Restoring From An Image Backup On An External Hard Drive

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by ginky4, Nov 30, 2007.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. ginky4

    ginky4 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2007
    Posts:
    26
    I am relatively new to Acronis software and really have only used the Disc Clone feature of the software. I just did my first full image (.tib) back up to an external hard drive which completely successfully. It appears to be somewhere around 54gigs. How would I restore from this image if my main hard drive crashed?
     
  2. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2007
    Posts:
    3,335
    Location:
    Florida - USA
    You need to make the bootable Rescue CD which, when you boot with it, would present you with the basic Backup, Recovery, and Clone features of the True Image software. And you should do this now to check that it will be able to see your External drive and the Backup Image on it.
     
  3. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 10, 2006
    Posts:
    2,405
    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Perhaps my guides link below can help.Both backups and restores are covered. Hopefully, you have also downloaded the Acronis user manual and iinvested some good reading time there also.
     
  4. ginky4

    ginky4 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2007
    Posts:
    26
    I need to correct myself. This is not an external hard drive. Rather it is an internal EIDE hard drive connected as a slave that has my .tib image saved to it. I use this drive for storage only.

    When you do a complete backup I am assuming that it includes the operating system, installed programs, and all files. I guess I should start by creating a Rescue CD. I am assurming that this can be a cd and not a dvd.

    So once I get this rescue cd created if I should happen to have a hard drive fail I guess you install a new hard drive, boot up off of the rescue cd, and then pull the .tib image from the hard drive that has the image saved on it.
     
  5. shieber

    shieber Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2004
    Posts:
    3,710
    That's how it's supposed to work. Definitely build a Boot CD and then boot with it and do the steps towards doing a backup and make sure it sees all your dirves -- you don't have to actually do the backup.

    Then do the steps towards doing a restore and make sure that the Boot CD can see all your drives for selectding a target and a destinaion for a restore. Just becasue it sees your drives for a backup doesn't mean it will necessarily see your drives for a restore. And jsut becasue it sees your drives when you select a drive as the source for a restore doesn't mean it will be able to see all your drives when you try to select a target for a restore. Guess how I found that out! It would be good to attempt an actual restore if you happen to have a spare drive you can pop in in place of the regular drive. But if you don't have a spare drive, at least make sure that for a restore it can see all your drives.
     
  6. ginky4

    ginky4 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2007
    Posts:
    26
    One other thing. Once I do a Full Backup and then Incremental back ups after that will I be able to restore from the most current incremental backup if I was to have a hard drive failure. I just want to make sure that the most recent incremental back up will have my operating system, installed programs, and all of my files.
     
  7. jonyjoe81

    jonyjoe81 Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 1, 2007
    Posts:
    829
    If you are using windows xp make sure the partition on the new hard drive you are restoring is at least 1gb larger than the partition you imaged on the source drive. Example : If the partition you backup was 20 gb, the partition on the new hard drive has to be at least 21gb. The program will allow you to restore into a 19gb partition if you like or even smaller (depending on actual use space) but you will probably get drive letter change problems.
    Other people here in the forum disagree on this but, but everytime I try to restore into a smaller partition I've gotten drive letter change problems. Just something to make a note about.
     
  8. shieber

    shieber Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2004
    Posts:
    3,710
    ATI treats the inc files as updates to the base "Full" file. When you select a file inthe set, ATI knows to look for any prior incs and the full. It should then backup whatever was in the full, updated with what's in the subsequent incs, down to the one you selected.

    Of course, it's possible to intentionally select only some files from a backup image and copy them to another location.
     
  9. ginky4

    ginky4 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2007
    Posts:
    26
    Should I be using the Disc Clone method or the Backup Entire Hard Drive method? Is one better than the other?
     
  10. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2004
    Posts:
    25,885
    Hello ginky4,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    Please be aware that there are two approaches available:

    Clone Disk - migrates/copies the entire contents of one disk drive to another;

    Backup - creates a special archive file for backup and disaster recovery purposes;

    Please take a look at this FAQ article explaining the difference between Clone Disk and Backup approaches in more detail.

    Actually, Clone Disk approach is usually used to upgrade the hard drive (e.g. install a larger disk), while Backup approach is basically dedicated for the complete data backup and disaster recovery purposes. Since you are interested in backing up your hard drive for the disaster recovery purposes, we would recommend you to follow Backup approach.

    Moreover, there are several advantages of creating an image over the disk cloning procedure such as: you can create an image without rebooting your PC, image creation can be scheduled for the particular point in time, Acronis True Image allows you to create incremental and differential images, image archive contains only the actual data and so it has a smaller size, images are ordinary files and so they can be stored on any type of the supported media, etc. However, the final choice is always up to your needs.

    You can find more information on how to use Acronis True Image Home in the respective User's Guide.

    Thank you.
    --
    Marat Setdikov
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.