Creating a bootable hard drive copy to keep for future use.
Hi everyone,
I have a computer which I need to wipe clean and do a re-install of Windows 7 and all other software.
However, it is crucial that I keep a copy of the entire hard drive, and that it be bootable.
This is a work computer (which was used by others before me), and we WILL need (in the future) to access content that is on the current hard drive. The content is 3D models which can't simply be copy-pasted to backup the files only. These files can only be open if the software settings and computer folder structure is maintained - hence the need for the bootable image of the hard drive.
The computer is a Compaq workstation laptop. I already have an image of the hard drive made with TI 2011 Home.
I am trying to install (recover) this image to a desktop hard drive that is mounted in an external enclosure and plugged via USB.
Everything seems to work, however, when I test it and try to boot off the USB drive, windows always fails to launch.
I've tried 3 different things (cloning, imaging and reformatting then imaging) with no success.
I suspect the problem stems from the fact that I am trying to install the image on a completely different hard drive with completely different specs (ie. laptop HD vs desktop HD).
Any help would be really appreciated.
Thanks!
Your goal could be met via a full disk backup, which creates a compressed .tib archive. It does not need to be bootable. If you ever need the revert to that image, you would use the Acronis Recovery Media (either boot from CD or USB flash drive), and restore/recover the backup archive to your system drive.
Here's what I was hoping to accomplish:
install a bootable image on a new, external harddrive and keep that hard drive in a safe place.
Wipe the computer clean, re-install Windows 7 and all software.
In the future, when all of a sudden I realize I need to open a 3D file that dates back from before the computer cleanup, I plug the external hard drive via USB, and reboot the computer and boot off the external hard drive. Everything is fully functional, I do what I need to do, and when I'm done, I turn the laptop off, unplug the external hard drive, and reboot off the clean laptop hard drive.
-> Swapping hard drive is not a possible solution because I may need to access the 'previous version' hard drive as much as one a week.
-> The BIOS has an option to boot off the USB hard drive, but when I select it, It says windows launch is 'broken' (or something like that).
-> Once I will have clean the built-in laptop hard drive, I don't want to have to recover the entire hard drive just to have access to the old setup just for a few minutes; hence the 2 hard drives:
1) Windows fresh install on the built-in HD and
2) external HD with bootable image in pre-fresh-install state.
The Windows installation you currently have loads IDE/SATA drivers to be able to boot to the internal hard drive (the internal hard disk controller). When you clone the drive to the USB external, the Windows installation on the USB hard drive is still configured to load the drivers for the internal laptop controller. That is why your Windows installation on the USB connected drive will not boot. You can not install Windows to a USB hard drive.
You could partition your hard drive and have both copies of the operating system installed as a dual boot system.
Hi James,
good one - that must be exactly what is going on.
Going with a 2 partition setup is a great idea (though one that takes quite a bit of HD space). Right now the built-in HD has 100Gb free (200Gb used), so it means I'd only have 100Gb to work with for the fresh install.
Would have preferred not to have to keep all that on the data on the HD just for the occasional need.
Question:
Is there a way to mount a full partition (ie. C:) backup which would emulate all software/files installed at the time the image was taken?
Just brainstorming here.
Thanks.
If it's to roll back to an earlier time, you could do as I suggested and restore from a saved .tib image. That is the normal way that most of us do disaster recovery. It's better than your proposal, as we can save multiple .tib images from various dates to a single drive, whereas your method would tie up an entire drive with a single snapshot.
Windows won't normally allow booting from a USB hard drive, and won't allow two bootable system drives in the PC (unless configured as dual boot system).
I think you may want to read a little more about the normal backup and recovery procedure, because I think it will do what you actually need and provide greater flexibility and security that what you propose.
It is to roll back to an earlier time, but only momentarily.
Let's call the current laptop state "state A" and the fresh windows install state "state B".
The laptop is currently in state A. I want to wipe the HD and do a fresh install of windows while having the ability to go back to state A momentarily, if needed.
There will not be a need to permanently roll back to state A ever.
So let's say I'm working on the state B laptop and I realize I need to access 3D files from an old project. I go back to state A, do whatever needs to be done, then come back to state B. all new projects will be started in state B.
I agree that the method you suggest is definitely the right way to go for disaster recovery, but here all I'm trying to do is keep a copy of the Hd as it is today, which would need to be accessed say once a week.
Hope this makes sense.
Depending on your hardware and software setup, you could look at using a virtualization product to mount a virtual copy of your old operating system from within your current OS. You could then make any chages etc, and save the new virtual image for mounting later.
I am not an expert on this, but others here have experience doing this. Maybe someone could give you some tips on how to attemp this. I'm afraid I can't as I don't use these type of products with the exception being Hyper-V on Windows 8. I believe that with some of the newer versions of Acronis True Image Home, you can convert an Acronis backup file to a Windows VHD and configure Windows to boot to it.