Boxed disk or Recovery Disk
I have a one-time-use True image 2017.
In order to fully image and recover a HDD, can I use the boxed disk as the bootable media or do I need to install Acronis and then create a "Recovery Disk"????????????
Understood,
I have True Image 2017 lisenced for one computer. I registered it and installed in on my laptop.
So my question is this: In the full HDD recovery process, do i have to use the recovery disk that i created in the Acronis media builder or can i use the BOXED version DVD as my bootable media to recover.
MBR considerations????
srs, I would expect that the boxed version DVD will be of an older build than that which is available via your Acronis Account in the Downloads section, or which you can create directly from the installed product.
The key to doing a full HDD recovery is to ensure that you test that your Rescue Media will boot correctly on your laptop before you will get to a point where you need to do this for real.
When booting from the Rescue Media, you need to do so using the same BIOS method as used by your Windows 10 OS on the laptop, i.e. most modern systems use the UEFI bootloader, so if booting from the DVD or other media, you should select the UEFI option for the device where the media is installed.
After booting from the Rescue Media the next check point, assuming that you can boot into the Acronis application, is that you can see your internal disk drive(s) and any connected external disk drives where backups are stored?
If you have problems using the standard Linux based Rescue Media, or it does not see your disk drives, then you may need to create and test the Windows PE version. This is needed if your internal disk drive is used in RAID mode for the SATA controller, unless you can temporarily change the SATA mode from RAID to AHCI. The linux media does not have any support for RAID drives.
I understand.
The question still remains. Both the Boxed DVD and the reovery disk created by the Acronis Media Builder will boot my lap top and run the Acronis software. But which disk would i need to use to be sure that the restored image is gooe. My current understanding is that I HAVE TO USE THE RECOVERY DISK AND NEVER THE BOXED DVD. I am thinking that there must be some difference between the two, WHAT IS THAT DIFFERENC????
If both types of media will boot your laptop and will show your disk drive(s) correctly, then the only real difference between the boxed DVD and the Rescue Media you created by the application, is the build version of the product, plus the fact that the DVD will also offer the option to install the product if used within Windows, whereas the Rescue Media is only used outside of Windows.
My personal preference would be to use the media which is at the latest build level, so as to have the benefit of the fixes for known problems that will be included.
So this is my current understanding; please correct me if i am not with it.
1. The Acroins recovery operation should be done with a "recovery disk" that you generate using the Acronis Media Builder. Of course you have to install the Acronis on the computer first to do this.
2. If you use the "Boxed DVD" or a copy of it, you cannot be sure that the recovery will be good because the Boxed DVD does not reproduce the MBR on the disk. The only reason the Boxed DVD may works is because disk that you are recovering to already has an intact MBR on it.
3. If you were to recover to a totally different HDD (size and model) you need to check the MBR option during restore.
4. If you have a 'recovery disk" then you can recovery to as many identical machines as you want. As long as they have the same type of disk.
5. If it is a total "crash" where the MBR is damaged and Windows will not boot then you need to check the MBR option during recovery.
So this is my current understanding; please correct me if i am not with it.
1. The Acronis recovery operation should be done with a "recovery disk" that you generate using the Acronis Media Builder. Of course you have to install the Acronis on the computer first to do this.
Not entirely correct. You can download an ISO file for the latest Rescue Media from your Acronis Account without having to install the product first.
Recovery is recommended to be done when booted from the Rescue Media (on CD/DVD or USB stick) because this avoids a number of problems that can occur if the recovery is attempted from within the running Windows application which still has to reboot to continue the action.2. If you use the "Boxed DVD" or a copy of it, you cannot be sure that the recovery will be good because the Boxed DVD does not reproduce the MBR on the disk. The only reason the Boxed DVD may works is because disk that you are recovering to already has an intact MBR on it.
Not correct, the Boxed DVD version of the Rescue Media should be able to perform a good recovery, the key difference is the build version.
The choice of whether to restore the MBR depends on what type of recovery is being done. When recovering to the same drive then the MBR is not normally needed, but if restoring to a new raw disk, it may be. This also depends on the type of BIOS involved as with UEFI the MBR is not always used.3. If you were to recover to a totally different HDD (size and model) you need to check the MBR option during restore.
Yes, normally.
4. If you have a 'recovery disk" then you can recovery to as many identical machines as you want. As long as they have the same type of disk.
This is a totally different question and may require the use of Acronis Universal Restore if restoring to a different computer with new hardware.
5. If it is a total "crash" where the MBR is damaged and Windows will not boot then you need to check the MBR option during recovery.
So, that is very informative and you are saying:
1. After installing the Acronis product on my Windows 10 laptop I should download the latest update (build)
2. Create the recovery disk using the Media Builder
3. User the recovery disk to back up and restore my entire HDD
4. Test the image by restoring a file or diretory using the restore disk "Retieve Files ......". Put that file in a new folder somewhere on the C:\. Then reboot to Windows and check to see if the file is actually there.
5. Use the Boxed DVD only if I have to. The Boxed DVD is not going to be the latest version (build) and I should avoid using it because?????
THAT IS WHAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND. UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS SHOULD I AVOID USING THE BOXED DVD TO BACKUP AND RESTORE????????
srs, I have not made any statement that you should avoid using the boxed DVD, just advised you that it is most likely to be a downlevel build version - that is all. You can choose to use it as you wish. SHOUTING at other users in this forum is not helpful when you are looking for help or guidance.
Sorry, first time ever on any forum. i did not know that CAPS meant shouting. I was trying to emphasise an idea.
Let me state my concern directly. When I use the boxed DVD to create an image of PC and then restore it to another identacle PC here is what happens:
1. After the image restores I restart the target PC
2. The Windows logo appears for about 5 seconds
3. A blue screen flashes (can't capture that)
4. The PC reboots and the cycle repeats continuously.
I have tried imaging several times, all with the same result.
When I had Acronis TI 2013, I never had that problem
srs, no issue with not understanding forum etiquette, we all have to start sometime.
The crux of the issue you are describing is in your first sentence:
When I use the boxed DVD to create an image of PC and then restore it to another identacle PC
This is not the same as creating an image using the boxed DVD (or other Rescue Media) of computer A and then restoring that backup image to the same computer A. There is more involved when you take the backup image of computer A and restore this to computer B.
What are the two computers involved here? What Windows OS version? How do these computer boot with regards to Legacy or UEFI?
What you are effectively doing is using Acronis True Image to restore to different hardware even though you are saying these two computers are identical - there will be some differences even if only minor. This is where Acronis Universal Restore is intended to be used to prepare computer B after you have restored the backup image from computer A to it, but before you attempt to boot the restored Windows OS on computer B.
Both computer are Dell 790's PCs, XP OS SP3, Legacy BIOS, Identical hardware
OK, thanks for the further information.
Moving Windows XP OS can be more difficult and you will need to create and use the Acronis Universal Restore media and use this after restoring the OS to the new computer.
Roger that,
Thank you for all you experienced advice. I wil go from here and see what I can do.
One last question though :)
On my new Windows 10 laptop, if I test the image by restoring a file or diretory using the restore disk "Retieve Files ....(and it works), can I be reasonbly certain that a future complete Restore will a be successfull????
You can test the image integrity by opening this in Windows Explorer and navigating through the contents as well as selecting random files or folders to restore to a temporary location. You can also use the Validation option to check that the backup file has not changed since it was created - this just verifies the checksum for the file with the value stored within it.
The only other test I can suggest would be to restore the full disk backup to a spare disk drive and then swap that with the original to prove that all is good.
Yes, that is what I thought and I will do the first option.
Unfortunately, taking the HDD out of my laptop would be lot of work. It's not the kink that just slides out, otherwise it would be done already.
Thanks again,
I will be back and will continue to read a lot of your relevant posting.
Most Dell laptops that I have worked with have fairly easy to remove drives though these have all been 2.5" SATA drives (HDD or SSD) where there has been only a couple of small screws to remove before the drive can be slid out of the enclosure. If your laptop has a newer NVMe M.2 drive then this may be more complicated to remove as is essentially a PCIe type card device.
Good luck with the testing you are doing, hope all goes well.