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#31
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:05:29 -0500, "Jo-Anne"
wrote: "Char Jackson" wrote in message .. . On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:43:42 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Char Jackson wrote: On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:57:26 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Char Jackson wrote: On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:59:32 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Let's suppose you have a disk with 4 partitions on it. AFAIK, you can either clone the disk (the entire disk), or choose which partitions to image, but not image the whole disk in one image, and one simple operation, unless I'm missing something. Yes, you're missing something. When you choose to create an image, you can select one partition, multiple partitions, all partitions, or the entire disk. OK, I looked again at Acronis True Image, and the only way I see to do that is by individually selecting each partition in its own separate checkbox. There was no "entire disk" image selection, per se (unlike for cloning), but selecting ALL the partitions would presumably be doing that (i.e imaging the entire disk stucture). (MBR and Track0 are not listed as selections, so I guess that's automatically taken care of when you backup C Look closer when you open ATI. The Backup section defaults to "partition mode", which is what you described above, but you can also switch to "disk mode". I'm using ATI Home version 11, and don't see that. Maybe it's in the newer ones. I think it's in every version going back to at least 2009. Try this: Launch ATI and let it settle at the screen where "Disk and Partition Backup" is the first choice. ("Disk and partition" is the first clue, BTW.) Click on Disk and Partition Backup and allow the next screen to open. Toward the top, above the partitions, it says "What to back up", with a thin line stretching to the right, ending where it says "Switch to disk mode." There you go, click that text and it switches to disk mode. In disk mode, that text changes to "Switch to partition mode", allowing you to toggle back and forth between the two modes. Ask for screenshots if you still don't see it. I use ATI 11 Home, and it works differently. When you guys talk about ATI 11, do you mean ATI 2011? If so, that's what I'm using as a basis for my responses in this thread. I'm not aware of an actual version 11 of the program so I assume you folks are using shorthand. With the program running, if you go to Help, About Acronis True Image Home, does the window that opens say "Acronis True Image Home 11"? You can back up either "Disks and partitions" or "System state." If you choose "Disks and partitions," the next screen is "Partitions Selection," and you can select either individual partitions or the entire hard drive. I think the interface is confusing at this point. My disk, labeled Disk 1 by Acronis, has only two partitions--C: and FAT16. The screen shows a large green dot in the box at the left of Disk 1 and a green checkmark in the box at the left of C:--but nothing in the box at the left of FAT16 (which I believe is a Restore partition created by the computer manufacturer). If you just look at the large dot at Disk 1, you might think you're backing up everything--but to back up all partititons you have to left click on that dot. I assume that if you don't either click on each partitition to get the checkmark to appear or click on the Disk 1 dot to checkmark all the partitions, then the partitions other than C: won't get backed up. I have no "large dots" on mine, so I think it's becoming clear that we're not using the same version. Therefore, the specific steps will be slightly different. I've used several versions of ATI and all have been capable of selecting entire disks versus individual partitions, so I'm betting your version is capable, as well. |
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#32
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
On 3/21/2012 3:14 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
When you guys talk about ATI 11, do you mean ATI 2011? If so, that's what I'm using as a basis for my responses in this thread. I'm not aware of an actual version 11 of the program so I assume you folks are using shorthand. With the program running, if you go to Help, About Acronis True Image Home, does the window that opens say "Acronis True Image Home 11"? I have both Acronis True Image 2009 (v12) and 2011 (v14). And I believe the version numbers show up in the build numbers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronis_True_Image#History -- Bill Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0 Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 1.5GB - Windows 8 CP |
#33
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:32:06 -0500, BillW50 wrote:
On 3/21/2012 3:14 PM, Char Jackson wrote: When you guys talk about ATI 11, do you mean ATI 2011? If so, that's what I'm using as a basis for my responses in this thread. I'm not aware of an actual version 11 of the program so I assume you folks are using shorthand. With the program running, if you go to Help, About Acronis True Image Home, does the window that opens say "Acronis True Image Home 11"? I have both Acronis True Image 2009 (v12) and 2011 (v14). And I believe the version numbers show up in the build numbers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronis_True_Image#History Thanks. Looks like they're using a version from 2007 then. I'm no longer familiar with any ATI versions that old. |
#34
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
dadiOH wrote:
Bill in Co wrote: I'm a little confused about this seemingly basic issue, in this case involving the use of Acronis True Image and its backup images, but it could be more general, too. Is it possible to restore an image backup of your system to a *completely brand new hard drive* that has never been used or initialized? Let me explain further: Suppose your main hard drive dies, and that you also have another HD that only contains some Acronis True Image backups of your system stored on it, AND that you also have an Acronis True Image Boot CD handy. So you replace the bad drive with a brand new drive (which naturally is unbootable if you just tried to boot up on it). However, using your Acronis boot CD, you can use that to boot up into the boot CD, and then presumably select a backup image you'd like to restore from the other HD. BUT will the restore operation work for a brand new virgin hard drive that has never been used before (i.e. make the brand new hard drive bootable into windows, etc)? I'm guessing it will, but that's only an assumption on my part. I know the operation works well on a normal HD, but have never tried it out on a brand new hard drive, and am wondering if there is some limitation there I'm not aware of (like you can't restore an image to a virgin hard drive that has never been initialized or whatever). Suppose you didn't have an image, what would you do? You'd use the new drive manufacturer's program to clone the existing drive. So yes, you can restore an image you have to the new drive. ?? Not sure what you meant here. If your original main HD failed, you can't clone or access it under any situation, as its completely borked. By borked I mean it's toast. |
#35
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
Char Jackson wrote:
On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:43:42 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Char Jackson wrote: On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:57:26 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Char Jackson wrote: On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:59:32 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Let's suppose you have a disk with 4 partitions on it. AFAIK, you can either clone the disk (the entire disk), or choose which partitions to image, but not image the whole disk in one image, and one simple operation, unless I'm missing something. Yes, you're missing something. When you choose to create an image, you can select one partition, multiple partitions, all partitions, or the entire disk. OK, I looked again at Acronis True Image, and the only way I see to do that is by individually selecting each partition in its own separate checkbox. There was no "entire disk" image selection, per se (unlike for cloning), but selecting ALL the partitions would presumably be doing that (i.e imaging the entire disk stucture). (MBR and Track0 are not listed as selections, so I guess that's automatically taken care of when you backup C Look closer when you open ATI. The Backup section defaults to "partition mode", which is what you described above, but you can also switch to "disk mode". I'm using ATI Home version 11, and don't see that. Maybe it's in the newer ones. I think it's in every version going back to at least 2009. Try this: Launch ATI and let it settle at the screen where "Disk and Partition Backup" is the first choice. ("Disk and partition" is the first clue, BTW.) Click on Disk and Partition Backup and allow the next screen to open. Toward the top, above the partitions, it says "What to back up", with a thin line stretching to the right, ending where it says "Switch to disk mode." There you go, click that text and it switches to disk mode. In disk mode, that text changes to "Switch to partition mode", allowing you to toggle back and forth between the two modes. Ask for screenshots if you still don't see it. I think that's the difference. Acronis True Image Home version 11 dates back to 2007. And it's a bit different. If you want to image the whole disk, you have to manually select all the partitions in their respective checkboxes. |
#36
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
Char Jackson wrote:
On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:05:29 -0500, "Jo-Anne" wrote: "Char Jackson" wrote in message ... On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:43:42 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Char Jackson wrote: On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:57:26 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Char Jackson wrote: On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:59:32 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Let's suppose you have a disk with 4 partitions on it. AFAIK, you can either clone the disk (the entire disk), or choose which partitions to image, but not image the whole disk in one image, and one simple operation, unless I'm missing something. Yes, you're missing something. When you choose to create an image, you can select one partition, multiple partitions, all partitions, or the entire disk. OK, I looked again at Acronis True Image, and the only way I see to do that is by individually selecting each partition in its own separate checkbox. There was no "entire disk" image selection, per se (unlike for cloning), but selecting ALL the partitions would presumably be doing that (i.e imaging the entire disk stucture). (MBR and Track0 are not listed as selections, so I guess that's automatically taken care of when you backup C Look closer when you open ATI. The Backup section defaults to "partition mode", which is what you described above, but you can also switch to "disk mode". I'm using ATI Home version 11, and don't see that. Maybe it's in the newer ones. I think it's in every version going back to at least 2009. Try this: Launch ATI and let it settle at the screen where "Disk and Partition Backup" is the first choice. ("Disk and partition" is the first clue, BTW.) Click on Disk and Partition Backup and allow the next screen to open. Toward the top, above the partitions, it says "What to back up", with a thin line stretching to the right, ending where it says "Switch to disk mode." There you go, click that text and it switches to disk mode. In disk mode, that text changes to "Switch to partition mode", allowing you to toggle back and forth between the two modes. Ask for screenshots if you still don't see it. I use ATI 11 Home, and it works differently. When you guys talk about ATI 11, do you mean ATI 2011? If so, that's what I'm using as a basis for my responses in this thread. I'm not aware of an actual version 11 of the program so I assume you folks are using shorthand. With the program running, if you go to Help, About Acronis True Image Home, does the window that opens say "Acronis True Image Home 11"? You can back up either "Disks and partitions" or "System state." If you choose "Disks and partitions," the next screen is "Partitions Selection," and you can select either individual partitions or the entire hard drive. I think the interface is confusing at this point. My disk, labeled Disk 1 by Acronis, has only two partitions--C: and FAT16. The screen shows a large green dot in the box at the left of Disk 1 and a green checkmark in the box at the left of C:--but nothing in the box at the left of FAT16 (which I believe is a Restore partition created by the computer manufacturer). If you just look at the large dot at Disk 1, you might think you're backing up everything--but to back up all partititons you have to left click on that dot. I assume that if you don't either click on each partitition to get the checkmark to appear or click on the Disk 1 dot to checkmark all the partitions, then the partitions other than C: won't get backed up. I have no "large dots" on mine, so I think it's becoming clear that we're not using the same version. Therefore, the specific steps will be slightly different. I've used several versions of ATI and all have been capable of selecting entire disks versus individual partitions, so I'm betting your version is capable, as well. As I mentioned in the previous post, I think that's the difference. Acronis True Image Home version 11 dates back to 2007. And it's a bit different. If you want to image the whole disk, you have to manually select all the partitions in their respective checkboxes. |
#37
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Mayayana" wrote in message ... I'm a little confused about this seemingly basic issue, in this case involving the use of Acronis True Image and its backup images, but it could be more general, too. Is it possible to restore an image backup of your system to a *completely brand new hard drive* that has never been used or initialized? There's really no such thing as "initialized". A new disk doesn't get broken in. The only difference is that it doesn't yet have partitions. I use BootIt. I can copy an image from CD or disk to any empty space that will fit it, on any disk. The only difference is that I always partition the new drive before installing OSs. (I leave room for 3 primaries in front and then apportion the rest for logical data partitions in an extended partition.) This isn't an Acronis issue. It's about how disks work. But the software you use could have limitations in what it can do. Also, there seem to be different definitions used, which can make things confusing. (In this thread, one person defines an image as a partition backup while another defines it as a section-of-disk backup.) The discussion til now has been about restoring to a brand new hard drive. No mention has been made of the possibility that the new drive is in a new computer. What if you want to restore the image to a new computer that has come with, say, Windows 7? Would you be able to do a full restore, including your old Windows XP operating system, on the new drive in the new computer? And if you could, would Microsoft consider it valid and allow it to be used? Jo-Anne I used "Laplink PC Mover" to transfer my Win98SE installation over to my newer WinXP computer, and it worked pretty well (but a couple of programs or so had to be reactivated - no biggie). And BillW mentioned two other programs (Paragon and Acronis). I don't know the pros and cons of each, however. |
#38
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
BillW50 wrote:
On 3/20/2012 8:58 PM, David H. Lipman wrote: From: "BillW50" On 3/20/2012 8:06 PM, David H. Lipman wrote: From: "Bill in Co" David H. Lipman wrote: From: "Bill in Co" I'm a little confused about this seemingly basic issue, in this case involving the use of Acronis True Image and its backup images, but it could be more general, too. Is it possible to restore an image backup of your system to a *completely brand new hard drive* that has never been used or initialized? Let me explain further: Suppose your main hard drive dies, and that you also have another HD that only contains some Acronis True Image backups of your system stored on it, AND that you also have an Acronis True Image Boot CD handy. So you replace the bad drive with a brand new drive (which naturally is unbootable if you just tried to boot up on it). However, using your Acronis boot CD, you can use that to boot up into the boot CD, and then presumably select a backup image you'd like to restore from the other HD. BUT will the restore operation work for a brand new virgin hard drive that has never been used before (i.e. make the brand new hard drive bootable into windows, etc)? I'm guessing it will, but that's only an assumption on my part. I know the operation works well on a normal HD, but have never tried it out on a brand new hard drive, and am wondering if there is some limitation there I'm not aware of (like you can't restore an image to a virgin hard drive that has never been initialized or whatever). Yes. That's the whole idea of an "image". In fact you can have a 80GB hard disk with 10GB free and image it. The install a 250GB bare hard disk and restore the image and now have the same OS on that 250GB hard disk with 180GB free. I knew it worked well on a functional hard drive, but I didn't know if it would work ok on a brand new, unformatted and unitialized, hard drive. From what you're saying it does, and it takes care of all of that automatically. Which is good to know. So from that point of view, you don't really ever need a disk CLONE, assuming you have some image backups, a bootable CD with ATI on it, AND a brand new hard drive handy. I guess the only disadvantage of this emergency backup method (i.e., for a completely ruined defective main hard drive) is that it relies on having a bootable ATI restore CD handy, and a good reliable image backup on another drive, AND on having a brand new hard drive handy - instead of just replacing the drive with a CLONE. A clone is disk to disk. An image is the disk made to a disk file. I can clone a drive goingf from disk to disk but I can also clone a drive going from disk to image and then from image to disk. True, but the latter takes twice as long. Plus in the time you can do a backup image, you could be testing the clone to see if everything is ok. Yes, it takes longer but there are advantages. For example you can't clone an 80GB drive with 40GB free to a 60GB drive but you can image that 80GB drive with 40GB free and then restore that image to a 60GB drive. I don't know what clone utilities you have been using? But you *can* indeed clone to a smaller drive as long as the used space will still fit on the smaller drive with most modern cloning utilities. ATI, Paragon, and XXClone to name a few for example that doesn't care if you clone to a smaller drive. Then there is the concept of image distribution. Software can use multicast IP to restore one image to multiple computers at the same time. Then there is the concept of a failing drive. It is better to get an iumage than a clone because you want to get that image down and onece you have it you can use it over and over. You might get one cahnce from the failing drive. Make a mistake that causes you to repeat the process and if that drive fails, you are too late. Same is true for a cloned drive. Then there is the concept of disater recovery. You have that image for the recovery. Also true for cloning drives. Better yet, your original drive gets toasted for some reason... pop in one of your clones and you are off and running once again. ;-) Whereas if you're relying on an image backup, you have to go through a few more steps, and hope that the imaging covers all bases. The MBR and Track0 stuff is still confusing to me (and whether or not its automatically taken care of), plus the fact that this is a Dell, which uses its own boot loader to go to Partition 2 at bootup to boot into windows, as I recall. (loading PBR for partition 2...is seen at bootup) Hopefully that would all be taken care of with the image. I have read this, however: IF you go the CLONE route, I believe you're supposed to initially boot up on the clone drive once to properly initialize it as the boot drive. Meaning, if you don't do this, and by mistake leave the clone plugged in at first bootup (and are still using your *original* boot drive), it might make the clone drive unbootable (without some patching). I'm not sure why though. I assume this is related to the MBR and Track0 stuff. ?? |
#39
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:10:11 -0600, "Bill in Co"
wrote: Char Jackson wrote: On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:43:42 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Char Jackson wrote: On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:57:26 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Char Jackson wrote: On Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:59:32 -0600, "Bill in Co" wrote: Let's suppose you have a disk with 4 partitions on it. AFAIK, you can either clone the disk (the entire disk), or choose which partitions to image, but not image the whole disk in one image, and one simple operation, unless I'm missing something. Yes, you're missing something. When you choose to create an image, you can select one partition, multiple partitions, all partitions, or the entire disk. OK, I looked again at Acronis True Image, and the only way I see to do that is by individually selecting each partition in its own separate checkbox. There was no "entire disk" image selection, per se (unlike for cloning), but selecting ALL the partitions would presumably be doing that (i.e imaging the entire disk stucture). (MBR and Track0 are not listed as selections, so I guess that's automatically taken care of when you backup C Look closer when you open ATI. The Backup section defaults to "partition mode", which is what you described above, but you can also switch to "disk mode". I'm using ATI Home version 11, and don't see that. Maybe it's in the newer ones. I think it's in every version going back to at least 2009. Try this: Launch ATI and let it settle at the screen where "Disk and Partition Backup" is the first choice. ("Disk and partition" is the first clue, BTW.) Click on Disk and Partition Backup and allow the next screen to open. Toward the top, above the partitions, it says "What to back up", with a thin line stretching to the right, ending where it says "Switch to disk mode." There you go, click that text and it switches to disk mode. In disk mode, that text changes to "Switch to partition mode", allowing you to toggle back and forth between the two modes. Ask for screenshots if you still don't see it. I think that's the difference. Acronis True Image Home version 11 dates back to 2007. And it's a bit different. If you want to image the whole disk, you have to manually select all the partitions in their respective checkboxes. I don't keep old versions of software around very long after I upgrade, so I can't go back and see for myself. You're probably right regarding v11, but in later versions it works differently. Thanks. |
#40
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
I use ATI 11 Home, and it works differently.
When you guys talk about ATI 11, do you mean ATI 2011? If so, that's what I'm using as a basis for my responses in this thread. I'm not aware of an actual version 11 of the program so I assume you folks are using shorthand. With the program running, if you go to Help, About Acronis True Image Home, does the window that opens say "Acronis True Image Home 11"? It really is version 11, and it came out long before 2011. Mine says "Acronis® True Image Home® version 11.0 (build 8,101)." Jo-Anne |
#41
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
"Bill in Co" wrote in message
news Jo-Anne wrote: "Mayayana" wrote in message ... I'm a little confused about this seemingly basic issue, in this case involving the use of Acronis True Image and its backup images, but it could be more general, too. Is it possible to restore an image backup of your system to a *completely brand new hard drive* that has never been used or initialized? There's really no such thing as "initialized". A new disk doesn't get broken in. The only difference is that it doesn't yet have partitions. I use BootIt. I can copy an image from CD or disk to any empty space that will fit it, on any disk. The only difference is that I always partition the new drive before installing OSs. (I leave room for 3 primaries in front and then apportion the rest for logical data partitions in an extended partition.) This isn't an Acronis issue. It's about how disks work. But the software you use could have limitations in what it can do. Also, there seem to be different definitions used, which can make things confusing. (In this thread, one person defines an image as a partition backup while another defines it as a section-of-disk backup.) The discussion til now has been about restoring to a brand new hard drive. No mention has been made of the possibility that the new drive is in a new computer. What if you want to restore the image to a new computer that has come with, say, Windows 7? Would you be able to do a full restore, including your old Windows XP operating system, on the new drive in the new computer? And if you could, would Microsoft consider it valid and allow it to be used? Jo-Anne I used "Laplink PC Mover" to transfer my Win98SE installation over to my newer WinXP computer, and it worked pretty well (but a couple of programs or so had to be reactivated - no biggie). And BillW mentioned two other programs (Paragon and Acronis). I don't know the pros and cons of each, however. Thank you, Bill! I suspect that when I do finally get a new computer, probably with Windows 7 (or, if I can wait long enough, Windows 8), I'll want to transfer everything EXCEPT the operating system. I'm guessing any of the versions of Acronis can do that. Jo-Anne |
#42
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
On 3/21/2012 4:31 PM, Bill in Co wrote:
I have read this, however: IF you go the CLONE route, I believe you're supposed to initially boot up on the clone drive once to properly initialize it as the boot drive. Meaning, if you don't do this, and by mistake leave the clone plugged in at first bootup (and are still using your *original* boot drive), it might make the clone drive unbootable (without some patching). I'm not sure why though. I assume this is related to the MBR and Track0 stuff. ?? The only thing I can think of that sounds similar is this. If you clone under Windows (or Windows has ever seen this drive before) and not a boot disc, Windows will see the new drive and give it a drive letter. Now you clone and all is well so far. Now you dump or save the original drive and boot up the clone. And let's say the original drive running Windows saw this new drive as drive F or something. And say the original drive Windows was on drive C. Now Windows remembers this new drive is drive F, but the OS expects to be on drive C. Now lots of problems. This was an old problem. And the old fix was to use a Windows 98 Startup Disc and to create a new MBR. Which has a bug or a feature that corrupts part of the drive's serial number that Windows uses to track. Thus when you boot the clone for the first time, Windows will claim it has never seen this drive before and will assign it as the C drive. Now all is well. Nowadays I don't know any modern day cloning software that doesn't know how to get around this problem. So the user should never see this. And that is the only thing that I can think of. -- Bill Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0 Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 1.5GB - Windows 8 CP |
#43
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Bill in Co" wrote in message news Jo-Anne wrote: "Mayayana" wrote in message ... I'm a little confused about this seemingly basic issue, in this case involving the use of Acronis True Image and its backup images, but it could be more general, too. Is it possible to restore an image backup of your system to a *completely brand new hard drive* that has never been used or initialized? There's really no such thing as "initialized". A new disk doesn't get broken in. The only difference is that it doesn't yet have partitions. I use BootIt. I can copy an image from CD or disk to any empty space that will fit it, on any disk. The only difference is that I always partition the new drive before installing OSs. (I leave room for 3 primaries in front and then apportion the rest for logical data partitions in an extended partition.) This isn't an Acronis issue. It's about how disks work. But the software you use could have limitations in what it can do. Also, there seem to be different definitions used, which can make things confusing. (In this thread, one person defines an image as a partition backup while another defines it as a section-of-disk backup.) The discussion til now has been about restoring to a brand new hard drive. No mention has been made of the possibility that the new drive is in a new computer. What if you want to restore the image to a new computer that has come with, say, Windows 7? Would you be able to do a full restore, including your old Windows XP operating system, on the new drive in the new computer? And if you could, would Microsoft consider it valid and allow it to be used? Jo-Anne I used "Laplink PC Mover" to transfer my Win98SE installation over to my newer WinXP computer, and it worked pretty well (but a couple of programs or so had to be reactivated - no biggie). And BillW mentioned two other programs (Paragon and Acronis). I don't know the pros and cons of each, however. Thank you, Bill! I suspect that when I do finally get a new computer, probably with Windows 7 (or, if I can wait long enough, Windows 8), I'll want to transfer everything EXCEPT the operating system. I'm guessing any of the versions of Acronis can do that. Jo-Anne Point of correction - what I meant was I used PC Mover to transfer everything over EXCEPT the OS! Meaning, it's WindowsXP but with all of my previously installed stuff. As for Acronis, I think BillW said you have to use the Plus version, as I recall. But the bottom line is, you need one of these programs to move the stuff over - you can't simply image or clone it (or if you do, you'll have a lot of headaches, lol) How many headaches, I don't know. Perhaps someone has tried it and comment on it. By "it", I mean taking a brand new computer with Win7 on it, pulling out its hard drive, and then trying to restore an image backup of your older WinXP computer to its drive (OR, as the alternate approach, simply taking out its hard drive and inserting your older WinXP's hard drive, ahd hoping for the best. I suspect you'd have to go through a bunch of driver related stuff, and on top of that, possibly some of the new hardware of the new computer may present some driver related issues - and possibly some that can't be resolved for the new hardware, with your existing programs. But my knowledge is sketchy here. |
#44
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
On 3/21/2012 4:43 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
Thank you, Bill! I suspect that when I do finally get a new computer, probably with Windows 7 (or, if I can wait long enough, Windows 8), I'll want to transfer everything EXCEPT the operating system. I'm guessing any of the versions of Acronis can do that. Well you can get Windows 8 now for free from Microsoft if you are interested (this trial version works until Jan 15, 2013). I am running it now in fact. And Windows 8 doesn't have a Start button anymore. So if that bothers you, you might want to go with Windows 7 instead. They replaced the Start button with what they call a Metro UI. Which is much like a smart phone desktop. -- Bill Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Thunderbird v3.0 Centrino Core2 Duo T7400 2.16 GHz - 1.5GB - Windows 8 CP |
#45
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Restoring an image backup to a brand new HD?
BillW50 wrote:
On 3/21/2012 4:31 PM, Bill in Co wrote: I have read this, however: IF you go the CLONE route, I believe you're supposed to initially boot up on the clone drive once to properly initialize it as the boot drive. Meaning, if you don't do this, and by mistake leave the clone plugged in at first bootup (and are still using your *original* boot drive), it might make the clone drive unbootable (without some patching). I'm not sure why though. I assume this is related to the MBR and Track0 stuff. ?? The only thing I can think of that sounds similar is this. If you clone under Windows (or Windows has ever seen this drive before) and not a boot disc, Windows will see the new drive and give it a drive letter. Now you clone and all is well so far. Now you dump or save the original drive and boot up the clone. And let's say the original drive running Windows saw this new drive as drive F or something. And say the original drive Windows was on drive C. Now Windows remembers this new drive is drive F, but the OS expects to be on drive C. Now lots of problems. This was an old problem. And the old fix was to use a Windows 98 Startup Disc and to create a new MBR. Which has a bug or a feature that corrupts part of the drive's serial number that Windows uses to track. Thus when you boot the clone for the first time, Windows will claim it has never seen this drive before and will assign it as the C drive. Now all is well. Nowadays I don't know any modern day cloning software that doesn't know how to get around this problem. So the user should never see this. And that is the only thing that I can think of. Thanks. Yes, this sounds like what I was thinking of. I wonder when, and basically how, this issue was ever resolved, with the newer programs? For example, if you simply create the clone and leave it plugged in but along with the original source drive, and reboot, won't it still be assigned a letter like F:? Your original source hard drive is still there and is still C:, naturally. So that next time, IF you detach the clone and replace the original drive with the clone, it's still F? How could the cloning software take care of that, unless it creates some new MBR on the clone drive, forcing it to be seen as C:? But that won't work right if you leave both the original drive and the clone drive plugged in simultaneously. There would be a conflict. |
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