True Image WD Edition Compatibility Questions
I have a new laptop with a stock 320gb WD HDD and a 2gb WD My Passport external drive for backups. As I understand it the TI WD edition should be sufficient for routine back up and restore of this setup, which I intend to keep for some time. However, looking forward to possible upgrade to a SSD or the possibility of a HDD failure I want to confirm the compatibility and useability of my WD edition backup images. Specifically:
1) If I upgrade/purchase a full edition of True Image will I be able to move the WD edition created images to any maker's drive or will those images only restore to a WD drive?
2) Were I to purchase a Seagate replacement drive will the Diskwizard version of TI be able to use the WD edition created images for migration/replacement to the Seagate drive?
3) As I understand it, the My Passport external drive alone is not sufficient to enable use of the WD-TI edition, which only works if a WD internal drive is present. Is this correct?
Any help and advice on these questions would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Colin, thanks for the response. I understand the limitations of the branded (WD/Seagate) versions of TI with respect to the program functionality -- specifically the required presence of a branded internal HDD. I'm not sure I understand from your answer whether there is a limitation on the backup files they create. Let me ask my question this way:
Assume I have used the WD-TI program to create image files of my current system. Now suppose the HDD fails and I want to replace it with a different brand SSD. If I a) Do a (non-Acronis) original factory restore to the new SSD, b) Purchase and install on the SSD a new, full version of Acronis TI, c) Create boot media for the new/full Acronis, can I then boot to the new/full Acronis and use the WD-TI created files to restore my old setup to the new SSD?
The corollary question is if the replacement SSD is a Seagate drive can I substitute Diskwizard for full Acronis in (b) above, create and boot to DW bootable media, will it be able to use the WD-TI created files to restore my old setup to the new SSD?
In short, are the "branded-TI" created backup files themselves limited in any way or are they usable by any Acronis TI version? Thanks again.
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Colin B wrote:True Image will read the DiskWizard tib files.
That is, it can recover images made by the OEM software
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Ok, thanks. Sounds like the OEM version will meet my needs for doing systematic backups now and I can defer buying a full version until if/when I have restoration needs to a different drive.
Just curious: in your opinion, for basic backup/archive purposes is there anything worth paying for in the current 2013 TI that's not in the free OEM 2009 version? I see Amazon reviews (not necessarily reliable for software/tech IMO) that seem to indicate the new version is over-featured and expressing preference for older versions. Thanks.
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If the OEM version is doing the job you want at the moment stick with it. However, if you at some stage intend to change hardware or install Windows 8, you will need to look at 2013. Apart from the Windows 8 compatibility, there have been internal improvements made to the imaging including an inbuilt algorithm for tasks in addition to what you have now. There are of course other things that the OEM versions don't have, but these new functions have nothing to do with basic imaging or backups.
It does have a different interface to that you are used to, and may take a little getting used to.
If you have a spare machine or access to a virtual machine, I would suggest looking at the trial version and see if it adds anything to what you already have and what you need, a look at the User Guide might be useful as well as that lists the major changes.
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Thanks Colin. Appreciate the help and advice.
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Help needed - to copy clone image created with WD version of TI to new Intel SSD.
Hello - I bought a WD external USB drive to clone my current internal drive (which is a Seagate) and used the WD True Image software (that came with the external WD dive) to clone an image of the internal Seagate to the USB Western Digital drive. Now I am upgrading to an Intel 730 series SSD and need to copy the image from the external WD USB drive to the new Intel SSD and have it as the boot drive. If my understanding of how the OEM versions of TI work is correct then I won't be able to do this with the WD TI that came with my external USB drive because the new SSD is not a WD drive - so the question is - "how do I move the boot image from the WD USB drive to the new Intel SSD and have it boot OK from the new Intel SSD"
?
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Greg,
First some housekeeping :)
In True Image land there is a major difference between 'cloning' and making/restoring an 'image'. It may sound a little pedantic, but misuse the terms and confusion will rear its head pretty soon. A clone copy's one disk layout to another drive with no intervening file, nor can it be scheduled, An image is where a copy of a drives contents is put into an intermediate container file with compression (by default) and is available for future manipulation, restoration and scheduling.
Now to your question. I believe that it is only making an image or clone that requires a WD drive to be installed, and that the recovery media (you have made that haven't you?) doesn't require a WD drive to be installed.
If you now have an True Image itself, it should be able to recover/restore your image made by the WD Edition with no problem.
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