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njs1

1 Rookie

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140 Posts

114537

September 15th, 2007 04:00

Acronis True Image 10 Home

I did a search on the Dell Forums and found several trustworthy people recommending this Acronis program for backing up the computer.  Is it reliable with Vista?  I'm installing a trial version now, after I just did a factory image restore of my computer, which took a long time.  If this program is versatile and makes restoring the whole hard drive easy, I might buy it.

pcgeek11

2 Intern

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1.9K Posts

September 16th, 2007 01:00

" More the fool you. " ??
 
Well that is your opinion. I can only speak from My personal experience. I have backed up and restored so many disk using Acronis that I can no longer count them.
 
I did notice that you didn't make any sort of alternate recommendation.
 
What do you use?
 
1. There are always inherent dangers involved when mucking around in the partition tables etc... Dell doesn't simplify this with the way they lay their partition tables out as stated above. This would be particular to the Dell created partitions.
 
2. I have imaged the entire disk or just the partitions DOS, Win98, Win2k, Win Vista, Various Linux systems and file systems Ext2, Ext3, Reiser. I have never had any issues restoring any of them using Acronis True Image 8.X, 9.X or 10.0.
 
3. I always boot from the stand alone boot CD to image and restore the disk. The Windows environment has too much going on at the same time and incorporates more dangers to the successful completion of these types of task, like flashing the BIOS from within Windows.
 
4. I have seen more botched clones and image restores gone wrong with the newer Norton Ghost products than I have with any other imaging software. Granted the older DOS based Ghost software was excellent.
 
5 Most of the time when I assist persons with their botched restores or imaging problems the causes are normally caused by user errors.
 
To each his own.
 
pcgeek11

mxytplk

2 Intern

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139 Posts

September 16th, 2007 01:00

pcgeek11,
 
More the fool you.

mombodog

2 Intern

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12.7K Posts

September 16th, 2007 01:00

mxytplk,
 
Thanks for the links, but as I have always recommended here when Using Acronis, Do a full disk Image all partitions, and it works fine as quoted from a member in the second thread you posted.
 
 
"OK, restoring the C partition only from a full disk backup results in a bootable disk.

3. I repeated step 2, but I started the restore of just the C partition in Vista. It completed successfully exactly as in 2.

OK, it doesn't matter how the C partition from the full backup is restored. Both the Recovery CD and starting in Vista work the same way.

4. I restored only the C partition from a backup of only the C partition (not the full disk). The system would not boot. I got the winload.exe errror message and was instructed to use the Vista DVD to repair the boot.

Bad news, I can't restore C if only C was backed up. At least not without doing a Vista repair."
 
I stopped using the clone process years ago because I had issues from several softwares using this method, I  always use the backup Image I make first, so this is good to know this is still an issue with Acronis. Looks like most of the issues (winload.exe) were using the clone method and could be repaired easily with Vista's startup repair.
 
PC's with multiple partitions are always difficult to backup and restore if you don't do the full disk image. Multi partitioned disks like Dell's have partition "links" that get damaged if you do not use the full disk image method. Complete Disk image backs up the complete MBR on all partitions to prevent these problems.
 
I have found no Image software to be flawless, rather limited only by the users knowledge.
 
Vista is a whole new beast and little has been written about the partitions and their links to each other, or how to repair them if damaged. so do a Full Disk Image as I and other have recommended on a Dell.
 
Back up and restore of a single partition on a Dell XP multi partition disk has never worked well with any software that I am aware of, it restores the OS ok but breaks things like the Dell restore partition and Media Direct partition. I cannot speak to any other manufacturer's disk links and layout.
 
So the links are good information, but do not speak Directly to Acronis - Dell Issues.
 
 
 
 

gdwrnch3

2 Intern

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3.3K Posts

September 16th, 2007 02:00

     I've done three drive restores on Vista x64 flawlessly

pcgeek11

2 Intern

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1.9K Posts

September 16th, 2007 02:00

njs1,
 
To boost your confidence a little, run the program again and have it verify the image you created to ensure there are no errors.
 
pcgeek11

njs1

1 Rookie

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140 Posts

September 16th, 2007 02:00

I still have confidence in it.  I used the trial to make a complete image of all partitions on my hard drive, as advised, and I made a bootable rescue cd.  I have faith in it so far, though I'm not going to try out a drive restore as long as I don't need to.


Message Edited by njs1 on 09-15-2007 10:23 PM

gdwrnch3

2 Intern

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3.3K Posts

September 16th, 2007 02:00

         He doesn't use anything. he just likes to talk about what he has "heard or read"
 
    I speak from experience, it's great software.
Have a good nite,
jd
 
I did notice that you didn't make any sort of alternate recommendation.
 
What do you use?
 

njs1

1 Rookie

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140 Posts

September 16th, 2007 03:00

I used the custom settings when I did the backup to opt for the verification.  I also set up a regular differential backup task to do that each time.  No problems, according to the log, except I can't seem to get my email info entered correctly now for the program to send me confirmations.  (The test always fails, but I had it working earlier.  I'll try that again tomorrow.)

scott784

388 Posts

September 16th, 2007 04:00

I have to agree with jd, the program is awesome.  Acronis TI 10 has saved me more than once and I've been back up and running in 30 minutes from a crash.  Compare that to an all day task to manually restore the OS, programs, settings, etc....if you don't have a backup image.  This software rocks!


Message Edited by scott784 on 09-16-2007 01:28 AM

gdwrnch3

2 Intern

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3.3K Posts

September 16th, 2007 04:00

                     I am running raid 0 on all of my machines. and my sons gaming machine.
Mine are backed up weekly, and all my data is stored on other disks. One machine was crashed one night from a windows update. it had an nvidia raid driver update and I didn't see it. I never fool with the sata raid drivers once a machine is running good. It tanked the system, restart, blue screen, on and on. Popped in my Acronis disk, hooked up my usb Lacie disk where the backups are, and in twenty minutes, I was up and running again. This was a Vista x32 machine. I have restored two vista x64 machines, just to see if it works.
                  The software is awesome, I have tried many, but NOTHING works as good as this...
Good luck with it,
jd

snowshine

2 Intern

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1.1K Posts

September 16th, 2007 16:00

Hi MoneyGuyBK,
You could get it instantaneously over the internet.
I after read through this thread last night purchased Acronis True Image 10 Home on line and within 20 minutes up and running on my computer.
 
Snow

gdwrnch3

2 Intern

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3.3K Posts

September 16th, 2007 16:00

    Hmmmm,
     Mine must be a freak then, as I have said previously, all functions work with my Vista. maybe you should download the free trial and try it, instead of quoting links, all functions have been tested by me, on my machines, and as I stated before, by trial, and not reading someone elses tests, all functions work as advertised..
 
  Have a good day


Message Edited by gdwrnch3 on 09-16-2007 01:55 PM

MoneyGuyBK

2 Intern

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2.3K Posts

September 16th, 2007 16:00

Thanx to this thread, I am ordering a copy of Acronis, this week!!!
 
Peace
 

gdwrnch3 wrote:
                     I am running raid 0 on all of my machines. and my sons gaming machine.
Mine are backed up weekly, and all my data is stored on other disks. One machine was crashed one night from a windows update. it had an nvidia raid driver update and I didn't see it. I never fool with the sata raid drivers once a machine is running good. It tanked the system, restart, blue screen, on and on. Popped in my Acronis disk, hooked up my usb Lacie disk where the backups are, and in twenty minutes, I was up and running again. This was a Vista x32 machine. I have restored two vista x64 machines, just to see if it works.
                  The software is awesome, I have tried many, but NOTHING works as good as this...
Good luck with it,
jd


mxytplk

2 Intern

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139 Posts

September 16th, 2007 16:00

mombodog,
 
Your advice on restoration, i.e., to always restore the entire system, is fine in general.  However, a user who sets up a data partition/drive distinct from a system partition/drive is expecting restore software to be able to restore each independently if necessary.
 
Regarding cloning, this is of course may be important to those who anticipate migrating to new drives, at a planned or unplanned time.  It is also important to those whose backup procedure includes keeping a clone copy of a drive ready to go, and not relying completely on a restoration operation.  (Incidentally, the damaging of the MBR of the source drive by TI Home 10 on Vista may not necessarily be limited to the cloning operation; it was only that it was encountered during the cloning operation.)
 
Of course, TI Home 10 and competing packages provide and promote both functions.  And these functions apparently work on competing Vista packages.  Depending on the planned usage, these functions may be important or essential to a given user.  That was, of course, what I was alerting users to.
 
Evidently, True Image Home 10 is not yet fully baked on Vista, at least regarding the bugs identified by these links.  That is a shame, inasmuch as this package is known to work well on XP.  Those who already own or are anticipating purchasing TI Home 10 for Vista are best advised to consider this in their current or anticipated use.
 
P.S.  It is good to know that at least someone actually read the links I posted.



Message Edited by mxytplk on 09-16-2007 11:15 AM

mxytplk

2 Intern

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139 Posts

September 16th, 2007 17:00

Hmmmm,
 
gdwrnch3 did not encounter the bugs.
 
Therefore the bugs do not exist.
 
Q.E.D.

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