What happens if my Computer is Smashed?

7/2/2007 5:41:21 PM

Hi:
If I have a "My Computer" backup of my entire boot drive (on a "safe" external drive). And my laptop is stolen forever or gets run over by a truck...... and I go out and buy a new laptop.

Keeping it simple, say I buy another identical laptop, can I do a restoration?
(Seeing as how all info read from mother board will be different).

If I can do a restore, I assume I will have to re-register all software to the manufacturers.

If re-registration is the worst problem I will have (like for office, and XP etc) then I can live with that...... If Acronis will not or cannot restore to a different computer I need to know that now and prepare for this also.

Thanks in Advance,

---Ed

P.S.:
I am extremely happy with both the Disk Director and Home 10! But I just started wondering about this potential problem.

 

Restoring to different hardware requires the additional Universal Restore option together with True Image Workstation 9.1. I don't think UR will work with True Image Home.

A workaround that may work and which does not require UR is to make a backup AFTER you change the video display to a standard display driver. When restored in this manner, you should get a bootable system but with the standard display and you will then have to update the display driver to suit the new system. There will, of course, be other drivers for devices on the new system to update.

 

You will require the Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation with Universal Restore if you wish to prepare for this eventuality. There is no Universal Restore option for the 10 Home product.

The above suggestion regarding default display adapter etc. will only work if there are minor hardware changes. Windows will not be able to cope if there are changes to any of the HAL drivers. If you are able to get a new notebook from the same series - i.e. with different amount of RAM, a different video card, faster processor - you should have no problems. Different hard drives / motherboards will generally not work.

I would recommend Workstation with Universal Restore.

 

Ed, I took the liberty to embolden a key phrase within your questions. If the replacement laptop is truly identical to your stolen/damaged laptop, then you should have no trouble successfully restoring the image created with TI 10. But if it's not identical, then I agree with what's already been said.

 

7/8/2007 8:16:37 PM


Thanks for the help.

I realized the real answer is I am safe, I just have some work to do.

I install Acronis on the new computer, and mount the image of my old boot drive from my external drive.

I then have access to all Data. So what I have to reload software, and re-register. I now realize I do not need anything more to cover my rear (like My Data Backups). In fact they have the dis-advantage of NOT being mountable.
Thanks, Ed

 

EdinBrighton,

You are a brave person. Trusting your precious data files to a proprietary format. There are several threads here where posters couldn't recover their data files from the image. Storing data files in native format is much safer.

 

If your getting an identical laptop or Pc, the TI image file should work on the new PC. If the hard drive is bigger, more memory, different DVD burner on the new PC, that should not make much difference either.

Issues you might have, which have been mentioned earlier, would be a driver issue, especially with video and motherboard chipset drivers, could cause Windows to crash, even though the TI image was sucessfully installed on the new hard drive.

If there are too many hardware differences, and Windows does not crash, a lot of the times you will have to activate Windows again, which might require a toll free call to Microsoft. This is Windows XP and older. Windows Vista is going to be a whole lot worse in regards to noted hardware changes, i.e. one will probablt have to pay for a new Vista license and product key code.

regards...

Roman

 

That depends on the proprietary format being used... For example, I see no problem at all archving important data files in standard ZIP or RAR formats.

 

There is no question that the ZIP and RAR and probably some other formats like QIC are no problem as far as compressing and decompressing. There still is the problem of what happens when some of the sectors the archive resides on go bad.

If I look at my data file archives in terms of size, the decompressed portion is very small compared to the already compressed files such as jpg,mpg,mp3,wma, and compressed installation files. So, IMO, it makes more sense just to back up the folder structure. Of course, not everybody's data files are the same.

I have used various backup programs, Winzip and I find it much more convenient just to deal with the native folder and file structure.

 

So I assume you use Xcopy? Although (as you indicate) there is nothing gained in the way of compression when dealing with jpg's, mp3's, etc., there is a lot to be gained with data/doc files and therefore I find it more convenient to use WinRAR to archive all file types and I can even password protect the archive. Been serving me well for years!

 

Nope, I use SyncBack (free). Scheduled to backup the desired folders in the middle of the night. I believe it will compress the files if desired as well. The $30 version (can install on 5 PCs if for personal use) allows encrypting, copying locked files, FTP and various other features.