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Acronis imaging question
- Thread starter plasma
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As long as you are restoring from an image or copying to a new drive that is the same size or larger, smaller drives won't work. You do have the option of restoring single partitions, and expanding into larger partitions. It is really easy to use, but since they have a separate partitioning tool, they don't let you do much else with Tru-Image. For example, if the "new" drive has data, you can't use it. Except maybe if you blow it away, I don't recall exactly.
Uhmmmm... whatever verteron was going on about there, ignore all of it, and I mean all of it.
I use True Image almost daily, have done so for years now, and at this forum you probably won't find a bigger mouth about it.
With True Image you can do the following and end up with a single image archive file:
- you can image a single partition on a single drive to any destination (another partition, another drive, CDs, DVDs, network storage, even FTP sites with the latest version)
- you can image multiple partitions on the same drive to any destination
- you can image multiple partitions on multiple drives to any destination
- you can image entire drives with multiple partitions to any destination
- you can image entire multiple drives with multiple partitions to any destination
- you can shrink or expand any image to fit any partition or drive as required (if the destination is smaller, it'll shrink the image during restoration; if the destination is larger, it'll expand it - all this is user controlled during the restoration)
So the basic answer to your question is: Yes, True Image can image your entire drive at one time and restore it later whenever you might need it to do so.
Got questions? Just ask...
I use True Image almost daily, have done so for years now, and at this forum you probably won't find a bigger mouth about it.
With True Image you can do the following and end up with a single image archive file:
- you can image a single partition on a single drive to any destination (another partition, another drive, CDs, DVDs, network storage, even FTP sites with the latest version)
- you can image multiple partitions on the same drive to any destination
- you can image multiple partitions on multiple drives to any destination
- you can image entire drives with multiple partitions to any destination
- you can image entire multiple drives with multiple partitions to any destination
- you can shrink or expand any image to fit any partition or drive as required (if the destination is smaller, it'll shrink the image during restoration; if the destination is larger, it'll expand it - all this is user controlled during the restoration)
So the basic answer to your question is: Yes, True Image can image your entire drive at one time and restore it later whenever you might need it to do so.
Got questions? Just ask...
ih82bl84f1
n00b
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 57
With Acronis installed you should be able to right click on the archive (*.tib) and choose mount and Acronis will assign it a drive letter and you will be able to open it in explorer. Doing so, it is read only so you won"t mess up the image. This is provided that you don't have the archive in an ACRONIS SECURE ZONE. I create backup archives to a partition or usb device so I can burn them to DVD or mount them at anytime.
Ain't that the truth! Zing! Couldn't resist.
"The truth hurts... maybe not as much as riding a bike without a seat, but it hurts just the same..."
"As long as you are restoring from an image or copying to a new drive that is the same size or larger, smaller drives won't work." - me
Well I may not be [H]ard|Gawd, but I know when it told me that the destination partition was too small for my image to go there. And I could not find where to resize it. I was trying to keep the second partition and only reimage the primary partition. And I am talking about just the partition size, not the data amount in it. Like 6GB of data on a 20GB partition as an image wouldn't go into a 10GB partition.
It has also told me there are no valid drives to restore to. I must then reboot to DOS, FDisk, then run True Image again.
Let's be clear here, I am only talking about booting the recovery CD, not running the program from windows. I need to do this on the go, not in the shop.
"You do have the option of restoring single partitions, and expanding into larger partitions."
I did not mean to imply that you couldn't restore multiple partitions, that's just marketing bullet points to me and irrelevant anyway. It should be obvious. If you can do one, you can do second one. To do several at once I don't have a need for, except for whole drive images.
"It is really easy to use, but since they have a separate partitioning tool, they don't let you do much else with Tru-Image. For example, if the "new" drive has data, you can't use it. Except maybe if you blow it away, I don't recall exactly."
They don't want to cannibalize the sales of Disk Director Suite, so why would they let you repartition with True Image? If the drive has data on it, you need to erase it with another tool before True Image will restore to it.
The thing about backup though, it doesn't matter how fast, easy or flexible it is if it won't restore. No backup solution is complete without a restore. So none of these options impress me, I just want to restore a single drive image. And maybe single partitions every once in a while. My point is that you should ask the question about how to backup, without asking how to restore.
You also cannot save the image to a DL DVD, not more than the first 4.7GB anyway. Well, maybe the newest version 10, I only have 9.1. But you cannot take the file and burn it to a DL DVD later either. True Image won't accept it as it isn't marked by Acronis. So I only use external HD's, but internal is 3-4x faster when I can do it. Now the website says you can, with the same version I am using, 9.1. But they didn't specify that it would work off the boot CD, it didn't for me. Maybe if I specified 4.7 GB or smaller files for the image, then placed those on the DVD rather than a single 7GB file?
http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/resource/solutions/cloning/2005/clone-hard-drive-to-cd-dvd.html
They do mention packet writing software, which implies the Windows version.
Maybe if you'd explain how to do something rather than just repeating the marketing drivel on the box and insulting other members of these forums I'd have some respect for you. I don't.
Oh and by the way, I can still learn, but I bet you'll still be a loud-mouthed prick tomorrow.
Well I may not be [H]ard|Gawd, but I know when it told me that the destination partition was too small for my image to go there. And I could not find where to resize it. I was trying to keep the second partition and only reimage the primary partition. And I am talking about just the partition size, not the data amount in it. Like 6GB of data on a 20GB partition as an image wouldn't go into a 10GB partition.
It has also told me there are no valid drives to restore to. I must then reboot to DOS, FDisk, then run True Image again.
Let's be clear here, I am only talking about booting the recovery CD, not running the program from windows. I need to do this on the go, not in the shop.
"You do have the option of restoring single partitions, and expanding into larger partitions."
I did not mean to imply that you couldn't restore multiple partitions, that's just marketing bullet points to me and irrelevant anyway. It should be obvious. If you can do one, you can do second one. To do several at once I don't have a need for, except for whole drive images.
"It is really easy to use, but since they have a separate partitioning tool, they don't let you do much else with Tru-Image. For example, if the "new" drive has data, you can't use it. Except maybe if you blow it away, I don't recall exactly."
They don't want to cannibalize the sales of Disk Director Suite, so why would they let you repartition with True Image? If the drive has data on it, you need to erase it with another tool before True Image will restore to it.
The thing about backup though, it doesn't matter how fast, easy or flexible it is if it won't restore. No backup solution is complete without a restore. So none of these options impress me, I just want to restore a single drive image. And maybe single partitions every once in a while. My point is that you should ask the question about how to backup, without asking how to restore.
You also cannot save the image to a DL DVD, not more than the first 4.7GB anyway. Well, maybe the newest version 10, I only have 9.1. But you cannot take the file and burn it to a DL DVD later either. True Image won't accept it as it isn't marked by Acronis. So I only use external HD's, but internal is 3-4x faster when I can do it. Now the website says you can, with the same version I am using, 9.1. But they didn't specify that it would work off the boot CD, it didn't for me. Maybe if I specified 4.7 GB or smaller files for the image, then placed those on the DVD rather than a single 7GB file?
http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/resource/solutions/cloning/2005/clone-hard-drive-to-cd-dvd.html
They do mention packet writing software, which implies the Windows version.
Maybe if you'd explain how to do something rather than just repeating the marketing drivel on the box and insulting other members of these forums I'd have some respect for you. I don't.
Oh and by the way, I can still learn, but I bet you'll still be a loud-mouthed prick tomorrow.
ih82bl84f1
n00b
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 57
I have been using Acronis True Image extensibly for a couple years now and have had no problem restoring an image to a smaller drive/partition. bbz_Ghost is correct as far as my experience goes. As long as the data will fit on the drive/partition I have always had success in restoring it. I used version 9 up until about a month ago and now have version 10. Perhaps maybe you might have done something wrong or missed something perhaps? Maybe if you give it another try as I am certain it can be done.
I have 3 partitions and am dual booting XP and Vista. Before creating the third partition and putting on Vista, I had an XP "virgin" archived which was larger (partition wise)and it still restores to the now smaller partition. The original archive was created from a 20gb partition and now it is 12gb. My experience is as such, as long as the data will fit, it will restore.
Thank you for clearing that up. I will have to try that again. Maybe I am missing a step, likely since I am in the minority.
But here is the $20 question. If you have two partitions, wipe the first and want to "restore" an image to it that does not include the second partition info in the image. How do you do it?
I couldn't get it to work until I FDisked the drive, losing the second partition. So I'd need to back up the second partition, then reimage the first and the second partitions from separate image files during the same run?
But here is the $20 question. If you have two partitions, wipe the first and want to "restore" an image to it that does not include the second partition info in the image. How do you do it?
I couldn't get it to work until I FDisked the drive, losing the second partition. So I'd need to back up the second partition, then reimage the first and the second partitions from separate image files during the same run?
So I have a question I guess or something that needs to be cleared up.
Lets say I have a partition that is labeled G:\ and I want to clone that data to a new partition on a new drive labeled C:\. Could I just clone then swap the drives and my applications would work?
I would think not..but I could be wrong.
Lets say I have a partition that is labeled G:\ and I want to clone that data to a new partition on a new drive labeled C:\. Could I just clone then swap the drives and my applications would work?
I would think not..but I could be wrong.
/me cracks his knuckles for a megapost... haven't done this in a while, so here goes...
Just curious, and I haven't checked on this thread for a few days, but considering I didn't see one single thing I said in my post quoted in the one that little snippet was taken from, exactly who might you be calling a loud-mouthed prick?
If you meant to address that/those comments in my general direction, why the hell would quote yourself in your own thread and make yourself look like you're calling yourself a loud-mouthed prick?
I had to read it twice to figure out what you were babbling on so damned incoherently about there, but I did get it, so now I'm curious. I'm not a marketing shill for Acronis: I just use the damned product daily and I have since v1 came out not only as a beta tester but as a loyal customer, so excuse the fuck outta me for offering up accurate info presented to contradict the rather fallacious statements you said in your post which I'll quote here just for reference:
The only particularly useful thing you said there was "I don't recall exactly." which basically says you don't use the software enough to offer a valid opinion or knowledge of the use of the software to consider worthy as useful info for the OP.
You basically said True Image won't restore a larger image to a smaller partition. That's false, as it will give you the option to make the image you're trying to restore fit into the smaller space as long as the space is adequate. Here's an example:
If you have an image of a 20GB partition that had 11GB of data, and you want to restore that image to a 10GB partition, obviously it won't work since you have more data in the image than will possibly fit on the target partition. Now say it's a 15GB target partition - that works fine for True Image as when it's done expanding the files during the restoration, the 11GB of actual data will fit, leaving ~4GB of space on the drive instead of the 9GB originally left over. The resulting free space is merely chopped down to size to make the image fit into the target space - but there is NO PARTITIONING ACTION during this process, nada.
True Image doesn't do partitioning duties of any kind during image creation operations - it DOES do some partitioning or at least offers that option during image restoration operations, or if you're using it to do drive cloning (aka moving the contents of an old hard drive to a new one, basically a "drive copy")
True Image doesn't create/delete/format partitions; it only works with what's there in the moment you either create an image or restore one. It works on a sector by sector basis with data copying and restoration and does not do any partitioning duties on the target drive/partition until it becomes a restoration operation as mentioned above.
Read that again if you have to because that's your basic entire argument statement washed down the drain. Restated even more simply:
True Image only does resizing in terms of restoring data to a target partition by simply filling in the available space to it - it does not do any partitioning actions whatsoever.
You did say as much in your first post when you mentioned Disk Director, so I'll give you that, but in the second "loud-mouthed prick" post you shot yourself in the foot:
I get what you said there, really, but you could have chosen a much better way to put it considering it still looks like you're having an argument with yourself.
Uhmmm... No. Wrong again, bucko. True Image asks for a target partition to restore the source image to. If the target partition has data on it, True Image will let you know everything on that partition is going to be destroyed, you click OK and move on. No worries, and no additional tools necessary. Obviously a user should be quite certain of what he/she/it/whatever is about to do at that point, but if he/she/it/whatever is using True Image, there's typically a pretty good chance he/she/it/whatever understands the consequences of his/her/its/whatevers actions.
As for your $20 question, I'll take cash. Here's your answer with pics!:
You're not using True Image correctly, as I suspected. When you go to Backup in True Image and decide to make an image of a partition, or an entire drive if you wish with multiple partitions as I stated in my first post:
The answer is: you check off the partition(s) you want to store in a single image archive like so. The first pic is a single partition, the second shows me choosing both:
NOW...
Since you asked primarily about the restoring of a single partition image on a drive that already has two partitions on it, say C: and D: and you want to restore the C: image you made, oh say, two weeks ago, you just reverse the process like so. First you select the image file wherever it's located (this example has it sitting on D:
Choose the type of restoration (this is where you'd pick a specific partition or partitions inside a multi-partition image):
Next you need to the destination where it should go which would basically never be the "MBR and Track 0" option, the original destination info is recorded in the image file as shown:
Then you have to highlight the specific partition in the image on the next screen like so:
Now choose the type as required, although the original information is retained as everything else is to ID the partition completely:
Then we're getting near the end as you select whether to resize the original partition as the image is restored (letting out the air as I'll explain below):
Final step, basically closing the operation after this one and starting the restoration:
After that, you start it and wait. Not much else to do, so go grab a soda from the fridge or whatever squeaks your sneakers.
Going back to my situation and example above: if I had multiple physical hard drives in my machine, or even if I had an external drive attached (I do have one, in a USB/Firewire enclosure, it's just not plugged in at the moment), that drive and it's partitions would also be listed. I then click Next, and choose the destination for the image. Obviously I can't put it on C: or D: because those are the partitions I plan to image in the first place, hence an external solution like my USB/Firewire drive would come into play, or I could burn that image to a DVD.
In my normal circumstances (that example was set up in a virtual machine as noted; it doesn't matter since True Image would work exactly the same even if I rebooted off the True Image CD I have to make a real image (which I don't need since I have the Recovery stuff installed in the MBR so it's always there when I reboot the PC without needing the CD), which I do daily on my 80GB primary drive. It's set up with two partitions: C: is 12.5GB for XP and all my goodies, and D: has all the rest for storage - and that's where my images go.
Presently I have 4 images on the D: drive ready to be restored anytime I want:
XP as it existed this morning at 6AM when I made the image(currentxp.tib)
2K3 as it existed on Friday when the last image was made (current2k3.tib)
XP just after installation (basexp.tib)
2k3 just after installation (base2k3.tib)
I can make an image of this current session I'm using right now just by rebooting and making a new image that overwrites the currentxp.tib image on the D: partition and keeps me up to date.
I can also start over with any of the 4 images there in about 7 mins or less. The basexp and base2k3 images actually restore to the 12.5GB C: partition in about 1 minute and 15 seconds flat. So in under 2.5 mins from me shutting down this PC, I can be up and running a brand new clean installation of either XP or 2K3 as if I'd just sat here and took 20-35 minutes installing them off the original CDs.
There is no need to use any third party software if all you're doing is making an image of a single partition or even multiple partitions - even multiple partitions on seperate physical drives. As long as True Image can detect ("see") the drives and the partitions, it can image them, the only requirement is a destination for the image that isn't on one of the source partitions. That's it.
What I think happened - and bear with me as I make a rather large assumption here - is that at some point in the past when you (meaning verteron) used True Image, you made an image of some partition, probably your system drive, probably letter C:. You stored that image someplace safe, and later on you wanted to restore it to the hard drive, only... you'd made some changes to the partition structure of the hard drive since creating the original image.
Now, the C: partition was smaller than the one used to create the original image, maybe something like:
The original C: source partition was 30GB just for a hypothetical example, with 22GB of data on it. You imaged that and stored it safely someplace, then later on you decided to restore it and start over for some reason. Problem is you made some other changes afterwards, like maybe...
The C: partition now is only 20GB so, "Houston, we have another problem..."
The original partition you used had a solid 22GB of data on it, and that simply won't fit on the "new" C: partition that currently exists. The D: partition has a lot of data on it and you don't want to mess with it even using Disk Director or Partition Magic for fear that a single mistake or error could lose a ton of important data.
This situation is very common, and I've seen it many times before. The only real solution here is to use the Windows version of True Image to explore into the original image of C: you have and extract some data from it in case that's all you really intended to do (restore it just to get the data then get rid of it); the secondary option is to shift stuff around on the D: partition, perhaps backing up all that data (always the best option) and then when it's safe you use Disk Director or Partition Magic, even GParted if you like, to repartition it and make room to get that original C: source image back into play.
None of that is True Image's fault, by the way. As long as the source image's data will fit into the target partition, True Image will simply lop off free space in the data to make it fit. Imagine a semi truck with a trailer full of material getting stuck under a highway overpass, but just barely. Unloading the truck isn't an option since that would take the weight off the tires and it would rise, making the situation worse. So what's the solution?
To make the truck "fit" you let out some air in the tires, say 10 lbs of pressure from each of the 8 wheels on the trailer and probably the back 8 on the semi itself - the weight in the trailer stayed the same, now the tires have less pressure in them, the trailer lowers and wham, it all fits. In essence, True Image is "letting the air out of the tires" when it makes a larger source partition image fit into a smaller target partition - as long as there's room for all the original data, of course.
If the target partition is larger than the source partition in the image, True Image will give you the option of expanding the partition (this is the only situation where partitioning actions come into play as I noted way back near the beginning of this entirely too long posting) to fit, i.e. it adds more free space to fill out the partition. But you're correct: True Image won't overwrite the beginning portions of the D: partition per our example just now - you'd have to use a third party tool to do any partition resizing operations before you tried to restore the original source image and end up with a final result you're happy with.
And, before I forget, v10 of True Image does allow for using dual layer DVD media!. Just thought I'd mention that since you seemed to not be certain; v9.1 and prior versions don't offer that option. Here's the specific quote from the v10 manual, page 8:
1.3.4 Supported storage media
• Hard disk drives
• Networked storage devices
• FTP servers*
• CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R (including double-layer DVD+R), DVD+RW, DVD-RAM**
<etc etc>
** Burned write-once discs cannot be read in Windows NT 4 without third-party software. Burned rewritable discs cannot be read in Linux without kernel patch.
And I have over 45 different images stored on DVD+RW media around here, of various OSes in various states of installation or testing, and not a single one of them was burned using True Image itself - each one was stored on a secondary partition during the imaging process, and then burned to the DVD+RW media using Nero. Each and every one of them has been restored to my various testbed machines many times over using True Image from "DOS" mode - not one time has True Image ever yelped about it not being a 'marked' image as you stated.
So, that's about all I can think of to get out. See what happens when I miss a thread for a few days? Geezus...
I'll let someone else answer roaf85's question there regarding the drive lettering.
Asking questions is a very good thing, so that's a plus, it does show you can learn. Calling someone that knows more about a product or has more experience than you do a "loud-mouthed prick" because he knew your answer to the OP was loaded and basically useless in the long run isn't, so that's a negative.
As for me actually being a loud-mouthed prick well, that's just something only people that really know me can answer. But you can learn, right?
Have fun, always...
Just curious, and I haven't checked on this thread for a few days, but considering I didn't see one single thing I said in my post quoted in the one that little snippet was taken from, exactly who might you be calling a loud-mouthed prick?
If you meant to address that/those comments in my general direction, why the hell would quote yourself in your own thread and make yourself look like you're calling yourself a loud-mouthed prick?
I had to read it twice to figure out what you were babbling on so damned incoherently about there, but I did get it, so now I'm curious. I'm not a marketing shill for Acronis: I just use the damned product daily and I have since v1 came out not only as a beta tester but as a loyal customer, so excuse the fuck outta me for offering up accurate info presented to contradict the rather fallacious statements you said in your post which I'll quote here just for reference:
The only particularly useful thing you said there was "I don't recall exactly." which basically says you don't use the software enough to offer a valid opinion or knowledge of the use of the software to consider worthy as useful info for the OP.
You basically said True Image won't restore a larger image to a smaller partition. That's false, as it will give you the option to make the image you're trying to restore fit into the smaller space as long as the space is adequate. Here's an example:
If you have an image of a 20GB partition that had 11GB of data, and you want to restore that image to a 10GB partition, obviously it won't work since you have more data in the image than will possibly fit on the target partition. Now say it's a 15GB target partition - that works fine for True Image as when it's done expanding the files during the restoration, the 11GB of actual data will fit, leaving ~4GB of space on the drive instead of the 9GB originally left over. The resulting free space is merely chopped down to size to make the image fit into the target space - but there is NO PARTITIONING ACTION during this process, nada.
True Image doesn't do partitioning duties of any kind during image creation operations - it DOES do some partitioning or at least offers that option during image restoration operations, or if you're using it to do drive cloning (aka moving the contents of an old hard drive to a new one, basically a "drive copy")
True Image doesn't create/delete/format partitions; it only works with what's there in the moment you either create an image or restore one. It works on a sector by sector basis with data copying and restoration and does not do any partitioning duties on the target drive/partition until it becomes a restoration operation as mentioned above.
Read that again if you have to because that's your basic entire argument statement washed down the drain. Restated even more simply:
True Image only does resizing in terms of restoring data to a target partition by simply filling in the available space to it - it does not do any partitioning actions whatsoever.
You did say as much in your first post when you mentioned Disk Director, so I'll give you that, but in the second "loud-mouthed prick" post you shot yourself in the foot:
I get what you said there, really, but you could have chosen a much better way to put it considering it still looks like you're having an argument with yourself.
Uhmmm... No. Wrong again, bucko. True Image asks for a target partition to restore the source image to. If the target partition has data on it, True Image will let you know everything on that partition is going to be destroyed, you click OK and move on. No worries, and no additional tools necessary. Obviously a user should be quite certain of what he/she/it/whatever is about to do at that point, but if he/she/it/whatever is using True Image, there's typically a pretty good chance he/she/it/whatever understands the consequences of his/her/its/whatevers actions.
As for your $20 question, I'll take cash. Here's your answer with pics!:
You're not using True Image correctly, as I suspected. When you go to Backup in True Image and decide to make an image of a partition, or an entire drive if you wish with multiple partitions as I stated in my first post:
bbz_Ghost said:
The answer is: you check off the partition(s) you want to store in a single image archive like so. The first pic is a single partition, the second shows me choosing both:
NOW...
Since you asked primarily about the restoring of a single partition image on a drive that already has two partitions on it, say C: and D: and you want to restore the C: image you made, oh say, two weeks ago, you just reverse the process like so. First you select the image file wherever it's located (this example has it sitting on D
:
Choose the type of restoration (this is where you'd pick a specific partition or partitions inside a multi-partition image):
Next you need to the destination where it should go which would basically never be the "MBR and Track 0" option, the original destination info is recorded in the image file as shown:
Then you have to highlight the specific partition in the image on the next screen like so:
Now choose the type as required, although the original information is retained as everything else is to ID the partition completely:
Then we're getting near the end as you select whether to resize the original partition as the image is restored (letting out the air as I'll explain below):
Final step, basically closing the operation after this one and starting the restoration:
After that, you start it and wait. Not much else to do, so go grab a soda from the fridge or whatever squeaks your sneakers.
Going back to my situation and example above: if I had multiple physical hard drives in my machine, or even if I had an external drive attached (I do have one, in a USB/Firewire enclosure, it's just not plugged in at the moment), that drive and it's partitions would also be listed. I then click Next, and choose the destination for the image. Obviously I can't put it on C: or D: because those are the partitions I plan to image in the first place, hence an external solution like my USB/Firewire drive would come into play, or I could burn that image to a DVD.
In my normal circumstances (that example was set up in a virtual machine as noted; it doesn't matter since True Image would work exactly the same even if I rebooted off the True Image CD I have to make a real image (which I don't need since I have the Recovery stuff installed in the MBR so it's always there when I reboot the PC without needing the CD), which I do daily on my 80GB primary drive. It's set up with two partitions: C: is 12.5GB for XP and all my goodies, and D: has all the rest for storage - and that's where my images go.
Presently I have 4 images on the D: drive ready to be restored anytime I want:
XP as it existed this morning at 6AM when I made the image(currentxp.tib)
2K3 as it existed on Friday when the last image was made (current2k3.tib)
XP just after installation (basexp.tib)
2k3 just after installation (base2k3.tib)
I can make an image of this current session I'm using right now just by rebooting and making a new image that overwrites the currentxp.tib image on the D: partition and keeps me up to date.
I can also start over with any of the 4 images there in about 7 mins or less. The basexp and base2k3 images actually restore to the 12.5GB C: partition in about 1 minute and 15 seconds flat. So in under 2.5 mins from me shutting down this PC, I can be up and running a brand new clean installation of either XP or 2K3 as if I'd just sat here and took 20-35 minutes installing them off the original CDs.
There is no need to use any third party software if all you're doing is making an image of a single partition or even multiple partitions - even multiple partitions on seperate physical drives. As long as True Image can detect ("see") the drives and the partitions, it can image them, the only requirement is a destination for the image that isn't on one of the source partitions. That's it.
What I think happened - and bear with me as I make a rather large assumption here - is that at some point in the past when you (meaning verteron) used True Image, you made an image of some partition, probably your system drive, probably letter C:. You stored that image someplace safe, and later on you wanted to restore it to the hard drive, only... you'd made some changes to the partition structure of the hard drive since creating the original image.
Now, the C: partition was smaller than the one used to create the original image, maybe something like:
The original C: source partition was 30GB just for a hypothetical example, with 22GB of data on it. You imaged that and stored it safely someplace, then later on you decided to restore it and start over for some reason. Problem is you made some other changes afterwards, like maybe...
The C: partition now is only 20GB so, "Houston, we have another problem..."
The original partition you used had a solid 22GB of data on it, and that simply won't fit on the "new" C: partition that currently exists. The D: partition has a lot of data on it and you don't want to mess with it even using Disk Director or Partition Magic for fear that a single mistake or error could lose a ton of important data.
This situation is very common, and I've seen it many times before. The only real solution here is to use the Windows version of True Image to explore into the original image of C: you have and extract some data from it in case that's all you really intended to do (restore it just to get the data then get rid of it); the secondary option is to shift stuff around on the D: partition, perhaps backing up all that data (always the best option) and then when it's safe you use Disk Director or Partition Magic, even GParted if you like, to repartition it and make room to get that original C: source image back into play.
None of that is True Image's fault, by the way. As long as the source image's data will fit into the target partition, True Image will simply lop off free space in the data to make it fit. Imagine a semi truck with a trailer full of material getting stuck under a highway overpass, but just barely. Unloading the truck isn't an option since that would take the weight off the tires and it would rise, making the situation worse. So what's the solution?
To make the truck "fit" you let out some air in the tires, say 10 lbs of pressure from each of the 8 wheels on the trailer and probably the back 8 on the semi itself - the weight in the trailer stayed the same, now the tires have less pressure in them, the trailer lowers and wham, it all fits. In essence, True Image is "letting the air out of the tires" when it makes a larger source partition image fit into a smaller target partition - as long as there's room for all the original data, of course.
If the target partition is larger than the source partition in the image, True Image will give you the option of expanding the partition (this is the only situation where partitioning actions come into play as I noted way back near the beginning of this entirely too long posting) to fit, i.e. it adds more free space to fill out the partition. But you're correct: True Image won't overwrite the beginning portions of the D: partition per our example just now - you'd have to use a third party tool to do any partition resizing operations before you tried to restore the original source image and end up with a final result you're happy with.
And, before I forget, v10 of True Image does allow for using dual layer DVD media!. Just thought I'd mention that since you seemed to not be certain; v9.1 and prior versions don't offer that option. Here's the specific quote from the v10 manual, page 8:
1.3.4 Supported storage media
• Hard disk drives
• Networked storage devices
• FTP servers*
• CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R (including double-layer DVD+R), DVD+RW, DVD-RAM**
<etc etc>
** Burned write-once discs cannot be read in Windows NT 4 without third-party software. Burned rewritable discs cannot be read in Linux without kernel patch.
And I have over 45 different images stored on DVD+RW media around here, of various OSes in various states of installation or testing, and not a single one of them was burned using True Image itself - each one was stored on a secondary partition during the imaging process, and then burned to the DVD+RW media using Nero. Each and every one of them has been restored to my various testbed machines many times over using True Image from "DOS" mode - not one time has True Image ever yelped about it not being a 'marked' image as you stated.
So, that's about all I can think of to get out. See what happens when I miss a thread for a few days? Geezus...
I'll let someone else answer roaf85's question there regarding the drive lettering.
Asking questions is a very good thing, so that's a plus, it does show you can learn. Calling someone that knows more about a product or has more experience than you do a "loud-mouthed prick" because he knew your answer to the OP was loaded and basically useless in the long run isn't, so that's a negative.
As for me actually being a loud-mouthed prick well, that's just something only people that really know me can answer. But you can learn, right?
Have fun, always...
Wow. You know your stuff .
What I want to know is why Acronis TrueImage images the way it does, particularly when compared to Ghost.
All versions of Symantec Ghost, and most versions of Norton Ghost (before Norton Ghost 2003) had to reboot into DOS to start 'ghost.exe' to start the Backup\Restore process. They wern't able to do it in Windows as files were in use and whatever else.
However, in (all?) versions of Acronis TrueImage, you're able to Backup (not Restore)INSIDE Windows. How is it able to do this, and how is this compared to the traditional style of Norton\Symantec Ghost in terms of reliabilty, efficiency, managability, etc.
.What I want to know is why Acronis TrueImage images the way it does, particularly when compared to Ghost.
All versions of Symantec Ghost, and most versions of Norton Ghost (before Norton Ghost 2003) had to reboot into DOS to start 'ghost.exe' to start the Backup\Restore process. They wern't able to do it in Windows as files were in use and whatever else.
However, in (all?) versions of Acronis TrueImage, you're able to Backup (not Restore)INSIDE Windows. How is it able to do this, and how is this compared to the traditional style of Norton\Symantec Ghost in terms of reliabilty, efficiency, managability, etc.
It's reading the sectors on the hard drive and copying them to an image file, simple. This procedure gets around requiring the need to worry about "Oh this file is in use, that file isn't closed, that file there is locked, etc." It's not concerned with doing a file copy of the information you want backed up, it's doing a sector by sector bits and bytes copy which basically doesn't have anything to do with the OS itself.
Now, when you try to reverse the procedure from within Windows, obviously that would create an entire world of issues for a user - but reading the bare bits on the drive in whatever state they happen to be it? Piece of cake, hence you can image "live" while the OS is in operation. Obviously there are some issues since the imaging software itself is in use, etc, while the imaging is in progress, but they're not going to interfere with the image creation.
djnes and I once had a post or two here (when I was under my original nick 'br0adband') about the pros and cons about "live" imaging while the OS is running. There are pros: keeps the machine(s) up, doesn't require the downtime while the machine is obviously offline or at least the primary OS isn't in operation, saves time in the long run (more efficient use of uptime which can be very important depending on the situation), etc.
The cons are somewhat iffy depending on who you ask. Honestly I can't think of one, so I'll let djnes speak up if he chooses. He's the Ghost man 'round these parts, at least as far as I'm concerned.
For myself, I don't use the Windows version of True Image. It installs 3 services that I simply don't need running at all, and I don't need to do "live" images, so all I do when a new version of True Image comes out (being a long-time beta tester does have some priviledges) I image my drive as it is at that time to the currentxp.tib file, restore my basexp image, install the newest version of True Image, burn off the Recovery CD onto a CDRW I have assigned for True Image duties, then use that bootable CD to restore the currentxp.tib image and update the Recovery Manager in the MBR if necessary.
Hasn't failed me yet in years and entirely too many reinstalls/images to even consider trying to count.
Hope this helps...
Now, when you try to reverse the procedure from within Windows, obviously that would create an entire world of issues for a user - but reading the bare bits on the drive in whatever state they happen to be it? Piece of cake, hence you can image "live" while the OS is in operation. Obviously there are some issues since the imaging software itself is in use, etc, while the imaging is in progress, but they're not going to interfere with the image creation.
djnes and I once had a post or two here (when I was under my original nick 'br0adband') about the pros and cons about "live" imaging while the OS is running. There are pros: keeps the machine(s) up, doesn't require the downtime while the machine is obviously offline or at least the primary OS isn't in operation, saves time in the long run (more efficient use of uptime which can be very important depending on the situation), etc.
The cons are somewhat iffy depending on who you ask. Honestly I can't think of one, so I'll let djnes speak up if he chooses. He's the Ghost man 'round these parts, at least as far as I'm concerned.
For myself, I don't use the Windows version of True Image. It installs 3 services that I simply don't need running at all, and I don't need to do "live" images, so all I do when a new version of True Image comes out (being a long-time beta tester does have some priviledges) I image my drive as it is at that time to the currentxp.tib file, restore my basexp image, install the newest version of True Image, burn off the Recovery CD onto a CDRW I have assigned for True Image duties, then use that bootable CD to restore the currentxp.tib image and update the Recovery Manager in the MBR if necessary.
Hasn't failed me yet in years and entirely too many reinstalls/images to even consider trying to count.
Hope this helps...
bbz_ghost I read your mega post and I am glad you took the time to outline the process. Not many people think of running Virtual PC
Anyways the reason I ask my question is because of a situation that happened a while back. Me being a retard (yes I work in IT even) set up his Windows installation incorrectly about a year ago.
For instance I have 2 hard drives in my primary computer. One is an IDE storage and the other is a SATA primary drive. Both have 1 partition per drive. What I did not count on was windows reading the IDE drive first in the windows installation and giving the IDE drive the letter C:\ and the SATA primary a letter of G:\
I configured the boot.ini and NTFLASH so now I can pull the storage drive without too many problems, but I would like to have the SATA drive as C:\
So what I was thinking about doing was Imaging my SATA drive now and reformating after everything was set up I would reimage to the primary drive and it would save me hours of installation troubles.
Then again I doubt True Image could do this. I doubt anything could do it sort of a full reformat. I was just wondering...
Anyways the reason I ask my question is because of a situation that happened a while back. Me being a retard (yes I work in IT even) set up his Windows installation incorrectly about a year ago.
For instance I have 2 hard drives in my primary computer. One is an IDE storage and the other is a SATA primary drive. Both have 1 partition per drive. What I did not count on was windows reading the IDE drive first in the windows installation and giving the IDE drive the letter C:\ and the SATA primary a letter of G:\
I configured the boot.ini and NTFLASH so now I can pull the storage drive without too many problems, but I would like to have the SATA drive as C:\
So what I was thinking about doing was Imaging my SATA drive now and reformating after everything was set up I would reimage to the primary drive and it would save me hours of installation troubles.
Then again I doubt True Image could do this. I doubt anything could do it sort of a full reformat. I was just wondering...
TechLarry
RIP [H] Brother - June 1, 2022
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I moved to the Acronis stuff after PowerQuest imploded. Before, actually, after they made a mockery out of DriveImage with version 7.
Acronis is good stuff. The only real issue I've had is this (still unresolved) issue where I can't create a single rescue disk with both TrueImage 10 and Diskdirector 10. It doesn't work the way it's supposed to, and even Acronis can't get it to work.
Acronis is good stuff. The only real issue I've had is this (still unresolved) issue where I can't create a single rescue disk with both TrueImage 10 and Diskdirector 10. It doesn't work the way it's supposed to, and even Acronis can't get it to work.
Uhmmmm... whatever verteron was going on about there, ignore all of it, and I mean all of it.
I use True Image almost daily, have done so for years now, and at this forum you probably won't find a bigger mouth about it.
With True Image you can do the following and end up with a single image archive file:
- you can image a single partition on a single drive to any destination (another partition, another drive, CDs, DVDs, network storage, even FTP sites with the latest version)
- you can image multiple partitions on the same drive to any destination
- you can image multiple partitions on multiple drives to any destination
- you can image entire drives with multiple partitions to any destination
- you can image entire multiple drives with multiple partitions to any destination
- you can shrink or expand any image to fit any partition or drive as required (if the destination is smaller, it'll shrink the image during restoration; if the destination is larger, it'll expand it - all this is user controlled during the restoration)
So the basic answer to your question is: Yes, True Image can image your entire drive at one time and restore it later whenever you might need it to do so.
Got questions? Just ask...
Yep, DriveImage was the one that got me started on the imaging many years ago, and up to version 6 it spanked everything. Then v7 came out and it just went to shit, as noted. Sad when that happened, really.
DriveImage would let you create the bootable recovery disc as you created the image, that was my favorite thing about it. That's the ONLY thing missing from making True Image as perfect an imaging application as I could possibly want:
Creating the image on CD or DVD media that's bootable by itself without the need for the True Image Recovery CD is the one thing I've hoped they'd add as a capability. I think the reason they don't do that is because they're afraid that people will then easily be able to duplicate or copy the necessary files and then they'd have rampant pirating made even easier, who knows.
They could find a way to make a very tiny stripped down restoration-only piece of code that cannot make images, only restore them, and then add that to the first piece of media during the image burning to CD/DVD, but it seems they've never attempted to pursue that type of extra feature that a lot of people - myself being one of them - would love to be able to use.
Bleh... True Image ftw!!! even with that one missing feature...
DriveImage would let you create the bootable recovery disc as you created the image, that was my favorite thing about it. That's the ONLY thing missing from making True Image as perfect an imaging application as I could possibly want:
Creating the image on CD or DVD media that's bootable by itself without the need for the True Image Recovery CD is the one thing I've hoped they'd add as a capability. I think the reason they don't do that is because they're afraid that people will then easily be able to duplicate or copy the necessary files and then they'd have rampant pirating made even easier, who knows.
They could find a way to make a very tiny stripped down restoration-only piece of code that cannot make images, only restore them, and then add that to the first piece of media during the image burning to CD/DVD, but it seems they've never attempted to pursue that type of extra feature that a lot of people - myself being one of them - would love to be able to use.
Bleh... True Image ftw!!! even with that one missing feature...
Umm, I gotta throw in the towel here. I think I was having a hard week. Though I can recall several specific instances where True Image would not detect my drives at all, I cannot remember the specifics as to why it would tell me that the destination was invalid.
I will also have to duplicate the Nero burned DVD and the True image refusal to use it. It may have been a dual layer DVD. I was thinking that even if it could not burn DL DVD itself, maybe it could read it. So I put a two DVD split image onto a single dual layer DVD.
I guess nobody likes to be ignored, but I felt that you were not explaining why. You did rather nicely in your megapost and helped out a few others as well, so thanks for that. I don't mind being proven wrong, just being told I am wrong.
I think I just need to call it. I was quoting myself because I didn't have much to stand on. I knew it didn't work for me in a few situations, but I lack the empirical data. I know I had to Fdisk when TI wouldn't restore the C: partition, and we are talking factory loads, 6-7 GB with all their junk preinstalled. Hopefully, I can find the time to test this soon. Unlike you, I don't use this every day.
So, in short, I apologize for being the prick, but hopefully, I've learned something.
I will also have to duplicate the Nero burned DVD and the True image refusal to use it. It may have been a dual layer DVD. I was thinking that even if it could not burn DL DVD itself, maybe it could read it. So I put a two DVD split image onto a single dual layer DVD.
I guess nobody likes to be ignored, but I felt that you were not explaining why. You did rather nicely in your megapost and helped out a few others as well, so thanks for that. I don't mind being proven wrong, just being told I am wrong.
I think I just need to call it. I was quoting myself because I didn't have much to stand on. I knew it didn't work for me in a few situations, but I lack the empirical data. I know I had to Fdisk when TI wouldn't restore the C: partition, and we are talking factory loads, 6-7 GB with all their junk preinstalled. Hopefully, I can find the time to test this soon. Unlike you, I don't use this every day.
So, in short, I apologize for being the prick, but hopefully, I've learned something.
So, in short, I apologize for being the prick, but hopefully, I've learned something.
Since I'm so old the first thing that comes to mind is the old old old Dr. Pepper musical slogan:
"I'm a prick, you're a prick, wouldn't you like to be a prick toooo..."
Like I said, I'm old, sue me.
No worries, I can read between the lines better than most so I understood where you were coming from. I'm considered by those friends I mentioned earlier to be kind of brisk and terse - I got called that by an inspector on my job once that felt I wasn't being courteous enough to the customers, my reply: "Fuck courteous, they don't want me pandering to them like some kiss ass, they want me to do my job and help them."
Needless to say he didn't give me as favorable a job review. Bleh...
I help when I can, that's all. The OP didn't ask for all that I gave him, but even so I typically go on and on (aka megaposts) about stuff so people won't ever come back to me and say "Hey man, you didn't tell me about <xxx> and it fucked me up..."
I ain't having that on my permanent record, no way.
I thought Id try my luck here for an Acronis Question, I suspect Acronis 9 does not see my SATA drives.
I was just testing my new build (see siggy.)
I make Backup images with Acronis 9, I use WinXP32bit,
My hard drives are configured like this:
Windows on C: 2x80 GB WD Caviars 1 partition only RAID 0
D:= DVD writer drive
My Swap file & My Documnens are on E & F: a separate SATA Raptor Drive,w / 2 partitions,
I have another drive G: WD SATA 160 GB that just holds backup images.
I prepare a recovery, Acronis tells me to reboot, then errors, "complete but with errors" reboot windows is still the same not the backup i requested though.
So I try to boot from CD with its rescue CD, Acronis Cannot see my drives after C:
I create an Acronis Safe Zone, in C: reboot...
still cannot see anything after c:....TIS A PUZZLEMENT !
any suggestions? Thanks guys
I was just testing my new build (see siggy.)
I make Backup images with Acronis 9, I use WinXP32bit,
My hard drives are configured like this:
Windows on C: 2x80 GB WD Caviars 1 partition only RAID 0
D:= DVD writer drive
My Swap file & My Documnens are on E & F: a separate SATA Raptor Drive,w / 2 partitions,
I have another drive G: WD SATA 160 GB that just holds backup images.
I prepare a recovery, Acronis tells me to reboot, then errors, "complete but with errors" reboot windows is still the same not the backup i requested though.
So I try to boot from CD with its rescue CD, Acronis Cannot see my drives after C:
I create an Acronis Safe Zone, in C: reboot...
still cannot see anything after c:....TIS A PUZZLEMENT !
any suggestions? Thanks guys
markintosh13
[H]ard|Gawd
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- Jan 7, 2006
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- 1,092
The TI support forum has a thread on the subject - the answer is "drivers" and the solution is something to do with BartPE. Don't know anything much about it, but there's a guide in this thread:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=175547
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=175547
I got it fixed. This is how it worked for me.
Have your backup images in another drive ( SATA or IDE it doesnt matter )
Boot with the Acronis Rescue CD
when it comes up choose Acronis Safe mode NOT the Windows mode.
you might expereince nothing listed on the drive list - hit NEXT anyway
then BACK
Tadah: all the drives are listed - continue recovery as desired.
good luck everyone.
Have your backup images in another drive ( SATA or IDE it doesnt matter )
Boot with the Acronis Rescue CD
when it comes up choose Acronis Safe mode NOT the Windows mode.
you might expereince nothing listed on the drive list - hit NEXT anyway
then BACK
Tadah: all the drives are listed - continue recovery as desired.
good luck everyone.
markintosh13
[H]ard|Gawd
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- Jan 7, 2006
- Messages
- 1,092
Good update, thanks.
ChingChang
Supreme [H]ardness
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- Mar 27, 2003
- Messages
- 6,504
hitting 'next' then 'back' worked for you too?Thanks for the useful information, Fragman!
I have seen True Image have trouble seeing the drives on newer systems. I am still using Workstation 9.1, ( I know, I don't know anything, right) but make certain you are using the most recent version, I believe it is build 3,887.
There is a Normal mode, Safe mode, and Windows, depending on how you created the boot CD. Windows just boots Windows. So only Normal Mode and Safe Mode are relative here.
There is a Normal mode, Safe mode, and Windows, depending on how you created the boot CD. Windows just boots Windows. So only Normal Mode and Safe Mode are relative here.