True Image for Dummies... can it do this?

I'm quite a computer novice, and would appreciate any help in understanding how Acronis's True Image software works. I have an 80 gb internal hard drive. I plan on buying an external 80gb USB 2.0 hard drive to use for backing up my internal drive. I'm trying to figure out what software to use for the backing up.

I have been researching True Image, but have some questions...

Is True Image really easy to use?

I want True Image to make an exact copy of my hard drive, and then each night, I want it to automatically figure out what changes have been made on my PC, and then copy those changes onto the copy located on my external hard drive. Can it do this, and can it be set to automatically happen at a certain time each night?

If someday I turn on my PC and it tells me that the internal hard drive has failed, how hard is it to boot up my pc from the "copy" that True Image has made on my external drive?

Any information you can offer is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

 

Hi

Welcome to the Acronis True Image Forum.

Provided TI can "see" your internal and external drives, particularly after booting from the Boot Rescue CD, then the answer is "yes".

Yes

Just boot your computer using the Boot Rescue CD and restore from the image created on your external USB drive. If your hard drive has physically failed rather than merely become corrupted then obviously you would need to fit a replacement drive first!

I suggest it would be worthwhile you downloading the TI User's Guide plus checking out the Acronis True Image Online FAQ.

Regards

 

To add to Menorcaman's post,

There are two ways to back up a hard drive using TrueImage (TI). One is the "clone" procedure which makes a spare drive an exact clone of your source drive. The second is the "image" backup which makes a copy (not a clone) of your source drive and can even compress the data (your choice) to make the backup size smaller.

I get the feeling you want to make a "clone" of your system drive. In that case I don't think that there is an "incremental" addon procedure scheduled to happen every night. Using the clone method, it is possible to just replace a failed drive with the cloned drive.

If you use the "image" backup procedure, then you can make "incremental" backups daily, weekly or whatever time duration you choose. But using the "image" backup procedure, you will not be able to just replace a failed drive with the backup drive. You will need to buy a replacement drive for the failed drive and use the backup to "restore" to the new drive. The "restored" drive then becomes a clone of the original source drive.

Hope this helps rather than confuse...
Skyhawk