Need explanations for TI: "system state" & "Application settings" tools

Hello,

Congratulations on the Acronis tools (TI & DD). It was a bit diifcult at first to get to understanding how TI works and how to use all the info that's provided in the user's guide, but after reading the very helpful "beginner's guide" by Grover H and sticky thread, I feel like I have entered "Acronis TI thinking mode". I think I have a general view of how TI works and how to use it, now I would like to understand more in detail.

I would appreciate any explanations that would enable me to understand how the two following TI tools can be helpful for backing up our system :

1. "System State" tool.

- This "sounds" like it makes a backup like the incremental or differential, but I imagine that's not what it does. Can someone kindly help me understand the function of this utility, in comparison to "my computer" backup?

2. "Application Settings".

- I have the following scenario : a Sony Vaio laptop with one C: drive (140GB) in it and Vista Home Premium 32B as system. There is a hardware/driver problem (built in camera not working anymore) and it might very well be required that I return the C: disk / system to factory settings. For doing this there is the built in Sony/Vista recovery center, which offers to either restore the whole system or just the C: drive.

Quick note: Setting back to factory settings is not such a problem for me as it will give the opportunity to "clean the house" > I acquired the laptop 7 months ago and was a total beginner; now that I'm a bit more advanced I wouldn't mind starting on a "clean page" with the system and C: drive. There are surely things I have done illogically without being aware at the beginning and which might have caused a little mess here and there. Also, now that I use TI, I'll make an image of the system with factory settings then another with my own application settings so that I have a larger "backup repertoire" to choose from if things get "rough" one day.

So my question is :

- when we backup using TI "Application Settings" tool, we obtain as a result a file that can then be restored once the C: disk has been set back to factory settings, correct?

- this result file will then restore the "user settings" related to applications, correct? (naturally, as mentioned in the TI user guide, applications will have to be re-installed using the setup exe files we have kept).

- what would be interesting to know is "where" does the TI tool "take" or "copy" data, to serve as backup for application settings?
In : users > username > app data?
In : Windows Registry?
Elsewhere?

I'm very curious to know basically where the system stores application data and settings and if TI will backup everything needed. So that when we restore the "application settings" backup we made through TI, our applications will be configured to user specific settings again, and not to default application settings. I imagine that backing up application settings and data cannot be achieved simply by "copying/pasting" the user file with the app data...that's why we need the TI tool, right?

Thank you.

PS
I posted a similar question in this thread, but thought of making a new thread here to open up a thread title so that new users like me can find more easily info related to these two tools in TI. Hope it was a good idea.

 

Hello TKHgva,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

You can backup either disks and partitions or the system state that comprises the boot files, registry, protected Windows files, and COM+ CLASS registration database. Backing up the System state allows you to restore the system files, drivers, etc., but not the data files and folders you use in your work. To be able to restore the data files and folders, select the disks and partitions.

Regarding applications settings backup see your initial thread.

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev

 

Dmitry,

Thank you for your help and explanations on both threads.

I think I am getting a clearer picture.

What could you advise/say regarding the following:

I wish to bring the system back to factory settings. Once the system is restored to factory settings, I will re-install all applications manually. Then I wish to "restore" my user profile, in order to restore the user settings regarding applications, such as email client, internet browser and security applications etc.

Q. Can Acronis TI be used to backup/restore only the user profile?

Or does TI take the image of the whole disk only, thus not enabling us to backup/restore only the user profile?

Sorry if I am asking basic questions, I am a bit confused as how to backup the user profile and restore it later on.

I don't know if I can do this through Acronis TI or if I should use another utility that backs up only files.

I thank you in advance for any explanations which may help me figure out how to backup and restore the user profile/settings once the system is returned to factory settings.

 

Hello TKHgva,

No, the current version of our software do not have an option to recover user profile. But it does not mean that this cannot be done. Because there's a set of files responsible for user settings (such as browser settings, application settings etc). So If you recover such files after clean install of applications - it will recover the settings.

Here are the common paths for files responsible for user settings:

C:\Documents and Settings\[your account name]\Application Data

C:\Documents and Settings\[your account name]\Local Settings

Anyway, you can simply determine where the exact application stores its settings and recover it from your image among with necessary information.

Note that these folders are hidden, you can browse through them if you set the option to show hidden files and folders in Windows Explorer by doing following: Tools -> Folder Options -> View -> Show Hidden Files and Folders.

Thank you.
--
Alexander Nikolsky

 

Dear Alexander,

Thank you for your clear explanations, I now undesrtand how to use Acronis TI to backup and restore the User Settings > just make a disk image and after restoring the system to factory setting, run the TI restore tool and select only the user setting files you mentioned above. Very simple (I hope it will be as simple in practica as it is in theory...).

May I quickly add a final question:

How can we set Acronis TI to automatically add a time stamp on scheduled backups > so that the result tib. files end up with the date of the backup in their file name?

This would be very practical for the different restore points ("system state") that are created when using TI > so we can easily find the restore point we need in case of a system corruption. I failed to find the option to add a time stamp while configuring the system state backups.

Thanking you in advance and again congratulations on this easy to use and powerful tool.

 

I think you are making more out of it than it is. If you make an image of the system it is a copy of the partition as it exists at that time. It is not the original factory settings, it is the presently configured system. When you restore it, the system is back to that state, not the original "factory" state.

IMO, System State is just a complication. If you make an image of a partition you have everything that existed in the partition. I consider the image to be the safer option but the choice is yours.

 

Hello TKHgva,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

Please look through the article Automatically Renaming Image Archives, it will help you to add a time stamp.

Thank you.

--
Oleg Lee

 

Seekforever,

Thank you for your post. Thank you also for sharing thoughts on the topic. Very much appreciated - people are very helpful in the forum.

As a note, I might just add that I should've clarified that when saying in the post :

I meant "restoring the system to factory setting" in reference to the built in "Sony Vaio Recovery Center" on my laptop, which offers to either restore the whole system or just the C: drive; I wasn't at that point refering to Acronis TI when mentioning "a restore to factory settings". I need to bring the system back to factory settings due to a problem on the laptop, that's why I'm talking about the factory settings. So what I meant in the post was bringing the system back to factory settings using the "Vaio Recovery" tool and then using Acronis TI to restore user settings. But you post, nevertheless, provided me with extra understanding on the topic.

Sorry, a long speech just to make a clarification, but I'm the one who should've made a clearer use of terms and what I was refering to. A lot of terminology in IT, we sometimes lose our way with words... Thank you.

Oleg Lee,

Thank you for the link and support. I have never used or configured batch files before, but I will try and follow the instructions given in the link.