Cloning - proportional or manual question.

Hi All

I have read the relevent part of Chapter 7 in the TI9 manual but could not readily see the answer I need.

My system is dual boot Win98se and Win2K Pro SP4 - now my Win98se drive is all FAT32 (what else could it be ) but my Win2k drive is mixed FAT32 and NTFS.

The reason behind the mixture is for the dual boot to work and keep my original disk lettering I had to leave the Win2k OS partition as FAT32 but all the other partitions except one are NTFS the odd man out is for data sharing between the OS's.

So, my question is during the cloning operation either proportional or manual will the file allocation 'type' of the partitions be correctly cloned to the new drive?

TIA

PS TI9 retail boxes seem to have arrived in the UK at last but that means that TI8 is reduced to 2/3 of the price of TI9. For what I want to do & seeing the various concerns about TI9's stability could getting TI8 be a better bet?

 

Hello Searcher22,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please note that Clone Disk tool moves the entire contents of one disk drive to another so the file allocation 'type' of the partitions wll be cloned correctly.

Please be aware that we recommend you to unplug one of the hard drives right after the disk cloning process has been finished, since keeping both original and cloned hard drives connected might cause different boot or drive letter assignment problems.

We recommend you to install Acronis True Image 9.0 trial version in order to see how the program works on your computer.

Please be aware also that we do not develop any updates for Acronis True Image 8.0 anymore.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva

 

Hi Tatyana

Thanks for the feedback about the cloning function, very reassuring.

Yes, I am aware of the need to disconnect the cloned drive or the original before the reboot having done the cloning.

As I understand it because I will be installing TI on the Win2K OS I will be able to clone the Win98se drive from Windows but to clone the Win2K OS and its drive TI will shut the OS down and do it from its own boot session (I think I read that right?).

Is it possible to operate the clone function by booting from CD either by using the original CD or making such a CD from TI ?

Again sorry if I missed anything in my reading of the pdf manual.

About the manual - the reason I am so interested in the retail box is that was advised some time ago by someone on your support that it contains a full printed version of the manual, I really do like to have such a printed manual to hand. So I would likely use the download but buy the retail box - what is the advised method of turning the trial version into a full one if I buy the box?

TIA of any further guidance

PS What are the limitations of the trial version?

 

Hello Searcher22,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

The problem may occur if two identical boot hard drives are connected to the computer. In this case your PC can't boot an operating system properly.

Yes, it's possible. You can use both CDs to boot the computer in the rescue mode to clone your old hard drive to the new one.

I'm afraid that the boxed version of Acronis True Image 9.0 doesn't contain a full printed version of the manual. It just includes Acronis True Image 9.0 Start-up Guide.

Please find Acronis True Image 9.0 User's Guide here.

Please note that you can purchase the boxed version of the software then register your serial number at our web-site at https://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/products/registration/
and download the latest update from the Product Updates section of our web-site.

Please uninstall any previously installed build by following Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Acronis True Image, prior to installing build 2337 of Acronis True Image 9.0.

Acronis True Image 9.0 trial version has the following limitations:
- Windows: all functions available, 15-days trial period;
- Bootable media: Recovery feature available only.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva

 

Hi Tatyana

Quote:
About the manual - the reason I am so interested in the retail box is that was advised some time ago by someone on your support that it contains a full printed version of the manual, I really do like to have such a printed manual to hand


I'm afraid that the boxed version of Acronis True Image 9.0 doesn't contain a full printed version of the manual. It just includes Acronis True Image 9.0 Start-up Guide.

As mentioned I asked this question (in Nov 2005) as below and Michael Levchenko answered as followed below
> 1) Does the boxed version come with a full printed user manual?

You're right - the User Guide supplied with the boxed version is the printed version of the Acronis True Image 9.0 User Guide in pdf format available at our web site.

I am glad you cleared that up for me Seems to be no advantage in buying the retail boxed version

Quote:
As I understand it because I will be installing TI on the Win2K OS I will be able to clone the Win98se drive from Windows but to clone the Win2K OS and its drive TI will shut the OS down and do it from its own boot session (I think I read that right?).


The problem may occur if two identical boot hard drives are connected to the computer. In this case your PC can't boot an operating system properly.


Quote:
Is it possible to operate the clone function by booting from CD either by using the original CD or making such a CD from TI ?


Yes, it's possible. You can use both CDs to boot the computer in the rescue mode to clone your old hard drive to the new one.

So what is the best Acronis Support advised way to clone both my hard drives bearing mind that dual boot Windows like mine will not boot Win2k without the Win98se drive present.

The choices as I understand it are:-

a) Install TI9 and first clone the Win98se drive > swap the new cloned drive for the old one and confirm that it will boot Win98se > clone the Win2k drive and swap new for old as before. In both instances using the Clone Wizard with Proportional or Manual Partition sizing as require.

OR

b) Create a Rescue Mode CD and use that method? Does this method allow me to disconnect the non cloning OS drive? What I mean by that question is:- Disconnect the Win2k drive > use the Rescue CD to clone the Win98se drive > then leave the new Win98se drive disconnected while I reconnect & clone the Win2k drive using the Rescue CD > then reconnect both new cloned drives.

I do hope you can be as specific as possible in your advice as I want TI9 to be trouble free in the task I understand it is capable of doing for me.

Many thanks in anticipation of your extra help

 

Hello Searcher22,

Yes, this way can be used to accomplish the cloning. But I would like to offer you to make some changes in it:

- Connect the first new drive;
- Clone your Windows 98 hard drive to it;
- Disconnect this new drive;
- Connect the second new drive and clone your Windows 2000 drive to it;
- After that unplug your old drives and plug new drives.

If you want to disconnect the drive during the work with the Acronis Bootable Rescue CD without a reboot then the answer is NO, you will not be able to do this. You should shutdown the PC after each cloning process is finished and unplug one of the identical drives. As for the rest, the algorithm you have described is correct.

If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko

 

Hi Kirill

Thanks for the positive feedback.

In scenario "b" I took it as given that a shutdown would be required after each step (I know you can not disconnect such devices live ~ I build my own PCs).

What I was trying to understand is whether TI9 runs its own boot up interface from the Rescue CD because as I outlined without the Win98 drive connnected Win2k will not boot but if the Rescue CD does not need Windows to run then the way I described should work, yes?

Thanks again

 

Hello Searcher22,

Yes, Acronis Bootable Rescue CD does not depend on your operating system. It has its own Windows XP-like interface and allows you to perform most of operations that can be used in Windows version of Acronis True Image 9.0.
The cloning is also can be performed while booting from this CD.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko

 

Hi Kirill

Many thanks for clarifying that. I looks to me that cloning from the Rescue CD is that little bit more straightforward in that because I do not have to boot into Windows at all I will have less disk swapping to do.

Right, now to go ahead and order the new drives and TI9.

Oh, one last question ~ how long does the cloning operation typically take?

TIA

 

I scrolled back up and didn't see any system information. A decent estimate might depend on your system speed, hdd type, amount of data, etc. You might want to include a little of this info.

Terry

 

oooops!!!

Yes, I should have given that.

P4 2.26Ghz
1GB RAM
Win98se drive 13.5GB - approx 5GB free over all partitions
Win2k drive 30GB - approx 11GB free over all partitions

The prime reason for cloning to upgrade is that both drives are getting old the 13.5 is approx 4years old and the partition especially for my Win2k OS is getting very full even with good housekeeping like putting the Page File on the other drive.

New drives likely to be Win98se 80GB & Win2k 120GB

HTH with any guidance as to cloning timing.

TIA