ti9 does backup the MFT too?

Hi
when i use the cd boot to backup a partition , does ti9 backup the mft tooo?


thanks

 

nobody knows?

 

I don't know if it backs up the MFT as the MFT or if it just backs up the information required to recreate it since the restored files are not put back in exactly the same sectors.

TI 11 also can exclude files from image backups so I would assume it just keeps track of the files in the image and rebuilds it when a restore is performed.

Is there a specific reason you want to know? If the restore works, it really doesn't make a difference if the MFT was backed up or not.

 

if there is a bug or problem in the mft backup the hd with the mft is a probelm
in TI 11 can you exlude MFT?

 

There are no options for either including or excluding the MFT.

Usually, if there is a problem, TI won't see the drive/partition correctly. The standard fix is to run chkdsk on the drive to fix any errors prior to backing up. If you have TI 11, I'm pretty sure you can do a sector-by-sector image on a corrupted partition. This can result in a huge backup image (the same size as the partition: 100GB partition = 100GB image file).

 

i have ti9
can i restore with ti11 the old ti9 backups?

 

Acronis doesn't officially support more than one version back so TI 9 images are not officially supported by TI 11. However, there have been posts where users have successfully restored TI 9 images with TI 11, including an image than TI 9 said was corrupt.

It may also make a difference if the TI 9 image format is from one of the early builds or from one of the later builds (the image format changed before build 3,677, not sure exactly which build).

 

thanks really very kind
so what can i do is install a trial version
and ti11 will quickly tell me if it can restore or not right?

by the which version do u use?

 

If you have a current backup image of you drive with TI 9 and have previous done successful restores, then go ahead and install the TI 11 trial and see if it will work with your TI 9 images. If it doesn't, or has too many problems, just restore your TI 9 image and you'll be right back where you were.

Currently, I mostly use TI 10 (build 4,942). I have TI 11 in the testing phase, though I did recently use it to backup a large data partition because I could easily exclude all my large files (*.ISO, *.MPG, *.MP3, *.AA, *.QIC, *.WAV). The final image was around 56GB instead of 200GB+.

I did extensive testing with TI 10 (4,942) before putting it onto my work computer. As a result (and due to the current bugs in TI 11), it may still be a while before I switch. TI 11 does offer some good features and improvements over TI 10, though.

 

As far as I know, you can't exclude the MFT from an image-based backup. If your MFT is somehow damaged and you want to recreate it, one way to accomplish this is to make a file-based backup, wipe and reformat the partition (which recreates a brand-new MFT) and then restore the files from the backup.

You wouldn't want to use ATI for that job, but it would be smart to use ATI to take a fresh image for backup purposes, in case things didn't quite work out as planned.

I have successfully used Robocopy in conjunction with a BartPE to remove and then restore my OS in order to clean up my MFT, but it's not a simple procedure and I wouldn't recommend it for a non-techie. This can be done quite easily on a data partition, but the presence of an OS complicates things quite a bit.

Dare I ask what has gone wrong with your MFT? There might be a simpler solution.

 

1) i should do a buckup my entire partition
2) whipe & format
3) restore only files right?
4) boot


cool idea about bartPe
can u tell me the procedure?

 

I could post it here, but it's kind of long and a bit complicated and I haven't finished writing it all out yet. Plus, it has only been tested on two stand-alone computers running Windows XP SP2 with NTFS filesystems, and it may not be safe for everybody. The procedure is still experimental and it's for advanced users only, and on the whole I think it's better if I don't post it yet. However, if for some reason you really, really need to try it then I could finish assembling the instructions and IM them to you, possibly to be posted here at a later date.

Just to give you a feeling for some of the requirements so you can decide whether or not you would be out of your depth, here are a few details:

1) You need to create a BartPE. I don't provide any instructions for that; just go to the website and figure it out for yourself. Among other things, you will need to provide an original Windows XP SP2 CD as the data source in order to build the BartPE (unless you have a slipstreamed SP2 version, which will also work).

2) You need a 2nd hard drive (internal is preferred, preferably blank or at least with a good-sized blank partition) and familiarity with creating, wiping and formatting partitions, both in the Disk Management console and at the command line.

3) You need to download and install robocopy.exe and be familiar with using command line and running lengthy command-line procedures. Here's a sample of the first robocopy command:

Robocopy C:\ E:\ /e /copyall /move /r:0 /w:0 /tee /np /v /xd "system volume information" "recycler" /xf "pagefile.sys" "hiberfil.sys" /log:E:\robocopystep1.log /L

You will need to adjust some of the above switches to get them to work with your system, and a familiarity with Robocopy would be helpful.

4) You need a very reliable (on your system!) imaging program and a bootable rescue disk that you know you can count on in the event this procedure fails to work properly and you are left with a dead system. Also, of course, you need to make a full backup of your data.

5) After the procedure has finished you might have to re-register or even reinstall one or two programs.

6) Be aware that you will be alpha-testing this procedure, and you might need to modify it in order to get it to work on your system. Of course, I would also greatly appreciate any feedback.

Are you still interested? Are you capable? Hey, why do you want to do this, anyway? You still haven't explained what your motivation is. For all I know this might not even solve your problem. What'd wrong with your MFT? There are other ways to approach these kinds of issues, you know, so let's just make sure the "punishment" fits the crime.

 

i think it pretty hard to do

better with ti9
but if i wipe a partion where i have installed xp , format it
load the ti9 boot cd and with an image of my xp
and with ti9 restore only files (every files), will it work?

 

If you are planning to restore an image of your partition, there's no point in wiping and formatting the partition in advance, as it won't make any difference. When an image is restored it recreates the entire partition, including the formatting and all of the files that are contained in the image. Because of this, most people don't bother cleaning up first, they just restore their images right over their existing data.

If you have a file-based backup, that's different. In that case you could wipe and reformat the partition before copying the files back in if you thought that your existing partition had some sort of a problem and you just wanted to "start fresh".

Acronis True Image can make both image-based and file-based backups, but they are designed for different purposes. The image backups are intended to be used for your OS partition, or possibly your entire drive. The file backups are meant for backing up your data. Although it's possible to make a file-based backup of your OS, it doesn't work too well (or at least it didn't work well for me when I tried it.) That's why I developed the Robocopy procedure.

I have a friend with curly hair, but he didn't like it. He dreamed about shaving it all off one day on the hopes that it might grow in as straight hair. In other words, I guess you can wipe and reformat your partition in advance if you want to, but I don't know if it's going to help anything.

 

thanks
but i mean to make a new fresh mft
restore only the files of my image ? i can restore in ti9 the entire image or files
i mean my procedure could work

 

Do you you mean you want to wipe and reformat C, boot from the Rescue CD, and then copy the individual files (not the complete image) to drive C? I've never tried that myself, but I suspect you won't get a working OS.

By the way, you still haven't explained why you want to make a fresh MFT.

 

It may or may not back it up, but it certainly reads it. The Master File Table contains a list of all files on the disk, pointers to their locations, and all attributes for files (timestamps, security descriptors, etc.) Not backing it up means you would have a image of randomly scattered blocks from your disk with no means of identifying them or what files they belonged to.

If your MFT is corrupt, CHKDSK can usually repair or replace it with the backup MFT, unless that's corrupted too. If that happens, you're out of luck.