Skip to main content

What is the difference between Entire PC and Disk/Partitions with everything selected?

Thread needs solution

I read in the user manual:

The recovery from an Entire PC backup is also simplified. You only need to choose the date to which you want to revert your data. Acronis True Image recovers all data from the backup to the original location. Note that you cannot select specific disks or partitions to recover and you cannot change the default destination. If you need to avoid these limitations, we recommend that you back up your data with an ordinary disk-level backup method. Refer to Backing up disks and partitions for details.

You can also recover specific files and folders from an Entire PC backup. Refer to Backing up files and folders for details.

If an Entire PC backup contains dynamic disks, you recover your data in partition mode. This means that you can select partitions to recover and change recovery destination. Refer to About recovery of dynamic/GPT disks and volumes for details.

-----------------

I read the first paragraph as saying that Entire PC offers an "all or nothing" recovery to the current hard drive(s)/SSDs. So if my hard drive fails, I cannot recover to a new hard drive, unless the disks are dynamic (paragraph 3). Also, if I want to recover C:, I have to recover D:, E: etc. as well.

But paragraph 2 telle me that I can recover files and folders, unless "If an Entire PC backup contains dynamic disks, you recover your data in partition mode" (parapraph 3).

I am confused. Is Entire PC the same as Disk/Partition with all checkboxes checked, i.e. all volumes plus "Dynamic volumes", "System Reserved", the SSD itself?

 

...chris

0 Users found this helpful

Chris, if your system has only the one disk drive, then 'Entire PC' and Disks & Partitions backups should be identical.

If your system has multiple disk drives, then differences will start to become more obvious as Entire PC does 'what it says on the tin' and grabs everything, but Disks & Partitions will select the first / OS disk drive and its partitions by default.

Personally, I do not use Entire PC (as other MVP's say too) as I prefer to have the degree of control over my backups that is given by using Disks & Partitions, and where my preference is to image each individual disk and its partitions separately, so that I can restore them as/when needed in the same way without having to start excluding disks or partitions from an Entire PC backup that holds multiple disks.

The other side of using Entire PC, is that if you happen to run a backup when you have a USB stick or drive connected temporarily, there is the possibility that this could also be included in the backup - that is what Entire PC alludes to, whereas with Disks & Partitions, only the items that you have selected will ever be included.

As to dynamic disks, I have never used these on any of my home systems and most systems only have a single drive so are only basic disks.

Steve, Thanks again.

I can see that my attitude towards Entire PC is like yours: I have chosen Disks and Partitons for better control. Thank you also for your caution regarding temorarily attached USB sticks being backed up in Entire PC.

...chris

Chris, you are welcome.

Steve,

I notice that the ATIH 2015 backup to the Cloud on Molly is Entire PC. Molly has USB sticks attached daily, but often not for more than a few minutes. I do see that ATIH has not backed up a USB stick to the Cloud, thankfully.

Is there a problem-free way of changing this backup to Disks and Partitions?

...chris

Chris, if the USB sticks are not inserted when the Cloud backup is scheduled to run, then I wouldn't expect any issues.  You could simply reselect the Source for this backup and pick Disks & Partitions including everything that is currently selected for the original Entire PC option.  Cloud backups are different to those made locally in that they use a delta comparison algorithmn to check for changes at a sector level rather than making a new full backup when such changes are made, so it shouldn't cause a problem with what you already have.

From my experience, entire pc won't backup USB drives. However, there are some external drives that also have esata and those register the same as internal drives. The entire pc instructions say that only internal drives are included in that scheme, but a few people have said their externals backed up to so I suspect seats was involved.

personally, I always use a disk and partition backup too. The individuality of backups based upon drive/content makes recovery easier (to me).

It can happen that a USB stick is inserted when Cloud backup runs. So I decided to experiment: I attached a 1 GB USB stick then clicked Backup Now. When backup was complete, I clicked on Recover Files. The USB stick did not show as part of the backup. So it appears that Cloud backup in ATIH2015 doesn't back up USB sticks.

This begs a question: if I add internal hard drive, would it be backed up? I don't expect to add one any time soon, so I don't need to know the answer now.

I did try changing the Cloud backup task to Disks and Partitions. This failed: I clciked on Edit settings, then on Source. ATIH showed "The most easiest and most complete backup of your data". Clicking on OK and Cancel took me back to the main ATIH window. So it appears that ATIH2015 will only do Entire PC to the Cloud.

...chris

PS I wrote this before Bobbo posted. Thanks, Bobbo.

Chris, thanks for your update and test results.  I would suspect that you would need to create a new backup task if you are not seeing an option to change the backup from Entire PC to Disks & Partitions, but this would then be considered to be a new full upload to the Cloud.

On the internal disk drive, then I would expect this to be included but only testing would prove this.

Thanks to Rob for his comments on USB drives and your testing of the same Chris.