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Assistance with cloning appreciated

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I am running Acronis TI 2011 Update 3 Build 6942 on an old computer running Win XP. I do this because I need to use Win XP to open and run an essential program in a DOS window. Since the computer is so old and the DOS based database program is essential, I decided that I would like to clone the OS disk to another disk so that I have a backup on another hd.I don't want to move it (if it ain't broke don't fix it). However when I run the cloning tool, it appears to me that Acronis is planning to MOVE the OS to the new drive. Is this correct? If so is there another way to create a useable, bootable backup copy of the OS on another drive?

Thanks so much for the help!

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Sandy, the purpose of Cloning is to create a duplicate copy of the source disk on a second, target disk so it is not actually moving anything but is copying everything!

All versions of ATI can be used for both creating Backups and for Cloning but Backup is in many ways safer and more flexible as it can be scheduled and kept regularly updated as any changes occur.

See the link in my signature for a fuller description of the differences between these two methods.

For your scenario, then I would again recommend that you use Backup along with having an external USB backup drive to store the backup images on.

The ATI 2011 User Guide will have detailed information on how to create backups.

See the section: Backing up partitions and disks

Also KB 13506: Acronis True Image Home 2011: Scheduling a Backup

KB 13656: Acronis True Image Home 2011: Backup Schemes

The above documents have links to other useful resources to help you.

Thank you so much for your helpful advice Steve!! I'll have a look at all this stuff.

So will a cloned copy should be bootable like the original, so if my old C: drive dies I can simply boot from the clone.

This is exactly what I wish to achieve.

I do regular Acronis backups of the C: drive though it rarely changes, as well as my data drives already.

S.

But - Steve, looking at the User Guide again, I find this confusing window: It refers to how I choose to MOVE the data. See attached screenshot. I don't want it moved. I just want it copied/cloned like you say above.

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Sandy, the user guide is dealing with cloning between disk drives that may be of different sizes where the default option is to resize partitions proportionally based on whether the target drive is smaller or larger than the source drive.

Again, cloning is a duplicate copy of the data, no data is removed from the source drive by the process.

The clone drive should normally be an external disk, connected via USB and you cannot boot from that drive unless it is installed to replace the original source drive.

You should never attempt to boot into Windows with two drives present when these are clones of each other.  Doing so can lead to a disk signature clash which in turn can corrupt the Windows OS or boot configuration data etc.

This is why it is safer to stay with making regular Disk backup images, and use the Acronis bootable Rescue Media to recovery one of those backup images to a new disk drive in the event of the original drive going bad or failing etc.

If you do create a clone drive, then remove this when the process is complete and store it away in a cupboard until needed.

I would recommend creating the Acronis Rescue Media and testing that you understand how to boot your PC from this, as your backups are of no value unless you understand this!

See KB 14737: Acronis True Image Home 2011: Creating Acronis Bootable Media

KB 18255: Acronis True Image Home 2011: Disk and Partition Recovery

KB 17540: Acronis True Image Home 2011: Cloning Basic Disks

Thanks again, Steve! 

I had planned to leave the HD in the case, and simply disconnect the data and power cables from the drive. 

However it is excellent advice to clone to a removable USB drive instead since that way I can store it offsite in a secure location. 

I already have rescue media on a couple of USB “flash drives”, but thanks for that reminder as well. 

So all that remains now is to get my butt down to “the crypt” today and get this stuff done. 

I very much appreciate your kind and sound advice.

sandy