How to copy image to a new drive?

Jim, I assume that you have referred to forum topic: Guide to Restoring a UEFI/GPT Windows System to a New Disk with True Image 2016 which was written back in 2015.

Personally, I have not had any issues with restoring Acronis backup images to new drives for both Legacy/MBR and UEFI/GPT drives, but the main point when doing so is to try to do this at a disk level and not where you would need to specify the size of individual partitions.

Another important point is in using the Acronis Rescue media to boot the computer when performing this type of disk restore, and to boot this media in the mode that matches how Windows boots.  The Windows boot mode is shown when running the msinfo32 command as the BIOS mode and can be either Legacy (for older systems) and UEFI for more modern systems.

The Acronis Rescue media can be created in different 'flavours' where with older versions of ATI up to and including 2017, the default is a Linux kernel OS version - this refers to the OS that is used to boot the computer in a standalone environment from which the True Image application will be launched to perform backup, recovery or cloning tasks etc.

With ATI 2018 this default has been changed to use Windows PE which is the OS used when you boot from the Windows installation media - this can be created from the Windows Recovery Environment already present on Windows 10 & 8.1 systems and used to present recovery options such as performing a Startup Repair etc.

Windows PE Rescue media can also be created for older versions of ATI including 2016 but will require that the Windows ADK is installed within Windows in order to provide the files needed to create the WinPE media.

There is no download option for the Windows PE rescue media from your Acronis Account as there is for the Linux media version (as an ISO image file), this is because Microsoft own the rights for Windows PE and it cannot be distributed in this way without paying them for the privilege!

 Jim, I assume that you have referred to forum topic: Guide to Restoring a UEFI/GPT Windows System to a New Disk with True Image 2016 which was written back in 2015.

 Yes

Windows PE Rescue media can also be created for older versions of ATI including 2016

Is there any reason to do that?

Another important point is in using the Acronis Rescue media to boot the computer when performing this type of disk restore, and to boot this media in the mode that matches how Windows boots. 

Does the Acronis recovery software let me choose?

I have not had any issues with restoring Acronis backup images to new drives for both Legacy/MBR and UEFI/GPT drives, but the main point when doing so is to try to do this at a disk level

Wow, that makes me a lot more comfortable.

I assume you mean making the image and restoring the image for the entire disk, not individual partitions? 

The reason I'm doing this is to increase the disk size.  Will the it restore to the old C: partition size or use the entire disk?

Jim, the main reason for creating / using the WinPE version of Rescue media is to have access to better support and device drivers needed by newer hardware components.  If the default Linux based media works for you with your computer(s) then you don't need to worry about WinPE.

The BIOS mode used to boot the Rescue media depends on your BIOS settings / options.  If you have an older Legacy BIOS computer, then that would be the only option you are given.  If you have a newer computer with UEFI BIOS that supports both UEFI and Legacy/CSM modes, then you would need to choose the boot device that corresponds with the mode you need to use.

See KB 59877: Acronis True Image 2017: how to distinguish between UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes of Acronis Bootable Media which shows how to spot the differences here.

With regard to restoring at a disk level, please see forum topic: [How to] recover an entire disk backup which was written to cover this point.

When doing the recovery to a new, larger drive, ATI has the capability of automatic resizing partitions to make use of the additional space on a larger drive, but sometimes this does not always work as expected.  Personally, I prefer to manage any resizing myself by using partition management software <after> doing the recovery, so that I can set my partition sizes exactly as I want them to be.  One free partition tool that I use and can recommend is the MiniTool Partition Wizard which does the job just fine!

I hope this is my last question:

Does the new drive need to be formatted before I start the restoration process?

Jim, no need to format the new drive - ATI will wipe any such format as the first action of recovery in order to prepare to create the partitions found in the backup image.

Thanks for all your help

Well, I am back. 

Everything seems to have worked except resizing the C: partition

Jim, download a copy of the MiniTool Partition Wizard and use this to move the 2 partitions to the right of your Windows partition to the end of the unallocated space, then resize the Windows partition to use that unallocated space.

I was trying without success to use that application.  Your instrustions are better than the developers.  For someone who hasn't screwed with moving & expanding partitions since XP. The instructions need to be clearer.  Something like:

• You cannot enlarge a partition unless there is unallocated space beside it.
• You cannot move a partition unless there is unallocated space beside it. 
• To enlarge a partition move partitions beside unallocated space until the unallocated space is beside the partition you want to enlarge.t

There are 12gb of  unused space in what I think is the recovery partition.  Should I resize that partition and add the unallocated space to the C: partition?

Jim, your earlier screen shot showed 232.88GB of unallocated space at the right-end of the disk map, so when using the MiniTool program, you should first move 24.42GB PBR partition to the far right end of that unallocated space - you should be able to click on the PBR section and drag it to the right side.  Repeat that process for the smaller 350MB recovery partition, so that you end up with the 232.88GB of unallocated space to the right of your Windows 206.28GB partition but to the left of the two other partitions.  You should then be able to grab the right-end of the Windows partition and stretch it to fill all the unallocated space.

Once you have all the partitions arranged as you want them, click on the Apply button to make the changes.  When making changes to the Windows partition, MiniTool may require you to reboot in order to perform the action when Windows is not active.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear.  I had figured all that out based on your first comment -- not MiniTool's Help.  I was just remarking that for other users MiniTool should better explain how to use their move/enlarge function.  Everything was done and working when I made my previous post. 

Did you see this question:

There are 12gb of  unused space in what I think is the recovery partition.  Is it safe to resize that partition and add the unallocated space to the C: partition?

Jim, sorry missed your question about the 12GB of unused space.  The answer to that question depends on whether you would ever be likely to want to use that recovery partition?  Most such partitions originate to when the computer was first shipped from the factory, so would be used to restore the computer back to that original Windows OS version.  If you are unlikely to ever want to put it back to that state, then you could delete the whole partition, otherwise, you could reduce the size and trust that this would not affect any potential factory restore in the future.

Thanks again.  And this time I think is all over