Backkup for ALL Applications?

Hey guys!

I recently got Ture Image Home 2009, was intending on making an application-backup and was wondering if it is possible to complete the in-program list of installed applications because it is not showing all the programs that are installed on my computer.
Or is creating a complete disk-backup the only option?

Thanks for your help!

 

Please explain what do you want to do with this software.
Tell us what your intention is...

 

my intention is to use the programs option to backup just applications.
what i have on my laptop now is kind of my perfect setup of applications, all installed properly and updated so they fulfill my exact needs. what i would like now is to just backup those applications not just for the case that something happenes with my laptop, but also if i am buying a new one for example and want the exact same set of applications installed without having to find them and install them all seperatly etc.
the problem is now, that acronis is not showing me all applications that i have installed and my question is: is there a possibility to add applications to acronis list?

thank you

 

From my understanding true image only backups application settings. It doesn't backup up the entire programs. When you restore the application settings, the program (those settings go to) has to be already installed in the computer.

I think I understand what you are trying to do, you are trying to backup all the programs only minus the OS. True image will only backup all the programs and OS at the same time.

In your case you would need a program migration software. That will copy all your programs/registry entries only (no OS) then you can restore the programs onto another similar OS.

 

oh ok, thanks for your help, ill be looking for that program migration software then...any good software you can reccomend?

thank you!

 

@ollikop
unfortunately Ti cannot achieve that what you described.

I don't know any software which can do that.

 

Ouch! Please clarify for me. I thougt Acr HOme2009 made a restore of everything. Once restored, everything is there, files, folders, apps, all.

No?

Or did I misread your post? [hopefully so]

 

I just found this in section 5.5:

"It is important to note that the program backs up only your settings, and not the application executable files. If an application seems to malfunction or ceases to run, reinstall it using the last updates and then recover your settings from the backup.

Does this mean it's NOT a full copy? If one uses the full backup to restore, every single thing, files, folders, apps, everything--works, right?

 

well i hope so too, i just did a full backup of my hard drive and hope, that if for example a program is not working, it wil work again, tonight i will test this by creating a full backup, deinstalling a program and then restoring everything, if it works, the program should be back, right? ill let you know.

in the mean-time, is there really no possibility for me to save, eg. photohop, all media players, office, other programs like mindmanager and acrobat reader, itunes,... in the exact state that they are in now, and if for example i buy a new computer i can transfer just the set of applications so they all work without having to install each one of them? i just took a look at Acronis Migrade Easy, but im not sure if its the right thing.

 

You're asking two different questions -- which is why we're seeing such different responses.

The first question is how to backup the applications, but not the OS. I'm not aware of ANY software that provides that feature. File backup sofware save only files, not the applications; settings backup software save only the settings, not the applications; imaging software save everything (apps, settings, files).

The second question is how to migrate apps to a second machine. PC Mover (by laplink) claims to be able to do that. The "premier" app for doing that was known as PCBobRelocator, sold by Eisenworld. MS "bought" Eisenworld, rebranded their product under the name Windows Migration Assistant Companion (or something like that), allowed it to be downloaded FOR FREE, and then, removed the site links. Guess it worked too well for MS.

So, if what you really want to do is migrate apps to another machine, the only product I know that still claims to be able to do that is PC Mover.

There are other products out there, but be careful when reading their descriptions. They typically say "files" and/or "settings", meaning, they do NOT move the apps.

 

For migrating to a new computer you could just save your downloaded program installers on a external hard drive along with your licenses. Of course, you'd have to update them etc.

 

I assumed you talked about to save 'applications'. Then you don't talk about an IMAGE.
And then is my answer correct and you didn't misunderstood me.


If you talk about an IMAGE then my answer is:
After a restore of a full backup (=image) on the same machine you have the same state like before the backup.

But Mark_Phelps described it properly.


@Mark_phelps
Thank you for the evidence to PC Mover. I didn't know this program.
But I don't dare programs like PcMover. An installed application makes a lot of changes in the folders and the registry. Especially in the registry the updates are not limited in the program-related branches. There are counters for existing DLLs which will be changed. There are some own DLLs which were copied to Windows\system32-folder and there are no traces where they come from. Etc, etc...

 

ok thank you for your help!

i thought there was a way to do both, so what i will do is make a complete disk backup because that will include everything that is on there including programs.

what i can do for myself i guess is to split the hard drive and keep all the apps and software on one, and all my personal files on the other, so in case a program is not working anymore and for the sake of argument i cant reinstall for what ever reason, then i just restore the one hard drive where all my software is, i guess that should work.

well thanks guys

 

hey guys, ok here is what i did and found out:

my hard drive is splitted into two drives, on one (C) i have Vista and all the programs running, on the other (D) are only documents, pictures,...nothing of a software-like nature.
what i did now is create a full backup just from C and when it was done i deinstalled a small program and then restored the harddrive. after reboot the program was back and running, so basically this should work, ill try to test if this will work on another (empty) computer running vista and since the program i deinstalled was pretty simple (DiskAid) ill give the same thing a try with...hmmm lets say microsoft word or itunes... ill keep you posted...should anyone be interested

 

Now you're going beyond the basic capabilities of True Image, by trying to restore an image from one machine onto a different machine. I think some people have been able to get that to work, but they're lucky, the product is not advertised to be able to do that.

There are two possible pitfalls associated with doing that, The first potential problem is the two machines most likely don't have the same motherboard, drivers, etc. So when you put an image from one hardware platform onto a different platform, it most likely won't work correctly. Its possible it might work, but you can't count on it. The second potential problem is with your OS. If you have a machine with an OEM OS installed on it, as most are, your OS license is only valid on that motherboard/CPU combination. If you try to boot from different hardware with that OS copy, its likely you'll get a message saying it can't load because of licensing issues. If you have a full license OS copy on a disk, you can probably call MS and get the license transferred to the new machine, but in theory you aren't allowed to have both machines running from the same license. Not sure how fussy MS is about this, you might be able to get both running simultaneously without any problems after doing the transfer, even though its technically not allowed.

If you look into Acronis commercial products you'll find the version that allows you to move an image from one machine to another. Its more expensive than True Image, and I think requires a yearly license fee in addition to the purchase price. Sorry, I forget the name of it right now, but its easy enough to find on the website.

 

I guess ollikkop and I are asking two different things, because I get confused on the answers.

I have C and D partitions on the same hard drive. I have made a full image to an exterior drive.

I only have one question:

if I were to lose that hard drive, or crash, or whatever, can I restore that image back to very same drive [or an identical new one] and every single file, folder, application, operating system, mail, .exe files will be there and fully function?

If not, and I am getting that horrible feeling, then the Acronis sales and web site advertising that I paid for is not correct:

^^^^^^^^
Two quotes from acronis:

"Backup and Recovery that is EASY to Perform!
Acronis True Image Home 2009 complete PC protection: back up your entire PC, including the OS plus your data, applications, pictures, video, financial documents, settings and everything!

Acronis True Image Home 2009 is an award-winning backup and recovery solution for a good reason: it protects your PC after just one click and allows you to recover from viruses, unstable software downloads, and failed hard drives. Create an exact copy of your PC and restore it from a major failure in minutes, or back up important files and recover them even faster."

^^^^^^^^^
Please tell me that I'm just confused about the replies here, and it really does restore everything. Please?

 

A full image backup of a "my computer" usually your c: drive, backs up everything on that partition at the time of the backup OS/wallpaper/internet settings/registry/drivers/programs/applications/spyware/virus etc.

When you restore it to a new hard drive, that hard drive will bootup and be an exact duplicate of the original. Everything will work like the original.

As long as you make a full image backup of "my computer" and save it on an external you will be ok. If you only backup your "applications" that won't restore you to a bootable hard drive. To play it safe it's always best to do a "full backup".

If you only want to backup the programs/applications without the OS, true image won't do that.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=229266

 

Perfect! Just what I wanted to hear. Now I can sleep.
thanks

 

ok, i think everything is clear now.

transferring programs to another harddrive wont work, thanks, i forgot the drivers for the mainboard etc.

but backing up the complete hard drive and being sure that if i restore it on my existing computer also all the programs will work again is enough for me.

thanks for all your help !!

 

No. You cannot addto or subtract from the list of programs that ATI supports for the "application backup" function. The list is fixed at the time that ATI is coded and released. It tends to be small and somewhat out of date due the the rapid rate of program updates and version releases.

 

Hello ollikop,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

Using Acronis True Image Home 2009 you can backup applications settings not the application executable files. If an application seems to malfunction or ceases to run you are supposed to reinstall it using the last updates and then recover your settings from the backup. You can backup only those application settings which are listed by Acronis True Image Home 2009.

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev

 

Hello,

First of all congratulations on the Acronis TI; I have just started using it. As a novice with computers (acquired my first laptop 7 months ago), the TI user's guide was a bit difficult to grasp at first, but after reading the very useful sticky and beginners guide provided on this forum, I think I have a firm grounding now. I think the most important is to understand the way TI is organised and how to work through it. Also, and thanks to K0lo at Acronis DD forum for his help, it's really important to go through a bit of testing before, like checking if the bootable CD works correctly in different environments.

Sorry, back to the topic:

I am interested to know more about TI's features enabling to backup application settings, and also very interested to improve my undesrtanding of where critical data files are located within the system/computer:

- I see that on my system (Vista 32b Home Premium) most of the application settings (for the Opera browser or for The Bat! email client for example) are located in Users > Username > App Data > Roaming AND Local. But from my (novice's) understanding, I also have read that most of the application data is in the Windows Registry.

So could someone kindly help me get a clearer overall picture of application data in general and what exactly Acronis TI will backup when using this feature:

1. Is there a difference between "application data" and "application settings"?

2. Are the data/settings related to applications installed on our system (Vista) to be found in the Registry and under the user files, or are there other locations?

3. Where will TI find these application data/settings files and which ones will be backed up?

4. In a nutshell here is an example scenario: if we make a restore of Application Settings with TI and in parallel we re-install the applications using the setup exe files we have kept for each application > then the applications will run once again, and furthermore the settings will return from "default application settings" to "user specific settings" that we had arranged. Is this correct?

I opened the application settings tool in TI, and this is the result I get:



How come so many programs are missing, despite that all my programs are installed in C: > Program files ?

I failed to see an option to search and add more applications from the system.

Thank you in advance for any explanations and kindly forgive any technical mistakes...

 

Hello TKHgva,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

The following can be found in user guide:

“To select for backing up all the supported applications found on the computer, check the Installed Applications box. For instant messenger applications, the program will back up both the settings and history. The list of supported applications will be expanded gradually. Updates will be available with new program builds or via the Internet.”

It means that not all program’s application settings can be included into backup. The list of supported applications increases with every new build. You can check whether you are using the latest build or not following this link.

Full list of supported applications (in your current build) can be found at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\BackupScripts

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev