ATI 9

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by JerryM, Aug 3, 2007.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2003
    Posts:
    4,306
    I purchased a copy of ATI V9 on sale. I once tried ATI without success. I decided to go the "cheap route," with V9 on sale as I am not sure I have the nerve to use it.

    I have never had a crash, but who knows? I also do not have a lot of stuff I could not replace, but it would take time.

    I have a Western Digital external hard drive, and am thinking about making an image of my system.
    Is there any danger in the process of experiencing damage to or problems with my computer?

    Are there any cautions that you would give?
    I also do not want to leave the external drive on all the time, so am thinking of just making a periodic image.

    Suggestions or cautions?

    Thanks,
    Jerry
     
  2. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2007
    Posts:
    3,335
    Location:
    Florida - USA
    After you install the software, check the build number. You want at least build 3677 which is the one before the last. If you have at least build 3677, make the bootable True Image Rescue cd, boot with it and make sure it will see your external drive by going through the Backup steps. If it does and you're satisfied that your system as it exists is one you would like to backup, go ahead and procede with the backup, using the external drive as the destination for the backup.

    Now here's the kicker. The only way to be 100% sure that your backup will give you a successful restore is to carry out an actual restore to a spare hard drive - not to your existing system drive.
     
  3. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2003
    Posts:
    4,306
    Thanks for the help. I do not have a spare hard drive. In the past I have concluded that it is all too much trouble.
    I wonder what percentage of images are not good enough to restore?

    Regards,
    Jerry
     
  4. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 10, 2006
    Posts:
    2,405
    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Performing an image backup of your computer using ATI will not be harmful.

    Strongly urge that you do NOT install the Acronis Secure Zone or Startup Recovery Manager until such time as you understand how they function and what modifications are made to your machine. These options may or may not be something you want to use. The installation of these functions have caused problems for some. Check the Useful Forum Topics for more info about these functions.

    Should you want to replace your drive, you get best results with the least problems if you have a full disk backup which includes all partitions. From that full disk backup, you can also restore any of your partitions individually--should there be a need. Of course, you can also create archives of individual partitions but limited backups of this type is not usually used when upgrading/replacing a system disk.

    I believe you find that ATI is an excellent program when used to image and restore your drive. Check out my guides below and use search for previous threads. Most of your questions have been previously answered.
    I believe that would depend upon how the backup was created. If created direct to CD or DVD, you only have review prior threads to see the uncertainty that others have experienced. If created to another separate disk (internal or external), the results have been very good. At bare minimum, all backups (with a few exceptions based on how the archive is being restored) should be validated at time of creation or shortly thereafter.
     
    Last edited: Aug 3, 2007
  5. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2003
    Posts:
    4,306
    Thanks, Grover. I will check the information and threads.

    Regards,
    Jerry
     
  6. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2007
    Posts:
    3,335
    Location:
    Florida - USA
    It's not that they're not good enough, but several have reported successful validations and yet when it came time to restore, some were unable to do so. And you wouldn't know which camp you would fall into unless you do an actual restore. Once you have done a successful restore then you can have some measure of confidence that your method of doing the backups are okay. But you need to do at least one good restore - to a spare hard drive unless you don't mind having to re-build your system drive if the restore goes wonky.
     
  7. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2005
    Posts:
    4,751
    DwnNdrty has it right, you need to do a test restore on a spare drive to have "total" confidence that you will be able to restore when the day comes that your HD goes bad.

    People that are responsible for backups in mission critical environments spend weeks testing backups and restores before putting new backup software into the production environment. They will also continue to run the old backup system in parallel for some time in many cases.

    To get the highest level of confidence possible without doing an actual restore you can create your archive either in Windows or with the TI bootable rescue CD version. The rescue CD is a Linux version operating in a Linux environment. Even when you start a restore of the active partition, typically C, from within Windows, TI will request a reboot and start the Linux environment since you can't restore the active partition with Windows running. The fact that a Linux version of TI to do the restore is very important - it means that validating an archive with the Windows version is not the same as validating or restoring it using the Linux environment because the Windows environment contains different drivers, etc. This is, in the opinion of many, the Achilles heel of TI - the Linux drivers are either not present or a good match for the hardware in some cases.

    So create the archive as you see fit either in Windows or with the TI CD and then validate it using the TI rescue CD. If it validates then it means that TI can read with your hardware the archive as it was written. Now start the Restore Wizard and go through the steps up to the final screen where you need to press Proceed to actually start the restore. Don't start the restore and cancel out of the wizard. These 2 steps, the validate and going through the restore wizared, are as good a test you can do without doing an actual restore.

    The TI validate process is done as follows: When the archive is created TI calculates a checksum for each 256K bytes of data and includes it in the archive. The validate process reads the archive and re-calculates the checksums and compares them to the ones stored in the archive. They all must agree for the archive to be declared good. Even if the archive is many gigabytes in size, only 1 bad bit in the checksum calculation will cause it to be declared corrupt.
     
  8. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2003
    Posts:
    4,306
    Hi DwnNdrty,

    It seems that you are saying that I would need two external drives to do the checking. Is that correct?

    Regards,
    Jerry
     
  9. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2003
    Posts:
    4,306
    Upon reflection, I am going to put the program on the shelf. Maybe someday I'll get around to using it, but for now it is just too much trouble. I have files backed up as needed, but the image is more than I want to tackle.

    Thanks to All.
    Regards,
    Jerry
     
  10. jonyjoe81

    jonyjoe81 Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 1, 2007
    Posts:
    829
    Luckily I showed up just in time.

    All I use is true image 9.0. All you need to do is
    1. make an image of your c: system partition (just use the default settings) and save it to an external hard drive. An image of your system partition will be automatically bootable when restored to another hard drive.

    2. Restore the image to a new hard drive(directly from windows environment IDE to IDE or by using the T.I. boot CD and restoring from external USB), this new hard drive should bootup your computer. If it doesn't bootup see step 3.

    3. On windows xp, 90 percent of failure to boot is drive letter changes. I keep a program called "paragon justboot corrector" (cost me $20.00) in my toolkit just to fix drive letter problems. It'll change the drive letters in less than 5 minutes, reboot and it's fix. (I've used it a couple of times, and only recommend it to everyone because it actually works)

    True image only gets complicated if you try to do clones, or secure zone, or file backups, mbr backup. (non-essential stuff)

    Just do an initial image backup of your c: partition and save it somewhere,
    depending on your needs, do another backup a month later etc. And make sure you have a true image bootable cd.
    And highly recommend you get a program that can change drive letters. (there's freeware that can do it, but I don't think you want to spend hours typing in dos commands).

    If your hard drive fails, you can have a replacement ready to boot in less than an hour, even a 6 month old backup is better than no backup.
     
  11. JerryM

    JerryM Registered Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2003
    Posts:
    4,306
    Hi jonyjoe81,

    Thanks for the interest and help. However, I am just going to let this simmer for awhile.

    Regards,
    Jerry
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.