TI 9 backup questions

I have 2 internal hard drives. If I use TI9, I read I can clone a complete copy of one hard drive/OS too. If I then send or save it to my other hard drive do I have to disconnect one of the hard drives?then connect again to do the incremental backups even if I save it in the Acronis safe zone? I am looking for a simple solution for backups. If I have to unplug one hard drive it would be easier to buy an external hard drive and just unplug and replug when I want to do incremental backups.

 

If you want to make backups to use in case of disaster or to restore the system to a previous date then don't bother with cloning. Cloning is best suited to make a copy of an old drive on a new drive that is going to be used in place of the old drive. You only have to remove the old drive from the system after cloning before the first successful boot - it can be reconnected after that.

Make an image of your system on the second internal drive. You can then make incremental or differential images based on that image as you wish.

Since you have second internal drive I would just create the images on that drive and not bother with creating a Secure Zone. A Secure Zone was designed to for computers with only one hard-drive and it just provides a separate partition to store and recover the image from. Note that if you have a Secure Zone on your drive and it fails, the Secure Zone and the images stored in it are gone as well.

 

Thanks for the reply.
If I make an "image' would it also copy my OS? so if disaster ever occured I could just transfer it back? Would it be bootable after transfering it back?

 

If you make an image of a drive or partition it contains all of the information contained on that drive or partition including the OS. In build 3567 you are able to backup the MBR with a partition image (previous builds required the whole disk to be imaged). So you can restore your C drive and the new disk will be bootable.

Note that TI makes an image as I have described above or it can make a Files and Folders backup in which you can select which files and folders you want backed up. For disaster recovery the image backup is the one to use since it contains everything. You choose which type of backup you want while working through the backup wizard.

 

I find that a Secure Zone on a second slave drive can be very useful indeed. I use it to store scheduled full images of the main drive. Once set up the backup process is automatic It runs in the background and I can continue working or can go to the Pub.
The Secure Zone manages itself on a FIFO basis so at any one time a set of images are available to restore from.
The only task I am left to do manually is to check the logs from time to time to make sure that the scheduled backups have run.

PS. I usually agree with all Seekforever's advice apart from this one aspect.

Xpilot

 

I think I'll show your PS to my wife ! I did omit that the SZ is an easy way to manage images automatically if that is of interest to you and putting it on a second drive maintains the same level of security as any other image on that drive. My preferred method of working biased my answer. Another point is that images stored in the SZ can't be accessed for burning onto DVD or managed outside of TI.

 

The thought of juggling with DVDs and sweating over a burner fills me with Horror ! My view,being basically lazy and for an easy life, is to use a slave drive as my first line of defence followed by independent backup images on external HDDs.
BTW I have just made test recoveries from both these media for the latest 3567 build. Each restore went perfectly
though the USB restore was no faster than the previous build.

Xpilot.

 

I don't mind burning the odd image to DVD and I feel having something, even if it isn't the latest, off-line for a giant disaster is indeed a good thing. Recovering from a bunch of DVDs is not my idea of a good time either.

I just put the DVDs in an old spindle pack, one for each machine, in my file cabinet. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy knowing they are there but I don't think I've ever had to go to them for any reason. That is my other theory - your machine only fails when you don't have a good backup.

 

please bear with me: if I have this right I should make an image send it to my second hard drive and then do incremental backups as needed. Would I still have to make a boot cd, set my bios ,disconnect this drive ,then reconnect after rebooting?
I can put this into a secure zone or not it is my choice / but in using the secure zone I have to replace the whole image,correct?

 

Always make a bootable rescue CD of your current version of True Image! If you have a disaster that ruins your hard-disk then you boot up the rescue CD and restore your image. Without it you cannot access an image unless you reload Windows and install True Image again.

You need to set your BIOS correctly to boot from the CD. I always leave my BIOS set to boot from the CD as the first device in normal operation. If there is not a bootable CD in the drive it boots the HD. The choice is yours.

Yes, you would make a complete image and then you can update it with incremental or differential backups or just make another complete image. The choice is yours.

You do not have to disconnect a drive that has images on it. The only time disconnecting a drive is necessary is before the first successful boot after doing a cloning operation.

Use of the Secure Zone is your choice. I don't use it but I believe you can do incremental and differential backups to the Secure Zone if you wish.

 

Thank you for your patience.I have it clear now. Because I am using "images" I do not have to disconnect the drive. (I thought cloning and imaging were the same ). Thanks again. Razz