How can I test my backup?

I have just begun using TI and am taking full backups onto an external hard drive in order to be safe. Since I will only need it if I have a problem, how can I test my backup to see if it will work if I need it.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi B,

Use the check image feature (on left panel of the main GUI)

Steve

 

I personally backed up (temporarily) onto my drive C, and having another drive already, I just switched the ribbon cables made C, D, and D, C and reinstalled my system onto what was D, booted the system to make sure that it was a fully functional backup. After that I of course took the backups off of the original drive C and put them onto the original drive D and have continued with incrimental back ups from that point. I hope this helps.

 

Thanks to you both for such quick and useful replies

Best regards,
b_in_vt

 

Hello b_in_vt,

Probably a bit late for me to chip in but, short of carrying out an actual restore, you'll be able to obtain reasonable peace of mind by following this precedure:

1. Create a "Full" bootable rescue CD (or floppies if you have to).
2. Use TI's Check Image Wizard to verify your recently created image.
3. Rename your hard drives/partitions so that they are called something meaningful e.g. System, Backup, Data, etc. The reason for this is that the drive letters seen after booting from the Linux based rescue disk will be different to those seen in Windows.
4. Use the Explore Image Wizard to mount the image as a virtual drive and check that you can copy files from it to your physical hard drive and access them without errors.
5. Boot from the rescue CD/floppies and check that TI correctly detects your hard drives/partitions, be they internal or external, RAID or otherwise.
6. Work through the Restore Image process up to but not including clicking the Proceed button (nothing gets commited until the Proceed button is selected).

If everything is alright up to this point you can be pretty confident that, when the time comes, an actual restore will work as advertised.

Regards