Very Basic Backup/Restore question - Home 2009

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by Greg81, May 22, 2009.

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  1. Greg81

    Greg81 Registered Member

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    Ok, maybe I'm too lazy to read thru the instruction manual - here is my question(s): I bought True Image Home 2009 upon recommendation from the guys at the PCWorld forums. I installed the program and backed-up an image of my entire C drive on to an external USB hard drive. I also created a bootable rescue media (CD-ROM). Now, lets say my C drive dies tomorrow. I go buy a new hard drive and install it in my computer. I assume the next step to restore the image to the new hard drive would be to boot the machine using the Acronis boot CD I made and then plug in my external USB hard drive and then follow the directions? Is is that easy?

    Another question - would it be better to install another internal hard drive in my computer as the back-up destination or should I stick with the external USB drive I already have.

    Thanks in advance for your help.
     
  2. jonyjoe81

    jonyjoe81 Registered Member

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    I would plugin and turn-on the external hard drive first then turn the computer on before booting up with the bootcd. Once the bootcd loads true image, you can choose restore and browse to where your TIB backup file is stored.

    It's a good idea to test the bootcd by booting up the computer and making sure that the external is recognize by true image. If it's not than you you need to make a bartpe.

    To your second question. It is better to always have another hard drive in your computer. I always store my TIB's on my second internal hard drive, I rarely store TIB's on externals. It makes doing backups easier since the hard drive is always connected.
     
  3. Guy Scharf

    Guy Scharf Registered Member

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    Yes, or at least it was that simple with TIH 10. I haven't tested restores with TIH 2009 yet (but will soon).

    There are performance and security tradeoffs between internal and USB drives. Internal drives are very much faster than USB drives. But you can take a USB drive away from home so you have a secure copy elsewhere if your computer is stolen, burns, or whatever.

    In my opinion, the best of both worlds is a mobile rack which sits in one of the bays at the front of the computer. You then insert a tray, containing a hard drive, in the rack. Electronically, the drive performs the same as an internal drive (SATA in my case). But I can also easily remove the tray and put another one in, storing the first away from the house.

    (Finding a SATA controller that supports Windows' "Safely Remove" function is a can of worms. Most SATA controllers on motherboards do not support removable drives, so I had to get a separate controller for those drives. And I had to try two or three before I found one that worked as intended.)
     
  4. Greg81

    Greg81 Registered Member

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    Thanks a lot. I think I will buy another hard drive so I can go thru an actual restore procedure. I'll see if I can restore from the extrenal usb drive.
     
  5. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello all!

    I would like to add that Acronis True Image Home is not designed to restore backups to dissimilar hardware. So I would recommend to buy the similar hard drive in case of crash of the one that you have now.

    Acronis has another solution for restoration to dissimilar hardware -
    Acronis Universal Restore.

    This add-on is purchased separately and is compatible with enterprise products only (it is unfortunately not compatible with Acronis True Image Home 2009).

    The cheapest program that supports Acronis Universal Restore is Acronis True Image Echo Workstation

    Thanks,

    Jean Papyrin
     
  6. Robin A.

    Robin A. Registered Member

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    What is not a "similar" hard drive? I think that any hard drive that can be installed so that it replaces the old one is "similar" to it. Otherwise TI is useless.
     
  7. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello all,

    Thank you for your interest in Acronis Products

    Robin A. is right, there is no need to use identical hard drive in case initial drive fails. You can use hard drive of any vendor and model as a replacement drive.

    Best regards,
    --
    Dmitry Nikolaev
     
  8. MikeV99

    MikeV99 Registered Member

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    How much dissimilar does the hardware have to be before the restore fails. Size of hard drive? Additional memory added or video card changed?
     
  9. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    Most likely reason for a restore to different hardware to be a problem is a different motherboard or a new PC. The issue is incompatible device drivers since the hardware is not the same. More of different HDs, RAM, video card, etc aren't a problem but you would have to reload the drivers.

    People have reported success in restoring images to different hardware by letting Windows detect the changed hardware. Often a repair from the Windows CD is required.

    If you know you are going to change hardware, you uninstall your fancy video card's drivers and install a vanilla VGA driver isn its place. You can also have a look at and possibly run Sysprep, a utility from Microsoft which looks after PCI devices. These steps will possibly aid in the conversion.

    I personally see a new PC as an opportunity to get a fresh clean start, remind myself how I set the thing up, get rid of junk I don't run anymore (only load up what you know you really use and then add anything else as required). You also don't have to wonder if some obscure fault is because you used an old image on different hardware.
     
  10. Greg81

    Greg81 Registered Member

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    Hi:

    I just wanted to let the forum members know that I restored a backup file from an external USB hard drive to a new hard drive that I bought as a spare. I purchased the exact model drive that I have in my computer now (250 gig Seagate SATA). I know there was some question about restoring from an external USB drive but I had no problem at all. Although I did find that I had to plug in the USB drive after I booted with the Acronis rescue CD.

    I now have complete confidence that a hard drive crash will not ruin my day. Acronis is a great product.
     
  11. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    Greg81,
    Did you also remove the original and install the spare in its place and then boot from the new drive?
     
  12. Greg81

    Greg81 Registered Member

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    Yes, I did and the computer booted right up as if I never changed drives. I went thru this excerise to make sure I could restore in case my hard drive failed. The Acronis software is simple to use.
     
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