First thing that needs to be done ?

Hi ... I hope someone will take the time to explain to me what I should do first with this product ? I have never used a product like this before, So I'm not really sure as to whats first ... I would like to be able to restore everything that is on my main drive which has windows install ( C ) if anything was to ever happen to my computer , I have 2 hard drives on my computer , One I use to install windows ( C) and the other ( X )for everything else , What is the best solution that I should do with this product ? Thanks

PS True Image 9.0

 

First thing: make a bootable CD
Second thing: make a backup Image of the C drive and keep it on the second drive.
Third thing: get a third drive and try to Restore the Image to it to make sure the Restore process will work on your system.

 

Hi ... Thanks for your response ... What does one do with this " Manage Acronis Secure Zone " ? I have made a back up of my c drive to my x drive ...

Thanks

 

the Acronis Secure Zone is just an optional partition u can create to store ur images. it uses its own file system to protect itself from malware and accidental deletion and the sort. if u backup to an external drive u rele dont need it.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but an external drive is one that is not part of the pc , it plug into a usb port , correct ? If so ? I don't have a external drive , I have 2 hard drive install on my pc and one has the c drive with the operating system and the other drive ( x drive ) is for everything else , This is where my back up copy is , So if I understand you correctly I still wouldn't need to use Manage Acronis Secure Zone ? Also how can I tell as to whether this back up will work , Is there a way ? Thanks

 

whether u want to use teh Acronis Secure Zone is entirely up to you, i personally dont care for it. also if u think ur restore wont work, u can try and verify the image but its no guarantee.

 

The Acronis Secure Zone is a special partition for storing images such that nothing can accidently delete or alter them. If you have a second drive then put the images on it and forget about the Secure Zone (SZ). Even if I only had one drive I wouldn't use it, I would just put the image in a different logical drive. If an image is in the SZ you can't get at it to burn it onto DVD. I consider it a needless complication but others do find some of the features handy.

Without actually doing a restore there is no way to be certain the backup will work. You can do an image verify which should give increased confidence if it is successful. You should always verify an image when you create it. If you have a few extra dollars you can buy another HD to test it.

By creating the image on another HD your restore will probably be fine since disk-disk imaging (no USB, no DVDs, no SZ) is generally the least troublesome. A good practice is to run XP's chkdsk before doing a backup to make sure your disk structure is good.

Note that if you only restore an image rather than a complete drive backup to a new drive the MBR is not written. Check the sticky FAQs at the beginning of the forum to see how to deal with that.

 

Hi ... Now I got a good understand as to what I should or shouldn't do , Thanks for your input

 

Hello TerryFox,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

In addition to the above posted advises, I would also like to mention that you can find the detailed instructions on how to use Acronis True Image 9.0 in the respective User's Guide.

Please note that as seekforever has already mentioned above, you may also find Acronis True Image 9.0 FAQ page helpful.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

Hi
Is it possibe to elect to restore an image to the C:drive partition (where the OS is) and not have to do a MANUAL reboot (as recommended) and re select the operation again after the reboot

Is that automation possible within True Image.
Any help or advice appreciated
Peter

 

I accept the need to reboot and start the non-windows version but the re-entering of the same data really points to a lack of imagination by the programmers. My old Drive Image used to do the same operation and keep the data available. I have put this into the desired enhancements posting already.

Even if they had a button that said "I want the non-windows version started" would make me happy. Then I could just enter the data once. Right now when I want to do a C restore I put the CD in and boot it.

Maybe somebody has a better solution.

 

I guess it would be one of those "nice to have" enhancements that Acronis could tinker with AFTER they get the basic functionality right!!

Knowing that True Image needs to reboot into the Linux rescue environment if intending to restore a System partition, why not just insert the boot rescue CD, restart the computer and be done with it . I see little/no merit in commencing a System partition restore from within Windows mode in the first place. Still, each to their own I guess .

Regards

 

That's what I now do (once I caught on ) but it's a lot handier just clicking within windows, no finding, loading, removing, storing CD. I guess the annoyance is that the program I ditched, DI2002, used to transfer the data entered in windows to the DOS version.