Request For Recommendation

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Since I've used Acronis products in the distant past, I thought I would try them again for a solution, however things have changed quite a bit since I used them before, so I was wondering if some informed people could give me some pointers.

We use WSUS to download and install updates to the PC's at our office, however there are 12 that, due to some oversight, have not had any Windows Updates for almost a year.

Needless to say, they now have 40+ updates waiting to be done.

Since some of these machines have development environments or specialist software, I really want to make sure I have a complete image before I start rolling out the updates.

So what I'm looking for is this:

1) An imaging application that can run directly from a bootable CD-ROM / USB device.
2) That can backup an entire internal hard disk to an external USB2, IEEE1394 or eSATA drive.
3) And can restore the complete image if the update rollout fails.

It doesn't need to be centrally managed as we will update each PC one-at-a-time, and we don't want to install any software either. So that means the software can't modify the contents of the hard disk it is making an image of.

The Acronis Back and Recovery family has a load of features that I have no need of, so I think the True Image family might be better suited.

Mon, 11/09/2009 - 04:11
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TI can certainly do what you want. In order to get an ISO for the trial version, you would need to install TI (unless you can get the file from Acronis). For purchased versions of TI, you can download the ISO file so no installation is required to create a CD. If you do try the trial version, you can install it in a VM to create the ISO/CD. (The trial version of the TI CD is limited to doing restores.)

You would need to boot each computer with the TI CD and make sure TI can see the drives correctly. If you can successfully create a backup image and validate it, there's usually not a problem doing a restore. However, the only way to know for sure that a restore will work is to do one.

Note that you would need to purchase a copy of TI for each computer to remain in compliance with the license agreement.

Mon, 11/09/2009 - 05:32
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NOte that ATI doesn't always identfy your hdrives when you are in restore mode the way it does under windows, so it's critical to go through the restore steps up to the final Proceed if you want to be sure that you can restore. Otherwise you might find out that you can identify your target drive when you want to restore, especially if you have more than one hdisk of hte same size and model on the PC.

Mon, 11/09/2009 - 11:54
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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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Both ATI and AB&R disable the boot media option to backup and restore a hard disk for the trial versions. Something I missed since I didn't click through to read the KB 2768 article.

So not really an evaluation version I would say, since I can't evaluate the one feature I'm interested in, which is to be able to backup and restore from the bootable media, not from any installed software.

Since these 12 machines are a mix of Japanese/English XP/Vista on a range of different Dell Optiplex models, I'd rather be sure it will work before paying for the software.

And from your comment MudCrab, would I be correct in saying that I couldn't install TI on a English Vista box, create the bootable media, and use that media on the other 11 PC's to make backups and restore if necessary? Is this because the bootable media only works for the machine that created it?

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 05:50
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The TI media you create is not dependent on the computer on which it is created. It will be the same regardless of the PC used.

Because you have a mix of computers, you would need to boot each computer with the TI CD and make sure it can properly see all the drives. This can be done using the trial CD. If you ask Acronis Support, it's possible they might be able to provide you with a more functional trial version, especially since you will need multiple copies of the program and need to test on multiple computers.

Tue, 11/10/2009 - 06:18