Backing Up & Restoring Operating System! SSD to SSD

I am in the process of evaluating trial drive backup software (Acronis & Paragon - Primarily for backing up my Operating System, but also for routine back up of my personal data)!

Additionally, I have ordered a new PC, with Windows 7(64 bit), two Solid State Drives (SSD's - both 120 GB Corsair Force 3) and a 1TB conventional hard drive!

The first SSD will be dedicated to my Operating System (OS),
The second SSD, primarily, for backing up my operating system, using Acronis TIH! (I may also use this drive, for the Scratch drive for Photoshop)
The conventional hard drive will be used for my personal data!

I would be grateful for any advice regarding which software is best suited for backing up/recovery to/from SSD's, and:

(1) Are there any pre-requirements for backing up an OS to a SSD?

(2) Are there any pre-requirements for restoring an OS to the boot SSD(Such as secure erase)

(3) Is there any need to check alignment before, or after backup/recovery

(4) If there are any problems regarding alignment, what is the best method to correct!

Does a restore of the OS to a SSD, effectively format/delete/create the drive, during restoration.

Namely, if I restore after several months, will the restore clear up all of the junk that may have built up with time! Will it clear data from the SSD cells, and restore all cells to the state of when the backup was made!

 

Hi BHT. I am a former Acronis customer for many years and migrated over to Paragon because ATIH2012 wrecked havoc on my two computers. I STRONGLY suggest that if you are considering Acronis seriously that you check out their forums. You will see that there are a lot of unhappy users, experiencing all kinds of serious problems, and Acronis seems to be doing little to resolve the problems. See: http://forum.acronis.com.

My advice: go with Paragon. Hope this helps. Have a great day.

Regards,
-Phil

 

No, it looks just like any other disk. If you are going to use ATIH then you should ask this on the Acronis forum.

No, when you restore an image it restores the filesystem which is the same thing a format does. Doing anything else such as formating is overwritten at least as far as the used sectors are involved.

I would certainly check it the first time or two so I was convinced all was well.

!
There shouldn't be but apart from any tools in your imaging product to redo the restore with the alignment setup you can use partitioning tools to setup the partitions aligned and then restore to the setup partition. This shouldn't be necessary.

Yes, one of the first things before an image restore is done is the deletion of the partition which effectively wipes it out. The image is restored and a new entry in the partition table is made.

A normal image will only overwrite the cells that are in-use. The non-used cells will not be touched unless you make what I think Paragon calls a RAW image which includes all of the contents of the partition. These backups are normally not made because they can take a lot of time and space to backup useless contents. Where they are useful is if the filesystem is corrupt and it is impossible for Paragon to interpret it to create the bitmap for backing up the in-use cells.

My personal preference is not to use a product like ATI or Paragon to backup personal data. I don't want all my files stuffed into a proprietary container files where a flaw in the container can render all files unrecoverable or the program has to be installed to read them.

I prefer to incrementally backup my files and folders in their native format to an identical file and folder structure using products like SyncBack, Karen's Replicator and there are lots of others. Right now I'm using SyncBackSE to get versioning which the free product doesn't offer. ATI 2012 now offers file syncing but I have no idea how or how well it works. I was a long time TI user for imaging but the changes made to the 2011 User Interface made the product undesireable for me and their continual release, version after version, of poorly debugged software was another nail in their coffin. TI is probably one of the most full-featured programs around but I only want to do manual, full images.

If you buy the Paragon product you automatically get the WinPE recovery environment rather than the Linux. The Linux can be problematic because of typically poorer driver support especially on the newest hardware. TI offers the WinPE as part of their add-on Plus pack which they charge for although they sometimes throw it in with a special offer. I don't know about the latest version of TI Plus Pack but previous versions still required you to download the Windows Automated Installation Kit and build your own bootable image of it. The Paragon WinPE just requires you to run an execuatable and its all done.

 

Hi Phil,

Thank you for your comments!

Yes, I have discovered that Acronis TIH 2011 is a bag of nails, and I have reverted to 2011, which on my current computer, appears to work well!

Still playing around with Paragon, but it looks OK

Thanks again

Brian.

 

Hi Seekforever,

I am extremely grateful for your comprehensive, and enlightening reply.

You have put my mind at rest, a little.

With all of my previous PC, I have relied heavily, on backing up my operating system; restoring a known good version, whenever problems occur.

I have also restored, on a regular six month basis, as I find this resolves problems of slow down due to junk, or corruption!

I would like to do this with my new PC, when it arrives, but lack confidence, not knowing all of the technicalities of SSD's.

Thanks again

Brian

 

You might want to look at Clonezilla

 

When you get the machine you could setup one of the SSDs as desired.

Make an image, store it on the mechanical 1TB drive.

Remove your SSD and put in the second SSD.

Restore your image to the second SSD.

If it doesn't work as intended, you still have the first SSD safely out of the machine and you can revise your procedure and try again.

 

That sounds a good idea!

 

Hi seekforever,

You have been kind enough to comment on my post:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=314540

Your last suggestion appears to be a good idea!

If I created an image of my operating system, which will be on SSD 1, and saved this to the mechanical drive (HDD) and then restored this image to my second SSD (SSD 2), could I not then just make SSD 2 the active SSD, thus avoid the need to remove/install drives.

Not sure how I would do this.

Presumably, with Disk Management. Make the second SSD active, then go into BIOS and select this as the first boot drive??

Be most grateful for your views

Brian