ATIv10 won't back up application settings

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by john_o, Jul 25, 2008.

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  1. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    Hi. Forgive me if this, my first posting in these forums, is in the wrong place. I have Acronis True Image v10, build 4942, on a Dell Inspiron 1720 Notebook and wish to back up my application settings prior to reinstalling Vista. When I choose 'My Application Settings', I get invited to select from a list of applications but these seem generic, rather than specific to my notebook. For instance, I am presented with boxes for FireFox, which I do not have, and Internet Explorer 6, whereas I upgraded to IE7 last October. Either way, I cannot put a tick in any of the boxes, nor can I proceed beyond this point.

    Am I doing something wrong, please?
     

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  2. TheWeaz

    TheWeaz Registered Member

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    Re: ATIv10 won't let me back up application settings

    "but these seem generic"
    I think that they are. They're not YOUR applications; just some apps that TI thinks it knows where the settings are kept and will back them up for you.
    I could be way off base on this, but that's how I remember it.
     
  3. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    Re: ATIv10 won't let me back up application settings

    Makes it somewhat difficult to take a, application settings backup, then, if that;s the case o_O
     
  4. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    Re: ATIv10 won't let me back up application settings

    You would be better served if you made a full "disk" backup (which includes all partitions). After you re-install Vista, you could then use the "mount" option for your backup and copy any files you need from the backup to the new install.

    All applications will have to be re-installed on the new Vista install.

    I am assuming that you want the re-install and have no plans to restore your old backup overtop itself.
     
  5. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    Re: ATIv10 won't let me back up application settings

    So I understand, and I plan to do this after the reinstallation, but what is the point of the 'My Applications Settings' option if I can't use it?

    If I read you correctly, you are suggesting I could restore my old C:\ backup now, without bothering to reinstal Vista first. I might well try this before I reinstal, just to see what I end up with. I made a few mistakes in my early days with Vista and some of these would undoubtedly resurface if I restored now, so I had just planned on recovering critical sections of the old backup onto the new Vista. Again, I had planned to play with doing this prior to reinstalling Vista just to get experience in using TI. So many options :doubt:
     
  6. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    Re: ATIv10 won't let me back up application settings

    Just extra fluff in an otherwise good piece of software.
     
  7. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    Re: ATIv10 won't let me back up application settings

    So, if I want to recover application settings from an old drive backup, can I just recover c:\admin\AppData\Local\<application folder>?
     
  8. TheWeaz

    TheWeaz Registered Member

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    Re: ATIv10 won't let me back up application settings

    Well, that might be a start, but …
    Apps tend to store stuff all over the place and while what you suggest might work, don’t count on it.
     
  9. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    Re: ATIv10 won't let me back up application settings

    So how are you supposed to restore application settings with v10?
     
  10. TheWeaz

    TheWeaz Registered Member

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    Re: ATIv10 won't let me back up application settings

    IF an app is one that TI is familiar with and IF it was installed with the defaults TI expects then perhaps the “My Application Settings” could conceivably work. But I suspect that it backs up far more than just the folder you mentioned.
     
  11. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    Re: ATIv10 won't let me back up application settings

    Apart fom my registry contens, I would expect everything on a disk to be contained in a full disk backup but, if I read you correctly, it seems v10 has rigid expectations of what users will install on their systems.when it comes to recovering applications etc. Should I be moving on to v11? A lot of people posting here don't seem too keen to do this.

    I guess my real problem here is that I have an application that probably became corrupted in some way prior to my first available ATI full disk backup. It looks likely that I'll just have to use the Dell recovery disk and learn from my mistakes.
     
  12. tuttle

    tuttle Guest

    I think what you're seeing is that most of us long-time users of ATI don't use the 'My Applications Settings' option. Thus, we don't have much experience with it. We do full disk backups, or sometimes partition backups.

    If you have a full backup, you can restore your system from it and that restored state will of course include everything that was on the disk when you imaged it. If you want to instead install Windows from scratch, you could then install ATI and explore or mount the image and copy over the user prefs or settings files for various applications. You'll have to research where those files are for your various applications.
     
  13. Earthling

    Earthling Registered Member

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    A full disk backup contains everything on your disk including the registry, and all of your application settings. Unfortunately though it does not offer you a simple way of restoring just your application settings. You would need to know in which files they are stored and then select just those files for restoration. Not easy! In fact near impossible.

    The Application Settings backup is useless for all practical purposes unless you happen to have installed only those applications it knows about, and in their *correct* versions :rolleyes:
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2008
  14. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    Hi, Earthling, thought you would show up here at some stage :D

    Over in our other incarnation, you posted a v11 image showing a section for <Application Selection><Installed Applications>. I though this was going to match the TI expectations to what was actually installed. Are you now suggesting that this facility doesn't work for v11 either? If so, then why do Acronis include it, o_O More confusingly, why don't AT users complain about it?
     
  15. Earthling

    Earthling Registered Member

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    I haven't had any need to use it, but assuming it does actually work then in v11 you would be able to back up settings for those apps you have installed that are covered in its database. In my case there were a number of installed apps that weren't listed.
     
  16. shieber

    shieber Registered Member

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    This feature has to be custom tailored to each version of a program, which is why is often cannot handle the latest version of program, the earlier version of which got it on the ATI list. It's some of the programming baggage in later versions of ATI that is of limited value.

    sh
     
  17. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    I don't see how the feature can ever work properly; whenever a new version of TI comes out, it can only be a matter of time before this particular corner must become obsolete. Meanwhile, does E-mail Settings backup work? I notice I get offered Windows Mail on Vista and Outlook Express/Address Book on XP, which sounds promising.
     
  18. shieber

    shieber Registered Member

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    Ah, and the hammer hits squarely on the nail. This is like a few of the other puff features Acronis has added to what otherwise has been and sound, strong, useful program. Other features onthe list of silliness are

    Try and Decide (which won't work with any program that requries a reboot)

    The No Backup alert that's designed to show folks that use automated backup that no automated backup has occured (but ony if you load the ATI gui, which you don't do if you're running automated)
     
  19. Earthling

    Earthling Registered Member

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    What's the point of it? Programs such as Winrar, SyncToy, SyncBack, or even c & p are all that is required to backup your emails, or any other data files, and without the complications of converting them to proprietary formats first.

    But out of interest I have tested ATI 11 on Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2007 and it failed to restore the mail folders on both.
     
  20. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    Thanks, forewarned, forearmed etc etc.

    I plan to regress my Vista notebook to its October '07 ex-factory state. While preparing for this, I'm also looking here to see whether or not I could instead use a True Image backup of the c:\ drive to revert it to its May '08 state. The trouble is that, while I did a My Computer backup, I only selected the c:\ drive, ignoring the other entries shown below. This casual approach arose from the fact that I was only experimenting at the time; how useful might such a restore be, please? The Guide to Restoring does seem to suggest that I should really have included all the partitions.

    I also note I will need an Acronis Rescue CD. I never got round to creating one so I'm planning to use my product release disk for this, though I am still working out just how to use it.

    My current view is that I don't have enough to proceed but I would appreciate any comments.
     

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  21. shieber

    shieber Registered Member

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    It might work, but what I woudl do is backu up the entire harddisk. Then create a rescue CD. Then before making any changes to any of the harddisk partitins, I'd boot he BootCD and select recovery and go through all the steps for a restore except the last Proceed" step. This ensures that you the bootCD will be able to recognize your source and target drives.
    Then I'd make the intended changes.
     
  22. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    I must admit I use Synctoy 2.0 to keep Outlook Express on XP in line with Windows Mail on Vista.

    Makes me wonder just how much does work :(
     
  23. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    Thanks. I might well do that. One last question though; how do I boot from the Rescue CD?
     
  24. john_o

    john_o Registered Member

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    Boy, can I get mixed up. Let me rephrase that.

    I must admit I use Synctoy 2.0 to keep various folders in XP and Vista in line with each other. For e-mails, I use a shared folder on XP to drag Vista mails to XP and on into the Outlook Express message store. To go the other way, I copy my XP message store to another shared folder and then import this into Windows Mail. Crude, but it works without confusing me too much.
     
  25. Earthling

    Earthling Registered Member

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    Your comp might already be set up to boot to CD. You will have either a Windows CD or a Recovery CD with your comp. Does it boot to them?

    If not, and if it's not too ancient, it probably has a function key that you can tap during bootup which gives you the option to boot from any of the installed drives. Your manual should tell you which key it is, but F8 and/or F11 are commonly assigned to this.

    If none of this applies then you need to alter the boot sequence in your BIOS. Again it's a function key or Del. If you study the screen during bootup it tells you which keys to press for what. BIOS is usually described as Setup. Once in BIOS look for Boot Order or something similar. Set it so that CD is first and hard disk second. If you have more than one CD drive you will also find an option to set the order in which the CD drives are to be scanned for booting.
     
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