Is Acronis easy to use for beginners

Hello, I am a complete novice when it comes to computers,so please forgive my ignorance.I am thinking of buying True Image 10 ,to back up my whole computer.Just how difficult or not is this for beginners ? Is the program reliable on the whole, and lastly, I have an empty partition (15gb) on my computer.Could i use this space to store my back up, of my computer.Many thanks for any advice.

 

Well, let's put it this way ... the user interface is easy enough. You just have to read the information in the windows that come up and make sensible decisions.
I wouldn't use that 15Gb space to store backups, but instead an external hard drive which you can then disconnect from the computer for safe keeping. Just think what would happen if the system drive crashes and your backup is on that 15Gb part.
The other thing that you need to do right off the bat is after you install the software, create the bootable rescue CD boot with it and make sure it works. And remember the only sure way to know of a backup that you made will restore correctly is to restore it to a spare hard drive. Never test your backup image by restoring to the original system drive.

 

Thanks for the good advice DwnNdrty,using an external hard drive,and creating a rescue CD makes a lot of sense.However I'm not quite clear on the last part. So imagine I've made a backup of my entire computer,and its stored on an external hard drive,how do i test ,to see if the image will restore correctly?Are you saying I need a third hard drive.Sorry for my stupidity, I know wilders forum is for more knowledgeable people, but any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Hello mick92z,

In addition to DwnNdrty's sound advice, check out GroverH's Beginner's Guides in this thread titled <Need Help? These Beginner's Guides May Fill That Need!>.

Regards

Menorcaman

 

Yes, you would need a third hard drive - well worth the extra expense in my opinion. Are you up to opening the case, removing the system drive, and connecting the spare hard drive?

 

If you don't want to risk losing everything on your current hard drive if the restore doesn't work, then, yes, you need to use a "spare" (third) hard drive. Install it in the computer in place of the original and then restore to it. If the restore is successful then you know the process works correctly from start to finish. The "spare" drive doesn't need to be as large as the orignial if it's a "cost" issue. It just needs to be large enough to hold the restored image.

Some people only do backups and then when they need to restore they find it doesn't work (problems with TI recognizing their hardware, etc.). If you actually do a real restore then you'll know for sure that the process works correctly on your particular computer.

Whenever I'm setting up a new computer, I ususally run tests to make sure TI works correctly on it. Since I only have Windows installed, I don't care if it doesn't work and I lose it.

 

Thanks everyone for your sound advice and links.I've ordered TI 10 from Play.com(uk), very cheap.So I will get experimenting.Very kind of you all to reply, and so quickly.Thanks again

 

Strongly urge that you do NOT install the Acronis Secure Zone or Startup Recovery Manager until such time as you understand how they function and what modifications are made to your machine. These options may or may not be something you want to use. Check the Useful Forum Threads for more info about these functions.

Previous postings have covered information you might need. Don't hesitate to do some searching of previous threads.

 

Hello mick92z,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

In addition to what other posters said, you can find the detailed instructions on how to use Acronis True Image 10.0 Home in the respective User's Guide.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
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Marat Setdikov