'Startup Recovery Manager' and 'Acronis Secure Zone'

I am new user to Acronis V9, and not being too experienced a computer user, I have found difficulty in understanding explanations given by Acronis re the above 2 sections of their program.
1. Can I activate 'Start-up Recovery Manager' if I do not use 'Acronis Secure Zone' at all. [I am backing up to an external hard drive, and see no reason to use the 'Secure Zone']. Or, must both be activated to use the 'Recovery Manager'?

2. Must 'Startup Recovery Manager' be activated in order to use the plug-in 'an image as a virtual drive''? After my first complete backup of 'My Computer', I tried the plug-in, but all I could see in Windows Explorer was 'My Documents' folder--there was also no new disk drive, etc.
Would really appreciate any help!
Thanks.
Rhoda

 

The SZ was useful when most systems had only 1 hard drive and tape was the accepted backup option. But since you have an external drive, I wouldn't use the SZ. I have never had reason to use or activate the SRM, nor do I use the Clone feature of TI.

I would advise you though to create the bootable Rescue CD and use that for all TI features.

 

“1. Can I activate 'Start-up Recovery Manager' if I do not use 'Acronis Secure Zone' at all.”

No, AFAIK. You can use the Secure Zone alone, but the SRM works with the SZ.

“2. Must 'Startup Recovery Manager' be activated in order to use the plug-in 'an image as a virtual drive''?”

No. When you say “plug-in”, are you talking about “Mount Image”? You can mount a disk or a partition backup image, but not a files/folder image.

 

My backups are usually full backups of' 'My Computer', which I backup to an external hard drive.
My hard Disc [C:\] has no other partitions [I am a simple home user of a Dell Inspiron 9400 laptop].
The instructions given in the Acronis manual re 'Using Plug-ins\ 'select a partition to connect as a virtial disk' read as follows: "in selecting a partition to connect as a virtual drive, you cannot connect the entire disk".
I interpret this to mean that since my entire disk [C] has been backed up, I have no 'partition' I am able to select. If this is correct, then I am unable to employ the 'Use Plug-ins' at all.
If my interpretation is wrong, would appreciation being set right.
In making a full restore of 'My Computer' are plug-ins of any real use? In the event of a full crash, I would use the 'CDRom Recovery Disc I have made.
Sorry for so many questions, but I am having difficulty with some of the meanings of terms used in Acronis.
Rhoda

 

Sorry, I’m still confused as to what it is you’re trying to do.
When you create a backup, your first choice is “entire disk contents or individual partition” or “Files and Folders”. If you select the first option your choices are to pick an entire disk or any partitions on the disks. There is no “My Computer” choice.
If you choose “Files and Folders”, then you can select “My Computer”.
You cannot plug in a files/folder image, only a disk/partition image.

“To browse and restore individual files, Acronis True Image Home can plug in ** partition images ** as virtual drives, thus letting you access them as though they were physical drives.”

 

Sorry, I am confused re the terminology. I always choose 'backup entire disk or individual partion' option, and choose a 'full backup'.
Since my 'entire disk' is a single partition [C Drive], I am confused about having to 'choose a partition' when using the 'Plug-in' option, when it states that "I cannot choose an entire disk in selecting a partition to connect as a virtual drive". Can I still use the plug-in? What would I choose as 'the partition'?
Since I never use Acronis Secure Zone or Startup Recovery Manager, is the plug-in option still available for my use?
Hope this explains my problem a little better.
Rhoda

 

Rhoda, to make a backup of your laptop drive, when you launch TI, either from within Windows or via the bootable Rescue CD, you will get a menu that has, among other things, Backup An Entire Hard drive, Clone hard drive, etc.

Choose Backup an Entire hard drive and when you procede with the dialog windows you will get one that will list your laptop drive (usually named Disk 1)as well as your external drive (usually named Disk2).

Make sure there is a check mark next to Disk 1. It should be there by default.

In one of the following dialog boxes you will be asked to select the destination for the backup. Here you should click Disk 2, give the backup a name and carry on with the rest of the process to make the backup.

 

If you are creating the backup by selecting either “Disk 1” (as in Chutsman’s photo) or just the “C” partition, you should be able to mount the image.
The wizard should bring up a window that looks like this picture. Since you only have one partition, your view will look different, but as you can see, only the partitions are listed, no option to mount the entire drive. Just make sure it’s checked and change the drive letter the image will be assigned if you want (usually no reason to).

 

Hello Rhoda,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

First of all, please make sure you use the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home. To get access to updates you should first register your software.

Please note that you will not be able to use Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager if you do not have Acronis Secure Zone on your computer. Acronis Secure Zone is necessary because it contains all necessary files for using Acronis Startup Recovery Manager and these files should be inaccessible by the operating system and applications other than Acronis True Image.

No, you can mount partition images as virtual drives without Acronis Startup Recovery Manager activated.

Yes, you can use Acronis True Image 9.0 Home to mount the image. As TheWeaz mentioned, only partition images can be mounted. If you want to view file archive contents, use the Restore Data Wizard. Please follow the instruction provided by TheWeaz in the post above to mount the image archive.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

However if you have what Rhoda has- one drive one partition- then she can mount the C: drive/partition backup file

My C: partition is all of my system drive and I have backed up the drive as per Chutsman onto another drive. I call it Sysdrive.tib

I often mount the tib file

So Rhoda because your C drive has only one partition you can mount it.

The instructions state you can't mount a drive because some drives may have 2 or more partitions

Good luck

 

Even if a drive has only one partition, it is the partition, not the drive, that gets mounted. You cannot mount a drive. It’s confusing because of the use of the term “drive letter”. Drive don’t get assigned letters, the partitions on them do.