Restore procedure after complete disk crash

I have PC with 1 disk with 2 partitions (system and data). The data partition is mirrorred to a NAS, so I do not need a backup of that one. I frequently create a differential backup of the system disk to a USB drive, using Acronis TIH2009.

Suppose my disk crashes and is not readable at all, so I need to replace it with a new disk (probably not the same size, but still in the same PC). What is the procedure to restore the system partition to this disk, making it work as before? Do I need to be aware of special settings during backups?

So, I am not talking about cloning of an existing system, but creating an (unexpected) clone while the original disk is not available anymore.

My biggest fear is creating frequent images and not being able to restore when I need it, because I made a mistake during backup or do not follow the right procedure during restore.

Thanks for helping me (and giving me a good sleep).

 

There are probably 50 things that can go wrong. If I were you I would simulate a HD crash even if you have to buy another hard disk. I do this on every TI update just to assure that I CAN RECOVER !

 

JosD

Have you tested your disaster plan. You may have all this covered but since you are asking........
1. Have you checked your Disk Management graphical option to determine whether you have any additional hidden or diagnostic recovery partitions?
2. Have you booted from the TrueImage 2009 Rescue CD to simulate a restore to assure that all your drives are recognized.
3. Have you booted from the Rescue CD and did validation on any of your images?
4. Have you restored your system to spare drive
5. Have you restored any files?
6. What is the used space on your system drive?
7. What is the used space on your data drive?

Some suggested reading if you can find the time:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1406152#post1406152

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=232170

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1383642&postcount=13

A master disk which is not workiing rules out cloning. "Partition restore with resize" becomes the restore option. This scenerio is covered on line 3 of my signature below.

My recommendation is for you to make a disk option backup rather than a system partition only backup. Checkmarking the disk option would include all partitions (system & data & recovery, etc) in your backup archive. This is not the only way but using this method offers the best possibilities for a quick & complete recovery to a new disk.

Your current system disk includes a second data partition. If you do not include this partition within your backup, you will need to additionally recreate all partitions manually (to proper sizes) before you can begin the restore process. You would then restore your system backup- and then then restore your data partition either from a backup archive or from your mirror.

These are recommendations made without knowing details of your equipment or situation so it is difficult to be specific for your situation.

 

Thanks for you thorough reply. I will follow your advices right away.

 

Hello JosD,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

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Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev

 

I have done this before. I have found it extremely simple if you take the new drive and use any partitioning software to simply create a partition the same size as you are restoring (my C drive is 100GB, for example, and is, of course active) and restore the backup to that. Done.

Then, you can boot to your newly restored partition and format the rest of the drive as needed.

Example: I have a 250GB drive with a 50GB active C drive and an extended partition with two 100GB drives, D and E. All three are backed up. Drive fails. The new drive is a 750GB drive so I partition it into at least one 50GB active partition using any rescue media and restore the C drive to that. I boot into a perfectly operating Windows environment and use Disk Management to create the extended partition with whatever I need. Done!

Is that the kind of thing you are looking for?