True Image 8 and XP's backup utility

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by psaulm119, Apr 28, 2008.

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  1. psaulm119

    psaulm119 Registered Member

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    I’d like to know how True Image and XP’s backup utility work.
    1. Do they literally form an image of the entire drive? That would obviously save me much time if I had to reinstall, although at this point, I have my OS and programs on one partition, and my files on another, so I can more easily restore one and not goof up the other if I needed to.
    2. Do I need to keep the image that Acronis makes, on that same hard drive? Can I keep it on a DVD? Or on another hard drive?
    3. What benefits does it offer over XP’s backup utility? It looks like XP’s backup utility will save not only your documents, but also, your user preferences as well (which would still save me quite a bit of time)—so is the real difference between Acronis and XP, that Acronis will actually restore the OS, in addition to my documents and preferences?
     
  2. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    It is infinitely better to keep your backup, whatever method you use, on a seperate hard drive or on dvd discs.

    With True Image you can have a bootable CD with the basic True Image functions on it to restore a previously made backup. XP cannot do that.

    True Image will backup the entire hard drive.
     
  3. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    psaulm119
    TrueImage=TI
    Version 8=old..........current version is V11​
    Yes for TrueImage. No for XPBackup which does a file by file backup.
    Yes, you can do a TI single partition restore and it will not bother the 2nd partition. However, should you need to replace your drive, you will need a "disk" backup which is a backup that includes "all partitions" (hidden or diagnostic or data) on your system disk.
    If your backups are stored on the same drive and you have a disk failure, your backups will be worthless since they will not be accessible. For security and convenience, you should store your backups on other disk--either internal or external or network or all combined. You don't want an electrical jolt taking out your main drive and your backups at the same time. Backups stored on DVD will work but there has been so many horror stories posted about their not working, I would discourage their use--except for having additional copies while you main backup storage is elsewhere.
    The XP backup is acceptable for data or single files which can be restored by file or folder but the backup file cannot be created direct to DVD. The backup file would have to be created and then use your Windows burner program to burn to CD or DVD. Backup file size is controlled by the user selecting the files to backup. I believe the XPbackup does have some recovery possibilities. I never found it workable so have never tried it for that purpose. I have used TI versions 8-9-10 and it has saved me many times. TI has enabled me to restore may system at my convenience and to upgrade to a larger drive. While some of your backups can be of the individual partitions, you always want to maintain a reasonably current "disk" image backup so you can restore your total system in the event of a disk failure of your system disk. Having such a backup will enable you to restore either partition individually or all if necessary.

    Many of us use more than one method or program to backup our data. Many supplement their regular TI backups with a file copy of some data direct to another drive or DVD, etc. The forum has many previous postings of a variety of backup preferences. Some perform backups only from the Rescue Cd while others automate their backup thru Task scheduling.

    One thing for certain, be sure and create a TI Rescue Cd and use to perform some backups and restores. The TI Rescue CD is an absolute necessity. Any disk replacement needs the Rescue CD for the best chances of success.

    If you have a Maxtor or Seagate disk in your computer, they offer a free utility which is an Acronis reduced feature version but newer than V8.

    seagate limitations by mustang (post #7)
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=175584&highlight=seagate
     
  4. psaulm119

    psaulm119 Registered Member

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    Thanks. I have already d/l a copy of TI, and I'll have a go at it this weekend. One last question: if I image my drive onto a DVD (or set of them), is this backup copy in any way tied to the "host" hard drive, or can I use it to restore the same settings/files to a new hard drive? I would assume that I can restore it to any hard drive I want, but you know what they say, "Assumption is the mother of all screw ups..."
     
  5. psaulm119

    psaulm119 Registered Member

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    I posted my last reply before I had a chance to read Grover's. OK so you are saying that DVDs are not as reliable as an external hdd? Hmmm ok I'll have to rethink that then... I can always partition an external hdd that I have now, and use one partition for my TI backups, but I was hoping to avoid it, as I also currently have backup files from my desktop (not the one I want to use TI on) on that.

    I have two Seagates (I've had 3 WD's blow out on me) and I'll stick with them until I see any reason (such as a huge rebate:) ) not to, in the future. I was under the impression that their backup utility was simply good for copying documents.

    Unfortunately, my laptop (which I want to use TI8 on) has a Toshiba hard drive, so I can't use Seagate's software on that.

    OK I'll look over my options. I'd really want to avoid reformatting my 2nd "external" hdd, b/c it is really an internal that I disconnect, and I've already i nstalled XP SP2 on it, so if my current internal hdd goes south, I can just plug this other one in. If DVD backups with TI are that unreliable, I'll have to explore my options here.
     
  6. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    What some users do is burn the Backup Image to DVD after the backup is made to the hard drive. But to do this, when making the backup to the hard drive, you have to specify dvd sized splits. Many who use this method make the split at 1492Mb. Three of these fit nicely on one dvd with little waste. When you have to restore these you have to copy back the files to a hard drive first.
     
  7. psaulm119

    psaulm119 Registered Member

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    OK that seems like less time than trying to partition my external hdd that already has XP on it.

    Lemme ask, tho.. is there a reason why I would put three 1492-sized files on a DVD, instead of one 4.5 gig file? What I'm thinking of doing is using TI partition only the WIndows partition, which is currently taking up a little over 7 gigs of space on my partition now. That seems easy enough to compress to one DVD.

    Regardless, ok I can save to the hard drive and then copy that to a DVD.

    EDIT Forget the 1492 question. I see that this is one of the options Acronis gives you. N/m!
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2008
  8. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    It is not necessary to create a special partition to hold your TI backups--except don't store them on the same partition as your system. The backup files (*.tib) can be stored in any folder just like any other files. All backup files with the same name is considered a "set" and must be stored together in the same folder. Below is an image of my TI storage folders.

    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=193151&stc=1&d=1188786467
     
  9. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    Actually there are a few reasons for the 1492mb (I didn't know it was now included in the size options) -
    1) It's below 2 gig - something to do with the burning method.
    2) If you did American history, it would be an easy number to remember - the year an intrepid sailor landed.
    3) Three of these parts fit on a dvd with little space left.
     
  10. psaulm119

    psaulm119 Registered Member

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    OK Folks I'm gonna wait till SP3 comes out (Ive got what appears to be the RTM but I just want to wait, to be sure), and then image the drive at that point. So I'll be back in a week or so after making sure there are no kinks in SP3 with a new round of complaints questions. Thanks for your time.
     
  11. psaulm119

    psaulm119 Registered Member

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    First question--I'm trying to burn a new image with TI, I only get about 1/4 inch on the progress meter. The partition I'm trying to image is 19 gigs, the used space is only 7.7 gigs. I tell TI to make a single file of some 3.9 gigs (to fit on a DVD), but it never gets too far once it starts to make the image. In fact, it says that the time will be some 14 hours or so. In over half an hour, this was the result--in fact, my computer went into sleep when I was doing this. I disabled my Google Desktop search, and my antivirus. What else do I need to do? I just installed SP3, and I'd rather not delete any leftover files (if that is what is causing the holdup), b/c they can be helpful in the event of uninstalling the hotfixes. Any suggestions?
     
  12. psaulm119

    psaulm119 Registered Member

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    Forget my above post. I went ahead and tried this again, only the second time, I forgot to pause my Google Desktop Search and shut off my antivirus--and it worked this time, getting me the files in some 10 minutes. NOt too sure why this would have made a difference, especially, with TI working with two scanning programs running, but work it did.

    OK thanks again you two.

    Next step will be to verify that my image is usable as a backup. I'll post again with questions as they occur.
     
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