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Backing up 4 HD images to one external HD with Acronis True Image

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I have 4 computers to back up. I am told I can back-up multiple computers by creating bootable HD images for each computer to one external HD without partitioning, correct?

If not, can I back up the 4 computers by creating NON-bootable HD images for each computer without partitioning?

Failing this, what would be a good and economical way to back up the 4 computers I have?

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Not quite sure exactly what you mean by bootable HD images. You can certainly create backup images of multiple computers and save them to separate folders on one external hard drive. It is not necessary to create separate partitions on the external drive for each computer.

Please note the one license for TI is good for one computer. If you plan to use TI on four computers, you would need four licenses to be compliant.

As MudCrab has stated

The Acronis user created Rescue CD is your bootable recovery vehicle. If booted from the TI Rescue CD, you can then restore any of your backup image from your external drive onto the original or a new replacement disk.

Remember, if you want your backup image to be to create a new duplicate disk, then be sure that the type backup that you create is one that includes all partitions on the system disk inlcuding any that are non-lettered or diagnostic or recovery partitions. If you include all partitions within the backup, you will have the most restore options and the least problems when restoring as you will have everything needed in one backup to create a new disk.

I am completely new to back up images. A friend of mine told me about Acronis. He has it installed on an internal HD he just uses for backup. What he likes about it is if his "C" drive crashes he can boot from the backup drive and restore his "C" drive.

I would like to save a HD image on an external HD in such a way that I will be able to restore a corrupted HD or, if HD is junk, transfer what I had to a new HD. Had to use a recovery CD to restore a laptop with preloaded OS. That returned the HD to the way it was when it got shipped. Want to avoid having to set up the computer again and am told Acronis is the way to go. From the two replies above my guess is I should make a set of Rescue Disks, boot and then install the HD image from the external HD, correct?

Started to make a set of rescue disks for this laptop but was advised to have 4 DVD's ready to go. What does Acronis have for Rescue Disk creation that is better than the Win 7 version?

From the two replies above my guess is I should make a set of Rescue Disks, boot and then install the HD image from the external HD, correct?

Started to make a set of rescue disks for this laptop but was advised to have 4 DVD's ready to go. What does Acronis have for Rescue Disk creation that is better than the Win 7 version?

The above is not what I am understanding your intent. My understanding of what you want to do is to create a backup of the old system and store the backup on an external drive. The backup can be created from either the Rescue CD or Windows, if installed.

Once you have the backup of any or all your computers, Any of the backups can be restored at your convenience from the external drive.

The normal Rescue CD will fit onto a blank CD and uses very little of the CD space. No parts of the backup is stored on the CD. There are other options (not mentioned prior) about storing on a DVD but you have not indicated this is what you want to do. Also, very few of the volunteers on this forum will recommend that you store your backups on DVD--there are just too many issues about how it is created and how restored. If this is what you want, then maybe someone else can help you as I do not create backups on DVD.

Most certainly, once you create the Rescue CD, you should test that you can boot from the CD and see all your disks and backup files.

If you do not want to install TrueImage onto the computer, you can register your serial number and then downnload the "bootable media" file from your account. This file will enable you to create an alternate Rescue CD and will work without TrueImage being installed on your computer. Burn the downloaded file as an image to create the Rescue CD.

You may also find item #3 to be helpful found inside my signature index below or Grover's Guides along the left margin of this web page.