Is automatic restore from DVD possible?

Hello,

I don't know if what I am trying to do is possible. I am not confident that it is but I thought I would post just to be sure. What I would like to do is make an image of my system and put it onto a CD or DVD. Now, I would like the user to be able to log into a system, pop this CD/DVD into a drive and have an automatic restore occur.

Am I able to do something like this? Is it possible to create a self-sufficent DVD for restoring a system without having Acronis installed on the target system?

Thanks,
Joe

 

Hello anchor,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Using Acronis True Image 8.0 you will be able to create a special Bootable Rescue CD and then use it without actually having the application installed. You can also burn your image on that Bootable Rescue CD.

You can even create Bootable Rescue Media on DVD and then burn the image on that DVD disc. Please read more in this previous thread (these methods are not officially supported).

Please note that the image restoration process will not be completely automatic. You will need to boot the PC from the special Bootable Rescue Media and then use the Restore Image wizard to restore the image. Please read more in chapter 5 of Acronis True Image 8.0 User's Guide.

Please be aware that if you are planning to transfer your Windows system to a different hardware, you should first prepare Windows using Microsoft System Preparation Tool (Sysprep). Please read more in this FAQ article.

I should also warn you that we do not guarantee the successful transferring of your operating system to a different hardware. Actually, no one can guarantee this.

I recommend you to download and install the free trial version of Acronis True Image 8.0 to see how the software works on your computer.

Please be aware that according to Acronis software licensing policy, you should purchase one copy of Acronis program per every computer where it will be used (including the Bootable Rescue CD\DVD).

Please visit Acronis online store to purchase the full version of the product.

Please also note that we have a flexible system of discounts and the amount of the discount varies depending on the number of copies you want to purchase.

In case you are planning to purchase many copies, please contact our Sales Team at sales@acronis.com.

Thank you.
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Alexey Popov

 

I apologize. I should have mentioned that we do have True Image 8.0 and we have already created a system image.

What we are doing is ordering new machines with the same hardware that the machine that we took the image from has. Then we are putting the same system image onto the new computers. This is to ensure that the same system configuration will be on every new machine we get. I am aware that our system vendor could change the hardware that they use and when this happens we will have to create a new image.

So, let me see if I get this. After I have created a bootable DVD Rescue Disk (as the thread you mentioned describes) and copied my system image onto it, I am ready to use this disk to perform a restore. When I want to perform the restore, the system I want to restore will boot off the Rescue Disk and the True Image software is loaded into RAM. How do I start the TI software so I can get to the Restore Image Wizard?

Thanks,
Joe

 

Hello Joe,

Having created a special bootable rescue DVD (using either wdormann's original procedure, my updated/modified version of it or my latest Ultra ISO procedure), boot from it and TI will automatically start up. However, you will need to select the Restore Image Wizard yourself and follow through the process manually. There is currently no way to automate the whole restore process.

Note also that if the copied .tib files span two or more DVDs, after booting from the first (bootable) DVD you will need to remove it and insert the last DVD before commencing the restore and then follow TI's prompts for subsequent disk insertions.

Regards

 

Thank you, Menorcanam, for the reply.

I still have a question. How does TI automatically startup? I mean, is the application on the system from which the Rescue Disks were made and it is started from that rescue disk? Is the application placed on the Rescue Disk?

 

Hello anchor,

Please note that when you boot your PC from Acronis True Image 8.0 Bootable Rescue CD, it starts independently of having Acronis True Image 8.0 installed on this machine. It does not even need the hard drive to be formatted. Thus it allows you to do a bare-metal restore.

Acronis True Image 8.0 Bootable Rescue CD is Linux based and has all the important files and drivers to boot and run.

Please also note that once you will boot from Bootable Rescue CD you will get into the very friendly Graphical User Interface which is almost the same as when the application is running from under Windows. You will need to pass all the steps of the Restore Image wizard and proceed with the restoration of the image archive.

The only thing to add is that the best way to learn more is to try booting from Acronis True Image 8.0 Bootable Rescue CD

Thank you.
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Alexey Popov