A "True" Image? I don't think so...
Maybe I'm a bit naive (but I don't really think so), but a "True" disk image would restore data to the very same position on a disk or partition that it was read from during image creation.
Anyone here disagree with my opening statement?
So, why in Sam Hill does True Image restore partition data to the leading end of each partition INSTEAD OF ITS ORIGINAL, PRE-IMAGED POSITIONS?
True Image is a misleading, if not false, title for this program.
(And yes, I'm aware that a sector-by-sector imaging mode would probably put data back into its original positions on restoration - BUT, why SHOULD that be necessary?)
Put "Trueth" into True Image by ALWAYS putting data back into its original positions on restore!
On second note, trueimage will not correctly back up a dell system that uses the service and restore partitions.
Truimage is not capable of capturing the partitions and putting them back correctly.
"What version of TI are you using?" - The latest and greatest version.
"As far as I know,..." - You're pretty much assuming. Right..?
"Also, are you restoring back to the same drive/partition or are you doing a resize or any other modifications?" - Yes - same drive/partition. No - resize/modification.
I don't think the versions matter here. They all behave the exact same way.
A resize shouldn't matter, it is the partition descriptors that are the problem, not their locations.
"As far as I know,..." - You're pretty much assuming. Right..?
I have run some tests on this before. The reason I say "As far as I know" is because Acronis has a habit of changing things without telling anyone and it's virtually impossible to test every combination. It's entirely possible that things have changed again.
Are you restoring from TI 2011 in Windows or from the TI CD? When using the CD version, TI will tell you if it switches to sector-by-sector mode for the restore (it's also logged). It does neither in the Windows version so it's difficult to tell exactly what it's doing unless you examine the drive.
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Keatah,
The versions do matter. TI has made many changes to the "internals" of TI over the years. They do not behave the same.
When the partition is resized, the file system must be modified. This makes restoring the data back to the same sectors impossible or difficult. In any case, TI reverts to normal mode when a resize is requested.
Perhaps, assuming the mbr and other disk structures are not damages, it would be best to simply restore the "C" partition. Would that leave all the other diagnostic and restore partitions intact, and would it also leave the partition table intact as well?
In general, it's best to restore as little as possible when not doing an Entire Disk Image restore. I would try restoring just the Windows partition. The other partitions don't change (or don't change much) and shouldn't normally need to be restored.
The partition table should only be updated as needed. In the case of restoring an existing partition image back to its original location, the partition table should not change (no partitioning changes need to be made, in this case). If you resize a partition, the table will need to be updated. However, this should not affect other partitions unless you're resizing more than one.
When the table is updated, does acronis ti 2011 completely re-write (refresh) the entire 64-bytes of the whole table, or just the bytes that change? The bytes related to the restored partition..
I assume it just writes the updated section, though it may write the entire table. For that matter, the entire sector may be written. It shouldn't make any difference. If the partitions do not change, the table does not need to change and does not need written to. If one partition changes, then only that entry needs updated. I don't have access to Acronis code so I can't look and see exactly what gets written.
Perhaps if you posted some details and/or screenshots on the problem you're having it would help.
If it re-writes the whole sector or table or whatever, it doesn't seem to be able to put the DE descriptor back in place. And Dell's custom mbr looks for DE in the partition table. without that, the system doesn't boot correctly.
If it updates only the entry related to the partition that has been restored, then all is well.
frakking dell machines, all mucked up!!!!
the problem is relatively simple. I have a standard dell machine, a dimension 3000 series from around 2006/2007 .. And it has a standard winXP partition and two other 'custom'-by-dell partitions for diagnostics and factory restore. I need to know for certain if imaging all 3 partitions and then restoring them (to the same hardware) will work correctly? Will ati 2011 home store all the partition info even if they have non-standard Descriptors? In reality these are fat/fat32 partitions. Will the system restore and diagnostics remain operable through F11 if needed?
Windows disk management shows
39MB/FAT ----- 146GB/NTFS ----- 3GB/FAT32
I want to image this whole drive including anything dell might have done upfront to the mbr and partition table. And when restoring, still have the system boot without having to re-modify stuff with another utility like a partition/boot manager or mbr restorer.
I do not have the capability to test this with another hard disk or the ability to get into the system to swap drives for testing purposes. That sucks, but those are not my choices!
I don't have access to a Dell with that setup so I've never tested exactly what TI does or doesn't do in that scenario. However, I think you should be able to back up the entire drive and restore any partition back to the original location and be okay. I suspect that restoring to a different drive will "break" the Dell setup and require fixing it. It's definately possible that restoring the entire drive image back to the same drive will "break" the Dell setup. I say this because in several tests I ran, TI 2011 will not keep partition sizes if there is unallocated space at the end of the drive. It keeps expanding the partitions (all three) and this would "break" it.
In my tests, the DE/DB partition descriptors were correctly restored. The sector holding the copy of the recovery partition's information also restored correctly. So I think that it should work okay IF the recovery partition doesn't move. On top of that IF, you may not be able to restore the DE/DB partitions separately. In my tests, TI fails at this and they will only restore in an entire drive image restore.
The bottom line is that there may be problems. Just keep in mind that the problems are minor compared to losing your data. Booting problems can be fixed, usually without too much time or trouble. Please keep in mind that my tests were not on a "real" Dell system. The results on a real system may fair better, especially if TI is looking for something specific to fix.
Is there a way to keep the partition sizes the same? Shouldn't they stay the same size? I mean why keep expanding them?? Changing your data structure is not what imaging is all about in the first place!?!!!? right? And what about just restoring the "C" partition? Won't that work?
In this particular scenario, there was no way to restore the drive image and keep the partition sizes -- TI insisted on expanding. Acronis likes to make decisions on defaults (like exapanding partitions) and then not give the user an option to override it. I don't think this was a problem with the earlier versions, but I didn't test it here.
Restoring the C: partition works just fine.
You keep posting that TI isn't restoring the partition descriptors correctly. That is NOT correct. In my tests, these were restored correctly, as was sector 18 of the recovery partition. The problem here is that TI 2011 has some problems with Dell partitions. Over the years, most versions of TI have had problems with Dell partitions. It seems to me that Dell likes setting things up in a way that causes problems. If I bought a new Dell, I think the first thing to go would be the Dell garbage.