Backing up the system state???

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by crowley, Aug 8, 2009.

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  1. crowley

    crowley Registered Member

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    Hello

    As a general home user i have backed up "My computer" and file level backups
    But i am not sure about backing up the "system state" or if i need to.

    I have plenty of space on the external hard drive, so space is not a problem.
    But i am not sure how i would use this "system state" backup if i did have a problem.

    I basically know what it backs up, but most of them i don't know what they are, or what they do.
    So should i back this up anyway....:)
     
  2. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    If you have an image of your system you have everything. I have never done a "system state" backup.
     
  3. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    It's just another feature in the "bells and whistles" category. I've gotten along without it so far - don't ever see the need.
     
  4. crowley

    crowley Registered Member

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    OK Seekforever and DwnNdrty i will leave that one out for now. :cool:

    But while i am here on the forum, can you advise me on this


    Acronis "Media components" 5.4.8 of the user guide.
    I was reading this, i have not done this yet, but was about to, when i thought of This statement.


    All my backups are on an external hard drive, and i also have created a rescue CD.

    So i was wondering if i should "write a full standalone verision of acronis TIH"
    to the External HD, to use this "One click restore" if i ever need to

    And maybe this can be a useful feature to have on the external
     
  5. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    AFAIK, writing the media components is for CDs and DVDs not for external HDs.

    Be careful with One-click restores. It will restore what is in the archive but wipe out anything else that is on the HD. People have come to grief doing them to restore an archive containing only a C partition and then finding out the other partitions on the disk are no longer there.

    I'm afraid I'm from the old school. I like to run the basic recovery environment which allows me to do whatever is necessary and I also then know what is supposed to really happen rather than a "one click" type arrangement. A few extra clicks are not a big deal since you don't do this a hundred times a day and if the recovery environment has a problem "one-clicks", F11, and anything else isn't going to work either.

    What you really need to do, if you haven't, is to make sure the TI rescue CD works. It is Linux and sometimes the drivers don't work well with some hardware configurations. Just because the Windows version works doesn't mean the Linux will. Even if you start a restore of the active partition in Windows, the PC will reboot and load the Linux environment (Windows can't be running when the active partition is being restored).

    The absolute best test is to restore to a spare HD. A spare is recommended in case it doesn't work which would leave you with nothing.

    If you don't want to do that then:
    Create an image archive using the rescue CD.
    Validate the archive using the rescue CD.
    Run through the Restore Wizard as if you were going to restore the image but cancel out on the last screen instead of clicking proceed.

    If you can do this then TI is able to see your devices and is able to read the archive properly. Not as good as a test restore but pretty good.
     
  6. crowley

    crowley Registered Member

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    Hello seekforever

    just trying to understand this, you mean the rescue cd i have has linux driver's on it.
    And if i was going to do a restore from the rescue CD, the driver's may not work with some of the hardware configurations on the computer

    I created a image of partitions C & E a few weeks ago using the rescue CD, and the validation was successful.

    But i have not tryed to restore these images yet as a test , and cancel out on the last screen instead of clicking on proceed, until i understood it a bit more.
    I am just affraid i might make a mistake along the way.

    I am just reading chapter 6 now about this, to get more of an understanding on restoring an image
     
  7. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    Yes. It is Linux most likely because it is "free" and doesn't require licensing the Windows PE environment from MS. It also means that Windows isn't running and since it all gets loaded into RAM when it is running the DVD/CD can be removed from the drive and the disks containing the archive can be inserted for reading.

    Some other imaging programs use Windows PE which can be licensed from MS and it will run without being loaded onto a HD. You can get close to this method by making a BartPE CD which uses Windows drivers. There is also a Vista PE you can make as well.

    However, if you created an archive with the TI CD and Validated it successfully with the TI CD you are very likely in good shape as far as using the TI Linux CD when required. The Linux implementation in TI2009 seems to me to have fewer problems than in earlier versions.

    A problem that many users had (as seen on the forum but that skews the stats since people only usually post a problem not that it worked) was to create and validate an archive in Windows. After they got the "successful" message they not surprisingly felt all was well with the process. Then they had to do a restore but the restoration process as I said before uses Linux, not Windows and it doesn't work because the enivronment is different and a poor fit for their hardware (not everybody's, just some). It is no wonder they feel let down after all everything before said "successful". So once you understand this, you know the rescue process needs to given a test of sorts with the best being an actual restore to a spare HD.

    In all fairness, testing a backup program from the archive creation to a restore is what needs to be done with any backup program, not just TI. Until you have done some testing there is no reason to real confident it is going to work.

    TI like most software assumes the hardware is working properly. The Validation process will often reveal issues with disks and RAM that the user didn't know existed with normal PC use. The reason for this is huge amounts of data being transferred very quickly and the contents stringently checked when it is loaded into RAM not just a CRC check at the drive.
     
  8. crowley

    crowley Registered Member

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    Thankyou for that explanation seekforever


    Yes thats about as far as i can go, apart from trying to restore it, but canceling out on the last screen.


    With all my backups on the external HD, is there any reason for creating disks with the archives on, i have not created any iso images yet, and have not read about them yet.
    Unless the Rescue cd is one of these iso image files, and if it is i thought you needed seperate software for this.

    Sorry, there are plenty of things i do not know yet, but i am going over the user guide all the time, but trying to remember it all can be a nightmare.


    What doe's CRC stand for...

    Anyway seekforever, your explanation has added a little knowlege of it all....:cool:


     
  9. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello crowley,

    Thank you for using Acronis Products

    System State backup comprises the boot files, registry, protected Windows files, and COM+ CLASS registration database. Backing up the System state allows you to restore the system files, drivers, etc., but not the data files and folders you use in your work. To be able to restore the data files and folders, select the disks and partitions.

    Best regards,
    --
    Dmitry Nikolaev
     
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