Proceed or Cancel. At that point, if you click the proceed button, you are committed to the options previously checked.

    Regardless of your choice, rename your drives (without delay) so the drives can be identified by their names--not their drive letters. When booted from the TrueImage Rescue CD (which you will need), TI (Linox) often identifies the drive letters differently than Windows so you need to be able to indentify the corrrect partition.

    My guides show you how my drives are indentified. I include the Windows drive letter as part of my unique name such as "Sata-P1_C" which is my C drive on partition 1 on a Sata drive.
     
  7. jlanpheer

    jlanpheer Registered Member

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    Moved disks, question on partition resize.

    Grover-

    I'm looking thru your document about restoring a partition with resize and it SEEMS to assume that the restore is to another disk?

    My situation is now this:
    I've successfully installed the new disk and have moved the image of my old hard drive over to it. I had to do it in a 'nonstandard' way though because in boot-CD mode, for some reason, my new hard drive wasn't being recognized. Booting up with my old hard drive, i got it to work, but i didn't see any way to resize the partitions as i did that.

    So, i've now got a 500 gig hard drive with my C drive (9 gig) and my D drive (27 gig) on it. I've got some 400+ gigs that are unallocated. Is there any way to resize the partitions on the system disk FROM the new system disk without having to wipe it clean and start again? Is this do-able from the True Image product or do i have to resort to FDISK (which i can't find on my computer) or Disk Director/Ghost/something like that? Advice appreciated, i'm ALMOST there!
    cheers,
    jim.
     
  8. Xpilot

    Xpilot Registered Member

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    There is a cheap and cheerfull way to resize your partitions to bring the unallocated space into use. It is all done in True image.

    First you use the TI manage secure zone wizard to create a secure zone using the free space.
    The next stage, using the same wizard, is to remove the secure zone. Look at the removal screens carefully and you will see that you are given options as to where you want to allocate the free space. Finish the wizard and you are done.

    Xpilot
     
  9. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    In addition to what XPilot says, in that process remember to NOT accept the default to activate the Startup Recovery Manager.
     
  10. jlanpheer

    jlanpheer Registered Member

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    Thanx for the suggestions!

    I will give Xpilot's and DwnNdrty's suggestions a whirl tonight and will report back. I very much appreciate the help!
    cheers,
    jim.
     
  11. jlanpheer

    jlanpheer Registered Member

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    New partition? A little more info....

    Was discussing my experiences with this with a co-worker and he indicated that in his experience, it was not advisable to have partitions larger than 200 gigs in size in a Windows environment, which makes sense to me.

    So, i'm thinking of adding a new partition that does not currently exist to the drive that i've installed. Currently, i've got a C partition (10 gigs), a D partition (30 gigs) and 460 gigs of unallocated space. I'm going to use XPilot's suggestion to create a Secure Zone and then, unallocate it and dispense the pieces to my existing partitions. In that process, i'm wondering if its possible to create a new partition.

    My question is: Can i somehow create a NEW partition in the process?

    My goal for the new drive is:
    C partition - 100 gig
    D partition - 200 gig
    New E partition - 200 gig

    I understand that i can buy Partition Magic or Disk Director to do this, but if i can avoid buying any more software, i'd PREFER that! lol!
    cheers,
    jim.
     
  12. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello jlanpheer,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    We are sorry for delayed response.

    Please notice that new partitions can be created from unallocated space via Windows Disk Management tool.

    Thank you.
    --
    Marat Setdikov
     
  13. jlanpheer

    jlanpheer Registered Member

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    For the reference of future posters, i just wanted to close the thread by saying that the above responses posted to my query DID solve my problem. I had to redo some of the steps a few times, but eventually, it worked.
    thanx,
    Jim Lanpheer
     
  14. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello jlanpheer,

    We are sorry for delayed response.

    We are glad to hear that your issue has been solved and you can use Acronis True Image successfully.

    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.
    --
    Marat Setdikov
     
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