Terabyte Image for Windows/DOS convert

I've been an Acronis TI user since 8.0 and my last reliable version was 10.0 which I use on a BartPE disk to make it work with SATA/AHCI drivers. I decided to buy the BootItNG + Image for Windows/DOS/Linux bundle and give it a shot since I'm a big fan of doing backups (err..... restores) from boot disks as well as within Windows.

Wow....it has all the flair of a boring DOS program from 1992 and I love it! This is the way utility software should be made. No bloat, no fuss.

Anyway, that being said, I had a couple questions on some of the options. Calling all IfW and IfD experts....

I've read all the PDF's but I can't get a good flavor on what the various options are for, or when I would use them. For instance:

Backup from BIOS or BIOS (Direct)
Backup to file (OS) or file (Direct)
Use Original Geometry
Use Source host geometry
Use MBR Geometry
Use 2048 sector alignment
Align MBR Ending HS
etc.

I didn't see a FAQ showing when you would use some of the more esoteric options. The problem with options and vanilla explanations is you never know when, how often or under what circumstances you use them. All options are presented with equal footing.


If this would help, lemme ask a different way. What options would you use under these common scenarios. All are Intel based PC's.

P3, P4 or better with IDE hard drive configured to Auto in BIOS
Core2Duo with SATA hard drive configured in IDE compatibility mode in BIOS
Core2Duo or better with SATA hard drive in native AHCI/RAID mode in BIOS

Thanks!
Robert

 

Robert,

Whatever works best in your computer. Usually, but not always, BIOS (Direct)

Depends what you want to do but almost always "File (Direct)"

You can ignore these if you are not restoring your image in a different computer from the source HD.

These are for 2048 sector aligned partitions. For legacy cylinder aligned partitions you can leave the options blank or use Align on End. In general, if you leave the alignment options blank, IFD will know what to do.

One extra tip, if you are imaging to or restoring from a USB external HD, IFL may be preferable to IFD. It depends on your BIOS.

There are LOTS of options for a restore using IFD. In most cases you don't have to select them.

 

Huh. I wrote TeraByte tech support and they said the opposite. BIOS/File by default and use Direct when needed. What's the difference and why would one way be better than another? Maybe I'm not "unlucky" enough, but I can't tell the difference as both work for me. Although admittedly I haven't tried any restores. If BIOS/File DIRECT was better in every instance, why not make that the default and not even present a second option?

What if I'm restoring to the same PC, but with a different hard drive? (as is usually the case when one HDD drive dies and you go out to buy a newer one)

Tech support mentioned that aligning to 2048 wouldn't hurt anything, but SSD drives benefit from it, so *my* new default is to check the 2048 option. I'm still not quite sure on the difference, or what "align on end" means, but a couple Anandtech articles enlightened me.

 

I love IFW/IFD, it gets better with every release.
Who wants waste time booting into a fancy graphics page, then wasting more time loading in the pretty gui. Let's get to work and jump right into the application. I've done nearly a thousand backup/restores with this software and it is rock solid. They have listened to the users and fixed a few mbr issues as well.

 

valnar,

That is not a geometry issue. It is the same computer. No options needed.

I use BIOS in my main computer as I have an issue with BIOS (Direct) if I want to abort a restore. They both run at the same speed. In my IDE test computer I use BIOS (Direct) as the restore speed is 3 times faster than BIOS.

You are correct about SSDs needing 2048 sector alignment. It doesn't matter which alignment you use for Win7 but to make sure the restore works without needing a repair, maintain the current alignment.

 

Even if new HD is different physical size?

 

Bob D,

The HD size does not matter. The geometry choices refer to different BIOS CHS values. For example, creating an image in one computer and restoring that image to a HD in another computer. Then putting that HD back into the first computer. It is not something most of us would do anyway.