Tutorial with True Image?

I am looking for a tutorial or some help to get me through the process of switching hard drives in my notebook.
The 20g drive in my Acer Travelmate is getting full, so I've bought a 60g drive to replace it.
I've installed True Image on the notebook and saved a backup of the entire drive on my desktop system. Am I on the right track?
After I install and format the new drive, how do I transfer the data onto the new drive?
Hopefully someone can walk me through this or point me to a tutorial site.
Thanks.
KM

 

Doing this with a notebook would be much much easier if you had an external usb hard drive. Any chance that you have one or can borrow one?

In any case you will need to create the bootable Rescue True Image CD. Does the Acer have a burner?

With the image on the usb external drive, install the new drive in the laptop. Then boot with the bootable CD and use the Restore feature to restore the image.

Another way involves mounting the new drive into the desktop, then booting with the bootable TI CD and doing the Restore there.

 

Thanks Chutsman, for your reply. I guess my problem at the moment is that the backup archive is now on my desktop system, but the only way to connect the notebook and desktop is via ethernet. But that does not seem to be supported by the True Image recovery wizard. I am going to try firewire, though I'm guessing that's not supported either. Another option is to buy a cheap USB enclosure for the 20G drive tomorrow and go that route. We'll see what happens.
Thanks.

 

Actually TI is supposed to be Network aware. What version and build are you using?

 

In fact, I realize the desktop system doesnt have a firewire port so that's a moot point. So, tomorrow after buying a 2.5" drive enclosure my plan is as follows:
Put 60G drive into enclosure and connect to notebook
Use xp to partition and format 60G drive
Use True Image to clone 20G drive onto 60G drive
Install 60G drive into notebook
Either boot right up from new drive or use restore CD that I've already burned

Then I guess I can use the 20G drive with the enclosure as a portable drive.
Is this correct?

 

I'm using the trial version that is currently available Version 9.0 build 3567

 

Well here we go. It turns out I needed to set the network connection in tools/options. I can now see the archive on the desktop system and recovery is proceeding. I have my fingers crossed.

 

I have managed to copy the backup archive to the new drive but I am unable to boot to windows (XP). The system just hangs at a blank screen. Anyone?

 

If I've ever had a problem with TI, this sort of thing has been it - the image restores well, (and shows as perfectly readable when read by another install of windows via a usb enclosure) but upon boot attempt you get a black screen with a cursor. Sometimes I've found the solution - sometimes not. In the cases where I did find the solution it was usually something dumb (minor settings change etc.) that caused the problem.

As for your exact situation - I might suggest trying the clone drive method from the bootable CD to clone your 20 directly to your 60. I've had better luck with this method than any other. I have had plenty of luck with stored image files as well however I've also seen more complications.

I've noticed on 'factory installed' images as opposed to OEM disc installed versions of windows I've seen more problems like the one you mention here. It seems to me that however the factories partition or format the drives has a higher chance of screwing up a disk utility like TI, Ghost or others.

 

Hello kmag,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

First of all, please be aware that you should not just copy the beforehand created image archive to a replacement hard drive but restore this image. You can find more information on how to restore a disk\partition image in Acronis True Image 9.0 Home User's Guide.

Please also note that we recommend you to unplug one of the hard drives prior to booting into Windows for the first time as keeping two identical hard drives connected might cause different boot or drive letter assignment problems. Please see this previous thread for further details.

If the above does not help then please also make sure that you have installed new hard drive in place of the original disk and the jumpers on a replacement disk are set to "Master".

If your laptop still does not boot then please provide us with the following information:

- Do you receive any error messages upon the computer boot up? What exact messages? When exactly do you receive them?

- When exactly the boot process hangs?

- Did you restore an image of the entire hard drive or an image of a single system partition?

- Did you change your laptop's hardware configuration since this particular image archive was created?

- What are the types of both your original and replacement hard drives (e.g. IDE, SATA or another)?

- Describe actions taken before the problem appears step-by-step.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

Thank you for your assistance.
To review:
With True Image installed on my notebook, and the notebook connected to another computer via ethernet, I saved a backup archive (tib file) of the entire notebook drive to the other computer.
I then removed the notebook drive and physically installed a new, larger harddrive (neither partitioned, nor formatted).
I then put a True Image recovery disk into the notebook and booted to the cd-rom.
I used the recovery wizard to restore the new notebook harddrive using the backup archive on the other computer.
I then tried booting into windows using the Acronis recovery disk.
I get a black screen with a blinking cursor.
I then tried booting to the hard disk. I still get the blank screen.

My new problem is that the battery in the notebook seems to have run out and does not appear to be accepting a charge. As a result I am unable to start the notebook at all.


Thank you for any help that will get me out of this jam.

KM

 

I have solved the power issue. I currently have the original drive back in the notebook. Not sure what to do next.

 

Success!!!
I bought an enclosure for the new harddrive, connected via USB and used the clone function of True Image. Worked like a charm. Put the new drive into the notebook and it booted right up. Everything appears to be perfect. The old 20G drive will now go into the enclosure and act as a portable backup. Nice.

Thanks to all who offered assistance.

KM

 

Well you have beaten the odds. It is usually the Clone feature that gives more problems than the Image backup feature. That's what I have found anyway. Glad it worked for you.