Bare-metal restore

Hi everyone,
I often encounter the ''a bare-metal restore '' expression in Acronis litterature.
The question is: What does it mean?
Thank you.

 

It refers to a brand new drive, or one that has never been formatted before.

 

A 'bare metal restore' means restoring to a hard disk that has been wiped clean, typically by a low-level format. The term uses the metaphor of cleaning a metal part, e.g., by removing rust, paint or corrosion, until you're down to the bare metal. You might need to low-level format a disk if it has become unbootable, e.g., by a virus or corruption in the master file table, or if you're planning to sell your computer.

On the other hand, if you need to restore your hard disk because you screwed something up - of which I have been guilty, on occasion - you would simply restore on top of whatever is on the disk. This overwrites the disk.

 

A bare metal restore is basically one where the disk data and partition structure is non existent prior to the restoration. An example of a non bare-metal restore might be where you reinstate an application data file.

F.

 

Thanks to all!