Does Backup of Computer using Acronis Bootable Media to Access That Job a Non-Windows Operation?

David, there should be very little, if any, difference between a full Acronis backup image created when booted from the bootable rescue media CD or that created from running the ATIH application within Windows.  Both should be interchangeable in terms of their use for recovery.

The key difference between using the bootable rescue media and using the Windows application is that the former requires a dedicated computer where no other actions are possible whilst the latter allows you to take advantage of the Windows Volume Shadow Copy mechanism which creates a snapshot of all the files that would otherwise be locked and unavailable, and allows other use of the system.  

The main advantage of doing the standalone backup using the rescue media is that you know that there are no Windows components that can interfere with or cause any problems with the backup image, including security applications such as antivirus etc.

You can use the Validation process to test the integrity of any of your backup images.

Hi Steve:

Thanks for your clarifying comments.

The main point of my comment relates to the medium on which backups are stored. As I noted, I store my backups on a password-protected Black Armor drive. I also created one full backup recently using the bootable media disk and placed that backup on a Maxtor drive that isn't password protected. On April 27 I had multiple blue screens for reason(s) not yet and maybe never to be known. So I decided to recover from the Black Armor password protected drive whose full backup was more recent that the full backup on the non-encrypted drive. However, when browsing for that drive after launching via the bootable media disk, I couldn't find it. Further, if I had found it, how would I have accessed the Maxtor password entry software that's Windows-based to enter my password?

From this experience, I infer, perhaps mistakenly, that storing Acronis backups on a password protected or encrypted external drive will foil any effort to retrieve that backup for recovery. So the user would be obliged to also have a non-encrypted external drive and perhaps a second functional computer to transfer the target backup file from encrypted to non-encrypted drive in order to install that backup on the non-functional/injured computer. Luckily, I had a full backup on a non-encrypted external drive that I used to perform the recovery. If I'm wrong about how to use an encrypted external drive to store and recover from, kindly let me know. Many thanks.  David

Hi Again Steve:

I've one question that I can't find the answer for in the Acronis User Manual or on this site: How to Change the Name of a Backup Job. For example I started a job some months ago that the program named "Entire PC (DavidHurwitz). This job had a once weekly full backup scheme. Then more recently I started a job with one full and 6 incremental backups per week. The program named it identically as the previously described job which could lead to confusion. So when I click on the first job name that appears below the "My Backups" column in the Acronis program, there are seven options from Edit Settings to Delete. The second job in the backup list when right clicked shows from Reconfigure to Delete among its 6 options. So how can I rename a job. For example, I would like to add the word "weekly" to that job and "daily" to the other. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

David

David,

simply select your backup and click the pencil that appears next to the name of the backup, as shown in the attached picture.

David, with regard to storing backups on an encrypted drive you would need to consult any documentation that comes with the encryption software as to how this can be accessed / decrypted outside of the Windows environment, i.e. whether there is some utility you can use to temporarily decrypt the drive before attempting to restore a backup from it.

It might be possible if you create the Windows PE Rescue Media to run an access program stored on the encrypted drive from the Command prompt window that is present in that rescue scenario, assuming that the access program is capable of running in the Windows PE environment.

The standard rescue media is based on the Linux OS so you would need some method of accessing a Linux tool to access the encrypted drive but there is no equivalent to a Command prompt in the Linux rescue environment.

Steve:
That's great! Thanks for the info on naming of backups. I didn't see the pencil until I clicked on a backup. I've attached my short list of now re-named backups.

So there's one question remaining: How does one recover (reinstall a backup onto a computer whose files have been damaged even destroyed) when the backup file is located on a password-protected external drive?

Danke schoen!!

David
 

Hello David, the only methods that I can think of for recovering your system from a password protected external drive would be, as mentioned above, using a utility stored on the drive in a non-encrypted partition that allowed access to the encrypted partition, assuming that such a utility program is provided by the author of the encryption software and can be used in a Windows PE boot environment.

The only other methods would require you to either copy the backup image from the encrypted drive using another computer to a new location that can be accessed by the failed system when booted from rescue media, or else installing a minimum Windows OS on the failed system where you can then install both Acronis and the decryption program.

David, did you think about using Acronis´ build in password protection for your backups instead of using a password protected external drive?

Steve is right, recovery from a password protected external drive would be very inconvenient, while using the built in password protection serves the same purpose with more comfort.

Hi Steve & Berti (who also provided a reply to my queries):

Thanks for your very informative replies. I feel confident in now better managing my Acronis software. And, thus consider my requests fulfilled. And, therefore, that this posting is finished. I presume one of you knows how to delete our postings on my query from this forum. And, leave that task in your hands. FYI, I copied the whole chain of comments to my computer.

Thanks again for your support!

David

Hi David, glad to have helped.  The forum posts will remain unless one of the forum moderators decide to remove them, us mortals do not get that option..

Regards, Steve

Hi Berti:

I didn't think of because partly I didn't know that ASZ existed. So I just found content within the 2015 TI program on this subject and now searching to find how to use it. In my situation, I'd want the secure zone to be established within the external drive that contains my backups.

Many thanks for the tip on this option.

David

Hi Again Berti:

I couldn't find explanation for the ASZ within my Acronis program, Acronis TI 2015. But I found a website (http://www.acronis.com/en-us/resource/solutions/backup/2005/secure-zone…) that explains the ASZ as located within one's computer. No mention of establishing a secure zone within the external drive that contains the Acronis backup which is the security that my Black Armor password protected drive provides. FYI, I inquired of Seagate, the manufacturer of Black Armor and other types of computer storage, whether and how I would be able to retrieve an Acronis backup from the Black Armor using Acronis bootable media and Linux software. I'm hoping to receive a viable reply. Meanwhile, last nite I again attempted a recovery from the Black Armor. In that process there is a Browse option to see the contents of the storage archive that contains Acronis backups. And, again I observe that the Black Armor drive is not shown among the options (Acronis Cloud Storage, My FTP Connections, OS (C) drive, CD Drives D & E, Computer Near Me and My Nas Connections). So I aborted the recovery effort which was just a test.

Best regards,

David

Hi David,
Im afraid you are trying to combine different things:

The first item is Acronis Secure Zone and Acronis Startup Rocovery Manager. These items are used especially for Laptop computers and help to make and keep backups when you don´t have access to external storage drives. I myself don´t have any experience with this and can´t give further comments on this.

The second item, which you were talking about, is storing backups on external drives and especially on encrypted external drives. I think, the purpose of using an encrypted external drive is, that no-one can get access to the contents of your backups without knowing a password. This method is not supported by Acronis True Image recovery, neither when starting a recovery from installed version of ATI nor from Acronis Bootable Recovery media (there is an exception for WinPE media where one could add additional software in order to access encrypted drives).

However, this purpose of denying access to backup contents by encryption can easily be achieved by encrypting the backup itself within Acronis True Image, see screenshot below. So my proposal is to use an unencrypted external drive for storing your backups while encryting the backups within Acronis True Image.

Regards Berti

Hi Berti:

Thanks for your clarifying comments. You are correct it's the second item involving storing of backups in a secure manner that I'm ensuring.Based on your image, I found the Help content on how to password protect a backup that is shown in my attachment.

To implement that form of security, I would use a backup drive that doesn't have password protection. In fact, I've already created such a backup so I'll attempt to recreate that backup with protection.

Best regards,

David

Hi Again Berti:
I just want you to know that since I have a Maxtor external drive that doesn't possess password protection, I followed your advice and created a new backup job containing my password. Then, I tested access to the backup by using my bootable CD, navigated to the job, was prompted for my password that I then supplied and aborted the recovery which, as said, was only a test. So many thanks for showing me that I can create and maintain secure Acronis backups without using my password protected external drive. Additionally, I decided on a once weekly Acronis full backup scheme that replaces the prior week's backup. That decision is based on my usage of Goodsync (http://www.goodsync.com/) that I use each night to back up all of my content on the computer including My Documents, Outlook, Firefox and desktop content. Since I generally don't add or modify programs or other settings during a one-week interval, I don't need to run Acronis each nite in, say, an incremental version. If my computer fails, as it did on April 25th, I can first run the Acronis latest weekly backup recovery. Then, run the latest daily Goodsync recovery and be fully restored. So many thanks for your input on both this security issue which is major and earlier on how to rename jobs that's still important.

Altogether separately, I'm curious to know if you are Swiss since my brother lived in Geneva for 40 of 80 years until his final resting place was selected in 2009. I've spent much time in Geneva plus traveling thoughout the country especially the Alpine regions engaging in mountain climbing. Thus, I'd be interested to converse with you apart from this forum. My e-mail is: david.hurwitz@earthlink.net . And, reside in Boise, ID, USA.

Cheers!

David

Hi David,

Would you please be able to send the exact steps to be followed and screen shots?

I can share my email ID for you.

I have bootable media created for Acronis backup advanced v11.7

booting from standalone PC

Select backup & Recover option

Select Backup

What are the next steps?

thagarthivithobarao.arunkumar@cognizant.com

Best regards

Arun