TI - new boy questions

hello everybody,
I read Grover two PDF files and have few more questions and hope you will help me in educating here. Please explain in plain english as I am not tech savvy.

1. How to boot from CD. I made one on CD-ROM ( don't laugh). when I put the CD in computer, it shows files. or PC should be restarted.
2. should we make system imaging only via recovery CD mode or windows mode. or doesn't matter.
3. how to check the recovery CD and Backup image file to make sure they are good and will work when disaster strikes.
4. ARCHIVE LOCATION: biggest confusion for me.
a). when making image for the first time, E- my external hard drive ( EHD), Arconis Full my folder name, 11-5-2007 my date of backup. The folder/file name looks like this
E/ArconisFull/11-5-2007.
Grover mentioned there should be no spaces or too many dots.
b). when doing weekly scheduling- full backups only. when I select the same folder, it says overwrite or create new folder. Does it mean, each time I do a full backup, I have to create a new folder and can not save within the same folder? does the automatic backup also creates new folder. Please explain this, using the above E/ArconisFull format.
5. In options: media components: should we select both full version and one click restore or only one. which one and why.
In the same, advanced tab: full or safe version. both or one, which one and why.
6. Grover in his beautiful PDF file says, connect the EHD ( destination) to pc and power it up before we run the program. Does it mean, it should be connected even before we insert the boot CD or after it but before proceeding with wizard.
7. If I decide to move from old 40GB internal hard drive to 100 GB new internal hard drive both with one partition only, is it ok. or we should always create partitions in new disk. Creating partitions and adjusting their size is scaring me. Never did it.

thanks for patiently going through this and help this new boy here.

thank you.

 

1. To boot from the Rescue CD, first the Bios has to have the CD-rom device ahead of the Hard Drive in the boot order. If it is so then when you insert the Rescue CD and restart the computer it will boot from the CD.
2. That's a personal preference. I prefer to use the CD. In fact I don't even have the software installed anymore.
3. The only 100% sure way is to try a restore to a spare hard drive. Once you done a few successful restores, you can then rely on the validation process.
4. I don't use the Backup Location feature since I'm still using ver. 9. I keep my backups on both a usb drive and on a second internal drive.
7. That's one of the features of the software .. to go to a larger drive without having to reinstall all the software. You don't have to create the partitions and if you run into the common anomaly of the larger drive assuming the size of the smaller drive, that is easily fixable.

 

Hi
thank you, Dwn for clarifying few questions.
I want someone to answer other the questions:4,5, and 6. Any other comments on question 3 also will be appreciated. spare drive means another EHD or replace Internal drive and put another one. I am not sure i understand that.

Also if I want to use the USB flash drive in place of rescue CD, how to use it. I ran the recovery wizard and downloaded into USB flash drive. It is recognized as removal disk in windows. But in CD the size was 47MB and in flash drive is only 20 MB. Please clarify.

Also you said, anomaly of larger drive assuming the size of smaller drive is easily fixable. Please explain in plain terms.

thank you.

 

1. Answered by DwnNdrty.
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2.Answered by DwnNdrty. As long as the backup archive is validated, a backup either way should be ok. Backups from CD seem, to have fewer problems whereas backups from Windows is much faster. It's a matter of personal preference.
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Answered by DwnNdrty. The only real way is to do a restore--preferably to a test drive.
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Use a different folder for each full backup. Backup archives are simply files stored in a folder. Here is another example of how to store your backup files/sets on an internal or external drive.

Re: Backup and Restore Acronis 9.0
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=184414#6

However, if you are wanting to use the "Backup Locations" option, suggest you readup on that topic in the "Useful Forum Threads" below.
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Normally the full version. Before you get involved with "One Click" do more research. Understand the requirements before attempting to use it. Disaster for some. Use forum search.
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Normally, Attach before shutdown; or attach before bootup from CD is begun. There has been reports of some external drives not starting this way and those requires connection & powerup prior to clicking the full version option.
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A backup of the entire drive (all partitions) will enable you to restore your archive image (all partitions) to the same or a new larger hard drive. (Read note 2 of the recovery guide). If you have more than one partition, but want to restore only one partition to a new larger disk, then that is a different question and needs clarification. Use your XP Disk management tool to view your hard drive so you can see what partitions currently exist.

The brand and type of machine , operating system, and how many partitions are important info when questions are being answered--especially if its a Dell with special diagnostic partitions. What is yours?
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Best way for making functioning images
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1047306

 

Your choice based on what options you have. One easy way would be to remove your existing drive and replace it with a new one. Then use the Recover CD (or flash drive) and restore the full disk image or a variation as mentioned in Note 2 of the restore guide.

Get a larger flash drive. A 1-GB size is about $12-$15.

The anomaly depends upon the steps taken during the restore. If a full disk restore is made, you get a new disk the same size as the old disk and you need extra steps to recover the extra space afterwards. On the other hand, if you follow Note-2 as mentioned above and use partition resizing, you can get full disk size by selecting each partition separately prior to the restore. You can read several examples on prior postings where the user is complaining about not getting full size from their restore.

Each of the questions you are asking have been asked and answered many times with prior postings. Start out by reviewing some the "Useful Forum Threads" listed below. Good luck.

 

thank you Grover,
I read lot of posts in the forum but I was not sure about some answers so I asked them. sorry if they are reposts.

questions
4. you gave a link. it is not working. please check.
5. full vs one click restore: you suggested full
what about the other one : full vs safe- you didn't answer that.

Archive location page: while backingup, we have an option to choose backuparchives files or All files. what is this All files. should we use or not. If yes, when.

another question: I lose the recovery CD that i created in my PC, and that pc is down now. Can I create a recovery cd in another pc and use in my pc to boot into acronis program to restore OR recovery CD is computer specific.

sorry if I was not clear. I have a flash drive of 1GB space. what I meant was, when I downloaded recovery manager to CD the size of those files was 40MB but when I downloaded to flash drive it was 20MB.
mine is dell inspiron 8600 with xp prof. C; drive has only one partition with 40gb. question is, if I go for a new one say 100GB and want only one partition in that also, dwn said, anomaly has to be fixed. how to do that?

thank you for your patience

 

The link above has been fixed and also listed below.

Re: Backup and Restore Acronis 9.0
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=184414#6

Also, check this link below plus the links inside that link.

Re: Is Image Enough? Or Backup files too?
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=187133#5

The basic difference between the full and safe version listed on the Rescue CD is that the full uses Linux drivers whereas the safe uses Dos Drivers. The content is basically the same.

A Rescue Cd is not computer specific. It can be created on any computer where True Image Home is installed. Make a few extra copies and list the version number and serial number for safe keeping.

The difference between file sizes on the flash drive is normal and it functions the same. Some of the files included on the CD is not included ( and not needed) on the Flash Drivel.

One Click Restore is another topic for discussion. Check previous references.

I would suggest that you post an image attachment of your Disk Management illustration--as described in my guides and my attachment links below.

 

Avoid the anomaly of not getting full size of your new larger disk when disk restore is used..

Suggest you check out "Resizing Restored partitions" found in the Useful Forum Threads link below. This describes how to avoid having reduced capacity on your new your larger replacement drive. Using "Resizing Restored Partition" option, (rather than checkmarking the Full disk option) displays a screen where the user can resize the partition from the old small size to the new larger size--during the initial phases of the restore process.

Also suggest you check out three threads on "How to Restore to a replacement Hard Drive" found in the Useful Forum Threads link below.

The Acronis True Image Home has a very helpful user manual plus each screen of the program has a help section which can be accessed via a help icon located in lower left corner (v10).

 

thank you Grover,
you clarified all of my questions except one. sorry.

In archive selection page:
- file type: backuparchive and All files.

should we always check backuparchive. when do you use All files option from drop down menu.

thanks.

 

I assume you are are referring to Version 11 which I do not have. Perhaps someone else could jump in and offer some suggestions.

I have looked at v11 user manual. Backups begin on page 27 but your page is not illustrated there..

Your selection on the backup type should be
"My Computer".
"Disks & Partitions"
Tick mark the check mark of left side of the disk 1 option.
as illustrated by images B3A & B4 in my backup guide.

The above will get you an backup image archive which can be used to restore your existing partition or to a new larger disk.

If you choose any other options such as Data, all files, etc, then your backup will not contain all the files you need to restore your system. See note-1 below.

Suggest you review the manual and the help section located on the archive selection page. I have not seen the contents of this page. Perhaps you can illustrate by posting an attachment--or wait for someone else to answer that has v11.

Note-1: some of your backups can be of files only; but that is in addition a full and complete backup of all partitions--otherwise known as a full disk backup as illustrated on image B4.

 

hi
I am using version 10.
the sequence goes like this: My computer/ disk-partition/ backup archive location.

In this page, at the bottom, we have two boxes. One for folder and another for Files of type. When I used the drop down menu, there is All files in addition to Backup archive.

I am referring about this All files.

I want to make Image of whole system NOT files or folders. So my question is, should we always select Backup archives . When do we choose All files. Is it when we want to backup only files and folders but not the system.

thanks.

 

If you're referring to this screen, the selection in the drop-down box is just for whether or not you want the display to show All Files or only Backup Archives files while your browsing for where you want to save the image file.

It has nothing to do with the actual backup and whether or not it's an image or files & folder type backup.



If you have Backup Archives selected then only .TIB files will be displayed. If you select All Files then all files will be displayed.

 

Thanks MudCrab
I was having trouble locating the "Archive location page: while backingup, we have an option to choose backuparchives files or All files. what is this All files. should we use or not. If yes, when."

I still suggest this image attachment be posted by ramesh19. This would confirm what partitions exist and whether any are hidden or diagnostic. The existence of hidden or diagnostic could effect what instructions are needed when replacing the hard drive--for whatever reason.

 

thanks both of you, Grover and Mudcrab,
So to sum up my understanding is, just select the backuparchives. No need to choose all files.

I am attaching my disk management image.

thanks.

 

Thank you Ramesh19 for posting the attachment. I was able to magnify the text and read its contents. No hidden or diagnostic partitions were indicated. For future attachment postings, the text contained within the image would be easier to read if the attachment was smaller in width and height. The display window should not be maximized.

Before capturing, use your mouse and grab the side and bottom margins bars pull the image smaller. More details in my attachment link below--if interested.

You are correct. There is no need for the option of "all files" even to be shown in the first place. You are only interested in the files which relate to the backup archives anyway.

If you have the time, this link is an interesting/informative reading.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=190670

 

thanks Grover,
First I got an image backup with All files.

Now I got another with backuparchives.

I maximized the page as in smaller version, I have to scroll up and down to see all the drives. So to give complete picture I maximized.

two questions:
1).I checked recovery CD it is working. I changed BIOS so the flash drive will be the first one to boot into, still flash drive didn't work.

2). you mentioned the only way to check the Image is to use a spare hard drive. I don't have one. I am wondering is it possible by mounting the image. I ran the mount image wizard, but it ended with assigning letters. I chose X. I don't know what to do now.

thanks.

 

Rather than post a maximized view which is difficult to decipher, the next step would have been to use your picture editior and remove the blanks space from the right margin. This reduction would have reduced the width by about 1/3rd and the improvement would have been a more accurate reading of displayed text. This is to help in future postings.

Your two backups are identical. The content of your backup was determined by the options selected on the

Select Backup Type (checkmark "My Computer")​

Partition Selection Screen (checkmark "Disk")​

Select Backup Mode (checkmark Full--not incremental or Differential)​

The one and only purpose of the Backup Archive Selection Screen is to allow the user to designate where the new backup archives are to be stored. Or, if a full backup has already been made and you want the program to overwrite the old backup, then you must choose the .tib archive from the selections offered.

As MudCrab stated "If you have Backup Archives selected then only .TIB files will be displayed. If you select All Files then all files will be displayed." Think of it this way. The True Image program is asking you which files/folders you want to be displayed in the window. Don't get hungup on this screen. Select where the backups are to be stored and move on.

"Didn't work" does not tell us much. Did it attempt to the boot or did you get error message or did it not seem to try. The last option would point to a bios setting.

Extract from MudCrab's posting
1st boot device = USB drive
2nd boot device = CD drive
3rd boot device = floppy​

Review the posting by MudCrab via the troubleshooting link below in my signature in MudCrab's signature above.

Chapter 12 of the User Manual covers this topic. Now that you have the archive mounted as drive X, double click on "My Computer" and you will see drive X listed. Dbl click on the Drive X listing and the directory tree will open and you will see a duplicate copy of every file contained in the archive. For testing purposes, you could drag a couple of your personal files from Drive X onto a new test folder on Drive C and check that the contents match and not contaminated. After you have finished your exploration of Drive X, close the Explorer windows. Now the Mount must be unmounted. You can do this by opening "My Computer" again and Right clicking Drive X and choose the "unmount" option; or you open True Image Home and invoke the "unmount" from its Tasks list.

Have you tried the Flashdrive troubleshooting link displayed in MudCrab's signature located in his posting above?

Below is the contents of My Acronis bootable FlashDrive which has 31MB of acronis files. Does your look somewhat similar?

​

 

hi Grover,
I followed mudcrab's trouble shooting guide. I downloaded one image - first one, and installed that in flash drive through acronis. Then created recovery media again flash drive as destination.

Bios was set so flash drive is the first to boot in.

First a couple of times, it booted in from Flash drive. I saw safe and full version. No windows. When I used CD I saw all three and if I want to enter windows, I used to click on that.

Now since there is no windows, I clicked on Turn off computer and when shutdown and restarted and now didn't boot again into acronis. A flashing cursor seen at upper left corner and whole screen was black. I powered off the laptop. Then removed flash drive and restarted the PC. Again same result. This time when rebooting I went into BIOS and changed so flash drive is second after CD drive. Restarted and same cursor with black screen and again went into BIOSand set CD drive as 1st, Internal disk as 2nd and USB flash as 3rd option. Rebooted and it went into windows and am using the pc.

This USB flash drive is not consistently working for me. CD is working every time and am wondering why windows option is not seen when it worked in flash drive bootin. Also another question, when I have all those booting files, can I store other stuff or I need to create any zone etc.

I mounted the image and checked a couple of files and they are identical. Unmounted and disconnected Ext HD. thanks for helping me patiently.

thanks.

 

ramesh19,

My USB Flashdrive doesn't show Windows as a boot option either. I don't think that the USB media does, only the CD media.

The boot order changing when you removed the Flashdrive is not uncommon. It happens especially bad on one of my computers. Every time I change a boot device, I have to go back into the BIOS and reset it to boot to the correct device otherwise it seems to just pick one at random and if it's not a bootable device then the boot fails. This seems to be a BIOS problem and has nothing to do with the bootable USB Flashdrive. A "good" BIOS will usually return to the last boot device order when you unplug the USB Flashdrive.

Also, even though you've booted successfully from the USB Flashdrive, doesn't mean that the computer will automatically boot from it the next time you plug it in. You may have to enter the BIOS and select it. Then when you're done, enter the BIOS and reselect your hard disk.

You don't need to shutdown the computer to reboot when booted to the USB Flashdrive. Just remove the Flashdrive and press Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot. As mentioned above, you may need to change the BIOS boot order.

 

thanks Mudcrab for the info.

When I have these booting files in Flash drive, can I still use it to save other stuff ?

thanks.

 

You can use whatever space remains on the flashdrive for whatever you want. Create a folder to save documents, etc. As long as you leave the Acronis files on the flashdrive, you can treat it as a regular flashdrive.

 

thanks a lot Mudcrab.

 

I'm glad that MudCrab was able to respond and answer your questions. It seems your system will boot from the Flashdrive--providing the proper boot order is set before each boot. You can have a better understanding of how your bios is working by observing the bios settings prior to each reboot following the use of the flashdrive. If your system does NOT boot from the flashdrive when properly set, then come back with more examples.

Normally speaking, you set your intended options inside the Bios; Save those changes: reboot into the selected device. When you need to boot from another device, then the Bios much changed again to reflect the new settings needed.

I'm sure you have already noticed my signature plus that of MudCrab's where he has provided us with the ability to create a bootable USB Hard Drive and that drive can hold the bootup info plus any number of Acronis backup files as the external drive capacity will allow.

You gained some valuable practical experience in your restoration of the flashdrive using MudCrab's archive file (.tib). This was the same restore procedure as illustrated in my guides. Keep reading and keep practicing. One nice thing about TI is that you can practice by progressing thru a multitude of screens up to the point where you reach a "Proceed" screen. When practicing, don't click on the "Proceed" button.

 

thank you Grover.
I have some confidence in using TI.
All I want to do is, weekly full backups.

For files folder, outlook I use, Autobackup that came with seagate EHD. It is real time update and no need to schedule anything. I am happy with that.

I thank you and Mudcrab for patiently going through my novice questions and educating me. I also got now fasttstone capture so I can post better images next time if I need to.

wonderful and great forum for both beginners and advanced users.

keep up the fabulous job.

thank you.

 

Remember security for your external drive which contains your backups. This drive should only be connected when in use--not 24/7. You want to protect this drive from viruses and electrical surges, etc. Should you have a catstrophe and lose your computer or backup drive, you need to have one more backup option.

As part of your backup routine, I recommend that you occasionally perform a backup using the "Archive splitting" option. Size=1492 mb as illustrated in my backup guides. This will split each file will be 1492mb in size. This will enable you to burn 3 files per DVD (as Data DVD) using your own burn software. Use whatever number of DVD's needed so you have at least one complete backup set. Place this away for safe keeping--in the event your others have been destroyed. I'm not an advocate of DVD backups but having an additional set on DVD is better than not-having one--provided they have been validated by Rescue CD before burning. If possible, use the burner program to confirm quality burn.

As for Faststone Capture, you can still locate a 5.3 version which is freeware. This free version has been removed from their main website. Do a google search for FSCaptureSetup53.exe or FSCaptureSetup53.zip Check any download for viruses before use since any download will not be coming direct from the vendor.
http://www.adesblog.com/2007/06/13/faststone-screen-capture-is-now-shareware/

I suggest you make a couple of changes within the Faststone Capture default settings.
a. Create a new folder to hold your captures. Then, within the autosave settings modifications, point to that folder for your saves. During first actual save, you will need to point to that folder during the first capture/save operation.

b. Also suggest your edit & reverse the hotkey settings on the "Capture Full Screen" and "Capture Rectangle Region". This will enable the rectangle option to be used every time you press the PrintScreen key. I cannot think of any time you would need to Capture a Full Screen. A full screen is nearly impossible to read and you should not force a prospective helper to use a magnifier to see any pertinent data.

More often than not, attachments images on the forums are much larger (width & height) then necessary and often not readable. Be aware of your image size. Keep your image size (width & height) as small as practical . Most captures will have to be edited (size reduction or eliminate unneeded blank space) with your favorite picture editing program although some basic editing features is included with Faststone Capture.