Don't know what I'm doing!

Running xp sp2. Recently purchased 160G usb ext hard drive, it's up and running. Have downloaded Acronis 11 under 15 day trial.

Then I got TOTALLY LOST!!! (Yes, I've searched the site, read some of the software's contents files, read some messages in this forum - and it's not like I'm unfamiliare w/puters or software!)

I want to make a bootable clone or mirror copy of my c drive on the usb HD.
I've tried using Acronis twice; once I got a 'back up', the second time I got some strange file. Certainly not a 'mirror or clone'.

Not only that, but now I can't format the usb drive, I guess cause acronis is 'watching' it. Jeeze...

I find the 'contents' files great, if u have a phd in physics and computer science! (There's not even a glossary to look things up like 'mount drive' - now how in the heck am I supposed to know what that means?).

Unless someone can help me do what I need, which is have my ext drive look & act exactly like my c drive, then this obviously isn't the software for me! And I want to know BEFORE I buy...

 

You need a consultant, you are obviously not computer savvy.

 

I'm not sure if the trial version will allow you to clone, but let's assume it can.

The clone option is found via the tools choice off the menu bar. Make sure that after the clone, but before rebooting, you disconnect your current drive, and connect your cloned drive in it's place. Then boot. If you leave both drives connected and reboot Windows will have a major sulk and you'll end up having a wall mounted computer .

Unless you chose to install and activate the Secure Zone (something I don't recommend, but others like), then TI does not 'hog' your external drive.

I suggest with your external drive switched on, open up Windows Disk Management (right click My Computer - choose MANAGE) - check that your USB drive shows up - if it does but without a drive letter you can give it one by right clicking on it's icon in WM and selecting the next available drive letter. From this screen right clicking should also give you th eoption of formatting the drive again - though a clone shouldn't require this as TI rewrites the info anyhow.

If you have enabled SZ management - then there are two ways to get rid of this - the best is to make a rescue CD, boot from it and choose MANAGE Secure Zone - from here you can delete the secure zone and tell TI the reclaimed space should be added back into the main partition.

Colin

 

The trial version of Acronis True Image is fully functional under Windows (not sure about Try&Decide). So you can clone a disk easily.

 

Have you checked, other process that might try to lock drives, such as databases, PC drive integrity utilities, that might have come with your PC if a brand name, encryption software etc. TI has no reason to lock a drive apart from when it makes an image and even then it is only a partial lock of the sector it is examining.

However - you can either uninstall TI, or temporarily stop the two or 3 services that run on PC boot.

Services is found either from the management menu you last used, or by going to the run option off the start button and type in services.msc.

From here stop and disable - Scheduler2, TImounter and Try&Decide.

Scheduler2 allows you to schedule tasks.
TImounter allows you to mount an image
Try&Decide is, well, the T&D feature.

What happens if you open up Windows Exploder and try and just delete what ever is on this drive?

Did this external drive come with it's own imaging software or drive utilities?

If your computer is a brandname one did it come with it's own imaging utility?

Do you have a defragmenting software such as O&O or similar that automatically runs defrags in the background?

What version of Windows are you using?

Have you tried cloning again, ensuring you choose clone from the Tools menu in TI?

Colin

 

Perhaps my guides listed below can be of assistance. These show how to backup and how to restore the same backup should the need arise. Assign meaningful names to your drives so they can be identified by their names not their drive letters. Anytime you restore your system drive, it is best done from the TI Rescue CD.

 

Success!

I purchased Acronis, deleted free trial, rebooted, installed the 'real thing', rebooted, was then able to reformat ext hd, rebooted, and had absolutely no problem creating a clone!

Go figure! (Will do the CD as soon as I leave here).

Just for info:

running xp sp2, clone machine, new ext usb hd came w/no software, no defrag, etc running in background.

Will be back w/more questions later!

And thanks for all the links...