My first Acronis image....

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by pollyanna, Aug 15, 2005.

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  1. pollyanna

    pollyanna Registered Member

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    Hi...After lots of help on another thread I've just made an image of my C: drive and it has checked out OK.

    And of course I have got another bunch of questions.

    Because I have to get some more dvd disks I didn't burn the image to disks but sent it to the hard drive. Also sent it sized "autonatic" and it arrived on the drive as a large single file. I'll probably delete that one and try again,eiher to disks or to the drive but split to disk sized blocks.

    Only one question tonight. In Win Explorer my C: drive shows 16.2 GB used...89GB free... and 105 GB total. And the image file on the hard drive shows 7,367,578 KB in Windows Explorer. All in round figures. To have an idea of how many dvds I'm going to need, does Acronis record just data or all the blank space as well.

    That's getting complicated..it is an image of the C: drive now sitting on the C:drive. Roughly how many disks will I need?

    I'd better get some sleep. Cheers...P. :)
     
  2. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    A 4.3 GB file can be burnt to a DVD using the UDF format. 2 GB is the maximum file size for UDF/ISO format.

    I didn't know you could image the C: drive to the C: drive with Acronis TI.
     
  3. Dazed_and_Confused

    Dazed_and_Confused Registered Member

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    Yes, apparently you can. :) I just started using TI yesterday, and so far so good for me...
     
  4. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    It's a plus for those with a DVD drive, plenty of free space in their C: drive, no other partitions and no packet writing software. They can image to the C: drive (appropriately split files), verify the image, burn these files to DVD with their favourite software and then delete the image files from the C: drive. Also this would be much faster and more convenient than burning directly from TI using packet writing software. Some say that RW DVD's written by mastering software (Nero, Sonic, etc) are less error prone than the same discs written with fixed length packets.

    And you don't have to buy packet writing software.
     
  5. Dazed_and_Confused

    Dazed_and_Confused Registered Member

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    I just left the image on C. Why not, if one has plenty of space? o_O
     
  6. Bud Pritchard

    Bud Pritchard Registered Member

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    If your C: drive goes off into the weeds, you won't be able to recover your image.
    Best to keep it on external media.
     
  7. Dazed_and_Confused

    Dazed_and_Confused Registered Member

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    True. ;)

    My concern is more of a corrupted operating system, etc. I understand these days hard drives rarely have physical problems. I know I've never experienced one. But when it goes, your right that I would be lost with my image on it.
     
  8. Chris12923

    Chris12923 Registered Member

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    ATI records just the data.

    Thanks,

    Chris
     
  9. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Although TI can image the C: drive to the C: drive, I really doubt that that the image on the C: drive could be used to restore the C: drive.

    Could someone confirm this?
     
  10. Chris12923

    Chris12923 Registered Member

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    If you use the ATI boot disk this can be achieved.

    Thanks,

    Chris
     
  11. Dazed_and_Confused

    Dazed_and_Confused Registered Member

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    Brian K - This is how I understand the process.


    ATI created an invisible partition on my C drive (I selected a size of 10MB). I then created an image of the C drive, which I believe is an image of C, less the invisible partition, and saved it in that invisible partition on C. And if I need to restore C, I would use the image on the invisible partition on C to restore the remaining portion of the C drive.

    If this is not correct, please let me know too.

    Edit: And I would not have to use the boot disk - I would simply press F11 upon computer restart to restore the image in the invisible partition.
     
  12. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Thanks Chris,

    I'm really surprised and confused about restoring an image on the C: drive to the C: drive. I can understand the Acronis Secure Zone concept but I thought it was a hidden partition and that images contained in this zone weren't visible in Windows Explorer. I've never chosen to install Secure Zone so I'm guessing.

    Dazed_and_Confused, did you choose 10 MB or 10 GB?
     
  13. Dazed_and_Confused

    Dazed_and_Confused Registered Member

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    That is correct, Brian K, It is a hidden partition that is not visible to Windows Explorer. That is where I save my image of (the remaining portion of) C.


    Opps. 10GB. Sorry... :(
     
  14. Chris12923

    Chris12923 Registered Member

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    You can not see the secure zone within windows unless you are within TI or maybe some other program that can see these hidden partitions. You can also use the secure zone with TI recovery manager which loads before Windows in case you can't boot to Windows for some reason. And of course using the recovery disc as well.
     
  15. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Ah, I think I get it now. I assumed Pollyanna could see the image in Windows Explorer ie the image was on the C: drive and could therefore be burnt. So my interpretation of imaging the C: drive to the C: drive is incorrect. It's imaging the C: drive to the secure zone.

    Is this your understanding too?
     
  16. Chris12923

    Chris12923 Registered Member

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    Yes I think she just has it stored on the C: drive and not in the secure zone. She can still restore it from there if she uses the boot disc or the recovery manager. She just can't do it if she tries to restore it while windows is running. Hopefully this is what you mean. If not let me know.

    Thanks,

    Chris
     
  17. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    I understand what you are saying Chris. I'd be interested to hear from someone who has actually done a restore of the C: drive from an image on the C: drive. Not from the Secure Zone, from an image visible in Windows Explorer. Have you done this? It's a great feature if it works.

    I'm just a sceptical person.
     
  18. Dazed_and_Confused

    Dazed_and_Confused Registered Member

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    Sorry if my explanation was not that clear. I'm not that technically familiar as most of you.

    But to confirm what I was TRYING to say, I have saved my image of "C" to the Secure Zone, which is a hidden partition that TI made from the "C" drive. And I believe I can restore that image by pressing F11 upon computer restart, before starting Windows, if needed.
     
  19. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Dazed_and_Confused,

    That's my understanding too.
     
  20. pollyanna

    pollyanna Registered Member

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    Hi...My image of the C:drive is on the C: drive...not on a Secure Zone...I'm not up to that yet. For the time being I just want to burn to DVD disks.

    Mean while...any guesstimates for the number of disks I'll need for the a C: drive with measurements as shown below from my original post. Also the question about Acronis and data or data + blank space.

    *********************************************************
    Only one question tonight. In Win Explorer my C: drive shows 16.2 GB used...89GB free... and 105 GB total. And the image file on the hard drive shows 7,367,578 KB in Windows Explorer. All in round figures. To have an idea of how many dvds I'm going to need, does Acronis record just data or all the blank space as well.
    **********************************************************
    There is interesting stuff in the replies so far but I'll print them out and probably come back to them a little later. Makes my head spin a bit :)

    Cheers P.
     
  21. Dazed_and_Confused

    Dazed_and_Confused Registered Member

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    Aah, I understand now, polly. :) Why can't you burn them directly to the DVD? o_O Does TI not support that?
     
  22. WSFuser

    WSFuser Registered Member

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  23. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    WSFuser,

    Why can't you copy two 2 GB files to each DVD? The FAQ only says the maximum file size is 2 GB, not that you can only put 2 GB on a disc. Using the UDF format, you can copy 4 GB files onto a DVD.

    I'd expect that if you were writing directly to a DVD from TI with packet software that the disc would be written with over 4 GB of data.


    PS I see you have edited your post re 2 GB per disc.










    "How can I use Acronis True Image 8.0 to write the images directly to DVD disks?

    Acronis True Image 8.0 is capable of writing to a DVD disk in Windows if UDF packet DVD-writing software is installed, and the DVD disk is formatted. We currently support the following packet DVD-writing software:

    * Roxio Drag To Disc — an optional part of Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator
    * Ahead InCD — is available for free on the Nero site for Ahead Nero users (and usually is shipped with Nero)
    * Veritas DLA and all its OEM versions (e.g. HP DLA)
    * Pinnacle Instant CD/DVD

    In general we also support other UDF packet DVD-writing software, but the four above are most popular and they have been tested and approved by Acronis.

    To make the DVD disk writeable in Acronis True Image, the user should do the following:

    1. Install UDF packet DVD-writing software.
    2. Format the DVD disks. DVD+RW and DVD-RW disks can be formatted by any of the applications mentioned above, while DVD+R at this moment can be formatted only by Roxio Drag To Disc.
    3. Next, start Acronis True Image 8.0, insert the formatted DVD disk into the DVD+RW or DVD-RW drive and create an image.
    4. The images from the DVD disk can be restored both in Windows and when Acronis True Image 8.0 is started from bootable disks.

    There is also a two-step method for writing to DVDs. Acronis True Image 8.0 can create an image of the hard disk as a single file on the hard disk itself, and then you can copy the file using your own DVD-writing software to the DVD. We recommend you to set the image archive splitting size to 2,000 MBytes on the Image Archive Splitting screen, as generally the maximum size of a file stored on DVD is 2 GBytes. The Acronis rescue disk will also be able to restore this file from the DVD if necessary."
     
  24. WSFuser

    WSFuser Registered Member

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    i dont have a dbd burner and i dont know how true image reads the dvds. using teh 2 step method i guess u can try burning two image parts to one dvd and see what happens when u create and/or restore them.
     
  25. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Pollyanna,

    I'd say two DVD's. When you image next time choose 2 GB for the split size. What software will you be using to burn the image files?
     
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