How Can I Backup My "C" Windows Drive To My External USB Drive?

I validated the tib image I created on my external usb drive of my windows "C" drive and it finished stating that the validation was successful. All that showed up in the visual log on screen was information details. I actually saved the log to my internal drive. Can one of you guys check it out to make sure nothing is wrong with the image?

I attached it to this message. Thanks

Or should I not worry and always know that every tib image is 100% good when the validation process says it's successful? I only ask because some things are mentioned in the log that I have no knowledge of.

 

No, .... big mistake. The ONLY way to be 100% sure a Backup Image is good is to restore that Image to a spare drive. After you've done a few successful restores then you can take the chance that future Images that you make will be good.

 

DwnNdrty is right, the only way to be 100% sure it will restore is to do a test restore to a spare drive. The reason for using a spare drive is that one of the first things TI does before it restores is to delete the partition being restored. If there is a restore failure then you have nothing.

You didn't mention if your successful validation was from within Windows or using the boot CD version. It is essential that you do it with the boot CD version, particularly if you aren't going to do a test restore, to ensure the recovery environment can find and read your archive properly. As was pointed out by sheiber, the recovery environment is Linux and it uses different drivers among other things than the Windows version.

A validation means that TI can read the archive and successfully recreate all the checksums flawlessly. It is meaningless to say this works using the Windows software and thinking it means the Linux version will work also. After, you have confirmed with a few validations that the Linux environment works with your hardware, you can just use the Windows validation.

 

I thought a backup image can only be restored to the same drive it was made on. Doesn't restoring to a new drive cause windows xp to deactivate itself because it's different hardware? [ie: new drive instead of old one]

I ran the validation feature from the rescue disc right after the image was made and it was indeed successful. I than ran the validation feature through windows and that also said it was successful.

By the way I was making a point earlier about my external usb drive showing up with the wrong "free space" size in the rescue cd backup wizard. Well I rechecked this problem and it turns out that the rescue backup wizard shows the drive correctly only during the backup partition selection portion, as having 152GB of used space out of the 465GB external drive. But than it shows the wrong free space size on the external drive [79GB When it should be 313GB] during the saving location portion of the wizard. I don't know why it would contradict itself during the wizard.

 

Hi,

That is why they call it True Image. It is a exact image of the backed up drive. Just run create secure zone and remove it afterwards. Removing the sz will get back the space you lost.


USAAlone

 

Sorry but I don't know what your referring to. The questions on my last post still haven't been answered.

 

Restoring to a different drive apparently doesn't trigger the need to revalidate Windows. At least I have not found it to be so and I don't recall any users saying so in the forum.

True Image has many quirks depending on hardware it "sees". That difference in size may be one of them and is probably a mis-read by the software.

 

It is rare for a change of drive to cause a need for re-activation. While the major feature of TrueImage is to restore to the same drive, one of its major attractions is the ability to restore to a new drive should your equipment fail. You can do single partition restores to your normal system disk; but you usually need a "disk" backup (all partitions) and "disk" restore (all partitions) to recreate a new disk.

My solution to the space issue would be to use the TrueImage "add disk" feature and have TrueImage delete the existing partitions on the external drive and then have Acronis create a new partition and format as NTFS. If you want to save the existing backups or other information prior to the deletion, you could temporarily copy them from the external back to your system drive. After the reformat, then copy them back onto the external drive but be sure and re-validate the backup files again after any movement of these files.

 

A new drive isn't enough points to trigger the need to reactivate:

Here's a pretty good summary of what changes can trigger a reacitivation, although, being a new OS, anything can happen and bugs in the reactivation trigger have been reported.

sh

 

Thanks guys! Awesome information!

What is the difference between a "disk" backup, and a "disk" restore?

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As I mentioned before my operating system is in my 80GB internal hard drive as "C: Windows", but the very same drive contains a second partition called "E: Data" where I keep all of my downloads. I used Acronis True Image Rescue Disc to create a TIB backup of my "C: Windows" [first partition]. Let's say my internal hard drive dies containing both my "C" & "E" partitions, and I have to go out and buy a brand new drive. I go out pick up a 300GB hard drive, and than swap it with the dead internal drive. How would I restore the only TIB I made which is a backup of my "C: Windows" on the new drive?

I'm just assuming here, but wouldn't I have to insert my original Windows XP cd in boot mode, create a NTFS partition in the exact size of my original "C: Windows" partition that was on the now dead drive, reboot popping in the Acronis Rescue Cd, & restore the "C: Windows" TIB backup I have to the new partition I created on the new 300GB internal drive? & Than voila my system works again?

Or would Windows not run because upon boot it would look for a missing "E" second partition [where I only keep my downloads data only] and not find it?

If so would that mean I also have to create a second partition on the new 300GB internal drive and assign all the remaining space to it, so when I restore my Windows TIB backup to the first partition, the second partition would emulate [so to speak] my old "E" partition so Windows can run properly?



- Thanks

 

Read GroverH's guides. Everything you could possibly want to know on the use of True Image is in there, some even with pictures. Then get a spare hard drive and do some tests for yourself.

 

budachild,

A "disk" backup is creating a backup image of which includes everything on the disk. Everything includes all partitions, both hidden and diagnostic.

A "disk" restore is a restore which copies (restores) all the contents of the "disk" backup back onto the destination disk (which can be the old original or an entirely new disk). All of the original partitions will be recreated so the resulting disk will be an identical copy of the original.

A "partition" backup is creating a backup (usually) of only one partition.
A "partition" restore is restoring a single (usually) partition from either a "partition" image or from a "disk" image.

One reason a "disk" image backup is so valuable is that you can very easily create a new disk replacement but have the added benefits of performing a single partition restore if that is all that is needed--such as when a virus occurs.​

Before we can answer your 3 "what if" questions above, we need to an attachment posting (or confirmation of your system drive) as shown in XP Disk Management. This will show us a blueprint of your system disk. Which partitions are first and whether there are any hidden or diagnostic partitions included. You can also post the text contents of your c:\boot.ini file (notepad).
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Regarding your wrong free space issue, is there a possibility you are making an "apples to oranges" comparison? Note the image below: The data shown is identical--whether viewed in Windows or when booted from the Rescue CD.

The first (Partition Selection) screen shows "used" space whereas the second (Backup Archive Location) screen is referencing "free" space. If you click the "choose columns" icons to also display free space, you can confirm the space settings for both

 

The only software I have found that needs re activating after a restore is Photoshop.

 

According to my friend who uses Photoshop, Windows doesn't even have activation when you compare it to Photoshop's implementation. The lastest version of Photoshop is better than the previous one as far as being picky about changes, he says.

 

It's totally different on my end... I'll have to post some pictures later after work.

I don't have any hidden partitions or diagnostic partitions. I basically have an 80GB hard drive set as the master on the IDE ribbon, which is partitioned into two halves. One being my "C" Windows drive, and the other "E" partition used for downloads only.

Than I have a second 160GB hard drive set as a slave on the IDE ribbon, which is partitioned into two halves as well. One being my "G" drive used for sound file data in my line of work [I'm a sound engineer so I use a lot of mp3, wav software to create files]. And the other "H" partition used as a storage for all of the cd's I have stored on pc as mp3s.

Here's a snapshot of my disk management:

 

Thank you for viewing the Disk Management blueprint and confirming that there are no hidden or diagnostic partitions. Sadly too few people are even aware of this possibility; and even fewer aware of its ramifications when attempting partial restores

As an engineer, you know the value of testing. My recommendations would be to go ahead and get another drive and perform restores using whichever methods you choose until you have the results you want. Then you will have proven your procedure and have a better understanding of the requirements and its outcome.

Keep in mind, that it is entirely possible for an electrical "jolt" to occur with your external attached and you could loose all your hard drives which includes your backup archives. For added security, you may want to consider additional drives (not attached) for backup protection of all your data.

I will respond in another post to your questions posed in post #35.

 

Regarding your questions in post #35 above: "Should you have a disk failure and need to replace your current drive." Conditions: The TI Rescue CD would be used for the restores. Original drive would be removed and replacement drive installed in its place. Backup archives storage would be from your external drive. Current system drive=2 partitions(C=system; E=data)

1. My first suggestion would be that you create a new "disk" backup which would contain a backup of both partitions. Drive E only contains about 30GB of data so the backup shouldn’t take too long at USB 2 speeds. If you choose, you could even copy/move the unwanted data from E to your other drives (G, for example) so E was almost empty before image creation. Then you would have a "disk" backup which contained both partitions--even though the data partition is (or almost is) empty.

With such a backup, you could then use the "disk" backup archive and perform a "Partition Restore with Resizing" as illustrated in my pdf guide. This would allow you to custom size each partition and the new disk would be bootable. In essence, your new drive would have an identical copy of your old one at time of backup creation. The unwanted data on G or H could be moved back onto drive E if needed.

In my opinion, restoring a Disk backup offers the best chance for success for most people--but it is not the only method.

If you care nothing for the data on drive E, there is really no reason it needs to be backed up. However, 30GB is still a lot to re-download. If backup space is available, you may want to consider having at least one backup image that includes it.

3. You asked about restoring your "C partition only" backup. You would perform a "C partition" only restore to the new un-prepared drive. Go ahead and restore the Track0/MBR, although if you do not, TI is supposed to write a "generic" MBR. Drive C should be restored as an “Active” partition. When sizing the system partition, you could leave some unallocated space after the first partition so a second partition could be created later via Windows Disk Management.

4. When restoring the "C partition only" backup, another alternative would be to use TI "Manage Disk" option (or the XP install disk) and pre-create both partitions on the new drive of the proper size. Then you could restore the "C partition" only (as an “Active” partition) and this time include the Track 0/mbr option as part of the restore.

Note: In all cases, make sure the new hard drive is the booting drive in the BIOS. Also, if you choose not to restore the MBR/Track0 during the restore process, you can always go back and restore it in a separate step (if needed).
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Just because I advocate performing a full backup of the entire disk, this should not be interpreted that every backup has to include all partitions. A lot depends upon the structure of your own individual system. Your system is very straight-forward with only a system and data partition. Other users may have diagnostic or hidden partitions and it makes little sense to repeatedly backup these partitions but they should always have one backup which includes everything on the disk. Should the disk need restoration, the full disk backup could be used as the first restore and then a second restore of the most current system partition would bring the system back to current. There can be many variations of a backup strategy. The point is that you need to have all bases covered and hard drives have reached a reasonable price stage so having a combination of multiple external or internal drives in within budget reach of most. It was not too many years ago that a 300 meg drive cost $1500. I recently bought a Seagate 320 gig SATA drive for $55. My how technology has changed!