Best way to utilize Acronis 10 Home

Good morning,

I am just getting ready to head off to Sunday Services and decided to fire off a quick question.

First of all, I am not an Acronis owner (yet). I am just trying to gather as much information about the product as I can before purchasing it.

I have searched on this forum and found several 'how-to' articles about using Acronis including GroverH's well written informational guide here: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=168165

However, the question I want to ask seems not to be answered for me.

Simply put, I am curious which method for saving an image would be best for me. Should I use CDs, DVDs or try the making a partition approach.

Right now I am using a Compaq Presario AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3300+, 2411MHz/1.93 GB RAM, running Windows Xp Home Sp#2, using Internet Explorer 7.

I have two drives listed in 'My Computer'.

My main drive (C) has 131 GBs of space to use, of which only 12.4 GBs is being utilized. This drive shows as an NTFS drive (?).

I then have a second drive (D) which Compaq added as a restore feature which shows a capacity of 5.24 GBs and which shows 4.69 GBs being utilized. This is a FAT32 drive (?).

Is there any easy answer for telling me which 'image backing up' method I would use taking the specs of my system into account and my acknowledged lack of computer expertise?

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

As you are discovering there are a number of different ways to use Acronis.

My preferences are for:

(1) Full image only- I don't like differential or incremental - for me it gets too confusing - so I just make full images and keep it simple.
(2) I only make manual images - so no automated images in the middle of the night.
(3) I would partition your C: so that I had say a 20 gig C: with windows and programs and 2 other partitions F: for my docs and data and G: for images.
Keeping data and programs separate allows me to restore c: without destroying my data.
(4) So forget about secure zones and make an image either to partition G: or to an external drive. Any images made to G: could then be copied, if required, to DVD.
(5) Forget all about using Acronis 10 to back up my docs or e-mail. as all date is on F: just make images of F:
(6) An image of C: made to G: does not provide protection if your drive fails but it does allow very quick restoration. To provide protection any images made to G: would need to be copied or moved to an external device.

Warning: I have read that some have had difficulties with some lap tops - mainly Dell I believe because of the special way they set up drives. I have used Acronis with Acer and Samsung without difficulty but I would wait to see if others have anything to say about Compaq.


anyway good luck.

Assuming all goes well and you have a couple of working images you can then if you wish delete D: and regain the space.

 

First some corrections ... there is only one drive in your computer but it has two partitions. The D partition contains Compaq's recovery files.
While you can use CDs or DVDs as the target for a Backup Image, this would be a very slow process. It is by far, better to get an external usb drive for this purpose.

After you have the backup image on the external drive, you can, for extra security, burn that image to dvd discs. But to do this you have to decide before making the image to have True Image split it into pieces that will fit on a dvd.

Many users like to use a split size of 1492mb and three of these will fit on one dvd with very little waste.

 

If your backups are stored on your main drive, they are at risk should you have a virus or hard drive failure. It is best to have your backups on other drives. An external is a good beginning but you need backups stored on multiple devices. You could additionally have backups stored on DVD (using the 2 step method). Hard drives fail--even the externals. You should use as many methods as it takes in order for you to have multiple restore choices in the event of data loss.

 

Good afternoon GroverH, DwnNdrty and Long View,

I appreciate all three of you taking the time to pass on your thoughts and recommendations in regards to my question.

As I hoped I made clear in my post I am no 'computer guru' by any stretch of the imagination.

Having said that I think it would be best at this point to sit back, try to absorb and understand what you have passed my way and do a little more searching on the subject.

Utilizing an external hard drive sounds interesting to me at this point but then I know very little about them either so I will do a little more 'boning up' on them too.

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

An external drive is nothing more than another storate device or another drive. It is an additional storage place for files. For security sake (power surges, etc) it is best that it is used and then completely removed from the computer until its next usage.

Regarding backups, there is no "one size fits all". Most of us use more than one means of backing up our data and this includes simple file copy to other devices--as well as imaging our system drive for easy replacement should we have a drive failure.

Read as much as you can.

My backup strategy Escalader
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=159177

backups
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1036066#29

Recommend backup scheme for photos, music 32 replies--2 pages
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=164175

SAVE MY MUSIC COLLECTION! PLEASE (29 replies --2 pages)
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=167710

Best way for making functioning images
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1047306

 

Hi GroverH,

Just what I needed ... more reading material ...lol

Seriously, I appreciate you giving me these additional links which I will read as soon as possible.

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

External drives are getting cheap!...(OK, less expensive). Fry's has the Maxtor OneTouch III 160 GB on sale for $49.99. The Seagate FreeAgent 250 GB usually goes on sale for $69.99 or less. These prices were unheard of just a year ago.

 

You're right about that . Presently the largest drive I have is 160Gb, but I can see a 1 Terabyte drive in my future. I wish house and car prices did the same.

 

Howdy,

Am I correct in assuming that if I used an 'external' Hard Drive to store my Acronis True Image on for backup purposes that once the image was successfully stored on this external drive I could simply unplug it from its USB 2.0port until I actually needed it for back up purposes?

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

Well, I don't know about cars, but house prices may drop in the near future... especially in Southern California because things are "a bit" overvalued. Anyway, if you want to get into Terabytes, wait a year or so and see what happens. Maybe Fry's will be having clearance sales on those huge drives!

 

Exactly-NEVER leave ext. HD in there unless you're using it. If your computer gets infected then that will be too maybe. It won't be too good then.

 

Hi nb47,

I appreciate the speedy answer and sharing your thoughts on my question.

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

My pleasure ; that's why we are here !