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Difference between backup modes

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I just upgraded to Acronis 2019 from Acronis 2015.  I do not understand the difference between "Image Creation Mode" and "Backing up disks and partitions".  Which of these should I use to make backups, so if my hard drive turns to toast, I can put a new HD in and restore my system.  Also, is it possible to do incremental backups in either of these modes?  I only have one OS (Windows 10) on my PC, and one hard drive (no RAID array).

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I do not understand the difference between "Image Creation Mode" and "Backing up disks and partitions".  Which of these should I use to make backups, so if my hard drive turns to toast, I can put a new HD in and restore my system.  Also, is it possible to do incremental backups in either of these modes? 

I would recommend taking a browse through the ATI 2019 User Guide which has a lot of good basic information to help you understand all the functions / features of the application.

"Image Creation Mode" - is dealing with the detail of how your backup images are created, whether you want to use 'Sector-by-Sector' mode of backup or not.  I have never needed to use this mode of backup unless it has been forced on me by virtue of ATI encountering a disk error or backing up an unsupported file system (from Linux etc).

You should be using either 'Entire PC' or clicking through this option to 'Disks & Partitions' and making a full disk backup of your OS drive to have the ability to recover from a bare-metal situation, i.e. where you have to install a new raw disk from your backup image.

I would recommend creating a new copy of the Acronis Rescue media for ATI 2019 and testing that you can boot successfully from this on your computer.  This will be different to the rescue media that you have from ATI 2015 as Acronis are moving away from Linux based media to now using WindowsPE media where possible.  Note: the media may appear to be a little slower to boot due to using WinPE, but the media has greater support for a wider range of new hardware.