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Initial full image backup newbie questions

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I performed the first full image backup and created the Rescue Media Builder on a 32 GB thumb drive.

  • I did not create the Acronis Survival Kit.  I realize now that I probably should have created it.  Am I still able to create this now or do I have to create another full image backup to see the option?
  • Is the Acronis Survival Kit saved to the external drive where I have the full image backup, or can it be saved to the same thumb drive with the Rescue Media Builder?
  • Do I need to create new a Rescue Media Builder and a new Acronis Survival Kit every time I run a full image backup?

I do not wish to have incremental backups so I did not schedule a backup.

I plan to use this full image backup to restore a RAID drive should one of my drives fail.  I understand that I should be attending to major program updates in planning a new full backup so I will monitor that.

I already have data backups so that is why I only want the full image backup.

Can someone provide me with some advice?  Does my backup plan make sense?

Thanks.

Lynnea

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Linnea, if you are comfortable with the rescue media you created, there is no reason to do the survival kit. Basically, the survival kit puts the rescue media and backup on one drive. You can continue to use the same rescue media for future backups. The only time to create a new rescue media is when a new version of ATI is installed.

I found the survival kit very useful on an old laptop where I only had 2 USB ports and one was needed for the mouse. Having only one port made it problematic to have the rescue media and backup drive simultaneously. But in general, I just use a separate rescue media.

He means you can't count on successfully using a rescue medium that is an older version than the version that created the backup.  An ATI 2019 rescue medium will not be able to recover from a .tibx file created by ATI 2020.

Every time you upgrade to a newer version of ATI, create new recovery media.

So, if there is an Acronis 2021, and I upgrade to that new version, then I should create a new Rescue Media Builder?

 

I just want to be crystal clear about the terminology.

Lynnea,

In a nut shell the answer is yes.  In general terms a current version Rescue Media (think TI 2020) is backward compatible meaning it can restore backups created by older versiona of the application to a point but, a current version Rescue Media may not be able to recover a subsequent version (think TI 2021 up) of the product.  I would recommend that you create new Rescue Media with each new version of the TI product and also that you retain 2 or 3 older versions of the Rescue Media.  I personally had an occasion just today that warranted use of a TI 2018 Rescue Media to perform a backup and recovery of a Legacy BIOS based PC.  I attempted to use the TI 2020 Rescue Media but I continued to meet failure in one way or another for a number of different reasons.  Switching to the 2018 media enabled me to force a sector by sector backup and recovery which ended in a successful result.

 

To add... the rescue media doesn't "expire". So regardless of newer versions of True Image that are released, if you have a rescue media that works well for you, and you consistently use it for your backup, you can most likely continue.

Although I do regular backups from the Windows version, I also have a 2019 rescue media for one of my machines and a 2018 version for another. I regularly do full backups under the rescue media. What the rescue media creates, it can restore from.