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Preferred method to begin Disk Restore Question

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I saw a an Acronis video that talked about restoring / recovering a hard drive. The video said, that if your computer boots,  go inside the application, and start the recovery process there. The narrator claims it's easier to do it that way, too. 

On the other hand, the atih_2017_disk_restore.pdf, only references  a bootable media drive, and starting the process from there. 

So, what is the most adventageous and preferred way to begin the restore process?

Thanks in advance,

 

CotS

 

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CotS, there are advantages / disadvantages of each method.

Starting any disk restore from within Windows (using the ATIH application running in Windows) provides a nice GUI interface for making all the relevant selections, BUT if the disk being restored includes the Windows OS (or any locked files / folders) then Acronis will require a restart in order to launch a standalone boot environment from which to perform the restore.

Current versions of ATIH will create a temporary Linux based OS environment and will modify the Windows Boot Configuration Data to point to this environment in order to continue the boot process.  All well and good if your computer behaves well when booting from such a Linux OS / kernel, but can be a real problem for some users where the boot fails but leaves the changed Boot Configuration in place!

This is the main reason for the MVP's recommending always doing such restores by using the Acronis bootable Rescue Media.

For one, no changes need to be made to the Windows BCD so a failed boot is just that and a reboot will take you back to the default OS.

Next, if the computer has any problem with booting from the Linux OS then it will be obvious very quickly - this may simply be a case of needing to disable Secure Boot on UEFI systems.

Third, any issues related to device drivers will also be exposed when disk drive(s) are not detected because no support is provided in the Linux media, this is especially true for RAID configurations where it would be necessary to create a custom WinPE Rescue Media with injected device drivers (which the MVP Tool builder can do easily).

Last, by running from a standalone boot environment, there is no risk of any interference by any Windows applications such as security software, antivirus etc.

Note: if any encryption software is enabled, i.e. BitLocker, then Backups have to be performed within Windows but result in unencrypted image files (that should be encrypted by Acronis for protection) as the Acronis Rescue Media also has no support for such encryption.  Restoring such backups will restore an unencrypted system that would need to be re-enabled again.

Thanks Steve for writing all that out. I'll use my USB Drive then. 

CotS

As Steve says, when restoring a disk/partition backup, do so only via the Acronis bootable Rescue Media. Yes, various materials from Acronis show such restores performed from the Acronis Windows application, and show cloning from the Acronis Windows application. We MVPs strongly recommend against those practices. Why? Because we know the problems that often result.

It's not a matter of we MVPs recommending a certain practice because of possible beginners in the forum, and follow a different practice ourselves. I would never recover a disk/partition backup from the Acronis Windows application. I would do so only via the Acronis bootable Rescue Media. I also would never clone from the Acronis Windows application. In fact, I would never clone at all, as it's an inherently risky function that results only in a small time saving. I would always do a full disk backup and restore rather than a clone.

I agree that it is safer to do a backup and then restore. If you decide to go down the cloning path, it is essential that you create a backup and recovery media (if not already created) in case something goes wrong. It is alos a good idea to test that the recovery media works with your particular system.

Ian