Just how exact is the image?

When restoring an image, is there any order to how the files are placed on the partition? Does TI actually put all of the files on the partition in the same order as when the image was taken?

This isn't a big deal to me. I've just always been curious how this works.

 

I'm no expert but I bought TI in December 2004 and had to use it four times. Trying risky stuff! It seems to be exactly the way it was when it was imaged. I think that's the idea.

 

Hello Culvin,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

Acronis True Image is sector-based software. It means that it images and restores sectors rather than files. After restoration you will obtain the exact copy of a partition you had before imaging it.

If you have further questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I don't think your answer is an very detailed answer to the question.

If it is a sector imaging program how exactly does it know what to backup when it is creating an incremental?
If it is a sector imaging program how exactly does it handle files that are modified during the backup of this file (eg. my outlook.pst file which is 1GB in size and takes about 10 min to backup. in 10 minutes it will check the mailserver 10 times and most of the time it will receive new e-mail.

Martijn.

 

Hello Martijn,

Check out this <previous thread>, in particular the embeded link to an Acronis technical article. If you have more questions after that then I'm sure someone will provide suitable answers.

Regards

 

So does the incremental backup rely on the TI drivers (that intercept file accesses) keeping track of which blocks get written during the entire time since the last image was made? If TI were uninstalled and then reinstalled again, would the incremental backup include modifications made while TI was not installed?

 

Hello sebwills,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

When you create the incremental image Acronis True Image calculates a checksum of each cluster and compares it with the corresponding checksum in the full image. If these sums are different the sector content has changed and it will be included into incremental image. As you see even after the reinstallation of Acronis True Image you will be able to create incremental images without any problems.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman