To install or not to install

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by farmboy, May 7, 2008.

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  1. farmboy

    farmboy Registered Member

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    Hello
    I was about to buy true image 11 before I ran across this forum. What if you were only interested in making a disk image of your entire hard drive once a mouth or so, in case of catastrophic failure. And did not care about scheduling backups, or try & decide, or secure zone, or any other bells and whistles. Do you think TI11 would perform better if it were to run as a stand alone program? Do not install, but boot from the cd that comes in the boxed version. It seems that if your internal hard drive fails your going to boot from the cd anyway. Maybe some of the problems are from backing up in a windows environment and then trying to restoring in Linux. I don’t know. It seems that most of the issues could be avoided if you do not install the program. You can always copy your day to day files to your external drive. I know it is supposed to work as advertised, but until Acronis get there act together, this mite be a way to get the job done. What do you think?
     
  2. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    That's how I use mine, only via the cd - the BartPE configuration ... but I've stayed with ver. 9 build 3677, which even works with Vista Sp1.
     
  3. person2006

    person2006 Registered Member

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    i use acronis true image version 11. i run from a bartpe disk. it is a bartpe xpsp2 true image 11 boot disk. it can image vista even though it is a bartpe xp disk. bartpe does not support vista, or i would of made it with vista. UBCD4WIN has driveimage xml build right into it. that is a decent free imager.
     
  4. paroots

    paroots Registered Member

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    I also run entirely from a bootable CD. I do have to re-install each time Acronis issues a new build to make a new bootable CD. Once I've got the CD made, I can then restore the computer to the pre-installed condition. I also partition my hard drive into 2 parts: 1) OS/Programs and 2) Data. I only use Acronis to backup the OS/Programs partition. I use SyncBackSE to backukp my Data partition on a daily basis. It does all the stuff I need such as scheduling, compression, and encryption. This system has worked well for me for years. Since the OS/Program partition changes very little over time, I don't need to make backups often.
     
  5. farmboy

    farmboy Registered Member

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    That’s a good idea restoring to a pre-installed condition. I got a e-mail from Acronis stating that if I buy a boxed addition (from a retailer) that the cd that comes with it has the installer for the program plus you can boot from it and use as a stand alone program. No need to install to make the rescue cd. They also said that if I order it from there web site, they would provide me with a special iso image so I can create a bootable cd my self. Again no install. The program is actually cheaper at best buy or staples plus you get the cd.
     
  6. Earthling

    Earthling Registered Member

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    The only thing with this is the CD is a bit slow to load. I put TI 11 and DD into a VistaPE disk and then transferred that to a bootable HD partition.

    Fast and works well.
     
  7. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    You may not have the latest build, though, for that version. However, if it works and does everything, mainly being able to see your external drive, if any, then you're good to go. And once you do register it, I believe that you will have access to the latest build.
     
  8. tuttle

    tuttle Guest

    What are the main advantages (or even disadvantages) of creating BartPE rather than the usual ATI Recovery CD?
     
  9. paroots

    paroots Registered Member

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    I'm no expert, but the advantage for me was that the Acronis version would not boot up on a new Dell Inspiron 1526 laptop. It has to do with the fact that the Acronis version runs Linux and the Linux drivers seem to be out of date compared to the new computers coming out. The BartPE and VistaPE bootable CDs use current XP and Vista drivers respectively and consequently have an almost guaranteed chance of working. I actually created a BartPE only to find out that it had to remain in the CD drive for the entire time it took to backup or restore. Since my restore image may often be on DVD this didn't work for me. Then I created a VistaPE bootable CD using a script I purchased from mustang and it can run entirely from memory after bootup which allows me to swap the CD for my DVD backup. The BartPE and VistaPE CDs do not care whether you're running XP or Vista on your computer.
     
  10. jonyjoe81

    jonyjoe81 Registered Member

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    I would try the demo out first and see if it would work for you. I wouldn't trust my backups and restores to a bootcd. You can always install it in windows and just disable it so it won't startup with windows. From my expierence it's always quicker to backup from within windows. when you need to do a backup, just doubleclick on the true image icon and do your backup, then exit the program. Works for me everytime.

    The backups you do from within windows are as good as the ones done from a bootcd if not better. All my backups are from within windows and they have all restored when I needed them.

    Most problems encountered are windows related or hardware related. And all of them are fixable. the only thing that isn't fixable is a corrupt image. If your image is corrupt nothing you do will restore it.

    If you have a "boot corrector" and a "vista installation dvd" you can repaiir any windows xp or vista restore problem you will encounter. For hardware problems you, you might need a bartpe bootcd.

    The reason I recommend you try out the demo is because true image 11 has been known to have some compatability problems on some computers, it's best to try it first just in case.
     
  11. shieber

    shieber Registered Member

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    The other advantage of BartPE and VistaPE is that, if the hardware driver(s) you need isn't(aren't) in the standard XP or Vista set, but you have the driver fiels on your PC, then you can add them to the BartPE or VistaPE disk.

     
  12. farmboy

    farmboy Registered Member

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    Acronis sent me a image of what come on a boxed addition cd minus the install. I popped in the cd, and rebooted. The cd loaded and seams to be fine. It recognized my internal and my fire wire drive, both partitions. The only thing was the drive letters were different. According to Acronis that is normal. I explored the contents of each partition and all seems good. I went though all the motions of a backup but at the end it said it’s a demo and would only restore. The cd loaded quickly, and seemed to work. All I want to do is make a complete disk image every month or so to a external drive in case of internal drive failure. I can save a copy of my day to day files to the external drive. I don’t what to have to reinstall windows xp and go through the process setting thing back up again. After reading a lot of the posts on this site, I’m hesitant on installing the program until Acronis address some of the issues. Has anybody had problems with TI 11 after upgrading to SP3?
     
  13. swifty7

    swifty7 Registered Member

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    I hope you guys can help me, I have the acronis true image 9 rescue boot disc but for some stupid reason my newly purchased dell inspiron 1526 won't boot from it. Also can you guys tell me how can I access my notebook's bios, it's not as simple as pressing DEL like a regular desktop and also there's no onscreen instruction to press a specific button to access the BIOS.

    THANKS!!!
     
  14. tuttle

    tuttle Guest

    Perhaps you just need to edit the BIOS, to set boot from CD before boot from HD.

    IIRC, you press F2 or F11 or some other function key as soon as boot begins. Last time I worked on a Dell laptop, I recall that early in the boot some text briefly flashes on the screen that says which function key you press to invoke Setup (which is BIOS).
     
  15. tuttle

    tuttle Guest

    If you're happy with the functionality of the Rescue CD, then you can just use it. With it, you can backup and restore.

    If you want more functionality, such as ability to mount images as virtual drives, such as to explore individual files, or to be able to schedule backups or run backups from Windows, then you might want to install the ATI application. Since you have an external drive to backup to, if you install ATI do not create a Secure Zone.
     
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