Backup non-native boot drive Questions

1. If I plug in another computers boot drive as an additional drive can I use the software to image that drive (including its boot sectors and reserve partitions), so if something happens I can reload that image and Windows will boot from it (on the respective PC)?

Yes, you can image any drive connected to this machine, whether by internal SATA or USB.

2. If yes to question 1, can the software image a drive connected through USB, or does it need to be SATA?

It can image either or both.  

3. If an image is made of a 1TB drive that only has about 80GB on it, would the image drive be closer to 1TB or 80GB?

By default - closer to 80GB - most likely with default compression it would be smaller than that though.  You can do a sector-by-sector backup though and it will image the entire drive if you do. 

4. For the single computer license, will the images only be able to work on the one computer, for instance if I get another license will those images be usable with that computer also?

Once license per computer - you only need 1 license per computer.  You can swap licenses as needed - just deactivate on one machine and then you can install on another if you change hardware.  You might be better off buying a 3pack or 5pack though - especially when bundles are on sale. Never hurts to contact sales and see if they can give you a deal either. 

5. Lastly, since in can be run on all the latest Windows, I assume it should have no problems with the drive structures for them (Win7, Win8, and Win10) regardless of which host OS version the True Image is run on?

Correct.  It works on all drives that Windows can see/utilize (REFS is still not fully supported as that is a Windows Server format that is new to Windows 10 though).  The imporant thing to remember is that your bootable recovery media should be booted the same way as the OS was installed (i.e. if your OS drive is MBR and installed as a legacy OS, boot the media in legacy mode and if your OS drive is GPT and insalled as a UEFI OS, boot the media in UEFI mode).  You can do backup and restore, both from in Windows and with recovery media.  I recommend you always do a full disk recvoery with offline media though to avoid accidentally corrupting the Windows bootloader (which is a possibility if you start a full system restore from within Windows).  

Long story short, there's a 30 day trial with limitations.  You also have 30 days from purchase to request a refund.  This is just the user forum, but you can reach out to technical support for any licensing or purchasing questions. 

Thanks Bobbo_3C0X1 your answers have greatly helped my decision! I'm still deciding on the 1 or 3 license versions, but your suggestion to about deactivating does give me options.

Question 4 followup: Are the image files locked to the originating license computer, or are they readable on any computer with a valid copy of True Image?

Question 5 followup: Regarding the backup and restore suggestions, I assume this is best for a computer restoring itself using the recovery media or am I wrong? I was hoping to setup a Windows version of True Image to aviod figuring out the boot setup of each computer, just plug the drive in, restore the image, and place it back in the proper computer. Is it still better to use the recover media for each one? Also, to remedy the Windows boot loader being corrupted can the recovery media be created after the image is made?

#4.  You can recover images on any licensed computer.  IF they are full disk images with an OS though, that doesn't mean it will be immediately bootable due to varitions in hardware, bios firmware and OS licensing of the original system.  You can use your Acronis bootable recovery media on any computer system outside of Windows too - however, technically, each system you use the bootable recovery media on should have a license too - but there is nothing that prevents you from using this media on different systems.  If you want to use it in Windows and install Acronis, you will need a licence for each computer though.

#5.  I would always recommend using the recovery media for any full OS restore - to the same system or to different hardware.  Yes, you can start this process in Windows, but even then, the process shuts down the OS and reboots the system into Acronis to make sure the disk is not in use when you do a restore.  This normally works, but can lead to a corrupt OS booloader if Acronis does not boot properly this way since it changes the bootloader to Acronis, and may not change it back if the system fails to boot into Acronis (this way) due to improper bios configuration (like secure boot enabled) or something like that.  Best to avoid that situation altogether so that's why I would recommend only starting a restore of a full disk from your offline recovery media.  

A windows repair disk (if already created) may fix this, but then again, it may not.  I wouldn't chance it because it's completley avoidable using the rescue media in Acronis.  What would the purpose be of starting a recovery in Windows, corrupting the bootloader (possibly), only to have to then use another offline recovery tool (Windows) to fix it?  Just use the Acronis media instead and avoid a corrupt bootloader.  To each their own though in this thought process. 

Forgive me for dragging this out farther as you have been a tremendous help so far, but the method possibly needed to restore images has me concerned and makes me wonder if the program can do what I need it to do (not just the restoring but making the images I need).

All the research I've found is from the perspective of imaging and restoring the local system drive (and of course addition drive data). This makes since with the recovery steps you mentioned as it would be difficult to image a system drive currently in use. But a non-local system drive (or not actively running OS) should be completely accessible and I assume be imaged and restored completely in Windows not knowing exactly how the program works.

Another example, I have a computer with two hard drives. One has Windows 7 and the other Windows 8. This is not a dual boot setup per-say where you select the OS on boot-up. I installed each one separately without the other drive in so neither OS knows about the other. I didn't want to deal with the Windows boot loader, I just select the one I want from the BIOS.

Using the above example if I installed True Image in Windows 7 would I be able to properly make a stand alone image of the attached Windows 8 system drive so its bootable, or do I need to be booted into Windows 8 with True Image to make and/or restore the image for that OS?

I know this is probably an unconventional process, but in my head I thought it should be simple to just image any attached drive with the program essentially mirroring the structure. I just was to make sure I'm understanding you correctly and how the program works.

Also make note that the images would only be used and booted on drives that can from the same computer, there would be no hardware discrepancies (Computer A gets Image A, Computer B gets Image B), no mixing.

Hopefully what I'm asking makes sense, and sorry if I got too wordy.

Hello Mark,

I believe the answer to your question is Yes, you can create a backup of a secondary disk installed in or attached to the system and it will be bootable.

I myself have done similar to this many times.  I say similar because I do not have the secondary drive installed in the PC when I do this.  Instead I have the drive attached via a USB to SATA conversion cable.  In most cases however, I will not perform the backup of the source disk image using the Windows installed application.  Instead, I perform the backup while booted to the bootable Recovery Media.  I do this because I wish to capture the image without the default exclusions which exist in the installed Windows app.  Those exclusions will not keep an image from booting but will leave out some user data and any existing restore points on the source drive so that is something you need to be aware of.  These exclusions can be removed from the installed application as well so you can work around it if you choose. 

Having worked with hard disks for many years I have found that the most consistent results with imaging and restoration can be achieved when Windows is not in the picture at all.  Therefore when it comes to OS system disks I always perform the backup of such disks while booted to another media. 
 

I hope this does not further confuse you.  What you are thinking will work.

Backing up multiple disks is usually no problem in the gui. It's the full disk restores you want to use your recovery media for. Even a secondary disk. Normally, regardless of the disk being restored, if you start the  process of a full disk restore in Windows, it will prompt to reboot to complete the operation and that's where boot loader corruption can become a possibility. Perhaps not an issue for many, but it's an extra risk that you have to determine is worth that possibility or not. It's not an issue if you use the offline media to start full disk recoveries though. 

As Enchantech mentioned though, watch out for default exclusions. But, backing up outside of Windows can give you a more reliable backup since the disk is idle and the OS is not running, nor other apps or malware can interfere. I'd recommend at least taking an offline backup every now and then as a precaution. If you use a dedicated disk for this and only attach it for these offline backups or recoveries, you greatly reduce chances of those backups getting compromised by malware or ransomeware too. We MVPs are geeks and security conscious so it's something we pretty much all do, but most home users just want simplicity and that's fine until a situation occurs where the original data and backups are all subjected the the same malware and cannot be used for recovery as a result. 

You both bring up some very valid points, I failed to realize other factors within Windows like exclusions could prevent a proper backup. I've used file recovery programs running low level scans of disks in Windows but I guess they only focus on file and not disk structure (exclusions wouldn't be an issue). That's probably where I was misled in my thinking. Also being able to backup in the Recovery Media is probably why True Image has such good reviews.

Now can I use the offline media (Recovery Media) on one computer to image/restore all images regardless of how they boot on their respective computers? Bobbo_3C0X1 mentioned earlier about making sure the Recovery Media booted the same way as the OS was installed, not sure if that meant the local OS (the one ruining True Image) or the one being restored which could be different.

You can.  The offline media should work on any system that is MBR or UEFI and it's 32 and/or 64-bit capable.  Using Universal Restore, it's techncially possilbe to take an image from one piece of hardware and restore to another too (and does work).  However, if the original image was taken of a legacy/bios install, you need to make sure the new system is configured for legacy/bios as well to be able to restore the image and have it boot.  You'd then need to run universal restore to generalize the hardware so you don't get a bad driver BSOD.  

How you boot the offline media though, determines the disk layout of the restore.  If you have a legacy/bios OS, it is on an MBR disk.  If you boot the recovery media in UEFI mode, it will restore the image, but attempt to format the disk as GPT and give it a UEFI bootloader.  Sometimes the conversion is successful, sometimes not when going from legacy to UEFI this way.  It never works if you start with a UEFI/GPT system, boot the recovery media in legacy mode and attempt to restore the UEFI/GPT image to an MBR formatted disk though.

These same limitatoins apply even in Windows installation media.  If you have an MBR formatted disk and boot a Windows installer in UEFI mode, it will tell you there are no available disks to install Windows on.  You either have to format the disk as GPT first, or go back and boot your Windows installer in legacy mode.  The same works in reverse if you have a GPT formatted disk and boot a Windows installer in legacy mode... you either have to go back and boot the installer in UEFI mode, or format the disk as MBR and then can proceed with a legacy install. 

Again thanks Bobbo_3C0X1 for humoring me, you've been extremely helpful. I'm glad to hear the off-line media works on different systems. As for my current setup, I think my computers mainly have legacy BIOS's so it may not be an issue, I have to reaserch couple.

Reading the steps on how this works, it appears the True Image recreates the disk formating on restoration rather than just making a copy, I'm just begining to graps how this works. I did find a chart in the True Image user guide on page 80 that looks as if the legacy BIOS does honor the GPT drive partitions, but not the other way around. Unless I'm not reading it correctly.

Hopefully this won't be a problem for me, I think I'll get the multi-license version so if I do have a UEFI system I'll install a version on it, though though it would've been nice to do it all on one system.