Test Restore

I am using Acronis True Image 11. It is working ok. I have full backups scheduled and running. I am not doing incrementals right now because my external 500 gb hard drive is empty and I have the room.

I have restored files from archives but I would like to test a restore from the rescue disc just to make sure when I really need it it will work.
I have 2 internal hard drives - C: and D:
Can I restore my Disc 1 C: archive to my second hard drive (D just to test if the rescue disk will work? If it does work how will the computer know which is the original, correct one? Will 2 C: drives be a problem Which one will the computer boot from?
Afterwards can I just do a restore under windows to restore the second hard drive back to the original condition from archives I have backed up?

Can someone give me directions before I start on things to watch out for so I don’t ruin my disks?


Andy32901

 

are you using vista or xp? with vista you might have to do a repair on the restored drive, with xp you might have to watch out for drive letter change problems. (worst case scenario). Best case scenario your restored harddrive will bootup the first time.

But whatever you do, DO NOT BOOT UP your computer with both the source and restored harddrive connected in the computer. If you do, worst case both hard drives get confused and there will be changes made to prevent either from booting up. Thats rule number one that alot of people forget and results in problems. I always remove the source drive and install the restored drive in the location where the source drive used to be connected to same cables that the source drive was attached to. Then check your bios before bootup to make sure all the changes are recognize.

Any tests that I have run I have always used a spare hard drive, though true image is reliable I prefer not to take any unneccessary chances.

If you run into problems getting the restored hard drive to bootup, with vista just have your "vista installation dvd" ready to do a simple repair. With windows xp I recommend you get the demo of "paragon justboot corrector" so you can use it to troubleshoot your drive letters.

You have a fairly simple configuration, with just two hard drives each with a single partition. That usually doesn't present any problems. The only problem I see is if your d: hard drive is smaller than your c: hard drive. I use wndows xp and when I try to restore a large partition into a smaller partition (which is allowable if the actual use space will fit in the smaller partition) I always get drive letter change problems.

 

It does not matter if the source and destination hard drives are different sizes. I use a rotation of three main hard drives in a PC. They are all different sizes. I restore full images to each of them in turn. Having done these operation many hundreds of times I have NEVER had any drive letter problems with Windows XP.
The only constraint is that the destination drive has to be large enough to take the used space of the source drive. Obviously if one was to continue using a drive with very little free space it would eventually log jam.
I can ony assume the Joneyjoe's driver letter problems arose from operator error. Many users give all their drive/partitions meaningfull names to avoid any possible confusion.

The safe and error proof way to test a whole drive image is to remove the source drive and replace it in the same position with a SPARE drive using the same connections. You are proposing to use your D drive for your test. I would not recommend this as restore destination because any data on there would be deleted by the restore. You could of course restore the D drive from its backup image but why take this first time risk? Then boot from the TI rescue CD and run the restore. Take care when selecting the image and destination drives while booted in the recovery environment. This is because different drive letters are used here, however they go back to normal after completion. Remove the CD and reboot. Job done.

If you do decide to go ahead and overwrite D the way I would get back the starting position would be to put the drives back where they were but do not boot Windows. Instead boot from the TI CD and run a restore of D drive. Then boot Windows . This way there is no chance of Windows seeing two C drives at the same time.

There are other ways of doing safe tests such as partioning your D drive so you can restore C drive to a new partition at the front of the drive. This would require the use of a partitioning tool which you may not have.

Xpilot

 

I am using XP. My D Drive is larger than my C drive. I realize the data would be lost but I have that backed up.
I am not planning to try and boot up the restored drive, I just want to see if the rescue disk will work. As soon as the restore is done I want to check and see if the files are there and I will put the D drive back to its original config.

What about using the rescue disk to restore the data from the D Drive instead. And leave the C drive alone. Can that be done? Then I won't have to worry about a operating system repair. I don't have a installation disk anyway. My HP came with the installation on a partition on the C:.

andy32901

 

This is a BIG BIG mistake, not to boot the restored drive. If you go this far, you should boot it. This is the ONLY 100% sure way you have, to know if a restore is good. Do not rely on a successful validation outcome. There have been too many false positives with the validation process.

 

Validation only shows that the file has the bytes that were written to it, not that those bytes bear any resemblance to the source data. With ATI, only using a restored disk can tell you if it works on your hardware.

 

I stopped validating soon after I bought version 6. The only way to know if an image is good is to restore it.

 

Well I did a restore. The C drive restore went ok The boot up was ok. I restored my D drive back to original.
Thanks everyone for your input.
Now I am a happy camper knowing that TI works.

andy32901

 

Andy I was lucky enough to start with True Image 6 and having no one to advise me. I simply made a full image and then restored it. Later when I found Wilders I realised that problems might have occurred. Now that you have one good full image I suggest that you make more. My own preference is for full images only of C: for the operating system and programs and D; for data.
In the event that one restore fails you will then be able to revert to a previous good image. I say in the event because after making more than a thousand images and restoring almost as many I have yet to have a failure. The only one to fail was because of a bad usb cable not because of Acronis. I stopped using verify/validation a long time ago.

 

And even if it's valid, it won't necessarily restore.

But once you know ATI works on your hardware all the way through backup through restore, you can expet to do so consisitently. You don't need to test-restore every image ;-)