About Acronis True Image

  • Thread starter Thread starter Justin Thyme
  • Start date Start date
J

Justin Thyme

A couple of months ago I bought and installed True Image 11 Home, and
anxious to take advantage of its services I mistakenly (okay, stupidly)
asked it to save its backup on my unpartitioned C-disk hard drive. Now, of
course, in the event of a catastrophic disk crash I can't get to the backup
because it's on the damaged disk. I sought to correct my error by
purchasing a 500 GB external disk which I shall designate to contain the
backup file(s).

I have written to Acronis but never received an answer. Can I delete the
True Image backup file, uninstall True Image, reinstall True Image, this
time telling it where to create and save backups?

Or am I overlooking something critical? Is there a more straightforward way
to move the backup file to the external disk?

Thanks,

Ken Bland
 
Justin said:
A couple of months ago I bought and installed True Image 11 Home, and
anxious to take advantage of its services I mistakenly (okay, stupidly)
asked it to save its backup on my unpartitioned C-disk hard drive. Now, of
course, in the event of a catastrophic disk crash I can't get to the backup
because it's on the damaged disk. I sought to correct my error by
purchasing a 500 GB external disk which I shall designate to contain the
backup file(s).

I have written to Acronis but never received an answer. Can I delete the
True Image backup file, uninstall True Image, reinstall True Image, this
time telling it where to create and save backups?

Or am I overlooking something critical? Is there a more straightforward way
to move the backup file to the external disk?

Thanks,

Ken Bland
Click to expand...

So are you talking about using their Secure Zone? That goes into a
partition, NOT in unpartitioned disk space. Drive letters can only be
assigned to partitions, not to unpartitioned space, so what did "C-disk"
have to do with your problem? Did it mean you are using the Secure Zone
in a hidden partition (which is NOT unpartitioned space) on the same
hard disk as where is the partition for the operating system?
Impossible to know what is your setup when you don't describe it.

If you want to save the backups in the Secure Zone, restore its contents
to an alternate location, delete the Secure Zone, create a new one on
the external disk, and backup the alternate location to the Secure Zone
you just created on the external disk. If you aren't using the Secure
Zone then the backup location is just a folder, so copy the folder over
to the external hard disk. Thereafter specify that further backups go
to the external hard disk. Of course, if the external hard disk
catastrophically fails then you lose your backups there, too.

Acronis has their own forums at:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=65.
 
Justin Thyme said:
A couple of months ago I bought and installed True Image 11 Home, and
anxious to take advantage of its services I mistakenly (okay, stupidly)
asked it to save its backup on my unpartitioned C-disk hard drive. Now, of
course, in the event of a catastrophic disk crash I can't get to the backup
because it's on the damaged disk. I sought to correct my error by
purchasing a 500 GB external disk which I shall designate to contain the
backup file(s).

I have written to Acronis but never received an answer. Can I delete the
True Image backup file, uninstall True Image, reinstall True Image, this
time telling it where to create and save backups?

Or am I overlooking something critical? Is there a more straightforward
way to move the backup file to the external disk?

Thanks,

Ken Bland
Click to expand...
No, you do not need to remove ATI just to change the backup location. That
comes under the general heading of using a pile driver to crack a peanut.

Create a backup location on the new drive.
Copy the backup files from the old location to the new location.

You edit the procedure which performs the backup to use the new location.

Jim
 
Justin Thyme said:
A couple of months ago I bought and installed True Image 11 Home, and
anxious to take advantage of its services I mistakenly (okay, stupidly)
asked it to save its backup on my unpartitioned C-disk hard drive. Now, of
course, in the event of a catastrophic disk crash I can't get to the backup
because it's on the damaged disk. I sought to correct my error by
purchasing a 500 GB external disk which I shall designate to contain the
backup file(s).

I have written to Acronis but never received an answer. Can I delete the
True Image backup file, uninstall True Image, reinstall True Image, this
time telling it where to create and save backups?

Or am I overlooking something critical? Is there a more straightforward way
to move the backup file to the external disk?

Thanks,
Click to expand...
Just copy the backup file. You can respecify where you want the
backup when you take it. I would just take a new backup to the
external drive and delete the one on the C drive.
 
I am having a hard time getting a clear picture of your PC's
disks/paritions.

Most PC's have a single C:\ partition, which includes the operating system,
programs, and user data. This C: partition uses 100% (or nearly 100%) of
the space on the primary (possibly the only) internal hard drive. This is
not a good organization strategy, but very common for name-brand PCs.

Additionally, many PCs come with a small hidden partition, that contains an
image of the C:\ drive. This can be used to restore the PC to the say you
bought it. Contact the PC maker for mote info on how to do this. But,
realize that "restore" to a pC maker means (1) destroy all user data, (2)
restore what came with the PC. Most users do not really want to do this
after they have owned the PC for a while.

However, it is possible to have multiple internal hard drives and multiple
partitions on each, as well as multiple operating systems.

Think about which you have, or want to have, then read on.

I have been using True Image for years under 98 and XP. Its images are
files that end in ".tib". These can be a single large file, or a set of
seqeunced smaller files. That is the user's choice. But, in any event
these are ordinary files, and thus can be copied/moved, just like another
files. If you want them on an external hard drive (good idea), just
copy&paste, then remove the copy on the internal drive. You could
cut&paste, but I always perfer to be sure that the copy works, before I
delete files.

As for future usages of True Image, do NOT use the so-called "secure zone".
While better than nothing, if the internal drive dies, you lose everything.
Instead, do a normal "create image". Select what you want to backup
(probably C:), and where you want to write the image (probably an external
disk), and what size chunks (200MB to 650MB will be more tractable than one
big file). Then, do it.

Note that if you create an extra partition on the internal hard drive (e.g.,
via Acronis Disk Director), think about separating your personal files (DOC,
XLS, JPG, MP3, AVI, etc) from the operating system and programs. Then, the
backup will go faster, and a restore will, too. You do not need to use True
Image to backup personal data files. A simple copy&paste will suffice.
Further, you might want to backup personal files everyday, at least any new
ones. In contrast, backup the operating system and programs less often,
only before (and maybe after) changes, includingh those monthly XP updates.
Use True Image for the OS+programs, since it can backup even locked files.
Note that there is no reason to backup pagefile.sys or hiberfil.sys, since
XP will re-create these when it turns on.

Note that backup speed is slower for external USB 2.0 than for internal
SATA. However, the speed should be about the same for external eSATA as for
internal SATA. If you are using USB 2.0, then you might want to consider an
internal "scratch" partition for short-term backups, such as just prior to
an install/uninstall/update. In the event things go wrong, you can very
rapidly do a restore. Note that most PC problems I have encountered were
the result of bad installs/uninstalls, not viruses, not hardware failures.
Still, I would not recommend having all backup images on the internal drive,
since other things can go wrong.

Finally, the external hard drive is only safe from viruses and power surges,
if most of the time it is not connected to the PC and is off.
 
Comment at the bottom.

Bob Harris said:
I am having a hard time getting a clear picture of your PC's
disks/paritions.

Most PC's have a single C:\ partition, which includes the operating
system, programs, and user data. This C: partition uses 100% (or nearly
100%) of the space on the primary (possibly the only) internal hard drive.
This is not a good organization strategy, but very common for name-brand
PCs.

Additionally, many PCs come with a small hidden partition, that contains
an image of the C:\ drive. This can be used to restore the PC to the say
you bought it. Contact the PC maker for mote info on how to do this.
But, realize that "restore" to a pC maker means (1) destroy all user data,
(2) restore what came with the PC. Most users do not really want to do
this after they have owned the PC for a while.

However, it is possible to have multiple internal hard drives and multiple
partitions on each, as well as multiple operating systems.

Think about which you have, or want to have, then read on.

I have been using True Image for years under 98 and XP. Its images are
files that end in ".tib". These can be a single large file, or a set of
seqeunced smaller files. That is the user's choice. But, in any event
these are ordinary files, and thus can be copied/moved, just like another
files. If you want them on an external hard drive (good idea), just
copy&paste, then remove the copy on the internal drive. You could
cut&paste, but I always perfer to be sure that the copy works, before I
delete files.

As for future usages of True Image, do NOT use the so-called "secure
zone". While better than nothing, if the internal drive dies, you lose
everything. Instead, do a normal "create image". Select what you want to
backup (probably C:), and where you want to write the image (probably an
external disk), and what size chunks (200MB to 650MB will be more
tractable than one big file). Then, do it.

Note that if you create an extra partition on the internal hard drive
(e.g., via Acronis Disk Director), think about separating your personal
files (DOC, XLS, JPG, MP3, AVI, etc) from the operating system and
programs. Then, the backup will go faster, and a restore will, too. You
do not need to use True Image to backup personal data files. A simple
copy&paste will suffice. Further, you might want to backup personal files
everyday, at least any new ones. In contrast, backup the operating system
and programs less often, only before (and maybe after) changes, includingh
those monthly XP updates. Use True Image for the OS+programs, since it can
backup even locked files. Note that there is no reason to backup
pagefile.sys or hiberfil.sys, since XP will re-create these when it turns
on.

Note that backup speed is slower for external USB 2.0 than for internal
SATA. However, the speed should be about the same for external eSATA as
for internal SATA. If you are using USB 2.0, then you might want to
consider an internal "scratch" partition for short-term backups, such as
just prior to an install/uninstall/update. In the event things go wrong,
you can very rapidly do a restore. Note that most PC problems I have
encountered were the result of bad installs/uninstalls, not viruses, not
hardware failures. Still, I would not recommend having all backup images
on the internal drive, since other things can go wrong.

Finally, the external hard drive is only safe from viruses and power
surges, if most of the time it is not connected to the PC and is off.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Bob.

Obviously I was not as clear and/or explicit as I might have been. Let's
see if I can do better.

I only mentioned "partitioned" because I have not partitioned my C-drive. I
was not interested in backing up any separate portion of the C-drive.

Finding myself getting more and more confused, I decided to start all over
again. I deleted the complete Acronis backup on the C-drive (where it
never should have been in the first place).

Next, I did an uninstall of Acronis True Image 11.

Put in the original Acronis TI CD and turned it loose. Designated the
target disk for backup storage (the 500GB external hard drive). Backed up
the entire contents of the C-drive to the 500GB E-drive.

Things went smoothly and I got "success" responses all along the way.

I ran out of time at that point and I do not know yet how to perform
incremental backups of data that changes on the C-disk.

Surely the manual covers that action somewhere.

Thanks again.

Ken Bland
 
Justin Thyme said:
Comment at the bottom.


Thank you, Bob.

Obviously I was not as clear and/or explicit as I might have been. Let's
see if I can do better.

I only mentioned "partitioned" because I have not partitioned my C-drive.
I was not interested in backing up any separate portion of the C-drive.

Finding myself getting more and more confused, I decided to start all over
again. I deleted the complete Acronis backup on the C-drive (where it
never should have been in the first place).

Next, I did an uninstall of Acronis True Image 11.

Put in the original Acronis TI CD and turned it loose. Designated the
target disk for backup storage (the 500GB external hard drive). Backed up
the entire contents of the C-drive to the 500GB E-drive.

Things went smoothly and I got "success" responses all along the way.

I ran out of time at that point and I do not know yet how to perform
incremental backups of data that changes on the C-disk.

Surely the manual covers that action somewhere.

Thanks again.

Ken Bland
Click to expand...
Yes, the manual certainly does contain a description of how to make both
incremental and differential backups... Now, if I only had my copy of the
manual handy, I could tell you.
However, if you use the wizard to construct the batch file which creates the
backup (full, incremental, or differential), it is hard to miss the place
where the wizard asks you what kind of backup you want it to make. Only you
know the answer to this question.

You definitely should make you full backups include all partitions because
if, for some reason, the partition which contains the bootstrap code is
missing, you won't create a bootable disk without further work.

An incremental backup contains only those changes made since the last
backup.
A differential backup contains those changes made since the last full
backup.

There is less chance of making a mistake by performing differential backups
because a full restore only requires loading two backup files.

Jim
 
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