New User

I am new to Acronis True Image I am using AcronisTrue Image 9.0 on a system with Windows XP Home edition. I have an external 160Gb hard drive and intend to do my backups onto this drive. I also have Norton Go Back 4.0. Can some kind sole walk this newbee through to procedure I should use to back up my entire c drive onto the external drive, and also the procedure to back up just the "My Documents" folder onto the external drive. I know that this should be staight foreward but I am not a computer guru and do not want to screw things up. Thanks in advance for your patience and help. Bill.

 

Print out the user's guide.
The steps are listed.

 

Bill, here's what I would do. After you install True Image, I would make the bootable Rescue CD.

Next, boot with the CD and choose Image backup (not Clone). In the dialog windows, be sure there is a check mark against the Source drive name (it should default to having it).

For the destination drive, choose your 160 Gig external and follow the rest of the prompts to create the backup image.

To backup your "My Documents" folder just use Windows Explorer to copy it to the external. If you want some compression use the built-in WinZip in Windows to do so.

 

Further to the other suggestions, I read in another thread, that a poster had difficulty creating and restoring his image because he had Norton GoBack enabled during the procedure. Apart from disabling GoBack during the procedure I would suggest that you uninstall GoBack completely. If the latter gets corrupted then the only solution is to clean install your XP.
If you do decide to uninstall GoBack, have the external drive on, as GoBack will also have it's on files on that disk.

 

Hello Bill from Canada,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please read more information on how to use Acronis True Image 9.0 Home in the respective User's Guide.

We may also recommend you to read this Acronis True Image FAQ article about using Acronis True Image 9.0 Home and GoBack on the same computer.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

I use Norton GoBack version 4 and TrueImage version 9 (Home) together without a problem, just make sure you follow TrueImage instructions (see below).

Normally I create an image file from within Windows with GoBack running. If, however, I use the rescue CD, or intend to restore an image, I disable GoBack before the operation. Never had the need to uninstall GoBack in the many years I’ve used both TrueImage, and GoBack together.

In regards GoBack having files on the external drive this would be the case only if the user requested that on the initial installation of GoBack. When installing GoBack use the custom install and you can decide what drives are protected by GoBack.

The following is from the Acronis Website FAQ.

I have Norton GoBack installed. Can I use Acronis True Image 9.0 Home??
The thing is that Norton GoBack modifies the existing partitions' type (FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, etc.) into its own format, making them incompatible with the existing partitioning/imaging software while GoBack is active. This way Norton GoBack prohibits other applications from changing the partition table. So, for specific Acronis True Image 9.0 Home functions you will need to disable Norton GoBack first:

If you want to use the standalone version of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home
If you want to restore a disk/partition from a backup
If you want to manage (create, resize or delete) Acronis Secure Zone
NOTE: When you disable Norton GoBack, you will lose all backup history for the changed/restored partition and will not be able to undo the changes.

 

I think the problem that Bill and all users of Go Back have is that,whilst its possible to disable Go Back and revert the target disc to a normal partition system,before a crash,its impossible afterwards!

This means that folders can be restored ,when everything is working prior to a system failure,but NO restoration of ATI images can be made after a crash.

The proprietary type 44 GO Back partitioning would then still be in existence on the disc,which can only be rolled back by disabling Go Back.

True Image then could not access or use the the type 44 disc for restoration purposes.


It seems that its either one or the other -Go Back or ATI

Think I will concentrate on more frequent ATI backups and disable Go Back-not ideal,but cant see any alternative.

 

Not sure I understand the situation you are describing. You talk about a system crash that would makes it impossible to disable GoBack, the only situation where that would happen is when the hard drive can’t boot at all.

In that situation couldn’t you use a boot disk, Fdisk, format, and then restore using an image that was previously made by Trueimage? This of cause assumes that the image is situated elsewhere other than the drive being restored too.

Information you might find handy can be found on the following website.

http://www.roxio.com/en/support/roxio_support/goback/kb_articles.html

John.

 

The situation,which happened to me was that I booted up to the Go BacK menu,which then informed me that Go Back wasnt working!(due to having been corrupted by a Disc speed up applet?)

The purpose was to remedy a faulty Windows boot situation,which of course occurs past the GB menu.Windows wouldnt boot.

Your idea,to format, would work,as my TI image is on a seperate disc,but seems to defeat the purpose of TI,which is speedy recovery.

Thanks for the Roxio GB instructions,still wading through them,but at this stage,am thinking of trying RollBack.

 

Before you purchase RollBack Rx read this note from their website;

Do I have to take any specific actions with Rollback Rx before I make or restore an image of my hard drive with programs like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image?

You have to do the following:

Uninstall Rollback before restoring a disk image.
Run FDISK /MBR from the command prompt after restoring a disk image. Because Rollback is in MBR, the drive image software "Ghost" and "Acronis" do not reset MBR during cloning.

Seems you would be just jumping from the frying pan into the fire

John.

 

Seems to me that the current Rollback and ATI9 dont conflict,you will find the current answers are different-I think its mainly cloning which is impossible.(CORRECTED-see below)

However I still dont understand whether or not the MBR is affected by ATI and how this would affect the compatibility-the official Rollback answer is ambiguous-of course a complete image snap is required,merely part is useless for a complete restore

Am testing Rollback now-seems very sturdy and complete.

However it doesnt have auto snapshots-these have to be scheduled,at
the most hourly.

One attractive feature,which would have rescued me is this:


Rollback Rx Standard 7.2
RESTORE SYSTEM FROM SUBSYSTEM CONSOLE

If you encounter a complete system crash, you are not able to start Windows operating system. You can still use Rollback Rx to restore the system.

1. Restart the computer; Hold down the HOME key as you see the Rollback Rx Subsystem Console screen. You will need to provide a user name and password if the access control is enabled.


PS-John-Looks like you are correct-after reading an exhaustive thread on RollBack(which I didnt see until now),it may be even less compatible than GB

In practice,TI can succesfully create a full image even with GB enabled,which from my understanding cannot be done with RB.

So in a case of Windows not being bootable,a reformat and restore of TI would at least be reasonably workable with GB.

Also I like the auto snap feature of GB!

 

If the problem is Windows not booting, disable GoBack using the GoBack boot screen that starts before Windows, then use an image to restore from. If the MBR is damaged download the MBR utility from Acronis. There are also MBR backup and recovery programmes that you can download.

John.

 

As I mentioned earlier,my situation was that Windows wasnt booting and couldnt be repaired using Microsoft boot disc and repair function.

The booting procedure went as far as the GoBack Menu,which then informed me that Go Back wasnt working ie COULDNT BE DISABLED,therefore couldnt use ATI recovery.

What happens is that the ATI menu appears,after booting with its disc,but the target disc doesnt and the recovery function doesnt work obviously

Your solution wouldnt help.


It seems that all the go back or rollback utilities are incompatible to some degree with imaging software such as ATI.

The question still remains"what is the point of having both"

The popular answer is that rollback programs are for the occasions when there is software failure,the imaging for hardware.

This doesnt make sense-in case of a hardware failure,there would be no effect,except in the case of breakdown of the disc containing the image archive,when it would be not worthwhile trying to extricate the image in any case.

There are so many variables to all this that it seems difficult to know what is going to happen unless its actually happened to you.

 

I don't think I understand your second paragraph but the way I see it is:

A roll-back program can get you back to previous point faster than an image program in most cases if not all.

Because a roll-back program is quicker and it has a tracking capability you will have more points-in-time to restore to most likely.

If your C drive goes bad a roll-back program is going to do nothing for you.

An imaging program used aggessively can take the place of a roll-back program.

You therefore can perform the function of a roll-back program with an imaging program but not the other way around.

Personally, unless you have a very strange set of circumstances, IMO an imaging program is more than enough. Your view may vary.

 

Actually,I see your point about C drive hardware failure-in this case Imaging would work,but rollback wouldnt-I was thinking about the hardware failure of the archive disc containing the image,which probably would be less likely in any case!

 

Your comment about the disk containg the archives failing has merit. However, the risk is lower since hopefully when you detect your archive disk has gone bad the rest of your system is still operational and you can make an image as soon as the disk is replaced/fixed. I also, from time-to-time, make a DVD of a recent image and file it away for extra security.

 

If I was a programmer or I need to make constant changes in everyday operations then I would use a rollback program as I agree with the above summation.

But based on the

then your statement

sums it up aptly.

 

Hi Guys

Brand new to imaging backup (never done it). Both of my networked attached computers (XP / w98SE) have been protected via Roxio GoBack 3.2 Deluxe and data backup (use SyncBackSE) on CD/DVD. Last December I added a USB external 200GB drive for data backup and hope to capture / store TI9 image files using this external drive. I bought TI9 as an "additional layer" to my backup options. GoBack has never let me down, so my preference is to leave it installed. Reading the Roxio URL (see mikisu April 15 7:07pm post), it is dated per TI9 capabilities and image programs available at the time it was written. Can I "disable" GoBack" prior to the image backup and go for it .. or must I follow through "entering in via the GoBack boot screen when using TI9 to create a image copy? I would be tickled pink if I could use Kapiti approach (see April 14, 3:13pm post) in leaving GoBack active. The real problem I'm having, is I don't know which approach to use. And yes that is a rhetorical statement. This thread has me sitting on a fence, wondering where to jump. I don't want to give up GoBack ... yet. Until I I get comfortable with image backups, I like having GoBack "instant" revert ... it's never let me down ... yet.

 

You have been lucky! When mine crashed, I had to resurrect my old C drive, (which I had cloned a month earlier and also, fortunately, had not erased any of it), to get back up and running.
With GoBack, it depends whether you custom install it for particular drives or for all the drives. If you include all the drives and it crashes and you are unable to disable it then you are totally snookered.

TI will not let you create nor restore images unless GoBack has been disabled.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=130181

If you want to use TI and be certain of the fact that it will be able to restore the image, then you can only have GoBack on one drive, say C, and you store the image on another drive that has not got GoBack on it.
But if you span GoBack across say C & D and your image is on E, and the image is of C only, then you will not be able to restore the image if GoBack crashes. That is because the corrupted GoBack on D will interfere with the restoration process.

 

I used to use GoBack -- even before Semantec bought the prog.

I eventually gave it up because it needed to be turned off for several important disk operations, including image backups, and all the history was lost each time that was done, not to mention how long it took to remove and reinstall.

I eventually figured out that it was easier, faster to just have an image backup and do a restore from that than to use GoBack. Between Win's System Restore and ATI, GoBack was something of a noisy dinosaur on my PCs.