Best backup method?
Ok, I realize this is going to probably be a loaded question, since "best" anything tends to be subjective.... :-)
Anyway, here's some background for my question. I'm currently a ATI 2014 user, who just purchased the upgrade to 2016. I have not yet installed the upgrade.
Presently, I'm using a file backup type, doing a full weekly backup with an incremental daily, with automatic cleanup so that I've got about 4 weeks of backup using a second internal harddrive in my system.
It works fairly well, though in case of a complete disaster I'd have to reinstall Windows from the install DVD, then run Acronis from the boot DVD (since you can't overwrite Windows system files while Windows is running) and restore from the backup on the second disk to the first bootable disk, etc.
Since I'm getting ready to install the upgrade, I'm trying to re-think my backup strategy. When doing the current method of backups, it works relatively well other than the full backup takes 6-7 hours to complete, which slows me down a bit when I'm trying to do other things. :-)
I had read through the manual for 2014, and am going over the manual for 2016, but there are some things there which aren't clear to me from my reading of it. (The info may be there; I'm just not seeing it.)
So here are some questions that I have regarding this:
First, if I were to go with a full partition backup (which would leave me with an image that could be used to recreate everything needed to make a bootable disk after doing a full restore), is it possible to set it up like you can with file backups - I.E., set up a full weekly and then a daily incremental that just catches the changes, set up auto cleanup and so on so that I can maintain a few weeks worth of history? I'm guessing the answer is "no," but I figure no harm in asking. :-)
If I were to go with the continuous backup option:
1) Does it produce an image (like the partition option) that can be used in the event of a complete disaster to recreate a bootable system disk? Or it it much the same as the file backup system, where I'd have to reinstall Windows, boot from the Acronis DVD, etc.?
2) Does it allow me to recover a file from more than one date, over the length of time that it covers? My current method means I can go back to anytime within the 4 weeks I have covered and recover a file that I've changed every day to get a particular version, should I need it. Does the continuous backup method do the same thing? I've read about how after 24 hours it will consolidate its backup data, but I don't know what that means in terms of recovery. Will it only allow me to recover the most current version of a file?
3) How does it determine how far back it goes in terms of backup? Does it just figure out how much room it has in the destination drive/directory that I've pointed it to for a destination and use all of that? Do I set a time (number of weeks) goal for it? Something else?
4) Does it automatically avoid backup up temp files, recycle bin, etc.?
I will confess that there's a certain appeal for the continuous backup route, given how long my current backup method takes to get through a full backup. lol If this is something which can keep the time minimized (since it's just always backup up stuff, those backup bursts should be pretty short), then it's worth my considering it.
Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. :-) I'd love to hear back from people on the pros/cons of the above, and some explanation of what they actually do/how they actually work, so I can decide if I should just stick with my current methodology or if one of those others would better suit me.
TIA!

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Thanks for the reply. Sounds like you've got a lot more free disks available to you than I do. :-) I appreciate hearing how you do your backup method. Though if my system relied on me to "push the button" to start backups, it'd never get backed up. :D So I'm probably going to continue to set up an automatic schedule as I have done all along. I'm just not sure if one of the two other ways I brought up in my OP will prove to serve me better, largely because I don't know if they work as I'm asking about in that posting.
Hopefully, one or more of the MVPs you mention will come along at some point and provide some insight into those questions as well as some suggestions of their own. While I appreciate hearing about how others set up their backup systems, I can't really decide if going to a partition backup or continuous backup method would serve me better than what I'm currently using until I get more information about how those work (especially given the questions I ask about how the continuous backup option works).
Thanks again!
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You do not indicate the version of Windows in use.
Whether current system is formatted as MBR or GPT type partitions.
Whether desktop or laptop?
My comments below relate to scheduled or non-scheduled backups to local or network disk.
None of my comments relate to non-stop or cloud type backups.
I don't want cloud type backups which take days plus extended time if recovery needed.
Your backup should be stored in more than one disk so all your eggs are not in one basket so to speak.
So a minimum of 2 storage disks needed for routine keeping. The excellent suggestion offered by Steve can be modified and used with fewer disks so don't rule out his plan without some thorough thought completely.
Listed below are some pertinent reference links. The example GH12 is one with automatic cleanup.
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Dave wrote:First, if I were to go with a full partition backup (which would leave me with an image that could be used to recreate everything needed to make a bootable disk after doing a full restore), is it possible to set it up like you can with file backups - I.E., set up a full weekly and then a daily incremental that just catches the changes, set up auto cleanup and so on so that I can maintain a few weeks worth of history]
Basically, yes.
Yes, you can do an Full Image backup (Backup my PC) which can be used to create a replacement (MBR type partitions) system disk which could be bootable.
Yes, you can configure the Full Image Backup to have a custom backup scheme as either
Full only,(Refer example GH-11), or
Full plus 'n incremental's, (Refer example GH-12), or
Full plus 'n differentials. (Refer example GH13)
Yes, the custom backup scheme can be configured to have automatic cleanup so the oldest chains are deleted, automatically by the program, after the storage disk reaches the user pre- configured number of completed backup chains as specified by the user--at task creation time.
Yes, a "Backup my PC" type of backup also contains a copy of every file on your computer and any single file or folder can be restored singly without the entire disk being restored.
Yes, you can create a Files and Folders backup based on the same type backup scheme with backup management but only user files could be recovered.
Also, be sure and read comments GH-25 to understand the limits of incremental's so frequent full backups are maintained.
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General comments:
Depending upon the type of backup scheme you wish to create, here is an example of each type. These can be set up for Disk image, or Partition, or Files-folders backups. These example show how to set up automatic cleanup so the program will do the deletion after it reaches your set goal of how many chains to retain.
Editing an existing task is not recommended. Rarely does an edited task perform to user expectations. It is usually better to start with a new task using a new non-identical task name and point to a new storage sub-folder so each task has it own storage folder/sub-folder. Old task can be stopped or deleted from the task listings.
GH25. Understanding differences between Incremental and Differential backups for data recovery.
GH64. 71342: 2015 How to save a non-scheduled task.
GH63. 64640: Hints to help prevent issues with your TIB backup files creation.
GH63. 75086: A discussion on how to configure backup schemes.
Official Log File.
https://kb.acronis.com/content/49484
GH63. Acronis True Image 2016: Creating an Entire PC Backup-- Video
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Sorry about not providing Windows version. Didn't think it was pertinent to the type of question I was asking. I'm running a desktop system with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit edition, which will eventually get upgraded to Windows 10 (at the last possible moment I can still get it for free - that gives them a year to get the worst of the bugs out :) ). It's using MBR. Uh, at least I *think* that's how I configured it. Is there a way I can verify it?
I do have two harddrives in my computer system. Currently I'm doing the file backup thing (full each week with incrementals daily) and automatic cleanup. It saves to the second harddrive (it's kind-of pointless to save your data on the drive that might fail and thus need recovering ;) ). I see what you're saying about a second drive also for backup (which would then mean 3 drives in my system), but that's not practical for me. I simply don't have the money to buy another drive at this time. I'm also not sure how I'd get Acronis to use both of the drives, unless you were suggesting that I do a RAID 0 for the two backup drives, but that's a separate issue. The odds of *both* the drive where backups are going and my system disk failing at the same time are slim enough that it's not a huge concern for me.
I'm not even a little bit interested in cloud backup. Like you said, too slow on recovery, plus I'm not interested in paying an annual fee to access my data.
Thanks for posting the information, and those links. I'll definitely be looking them over. :-)
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Is there a way I can verify it?
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Thanks. You know, I looked in Disk Management but completely missed it. It was set by default to Volume List. I changed it to disk list, and then the partition type showed up. So it's confirmed: I'm using MBR.
Oh, just as a side note: I wanted to let you know that I do know the difference between an incremental and a differential (though I also know that a lot of people probably don't). I do a weekly full specifically to keep the number of incrementals needed down if a full restore (disaster recovery) is ever needed. The choice to do an incremental was a deliberate one, for a reason of practicality - I'm doing what's most time efficient for the thing that happens *most often*.
I backup every day. I don't do a full system restore every day. :-) Differentials grow each time they run until another full is performed, which increases both the time it takes to get the daily backup completed as well as as the amount of total overall disk space required to hold the backups. Incrementals will stay smaller, so they're quicker and cumulatively take up less space. Since I run a backup every day, it's better for me overall to do the full & incremental method; I'm applying what works best for me given how often I do which task (backup or recovery).
I'm still hoping to hear from someone about how the nonstop backup thing works (see my OP for those questions ). I *always* schedule a verify of the backup after it's completed the backup (I once needed to do a restore (different program) and discovered that the backup was corrupted - won't make *that* mistake again!), which is part of why the once-a-week full backup takes so flipping long. If the nonstop backup thing can provide me with x weeks worth of file restore of different versions of a file that changes over x weeks, it *might* be worth the hassle of having to restore from the "install Windows, boot from Acronis recovery DVD and then do a full restore from that). But I can't make that decision without knowing more about how it works.
I'm still looking over your information, though, and if I've read you correctly, I can do a full disk/partition backup (which allows me to fully restore complete with boot record so I can skip the "install Windows first" part, and do it on an incremental basis so that it's functionally similar to what I'm doing now (being still able to restore individual files when an "oops" happens). If that's the case, then if I continue backing up in that manor (not using nonstop backup), it definitely sounds like going full disk will be the way to go for me.
Thanks again for the info!
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BTW, when I tried clicking on the link for "GH63. 75086: A discussion on how to configure backup schemes.", I got:
Access denied
You are not authorized to access this page.
Just FYI.
Also, when I checked into this:
"Official Log File.
https://kb.acronis.com/content/49484"
I went looking for the logs. Good grief, there are log files going back two years, for backups that haven't existed in that long! :-) Is there a setting somewhere in the program that lets you auto-rotate out logs that you don't need anymore (say, 2-month's worth or something like that)?
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Any or all of the contents (or even the entire file) of the log file can be deleted via Window Explorer. Any of the log contents can be viewed in Notepad.
The "access denied" link has been fixed. It was a typo. Thank you for taking the time to advise me. Sadly, others in the past did not.
You may not like 2016 as much as 2014. If you upgrade to 2016, you will not be able to use the "Backup My PC" option as it also includes your 2nd internal--without your knowledge. Instead, you will need to use the "Backup My PC/Disk" option and you select which partitions are to be inclouded.
You can use as many disks as you wish for backup storage except that each different disk needs its own backup task and each task is mated to one single storage disk. Each storage disk is a standalone with its own full, etc.
A separate Windows install is not needed if you restore a disk image backup. It will create a new replacment disk to match the old as it was at time of backup creation. A disk image restore overwrites any existing contents of the target disk.
Look at my signature link 2-A at especially the first four pictures. Those pictures illustate a disk image backup in 2014.
Version of Windows important to your questions. No issues as it is MBR. If it had been 8.1 and GPT, then TI restores Microsoft Reserved partition always in position 1 postitin and that may not always be the position the user origtinal disk is structured--so creating a bootable replacement disk may have been an issue if 8.1.
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Hey! I just discovered the quote button! Woo hoo! lol
GroverH wrote:Any or all of the contents (or even the entire file) of the log file can be deleted via Window Explorer. Any of the log contents can be viewed in Notepad.
Yeah, I realized that I can probably just delete them by hand (which I just did to 1443 of them :D). I was just hoping that there was a more automatic way (so I don't have to remember to go clean them up manually) of saying something like "only keep x amount of logs." If not, well then I'll cope. :-)
The "access denied" link has been fixed. It was a typo. Thank you for taking the time to advise me. Sadly, others in the past did not.
No problem. As it turns out, while I was hunting through the other things that you linked to, I ended up seeing that page anyway - once I clicked on your corrected link, I recognized the content. So at least I got to read the information there.
You may not like 2016 as much as 2014. If you upgrade to 2016, you will not be able to use the "Backup My PC" option as it also includes your 2nd internal--without your knowledge. Instead, you will need to use the "Backup My PC/Disk" option and you select which partitions are to be included.
That's not as big a problem as you might think. :-) In 2014, I was doing a file/directory (fine, Windows calls them folders) backup, not a full PC backup. At the time, I didn't realize that doing an image backup would provide me with a way of getting to individual files for specific recovery if/when needed, and I didn't realize that Acronis only backs up the stuff that's got data in it (and thus my image backup file wouldn't be as big as the entire disk capacity).
This, of course, left me in the situation where in case of total failure, I'd have to do the whole "install Windows and then boot from the Acronis recovery media" thing.
Now that I know that the full disk image backup lets me access my files and supports the full/incremental backup style, I've got 2016 configured to do that type of backup, and I can rest a bit easier knowing that if/when the system drive fails, I can go straight to booting the recovery media to install the replacement disk.
I did notice that the full PC backup (default when you first start the program) wants to just grab everything. Fortunately, I'd already selected the backup location, and got a warning about backing up to the "same location" as what was being backed up not being a good idea. That was enough to get my attention and I changed it to disk backup and made sure that only my C: drive was selected.
I also didn't properly, at the time, realize certain things about the automatic cleanup function. Didn't understand what they meant by limiting to a certain number of chains, so I had just set it up to delete chains that were older than 21 days. Hey, it worked. :-) Thanks to your various links and screen images, I now know better how that works and have set 2016 (which I installed last night after reading through everything here that you had pointed to) automatic cleanup to 3 chains. Once I know how much space that's going to take up on the backup drive, I might increase the number to 4. But for now, 3 is fine.
The info, forum postings and image links that you've provided here has been very enlightening on how to better use Acronis. Thanks so much for taking the time to post it and answer my inane questions. :D
You can use as many disks as you wish for backup storage except that each different disk needs its own backup task and each task is mated to one single storage disk. Each storage disk is a standalone with its own full, etc.A separate Windows install is not needed if you restore a disk image backup. It will create a new replacment disk to match the old as it was at time of backup creation. A disk image restore overwrites any existing contents of the target disk.
Good information on both. And now that I've got a better understanding of how those backup types work, I think I'll be able to be a bit more efficient.
BTW, it seems that 2016 is a LOT faster than 2014 on my machine. To do a full backup and verify under 2014, it was taking close to 7 hours to complete. The full backup I did last night took only 5 - a marked improvement. The daily incremental (I scheduled for 4am) that followed only took an hour, including the verify stage. Good stuff!
Look at my signature link 2-A at especially the first four pictures. Those pictures illustate a disk image backup in 2014.Version of Windows important to your questions. No issues as it is MBR. If it had been 8.1 and GPT, then TI restores Microsoft Reserved partition always in position 1 postitin and that may not always be the position the user origtinal disk is structured--so creating a bootable replacement disk may have been an issue if 8.1.
Gotcha. Well, I know that now. I've got a laptop that had 8.1 pre-installed on it and looked at it - sure enough, it's using GPT
http://i.imgur.com/GXsNzqY.jpg
Yeesh, what a mess. Why it needs TWO recovery partitions, I have no idea. :-)
I'm not using Acronis to keep that backed up, so I guess it's not that big of a deal, but I hope that the configuration there is one that Acronis would be able to restore to bootable.
Anyway, thanks for all the info!
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Without having TI installed on the 8.1 machine, you can use your 2016 TI Recovery CD and perform a disk image backup when booted into the TI Recovery CD.
Use the same link as before
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/40903#comment-129029
and use Diskpart and look at the setup of 8.1.
Your 8.1 disk management pciture is incomplete. Diskpart will show all.
Keep the picture or a printout for your future information.
Read all of that link and you will understand how to check where your Microsft reserved partition is located.
You mentioned selecting only C for your backup. while you did not want any of the 2nd disk, you did need ALL partitions listed in your system disk. C may have been the only partition but if there were other partitions in the same disk, the other partitions should have been included. You may have had an un-lettered recovery partition and if so, it should have been selected by you to be included.
Your Windows Disk management will show all partitions so you can recheck.
Edit: Doing the backups is only half the battle. YOu need to do some test restores from your new 2016 backup to know that it all works.
Some users have a test disk and do a whole restore just to make sure a new bootable disk can be created.
At the very least, copy some files from your docs or pictures folder into a different test folder to know that it can be done and that your recovery disks can be viewed.
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GroverH wrote:Without having TI installed on the 8.1 machine, you can use your 2016 TI Recovery CD and perform a disk image backup when booted into the TI Recovery CD.
Use the same link as before
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/40903#comment-129029
and use Diskpart and look at the setup of 8.1.
Your 8.1 disk management pciture is incomplete. Diskpart will show all.
Keep the picture or a printout for your future information.
Read all of that link and you will understand how to check where your Microsft reserved partition is located.
Huh, that's interesting. Didn't know I could use the recovery CD as a "cheat," of sorts, to do a backup (and presumably recovery) of a computer that I haven't installed and activated Acronis on. Good to know. However, alas, the laptop in question doesn't have a CD/DVD-ROM drive in it, so there's no way I can use the disk with that computer. I suppose there's a way that I could create a bootable USB stick to use for the same purpose, though...
You mentioned selecting only C for your backup. while you did not want any of the 2nd disk, you did need ALL partitions listed in your system disk. C may have been the only partition but if there were other partitions in the same disk, the other partitions should have been included. You may have had an un-lettered recovery partition and if so, it should have been selected by you to be included.
I just knew that my saying "C: drive" was gonna get me that reply. :-) Not to worry - my desktop system is one I put together myself, and I installed Windows 7 Ultimate from a retail DVD with no other partitions than the one that I use for the C: drive. No recovery, no separate boot, no nothing. Just one big drive-spanning partition. But also for the record, I did pick the entire disk when selecting, which also selected "all" partitions on it.
http://i.imgur.com/Gtx9f0F.jpg
In my particular case, clicking on "Full partition list" as seen there didn't change the display any - other than to change the name of the link to "Short partition list." I guess since there's only one partition on each disk, there's nothing for it to change from/to on the display. :-)
Your Windows Disk management will show all partitions so you can recheck.Edit: Doing the backups is only half the battle. YOu need to do some test restores from your new 2016 backup to know that it all works. Some users have a test disk and do a whole restore just to make sure a new bootable disk can be created. At the very least, copy some files from your docs or pictures folder into a different test folder to know that it can be done and that your recovery disks can be viewed.
Yeah, good point. Hmmm.... Well, I've got an older SATA 1Tb drive (SATA 2Gb, 32M Cache - I.E. slow :D) that I'm not using currently, and I've got one of those cables that provides power and a USB 2.0 interface so I can plug the drive into a USB port. I guess I could hook the drive up to that and restore from the current backup to it, and then boot from the USB device to see if it comes up like it should. It'll take some time, but I agree - that's time well spent; it's far better to know in advance that you can restore a working system than to find out at the worst possible time that you can't....
Good suggestion. I'll let you know how it goes. :-)
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Insert flash drive before attempting to create a TrueImage bootable flash drive.
http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATI2016/index.html#2…
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Ok, here's the status so far of the recovery test.
My backup scheme is set to "Disk and Partition." All partitions are selected as part of that backup - which isn't hard, given there's only one partition there. :-)
As previously mentioned, I've got a spare (internal) SATA drive, which I've hooked up to the computer via a USB 2.0 to SATA cable. The cable has an activity light that shows when the drive is being accessed. There's also a power supply plugged into the wall to give the drive power.
I had previously completely wiped the drive, so I had to initialize it in Disk Management so that Windows would see the drive at all.
I started up ATI 2016 and selected the recover disk option. There were two choices on the next screen - recover disk and recover partition. I selected the recover disk option and selected the drive on that USB cable (which showed unallocated space because I had not formatted it & given it a drive letter). It ran about 4 hours or so. When it completed, Windows Explorer showed no sign of there being any disk there (no drive letter assignment to the drive which I had recovered to). I unplugged and re-plugged the USB cable, and still nothing showed up. Disk Management showed it as just a big "Unallocated" drive.
So, ok, I figured - maybe against all common sense, it needs to have something there when I do the restore. So I created a partition and formatted it, thus creating a drive letter and volume name (G: and "Spare," not that it matters :) ). Started ATI again, selected disk restore and again pointed its destination to that drive (hooked up via USB). It warned that it would destroy any data already there (since I had a formatted partition in place now); I told it to go ahead. Again, several hours later it had completed - and still no drive showing in Windows Explorer - the one that had been there was now gone, and once again Disk Management said that he drive was just "Unallocated."
At that point, I tried a final time and selected the recover partition option instead, again pointing its destination to the USB-connected drive. Several hours later, and the same thing - Windows Explorer doesn't show anything - but this time, when I start up Disk Management to see what it has to say about the drive, Disk Management completely hangs. It hangs so badly that I have to force close it - and my DVD-ROM drive disappeared from Windows Explorer, which makes no sense because it's not even involved here! I rebooted to get the DVD-ROM drive back, started up Disk Management again - same thing. It hangs and I lose the DVD-ROM from Windows Explorer. Rebooted again, unplugged the drive I restored to from the USB port, started up Disk Management, and it worked as it should this time. So I plugged in the drive again, ran diskpart and did a clean command followed by a create part prim for good measure (that part probably wasn't necessary, but I figured it wouldn't hurt), and at least now Disk Management sees the drive again properly without hanging and taking out the DVD-ROM drive.
So at this point, I'm kind-of at a loss here. Does ATI not restore to a drive that's hooked via USB? Is there something else that I'm missing?
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Review my signature link 3 below, items 2-1-3 inside that link. As you are MBR (except fior 8.1), most of link #3 is applicable.
Do the restores when booted from the TI Recovery CD.
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Well, it kinda sucked to have to boot to the recovery disk to do the backup (leaving me unable to use my computer for several hours, but it seems to have... um.. mostly... worked. :-)
For the restore, I selected both items that it offered me, in terms of restoring both the partition and the MBR and track 0 information.
When booting to my internal disk and checking, the files are all on the external-hooked-up-via-USB disk. I went into the firmware config and did a temporary boot order override to get the system to boot from the USB drive, and it started to boot - at least, I briefly got the "Starting Windows" screen. The a brief flash of what looked like the start of a BSOD display, and then it rebooted itself. Further attempts to boot from that drive just got me a message about Windows didn't start correctly, possibly because of a hardware change, etc., and wanting me to stick in my Windows DVD to let it do a repair boot. I don't know if that's because I've effectively got two drives with identical information in at the same time or something else. I do know that I don't want to confirm this badly enough to remove the internal drive and put this one in its place. :-)
Looking again at the 3rd item in your link 3 in your signature (Restore C drive only PDF), I notice in one of the screenshots that the main partition was checked, but that the "MBR and track 0" option was not. Since I had selected it, do you think that's maybe what's causing the problem with trying to boot it up? Frankly, I don't know how the disk is going to be bootable without the MBR/Track 0 information restored since there's no boot information there otherwise, but maybe I'm just misunderstanding how that works....
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(Restore C drive only PDF)= This implies only c is being restored over an existing "working' system so the "mbr/track0" was already there and is not required unless you were having booting issues but if checked, it shouold do no harm as the same settings would be overlayed.
As my guides states, one situtation you want to avoid is have two identical drives connected at the same time during a first boot following a restore. Windows gets confused when it sees 2 disks with the same markings/setup.
When creating a clone either via the clone method or restoring a backup onto another disk, you should boot first only with the master attached and attach the duplicate after first boot for use such as a data drive.
Boot without the usb backup disk attached, and see if you have the same boot issues.
You can attach the usb storage disk after you get to the TrueImage menu.
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GroverH wrote:(Restore C drive only PDF)= This implies only c is being restored over an existing "working' system so the "mbr/track0" was already there and is not required unless you were having booting issues but if checked, it shouold do no harm as the same settings would be overlayed.
Ok, so no harm there, then.
As my guides states, one situtation you want to avoid is have two identical drives connected at the same time during a first boot following a restore. Windows gets confused when it sees 2 disks with the same markings/setup.When creating a clone either via the clone method or restoring a backup onto another disk, you should boot first only with the master attached and attach the duplicate after first boot for use such as a data drive.
I missed that part in your guide (obviously), though it looks like I came to the right conclusion on my own about that. :-)
Boot without the usb backup disk attached, and see if you have the same boot issues.
You can attach the usb storage disk after you get to the TrueImage menu.
I unplugged the USB backup disk and rebooted to the internal disk again, then rebooted and plugged it in while it was out of Windows. Got back into the firmware config, overrode the boot order to boot off of the USB backup drive, but the problem I described is still there - that copy of Windows is stuck in the "didn't start right" mode, so I get the screen telling me about it. It offers two choices - launch the recovery boot thing, which wants a Windows disk in the DVD drive, and start Windows normally. I'd select that and see if it actually gets started, but for some strange reason, my USB keyboard doesn't seem to do anything when I'm on this screen - at least while I'm trying to boot from the USB drive.
Do you think it would do anything to re-restore the MBR/Track 0 info? (I doubt it, but no harm in asking.) 'Cause seriously, I'm really not interested in taking my computer offline for another several hours to re-recover the backup disk (since apparently the "recover disk" option within the Windows version of Acronis is useless).... :-/
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