Backed up C:\ drive as "Data" - how to restore as partition?
Hey guys,
I backed up my boot sector C:\ as "data", not as a full partition under "My Computer" (in acronis terminology)
How can I restore my C: drive? It won't let me do it w/o a reboot, since the OS has locked certain files (my whole computer is a frickin mess right now, due to a partial restore...Christ!) The restore wizard doesn't give me the option to restore it as a partition. Do I need to boot from a recovery CD and restore the files that way? Can I force acronis to do a reboot w/o using a disc?
Thanks for any suggestions!

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It still didn't work. But thanks. One of the files on the target C: drive was locked or couldn't be overwritten, despite booting from rescue CD.
Had to restore from an earlier partition backup.
The REASON I mistakenly stayed away from the "Back up my computer" option, is because I had to do a restore once, and it OVERWROTE THE EXTERNAL HDD which was attached to my computer at the time, wiping out some stuff that wasn't duplicated elsewhere.
I mean, wtf, why do they have to use the terminology "Back up my computer"?? it's such toddler-speak. ok, ok, /end rant.
fvck!
How many times do people curse on backup forums, I wonder?
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The REASON I mistakenly stayed away from the "Back up my computer" option, is because I had to do a restore once, and it OVERWROTE THE EXTERNAL HDD which was attached to my computer at the time, wiping out some stuff that wasn't duplicated elsewhere.
The type backup which offers you the most options when restoring to either your present drive or to a new larger drive is the disk option backup which includes everything on the disk including all partitions--both recovery or hidden.
Disk option backup or restore
http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2010/01/7523/backup_…
http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2010/01/7523/restore…
Your problem with a botched restoration sounds like a user error. I have not heard of such an error being done by a program malfunction.
Perhaps my signature links below can help. Check out item #7.
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You won't get better advice than resroting to the info collected by Grover.
The user error Grover speaks of is restoring to the wrong hadisk - this is not hard to do with the ATI bootCD as under restore, you have to go by the disk model number to distinguish diff disks and cannot go by drive letter! When backing up with the bootcd you get the volume names,so that's a big help if you named your partitions. Restoring, you don't get the names. It's really a pita if you have two dirves of the smae size and model. You have to pretend ypu're going to backup, see which volume letter is assigned to what named volume then go to restore and choose disks based on that letter assignment.
So the user error is one facilitated by something inthe program that at best is a quirk, at worst misleads the unknowing into a situation like yours.
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What OS is it? If it is XP you might try booting your install CD and choosing the Repair option that appears after the EULA window. Do not use any Repair option that presents itself before this (there would be about two of them). Use ONLY the one after the EULA window. If you do not see a Repair option at that point then your Xp CD is not the type that will do a non-destructive repair of Windows.
If your OS is Win 7 then boot with the install DVD and choose to Repair the installation.
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Yes, it was my user error. Never meant to imply that Acronis did something it was not supposed to. I do find the program to be stable and reliable.
But I did mean to say that I found their NOMENCLATURE to be confusing (TIH 10.0), which is to say, that when I backed up "My computer" and then restored "My computer", I didn't realize that it would overwrite the ext. HDD which was my backup/restore source. After all, it's not my "computer", per se. It's "My Hard Drive."
Anyway, whatever. It just pisses me off because it sounds like some kind of windows mom-friendly naming system: my documents, my computer, my whatever... and it just leads to confusion, outside of the Acronis paradigm, as well.
So I started backing up just "Data" from the file tree after that event. I have an OS partition, and program file partition, and a user-data partition. I back them up separately, so I can immediately capture changes to my user data, without having to fuss with any other changed information. This was a mistake for the boot partition.
Now I understand that you need an image to boot, and not just files..... though I don't completely understand why.
Live and learn (and lose some time in the process...)
Thanks for everyone's help.
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I agree the terminology isn't crystal clear until you become a seasoned user of TI and keep your wits about you when the version changes.
It is another case of what I heard at a presentation by the rep of a large computer company (not MS) at Comdex years ago:
That's what we call, "Our intutitive, once you understand it, interface".
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K M,
Most of all of us have suffered from our own mistakes. You certainly have not been the first and won't be the last. Because we have been burnt, we try to help others from suffering the same fate. Things like be sure and assign names to your hard drives and don't use drive letters when restoring, etc.
If you restored your system back to a older prior time, you can still do a copy and paste from your latest files backup so most of your system can be up to date.
Having a disk option backup merely gives you all the ingredients you need (in one place) no matter whether you need to restore to your old drive or a new larger drive. You can still restore single partitions as needed. I have a 3 partition system disk and I regularly do full disk backups with intermittent incremental backups. Having a partition backup stores information about the partition and having a disk backup gives you information about the partition configuration as well as information about the disk itself.
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yes, it would be simpler if they just called "my data" backup up selected files and directories and called "my computer" backup partitions or entire hardidisks. It's like the old joke, if they put the keyboard keys in alphabetacal order, then we all could type. ;)
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lol. That's what happens when programmers and sales reps join forces. ;)
Seekforever wrote:I agree the terminology isn't crystal clear until you become a seasoned user of TI and keep your wits about you when the version changes.
It is another case of what I heard at a presentation by the rep of a large computer company (not MS) at Comdex years ago:
That's what we call, "Our intutitive, once you understand it, interface".
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