Restoring to a new C drive

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Comments: 27

Hi;

I need info on how to exactly restore a backup of my C drive to a new drive, since my HD may be failing. I'm sorry I can't understand the Acronis TI Help files, but they are too complicated for me, with too many options. I've never had to do this before, so please bear with me.

I have a Dell 9100 desktop, with a 150 GB Local Disk HD, approximately 57 GB used. I have backed up this entire drive to an external USB K drive of the same size, and verified that the *.tib file on K is good. Both drives are formatted NTFS, and neither are partitioned, although I belive the HDD has a hidden Symantec restore utility partition.

I do not have an Acronis CD, since I purchased/downloaded Acronis 10.0 online. I have made a bootable CD with Acronis. I also have the installation DVD for my XP MCE operating system.

I don't need instructions on how to physically change the HD, but do need some general directions on restoring the OS.

1) Is a full backup the best way to go? Or should I clone the HD to the external drive? Or something else?
2) Does a full backup re-install the OS, or do I need to do this first from the Dell DVD, then restore from the backup on the K drive?
3) The Dell installation DVD does not include sp3 for XP. Will I need to re-install sp3, and other MS updates since I purchased the PC 4 years back?
4) Do I have to purchase a new HD of the same 150 GB capacity? Can I go for a larger new one?
5) Will the backup include the hidden Symantec Restore option (restores to the original out of the box configuration)?
6) Do I need to change anything in my BIOS prior to attempting this?
7) Will I need to reformat my new HD to NTFS prior to restoring the backup?
8) Is there any way to test that this will work prior to changing the HD?

Sorry for so many questions. I use this PC for work, and need to do it right the first time. I will be most grateful for any suggestions.

Wed, 10/07/2009 - 02:39
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I should have looked in the Acronis True Image Forum, where I found the answers to just about all my questions in GroverH's sticky post and links to beginner guides. Sorry for my last post, I understand the basics a lot more now, and have printed those guides.

My basic problem now is that my failing HDD is 160 GB, and no way could I find a new drive of this size. My choices were between a 500 GB and a 1.0 TB drive that met all the other specifications required by my PC (Yikes!)

So I'm going to have to absorb the 37 page "Partition Restore With Resizing" article as well, and hope my drive doesn't fail in the interim. (I don't have a 2nd PC to read these instructions online during the process).

Here is where I'm at:
1) I have a verified good full image backup on an external USB HD comprising 3 partitions
2) I have made a new TI Rescue CD, and was able to boot into it, and find all my other drives (renamed, but recognizable by their size)
3) I realise the importance of restoring these partitions in the correct order (as in WDM) to the new larger HDD.

I'm really worried my HDD will die while I try to absorb all this info. So I'm left with only one major question:
Can I restore without resizing to the larger drive, just to save my HDD programs and files, and worry about fixing partitions' size later?

Thu, 10/08/2009 - 22:40
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You certainly can restore without resizing. Any unused space will just be unallocated. It will be a good test to do too (before the original drive dies).

  • Remove (or disconnect) the original drive.
  • Install the new drive.
  • Boot to the TI CD and restore the image to the new drive.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Fri, 10/09/2009 - 00:52
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MudCrab wrote:

You certainly can restore without resizing. Any unused space will just be unallocated. It will be a good test to do too (before the original drive dies).

  • Remove (or disconnect) the original drive.
  • Install the new drive.
  • Boot to the TI CD and restore the image to the new drive.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

I am curious as I have never done this before but when restoring the image to the new drive as per your instructions do I also need to tick the box for "recover disk signature" as the new drive is obviously a different drive? Will programs and windows still work?

Similarly when cloning to a new drive do you need to recover disk signature or does cloning do this automatically? I am asking this as I am not sure which method to use at this stage.

Lastly is the plus pack needed to recover the disk signature?

Thanks.

Wed, 09/08/2010 - 06:14