True Image Vs Secure Zone

I'm in the process of examining Acronis True Image and I'm confused about the difference between the True Image and the Secure Zone.

Is there some clear distinction made somewhere in Help that I'm missing.

Thanks,

Tee

 

Hello teehiett,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please read more about Acronis Secure Zone in section 3.2 of Acronis True Image 8.0 User's Guide.

Please let me know if you will have any specific questions concerning the usage of Acronis Secure Zone.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

Thanks for responding to my request for information.

I have examined the information in the user's guide about the Acronis Secure Zone and that understand how to create such a zone. I'm still not clear on the necessity for creating a secure zone. I am using a laptop with a 60 GB hard drive and an external USB 2 Hard Drive with 256 gigabytes. I have created an image on the external hard drive and a plan to make incremental backups images. I have also created a Bootable Rescue CD.

Suppose my 60 GB internal hard drive goes South..... My understanding is that I can get a new hard drive, run from the Bootable Rescue CD, and reinstall my Windows XP operating system and all of the programs and files, up to the date of the latest saved image, without having to reload the operating system and all of the programs and files.

If the above is true, what role does the Secure Zone play in the operation?

Thanks for your help.

Tee

 

Secure Zone is not recommended for those, like you, who are creating an image on a USB2 External HD. This from Acronis FAQ:
Can I create an Acronis Secure Zone on an external drive?
It is not recommended that you create Acronis Secure Zone on a detachable drive. If you activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager and then for some reason disconnect the drive Acronis Secure Zone reside on, your computer may boot with a long delay or not boot at all. You will need either connect the drive with the Acronis Secure Zone back or fix the master boot record (MBR) if the MBR becomes corrupted or the drive is unavailable.

My understanding is that Secure Zone can be used for those creating an image on the same drive as their OS. Then, if for whatever reason their OS becomes unusable, they can boot using the recovery disk which uses Linux as OS, access the image on their drive, and restore Windows OS. Secure Zone would also be useful to restore an image if Windows OS becomes corrupt through a virus for example. Of course, if the drive itself becomes unusable, then the image cannot be restored.

 

Thanks for helping me understand Acronis True Image. I think I understand how Secure Zone works. Now to understand True Image.

Consider the following hypothetical example :
I have a Complete True Image and one or two Incremental Images I have created on an external hard drive and my hard drive goes South. I can get a new hard drive, run the Startup Recovery CD, and put all of my operating system, programs, and files back on the new drive from the images stored on the external hard drive. Is this interpretation correct?

Thanks,

Tee

 

You may want to read this thread:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=96264

 

Hello teehiett,

Yes, your plan is absolutely correct.

If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov