Restoring image to my new hard drive

John B.,

For your operations, you should simply create a disk and partition backup of your entire (ie all partitions) current disk to a USB disk. Do this backup form the Acronis recovery CD so that you know that the CD is working.

REMEMBER: the drive letters on the CD are not necessarily the same as the ones in Windows. You C:\drive might have another letter. Your USB drive as well. Look at the labels (labels don't change) and at the drive sizes. This is only when you use the disk. When you restart windows, everything is normal again.

Shutdown your computer, remove your disk (remember which cable it was connected to), put in place the new disk and connect it with the same cable(s). No need to format the new disk.

Reboot the computer on the Acronis CD and we need now to restore your backup. Click on add new disk, select your new disk (make sure you select the right one). Confirm this will delete all data on the new disk. Delete the default c:\ partition ATI is proposing to add on the new disk. Finish the Add new disk wizard.

Start the restore. Select your backup. When select what to restore, choose one partition after the other, in the same order they were in Windows, do not restore the MBR and track 0. When you do this, ATI will allow you to resize each partition. Do not resize any of them, except your C:\ partition or any partition you created. For example, let's say you currently have a system reserved partition of 100MB and a system partition of 230GB, and a recovery partition of 10GB. Your new disk is maybe 500GB. You first restore the system reserved partition, and keep the size at 100MB, with an offset of 1MB just before it, you then restore the System partition and you increase its size to 480 GB, then you restore your recovery partition at the same size (10GB). You can restore each partition one after the other without rebooting. Once all partitions are restored, finally restore the MBR, Track 0 and the disk signature. You are now done.

Reboot the computer. Everything should work.

John,
Can you clarify whether your reference to 11. Is this the old version 11 from several years ago; or is this the newer version 2011 from 2010-2011?

In Acronis terminology, when you perform a clone function, you are making an identical disk. All prior data on the clone is destroyed and you have two duplicate disks--both with the same amount of data.

However, you can create a duplicate of your old disk by making a full backup of everything and then restoring that backup from a file onto the new disk and the new disk becomes a duplicate of the old disk.

Have you looked at the directory on the external hard drive and does it show a single file with an extension *.tib?
If yes, then you make a backup image or archive--not a clone.

Your response can help us to understand exactly your situation.

GroverH, I’m working off of Acronis True Image 11 Home, not Acronis True Image 2011. My external usb hard drive is a clone of my current hard drive, but after running the Recovery function on the Acronis Rescue Media cd, I realized that Acornis wanted a .tib archive, not a clone, so I therefore backed up the current hard drive as a .tib archive to my external hard drive.

Pat L, are you sure I am supposed to choose Add New Disk and not Recovery? Don’t I want to choose Recovery so that I can restore the image of my current disk stored on my external hard drive to my new blank hard drive?

A couple of general questions:
- Will the Acronis Rescue Media cd work if I made it on another computer or does the cd have to be made on the same computer that it is used on at the time of the restoration?
- If I install a new blank hard disk to my laptop and then turn on the laptop with the Acronis Rescue Media cd in the cd drive, will the computer understand my pressing F12 as an instruction for it to boot from the cd, even though the blank disk does not have Windows or DOS or any other programs installed to it?

John,
Yes, you do want to choose the "Add new disk" option first so it will delete/remove your prior cloning. This function will make the target disk have not partitions and no format. The recovery function is after the add disk option. A reboot is not necessary after the add disk option is completed. Be very very careful to choose the correct disk to have the partitions deleted.

The Bootable Rescue CD is does not differ due to which computer but be sure the CD being used on the Restore is of the same version or a newer version. An older version CD cannot restore a backup created by a newer version of TrueImage.

If your computer is set to boot from the CDRom device, it will boot from the TI Bootable media CD. Yoiu may or may not have to choose the boot order. This will depend upon the current settings in your bios. You cannot hurt anything by simply trying to let it boot from the CD.

Click on the first line of my signature below and browse the index and locate the first couple listings in item #3. The first entry is a guide to backups and restore and the 2nd line is a guide on how to restore to a larger disk. These should be helpful to you if you have done this before in TrueImage.

GroverH,

I think there’s a misunderstanding.

I have 3 disks:
1. The current disk, which I am removing;
2. The new disk, which is blank;
3. The external hard drive, which contains a .tib full image backup of the current disk C drive, which is the only partition on the current disk.

After I install the new blank disk, I should choose “Recovery,” not “Add New Disk,” since the new disk is blank and doesn’t have any information that I should delete, is that right?

You mention, “If your computer is set to boot from the CDRom device, it will boot from the TI Bootable media CD.” How do I get my computer set to boot from the CDRom? I will be installing a blank hard drive without any software on it to instruct the laptop how to boot.

I'll also take a look at your link.

Best regards,

After I install the new blank disk, I should choose “Recovery,” not “Add New Disk,” since the new disk is blank and doesn’t have any information that I should delete, is that right?

You are correct. If the target disk is blank, you do not normally need to use the "add disk" option.

The boot instructions comes form the computer BIOS-not from the hard drive.

While you are inside my signature index, look at item 2-I which will provide instructions on
How to change the boot order in the BIOS

I am in the middle of restoring the image on the external hard drive to the new blank disk. I am at the step where Acronis permits me to change the partition sizes. I don’t want any partitions in the new disk. In the original disk, there are no partitions, only a C drive.

As the default, the following is indicated:
Free space before: 0 bytes
Partition size: 55.71 GB
Free space after: 177.2 GB

I believe this will cause my new disk to have 2 partitions, one at 55.71 GB and one at 177.2 GB.

Can I avoid this and create only one partition if I change the values to:
Free space before: 0 bytes
Partition size: 232.9 GB
Free space after: 0 GB

Yes you can. If you have Windows 7, are you positive there was not system reserved partition on your old disk, or any OEM, recovery, diagnostics, or other hidden partition?

It had Windows XP Home Edition.

To my knowledge, the only partition that was showing was "MBR and track 0," but if I recall, that was showing up as 0 bytes. I see from Pat L above that after I am finished restoring my C drive (and other partitions, if applicable), I should restore "MBR and track 0." Will leaving 0 bytes before and after cause any issues with restoring "MBR and track 0"?

Proceed with the restoring of the mbr/track0 to the new disk. Also include the "Recover disk signature" listed on the same screen where target disk is selected.

after completion, boot with only the new drive attached.

GroverH, is this necessary? After I restored the image to the new disk, I booted up and everything looked fine. I'm not sure whether I can also restore the MBR and Track 0, since I left 0 bytes before and after the C drive. But even if I could, what benefit would restoring MBR and Track 0 and the disk signature offer that I don't currently have with my restored C drive?

The TIH program will assign a generic MBR to the restore anyway.
As for the "Recover disk signature" option, this is only needed if you have software installed which used disk identification in using its feature and authentication.

Space is a non-issue as space is not involved. The restore of both items is something that can be done as a single entity restore. There is no way to access the "Recover Disk signature" restore opiton without doing some type of restore so the restore of the MBR/track 0 becomes a convenient option.

So for now, you can do nothing and wait and see if you have software access issues. If you find you do need to restore the "Recover Disk signature" option, then
Boot from the TI CD
Choose Recover and choose your backup which you just restored.
checkmark/Select the track0/mbr
and on the same screen where you select the target disk, you also checkmark/select the "Recover Disk signature" option.
Upon the following bootup, be sure that both the original and the new larger disk is not both attached during the first bootup following the restore of the two options.

If desired, It is something you can practice. It is practice as long as you click the Cancel button and do NOT click the PROCEED button.

So far, everything on my laptop works fine. I may restore the MBR, Track 0 and signature just to be safe, but will it take several hours like the restoration of my C drive did?

machine time will be about 15 seconds to restore the track0/mbr and recover disk signature. The CD bootup time will take much longer than the restore of the two items. Just make sure no other partitions are checked.

It actually took about 5 seconds.

Can somebody please clarify- I am having a new hard drive installed in my laptop.. same size 500gb. Entire image of old disk C: has been saved on an external drive as "Acronis true image backup archive"

The repair shop wants to install windows, and all sorts of drivers first.
I am telling him this is wrong, but I'm not sure exactly how to restore the saved data. I have Acronis True Image 11 Home.

If I insert the original Acronis installation CD in the computer will it start up on its own and prompt me to restore the data to the new unformatted hard drive?
Or should I have made a separate Acronis recovery CD before the old hard drive was removed? The old hard drive can be put back in again if necessary.

Then, can I just plug in the external drive and select restore from the saved archive, or are there other options or settings? I have read all of the above but am still very confused.

First, you need to make sure that you have a disk and partition backup that contains *all* the partitions that are on your OLD disk (including any OEM, recovery, diagnostics, system reserved or otherwise hidden partition).

Second, you need to make sure that your recovery CD is working. Boot on it, access your backup, restore a couple of files.

Third, you can do the actual restore. It is quite simple in your case because your have the same size for your NEW disk.
- swap the disks,
- boot on the recovery CD,
- choose restore disk and partitions, navigate to your backup file, select the entire disk (the check box at the disk level), select the destination (your NEW disk). No need to choose any recovery option. No need to prepare the new disk.

Since the computer is already in the shop with the old hard drive removed, I can't make a "recovery CD."

Will the original Acronis install disk work as a recovery CD, or should I go into the shop, have him put the old hard drive back in, make a recovery CD and then remove the old hard drive again? Or is there a simpler option?

I think I understand the rest of it. I checked all options when backing up the hard drive so I am confident everything on it was saved.

Thanks for your help.

Stevela wrote:

Since the computer is already in the shop with the old hard drive removed, I can't make a "recovery CD."

Will the original Acronis install disk work as a recovery CD, or should I go into the shop, have him put the old hard drive back in, make a recovery CD and then remove the old hard drive again? Or is there a simpler option?

I think I understand the rest of it. I checked all options when backing up the hard drive so I am confident everything on it was saved.

Thanks for your help.

UPDATE: I went into the shop and made an Acronis recovery CD, but it would not boot up when I restarted the computer- it started normally in Windows 7. The guy in the shop said I need to change to bios to start from CD or it won't work, and he will do that when he installs the new hard drive, but I will need to change it back again afterwards. Is this correct? I am of the opinion that the Acronis boot disk would start automatically if the computer can't detect anything on the new hard drive.

SmithLA,

As Pat indicated, as both old and new drives are the same size, a disk option restore is very easy to do when booted from the TI bootable media CD.

As shown below, checkmark the disk as to what is to be restore.
On the subsequent screen, select the new blank disk as the target Also, in the lower left corner of the target disk screen, do checkmark the "Recovery disk signature" before clicking the proceed option.
Disk option restore

You are correct, a fresh install of Windows should not be necessary. If you backup includes all your partitions (including the non-letters partitions), then your new disk can be restored from the backup to be the same as prior to the disk demise.

It is anticipated that the technician would install the blank hard drive into the computer in its intended boot position and to the TrueImage disk restore when booted from the CD. The backup *.tib file probably located on an external disk or other storage location for easy access to the old backup file.

As for booting from the CD, many of the laptops make it very easy to boot from the CD. Within the first few seconds of any bootup (TrueImage CD pre- inserted), pressing the ESC key or F2 key (varies by brand) will bring up a small Bios boot menu where you can choose the CD drive for booting. For most laptops, this is one time choice applicable to that specific boot and not a permanent selection but it does vary by brands. Whether it is a choice you must undo, you will have to wait and see but my guess is that whenever you want it to boot from the CD, you will have to use the preceding procedure of pressing the special keys to bring up the boot menu.

Thank you Grover H and Pat L. The restore worked. However, the boot disk did not work at first. I got a message saying "Acronis Loader fatal error. Boot drive (partition) not found. Another Acronis forum suggested I sign on and check for an upgrade. There was a later "build" for the Acronis True Image 11 Home. I upgraded Acronis on another computer I have, then used it to make a new boot disk, and it worked on the laptop with the new blank hard drive, even though the other computer had a different Windows version.
After the restore, Windows recognized the new hard drive and created a driver for it.
Some advice for anyone else reading this- If you failed to make a boot disk in advance- you should be able to do it from another computer with Acronis installed. It also appears that the boot disk can be created directly from the Acronis web site once you register your product, whether Acronis is installed or not.

I also learned that it is important to back up the entire hard drive.
And if you want the simplest possible restore when replacing the hard drive, get the exact same size. They wanted to sell me a larger one and I said, no thanks!

By the way, I did not see a box to check that said "recovery disk signature." But it all worked out well. Thanks again.

Steve,
Glad you resolved your issue. A larger disk would have been usable--just needs different restore techniques.

The "Recover disk signature" is located on the same screen where you choose the target disk--but this option may only be available on the newer versions starting with the 2009 version. You can simulate a restore again and choose to restore only the track0/mbr. This will take you to the target screen where you can see if the option is available. You can then choose the cancel option to stop the simulation.

Yes, any registered user of the later versions (version 10 and newer) can download the "bootable media" recovery file and create an alternate matching bootable recovery CD. In fact, TrueImage does not need to be installed as the bootable media download file is a complete file designed just to create a new bootable CD after the iso file is properly burned to a blank CD. Some users only use the CD for backups and recovery and never install the complete TrueImage.

Thanks for the update.

------------------------------------------------
Extract of links from my index (Item 2-F) showing location of downloadable bootable media.
http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2009/11/5940/2012-do…

http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2009/11/5940/2011-do…

http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2009/11/5933/TI_2010…

http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2009/11/5933/TI_2009…

http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2009/11/5933/TI_11-d…

http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2009/11/5933/TI_10-d…

Last year I restored my hard drive on my laptop using Acronis ver 2010. Everything worked will. But now when I try to do windows update the OS (Windows ver 7 64 bit) always look for the external drive where I restore the image from. And the OS looks for .MSI file. Even when I put in the Windows 7 disk it will not read the MSI file. I believe this setting may be in the registry? Does anyone know how to fix it?

Pat L wrote:

John B.,

For your operations, you should simply create a disk and partition backup of your entire (ie all partitions) current disk to a USB disk. Do this backup form the Acronis recovery CD so that you know that the CD is working.

REMEMBER: the drive letters on the CD are not necessarily the same as the ones in Windows. You C:\drive might have another letter. Your USB drive as well. Look at the labels (labels don't change) and at the drive sizes. This is only when you use the disk. When you restart windows, everything is normal again.

Shutdown your computer, remove your disk (remember which cable it was connected to), put in place the new disk and connect it with the same cable(s). No need to format the new disk.

Reboot the computer on the Acronis CD and we need now to restore your backup. Click on add new disk, select your new disk (make sure you select the right one). Confirm this will delete all data on the new disk. Delete the default c:\ partition ATI is proposing to add on the new disk. Finish the Add new disk wizard.

Start the restore. Select your backup. When select what to restore, choose one partition after the other, in the same order they were in Windows, do not restore the MBR and track 0. When you do this, ATI will allow you to resize each partition. Do not resize any of them, except your C:\ partition or any partition you created. For example, let's say you currently have a system reserved partition of 100MB and a system partition of 230GB, and a recovery partition of 10GB. Your new disk is maybe 500GB. You first restore the system reserved partition, and keep the size at 100MB, with an offset of 1MB just before it, you then restore the System partition and you increase its size to 480 GB, then you restore your recovery partition at the same size (10GB). You can restore each partition one after the other without rebooting. Once all partitions are restored, finally restore the MBR, Track 0 and the disk signature. You are now done.

Reboot the computer. Everything should work.

Hi
I read the above from start of this thread, long time back.
I have a full disk backup of my sons C Drive + laptop from Acronis 2011 and an Acronis boot disk for the same machine.
The HDD failed. So I have ordered new HDD, same size, same model etc..
Can I just install it, and boot from the Acronis Boot CD, choose restore, point it at the backup (WHICH IS ON A 2nd HDD on the same Laptop - still accessible) and it will do the rest. ? I cannot recall if the backup included the 'recovery partition' that was on the intiial HDD. Will this matter ?
Any suggestions on what to look for ?

I hope its as simple as the above entry since that is WHY I bought Acronis....

d

Hey All,

Need some help... I have the basics down, I think... I currently have a 100Gb SSD that I want to replace with a 480Gb SSD drive in my laptop..

I installed Acronis true image 2014... backed up everything it let me (disk and partitions)
Created a bootable USB acronis so I can restore...

So I did the backup.. pulled out the old hard drive, put in the new larger one, booted to my USB, selected the add new disk, unallocated, moved along to the restore.... and this is where I have issues...

the restore was saved to a WD mypassport, I can see the backup, everything looks good... the restore took about 2 hours.. said it was complete...

I restarted the computer and got an error saying "MBR error 1 boot from floppy" so I went back booted into the USB acronis, restored the MBR track 0 and tried again... now the error says sometihng about check media and cable...

am I missing something?! this should be easy..Im probably missing some small step...

any help would be appreciated...

thanks!

Ryan,
You do not indicate which versioon of Windows nor which version of TrueImage.

If this is retail machine, there is a good chance the system disk has unlettered partitons. Have you looked at the old disk via Windows disk Management to see how many partitions are involved and which partitions are marked as the active partitions?

Review my signature link 3 below and look at items 1 and 2.
The procedures outlined in item 1 inside that link should suffice.
Whether item 2 insdie that link would siffice will depend upon how your disk partitins are configured.

Hey Grover H.

Sorry... Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.. using Acronis True Image 2014

I got it working, Im not sure if I did it properly but its working... I used the "disk clone" option.. cloned my smaller hard drive to an external USB, swapped out the old hard drive with the new hard drive, booted to the acronis USB key, selected "add new disk", left it unallocated, and restored the clone onto the new hard drive... everything seems to be working fine...

This may have only worked because the only difference is the hard drive.. I am using the same computer....

thanks...