Skip to main content

Which product and what mode to use in

Thread needs solution

I have 5 computers with Win10 and office and applications on them. All data is on a server or in the cloud. I want to be able to rebuild a computer should a disk fail. I takes way too long to load windows, office and the applications, then set them up.

Ideally if a disk fails, I should be able to just get a new disk and put an image of the original installation on it. I don't really care if it is up to date, there is not much new data, just config data from the programs. I don't want to do backups of the disk on intervals, just create an original recovery set.

If possible, I do NOT want to have to first install windows, I would like to start with a blank disk, install the whole image and it would just boot up.

a. I am assuming trueimage would be the right product, correct?

b. I think I want to use it in clone mode, not image mode

c. i would like to store clones of each computer on the server. how do i get them onto a new disk drive. Can I copy them to a usb stick (say a 64gb stick), then just boot from that?

d. can i store multiple clones on the server, it says something about only 1 clone on a hard drive? If not, I can put the image from each computer on a USB stick.

Appreciate guidance here. Thanks.

0 Users found this helpful

Scott, welcome to these User Forums.

Acronis True Image can do all that you want as described in your post above, however, some clarification of terminology is needed when referring to images and clones.

Please see KB 1540: Difference between Backup and Disk Clone which was written to help make clear the differences in these two methods.

A Backup produces an image .TIB file which can be stored in a variety of different destinations.

A disk clone creates an identical copy of one disk drive on a second disk drive, so this cannot be copied or stored in any other place.

The above KB was written for ATI 2016 which has been superseded by ATI 2018 but the principles described remain true regardless of the version of the product.

See also KB 60131: Acronis True Image 2018: how to restore your computer with WinPE-based or WinRE-based media for an example of how recovery works should you suffer a total disk drive failure.