Best Approach to Recovering to New Hard Drive
I have Acronis True Image Home 2012 which I purchased just prior to receiving my (then) new laptop. The hard drive has two partitions: the C: primary and a Q: recovery. I first installed all of the necessary software, but no data. I then created two separate backups – one of just my C: partition and one of just my Q: partition. (I probably should have created a single disk backup, but was/am new to Acronis.)
Nearly 2 ½ years later, my computer is running slowly. In the past, this is the point where I would have reformatted my hard drive and performed a full reinstallation of the OS, my programs, and my data (a formidable task). However, I do have the two tib files which I am hoping will make the task much easier. However, I have never performed this procedure.
Being conservative, I have decided to purchase a new hard drive rather than wiping out my slow, albeit working, hard drive. I want to know what would be the best manner in which to proceed.
I currently have a Seagate SATA II 500 GB laptop hard drive. I plan to purchase a Western Digital Black SATA III drive. I do not need a larger drive, but am wondering (my first question) if it would be better to buy a 500 GB hard drive or a 750 GB hard drive. I question what would happen if the new Western Digital is, in actuality, even slightly smaller than the current Seagate. Please advise.
My primary question is how I should go about getting my original C: partition image onto the new hard drive. Should I attempt to clone my current drive and then recover the C: partition? Or, is it better to recover (from the tib files) all the necessary data to the new bare drive? Either way, I would appreciate some input. I have read the Acronis user guide as well as numerous posts, but am still not clear as to the best approach. Please keep in mind, I am a newbie.
Thank you.
Todd
Yes, I would encourage you to make a new backup (either from the CD or from within Windows) so you have a current backup of your existing status. Yes, it is preferred that you choose the disk option for a backu rather than selecting the individual partitions.
If you restore your old backup, the disk will look the same as when the backup was created. If you have added new stuff, that will be missing.
On the other hand, if you restore your new backup, you are restoring your slowness and the new disk wil be same as your current situation.
Look at my signature link 3 below. If your restore your old backup to when it was new, then use item #1 inside that link "REstore Smalller/Larger disk" guide. This will work better as you have two backup files.
If you choose to make and restore disk option backup which would be a 1 backup file of everything (all partitons) on the disk, the item #2 inside tht link would do better as you could restore it as a disk option restore. Do choose the option "Recoery Disk Signature" located on same screen where target disk is selected.
Do the restore when booted from the TI CD. Be sure only the one system disk is attached on first boot following the res tore of the system.
The condition of the target disk can be unallocted and non-partitioned. use the TI Tools "Add new disk" and initialize the disk.
I am assuming that due to the age, you have a win 7 system and using the MBR disk type & not using the UEFI style Bios.
GroverH,
I carefully read your instructions entitled “Restore a TIH2012 Backup to a larger or smaller disk”. To answer your questions, I am running Windows 7 64-bit. I am almost certain I am using the MBR disk type. Before I proceed to recover to a new, larger drive, I have just a few remaining questions.
1. As I stated in my first post, I originally made an image backup of only my C partition. It is this image I wish to restore as it contains nearly all of my programs (I understand I will lose my data which I will simply copy from another backup source). I recently made a full disk image backup. My plan, using your instructions, is to restore the system partition, recovery partition, and the MBR from the recent backup. I will restore the C (Windows 7 OS) partition from the original image backup. I assume this will work just fine. Please confirm.
2. It appears I have three partitions (see attachment): SYSTEM_DRV (System, Active); Windows7_OS (Boot, Crash Dump); Lenovo_Recovery. All three are “primary partitions”. I assume this is normal.
3. Is it safe to assume the SYSTEM_DRV partition and the MBR remain unaltered over time. I ask because I will be restoring from two different image backup files.
4. On page 3 of your instructions, you instruct the user to “boot from the rescue media and validate the backup you want to use for recovery.” It may be obvious when I reach this step, but just to be sure, how do I validate the two backups?
Thank you for helping this “newbie”.
Todd