Bootable disk and backup

Equipment: Computer: Dell laptop running WinXP sp3, 120 GB Hard drive.
External: Western Digital 380GB USB drive for Backup.

Started up True image 2009 home edition and ran the startup backup.
It generated 9 System Backup files.tib on the external drive.
Than I made bootable CD as suggested. On the CD is one directory called Recovery manager which contains 7 files.
I tried to boot from the CD just to test if it will boot by setting the bios to start from CD and nothing happened.
How do I know or verify my backup is going to work?
Thank You

 

You have to be able to boot from the CD. Try the cd on another computer to narrow down the problem.
The Backup Image is split into 9 files because the external drive is formatted as Fat 32. If it was NTFS you would get one file.
The only way to be 100% sure your backup is going to work is to do an actual restore to a spare hard drive. This, of course, involves extra expense but should be worth it to you for the peace of mind it will bring.

 

Most Dells also have a boot menu when you press F12 on booting. Try that and select the CD drive.

What model Dell notebook is this?

What do you see on screen when the boot process starts from the CD? Does the CD drive light flash? Do you see "Starting Acroinis loader..."

 

First thanks for your reply it was very helpful.
I have a Latitude D820 and yes, the F12 worked and the CD loaded and the Acronis loader started.

Now I will take suggestion from DwnNdirty and buy a new hard drive to load.

I have another question. Does it make a difference if the backup USB drive is Fat32 and is splits the backup into 9 files?

For daily update of my backup on the USB drive do I need to overwrite or does it do selective update of used files?

Thank you again

 

Glad that we could help.

If the CD booted from the F12 menu, then it just means that you didn't get the CD drive at the top of the boot device list. You can fix that in the BIOS Setup or just keep using the F112 menu.

That's good advice. When you have actually restored a backup and booted from it, you know that this really works. There's nothing that can match the confidence that that restore brings.

No. TI doesnt' care if the file is in 9 parts or one. Since you have almost a 36GB backup, I rather like the idea that it is split into several pieces. Some systems have a problem with very large files. By splitting the backup, you get around that possible problem. You could reformat the drive to NTFS, but it's not necessary.

Daily updates can be incrementals (selective updates of new and used files). However, don't create too many incrementals before doing a new full backup. I'd suggest a full backup every week and incrementals during the week.

Be sure to keep some older full backups. If you have a progressive destruction of files which some viruses do and which a hardware failure can also do, older backups before the problem started are a blessing.

 

Thank You John, appreciate your help.
I have another question.
Lets say I bought new laptop, different new model.
Can the home version backup be used to restore on the new computer?
Thanks again.

 

The answer is yes, but ....
Because of the different hardware, the proceedure is slightly different and there are a few ways to accomplish this.

1. Before you make the Image of the old computer, change the display adapter to Standard VGA. Now make the Image. This worked for me going from a laptop to a desktop.

2. Use the free Sysprep on the old system before making the Image.

3. This one will cost you extra. Acronis makes the Universal Restore option that only goes with the Workstation version of True Image, not the Home version.

 

Thanks DwnNdirty
I think I will have to buy the corporate version so I can sync my desktop as a backup and I am almost due for a new laptop. For some reason this software confuses me like no other.
Another question.
When doing full backup of my laptop, which came with system loaded up from Dell, I see a partition of Fat32 and NTFS. The Acronis checks off only the NTFS for backup and that is what I did. When I am restoring to new empty hard drive without system do I have to restore both partitions? Is the Fat32 partition part of the system?
Thank you.

 

The Fat 32 part is probably the Dell factory restore partition. I always like to make an Image of the entire hard drive - check mark next to Disk 1. And in your case, in case you want to put the laptop back to factory specs, you will need the Fat 32 part if, indeed, it is where Dell has the factory restore files.

 

Thank you DwnNdirty

 

Hi DwnNdrty,
Got the new hard drive and it worked. Running off of the new drive.
Again have one more question.
Looking to buy the higher up Acronis system which would allow me to restore my drive on a new laptop or possibly desktop.
Is the Acronis® True Image Echo™ Workstation the correct system to buy?
I don't have networked computers but it will be dissimilar hardware.
Thank you again.

 

The reason for me asking is that on original Acronis webpage the True Image Echo™ Workstation included Universal restore. Now they have upgraded the software and I don't see the Universal restore as a part of the package.
Maybe someone from Acronis could answer my question.
Thank you.

 

In the past the UR option has been an extra cost add-on to the Workstation version.

Why don't you try the "Change to Standard VGA" option I mentioned in message 7? Do you have another system to test a restore?

 

I have an old Dell Dimension desktop currently running Windows 2000 and not using it wery much this would be a good test.

I may have a couple questions when ready, will have to do some backups from the system.

Thanks for getting back to me.