Re: Acronis 7/XP Questions

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:04:04 -0500, Frog wrote:

Thanks you one and all for your responses.

Here is what I think I have learned about Acronis and XP from your
responses:

1. Acronis 7 is compatible with the Windows XP operating system.

Probably, but acronis.com tech support could tell you for sure, but it's
old and XP had changed a lot since TI7, so I would encourage you to update.


2. I did not purchase Acronis 7 on a CD...I downloaded it when it was
offered for free. I am not sure whether the version that I have, which
I used on my old 98SE system, can be loaded onto a second computer.
When you start up TI7, there may be eula info in "about". Also while you
have it running, see if there is an option you can select to create a
rescue cd/floppy.


3. I understand that my purchase of Acronis 11 would give me a bootable
CD...a capability that would be nice to have if restoring my system
became necessary.
It's really necessary if your spindle goes bad. It has come in very handy
for me for other reasons.


4. It seems that there are several places one could store Acronis-
produced backups, but that an external hard drive system seems to be the
best solution for storing backups.
I normally store partition image files (2-4gb) in my top partition.
Occasionally I use TI11 to backup directly to DVD. Alternately one can
easily burn the image on HD to a DVD.


5. That I should check to see if my Acronis backup system works before
it becomes necessary to restore files and/or my system.
Yes! First,
pick a non opsys partition - we'll call it E,
Then create a new partition somewhere of equal or lagrer size - we'll call
it Q.
Use Acronis to back up the partition to a image file on some partition
other than E or Q,
Use Acronis to restore from that image file to partition Q.
Then check Q - dates and everything should be identical.
The purpose of partition Q is simply to allow you to test the process - you
don't need to create and restore to a new partition unless you really need
to.

Backing up and restoring the opsys partition is no different. For example,
I wanted to try out SP3rc. So I used acronis to backup the C:\ partition
and then installed SP3rc. About a month later, I decided to go backto my
pre SP3rc system so I simply restored that image on top - so poof, I was
one month back. The system clock takes care of itself, but any changes you
made in the meantime will be lost. But that's a hell of a lot simpler than
re-installing XP and re-installing a ton of little programs!


6. That I should email the people at Acronis to see if they will give me
a break on upgrading to Version 11.
Definitely!


7. That ugr.com will sell me a copy of Acronis 11 for $29.
Check with acronis.com that you will still have tech support from them if
you need it.


Did I miss anything in my highlights?

When I install XP, I always, immediately shut "system restore" OFF. I
learned the hard way not to trust it.

Read that again.

Then I rely on backup images, both on HD and on DVD so that if lightening
strikes (literally) I can be back up fairly quickly. If I am restoring to
a completely new computer because the one I was on got totally fried,
expect MS to ask you to re-activate.



I think I will upgrade my 30GB external hard drive for a 500GB
hard drive. I will use this external hard drive for my system backups.
You can definitely see why large drives are useful!!! I have a 160 with
about 80 of stuff on it. Some one of these months I will get a second 160
so I can alternate image files from one to the other - always expect a
spindle to crash unrecoverably, without warning. So my backups would then
be, for any particular partition, HD0, then HD1, and then DVD.



QUESTION HERE---Is it best to put my backups on a separate partition or
is it okay to have one big partition with many folders, one of which
would be for system backups?
You cannot backup to the same partition you are creating a backup image of.
The file has to go on a different partition. This target partition will
get so large that backing it up is pointless. So I sacrifice perhaps 50gb
on the top of each HD and use that for image files of my partitions - each
file/image has the date I created it (eg XP021908) so I quickly know which
is the latest. I may keep 2 or 3 different images of a particular
partition.
I also find it makes my life easier if I divide folders into categories:
Downloads: all programs/drivers/support I have downloaded.
NWN: NeverWinter Nights game
NWN2: NWN2
Misc: other stuff like huge benchmarks, etc.
Backups: Acronis images, and temp larg stuff that I only use for a short
time.

I always have multiple copies of tbird mail folders, etc, - assume that
what you have not backed up will break.


I also think I should purchase a new version of Acronis for use on my
new XP computer.
Ask acronis.com about that. They sell multi user licenses.


Again, thanks for all of the responses/recommendations/help...it
was all very much appreciated.

Frog

ribbit!

--
Kris
--------
DFI P35-T2RL | E2200Alen 2.2@xxxx TtP0310 | 2x1gb Mushkin HP 800@1040 | MSI
NX8600GTS-OC 256mb |
Raidmax RX530-SS psu | XP Pro SP 2
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: acronis help
    ... If you backedup/cloned the whole of the C drive and then wish to restore ... I checked the acronis web site and found no answer. ... it restored the C: partition. ... I tried leaving the 2 options backup and synch in the OFF stage, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers)
  • Utility for backing up/archiving to DVD-R? [REPOST]
    ... extracted or accessed directly from the disks without the use of any ... special restore tools. ... I'd like the system to be automatic so the backups ... that if I do something silly and, say, trash the partition table or MBR ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Utility for backing up/archiving to DVD-R? [REPOST]
    ... extracted or accessed directly from the disks without the use of any ... special restore tools. ... I'd like the system to be automatic so the backups ... that if I do something silly and, say, trash the partition table or MBR ...
    (alt.os.linux.suse)
  • Re: acronis help
    ... I've been backing up every week for months, just the C:/ 30 gig drive to an acronis hidden partition. ... the restore would have repercussions with the existing E: ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers)
  • Re: Restoring a partition using Acronis
    ... to use Acronis for backups and imaging that I thought it would be good to ... I do not want to delete partitions - no existing partition will be ... never had to perform a restore operation anyhow. ... Instead, you create a backup archive as instructed in Chapter 6, and you ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
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