New to Acronis...need advice.

Hi...

I've got Acronis true image on a 2 wk trial. My HD is 120 gig with 33g in use. Not too big.

I just started to do my first full image on CD and it's used 3 cds already and still says there's 38 mins to go.

How many cartons of CDs will this take??

 

Hello tisatashar,

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

The image size depends on the used space size and on the data type as well. For example, video, audio files and pictures cannot be compressed effectively (this is common for any imaging/backuping software, not only Acronis True Image). When you chose the compression level you were shown the approximate size of the image and the number of CDs needed. Please note that this number is not accurate because the actual figures depend on the data type as described above.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Hi,

Using TI's "Normal" compression ratio will probably reduce your data by about a third. Therefore (33000MB / 650MB) x 0.66 = approx 33.5 CDs

Regards

 

33gig??
Back-up to CD = not recommended

I would use DVD's or get a back-up drive

 

Unless you are very patient, and somewhat lucky, forget CDs as a backup media for a hard drive with 33 Gig of data. The patience is self-explanatory, even with a high-speed CD writer. The "lucky" means that the odds are against you that at least one CD will be corrupt. I do not say that True Image is to blame. Rather, my own experiences with CDs are that occassionally I get a "coaster", even with name-brand media, more if I use generic CDs. To get 38 or so good ones in a row is playing a long shot.

I suggest that you consider getting an external USB 2.0 hard drive and backup to that. It will be faster and more reliable. You can ask True Image to create the backup in convenience pieces, like 650 Meg. Then, if you want, occassionally copy these to CD, or better yet, to DVDs. But, be very sure to verify the copy process. Both Easy CD Creator and Nero will verify after writing, but the option might not default to on.

33 Gig is a lot of data to have in one place. Assuming that most of it does not change frequently, you could have faster backups of what does change, if you first re-organized the hard drive into a few partitons. For example, operating system and programs on one partition and user data on another. Pehaps even a third partition for scratch file, swap file, etc. A program like Partition Magic (or Acronis Disk Director) could make the partitions. Personal files (like DOC, JPG, MP3 can be moved with windows explorer cut&paste. Do not attempt to move the operating system or programs.