Newbie questions

Acronis TI10, E2660, 2Gb, Asus p5b, Gt 8500, Sata 400 (50GB for Vista HB, 2 other partitions), Sata 80 (XP Pro), Ext 320,USB HD.
My operating systems and applications are all installed so I want to make a backup of both OSs to my external HD.

Do I need to be booted into the relevant OS to make a backup or is it possible to do it from just one. Acronis sees the other HD and folders? It's easy enough to boot to, say XP, and run Acronis from there and vice versa.

If I need to do a Restore, will I have to re-activate with Microsoft, or will all the original activation details remain the same and re-activation be no longer required?

 

You can backup one OS or All depending on your preference. I have several OS's installed on one drive and have created a backup that includes them all. You can also include multiple drives in one backup. So, if you have Vista and XP on Disk #1 and XP and Linux on Disk #2 you can select to backup Disk #1 and Disk #2 all at the same time.

When you need to restore, you can select to restore just the partition you need or the entire drive (if you selected to backup the entire drive).

If you restore Windows to the same partition (or even a different partition) on the same computer, it usually does not require reactivation.

Since TI will not let you restore the "Active" Windows partition without rebooting (or booting from the TI cd), the nice thing about have multiple OS's is that you can boot into a different one and restore the other. This gives you full Windows "speed" and is much faster than booting to the cd to do the procedure.

 

Hello Fishb8,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please note that as MudCrab said, you can start the image creation process either under one of the supported operating systems or when booted from Acronis True Image Bootable Media. Acronis True Image works with disks/partitions on a sector level and you do not need to use it under the operating system you wish top backup.

MudCrab is also right about Windows re-activation. Note however that Windows Vista may require activation after cloning/restoring to a different hard drive, this is one of the Windows Vista limitations.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Thanks for that.
So Should Vista be restored to exactly the same hard drive, no re-activation is required.
Got a new pc as my old pc's mobo was failing and went through re-installing/ re-activating xp several times in a month - a real pita!

 

Hello Fishb8,

Please notice that Vista checks not only the hard drive it's installed at, but also other hardware components it's installed on. If too many are changed, it may requre reactivation even if hard drive remains the same.
Please also notice that straight restoring to a different hardware may result in system being unbootable, as Windows will lack necessary drivers installed. Acronis solution for transferring the system to different hardware is Acronis Universal Restore. Please be aware that Acronis Universal Restore is not a separate product, but an add-on for corporate versions of Acronis True Image and has to be purchased separately. Please also see chapter "Acronis Universal Restore" of the respective User's Guide for detailed information.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Thanks for that Marat
Any restoration will be back to the original hard drive and pc so there shouldn't be any issues.
I like to "refresh" my XP every year or so, with a reinstall, but it's such a pain putting back all my essential programs and Windows updates. Hopefully a restore using my Acronis backup will make this all easier. Same too, with Vista, once I start using it.

 

FiskB8,
I would suggest you get yourself a spare hard drive and when you do your "refresh", you use the spare and remove the original out of harms way. I would hate for you to mess up your working drives.