I'm about to install Acronis True Image 11 on my new laptop computer running
Windows XP SP2. Before I do that, is there any way to back up my current
settings? I've tweaked a number of things and don't want to lose what I've
done if something goes wrong in the installation. (I don't have a floppy
drive.) I also plan to create a Restore Point before installing the program,
so I suppose that would protect everything.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Creating a System Restore point before you do it sounds good, if you have no
other already previously installed backup imagining or cloning software to
use. Or you could also use ERUNT, but ERUNT only backs up the system
registry and its associated files, so it's not as complete, of course.

Jo-Anne wrote:
> I'm about to install Acronis True Image 11 on my new laptop computer
> running
> Windows XP SP2. Before I do that, is there any way to back up my current
> settings? I've tweaked a number of things and don't want to lose what I've
> done if something goes wrong in the installation. (I don't have a floppy
> drive.) I also plan to create a Restore Point before installing the
> program,
> so I suppose that would protect everything.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jo-Anne

Thank you, Bill! I guess System Restore is my best bet.

Jo-Anne

"Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Creating a System Restore point before you do it sounds good, if you have
> no other already previously installed backup imagining or cloning software
> to use. Or you could also use ERUNT, but ERUNT only backs up the system
> registry and its associated files, so it's not as complete, of course.
>
> Jo-Anne wrote:
>> I'm about to install Acronis True Image 11 on my new laptop computer
>> running
>> Windows XP SP2. Before I do that, is there any way to back up my current
>> settings? I've tweaked a number of things and don't want to lose what
>> I've
>> done if something goes wrong in the installation. (I don't have a floppy
>> drive.) I also plan to create a Restore Point before installing the
>> program,
>> so I suppose that would protect everything.
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>
>

Jo-Anne wrote:
> I'm about to install Acronis True Image 11 on my new laptop computer running
> Windows XP SP2. Before I do that, is there any way to back up my current
> settings? I've tweaked a number of things and don't want to lose what I've
> done if something goes wrong in the installation. (I don't have a floppy
> drive.) I also plan to create a Restore Point before installing the program,
> so I suppose that would protect everything.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jo-Anne
>
>

Installing Acronis True Image 11 has little risk.
It is the next step which introduces some risk.
If you don't have your hard drive pretty full,
say 17 gigs of used space, you can do your backup
to 4 dvds; more than 4 becomes confusing later.

Then you can make a backup to a hidden partition
on your hard drive called Acronis Secure Zone (SZ).
Many of the new laptops have a hidden partition
used for the OS and drivers restore. If the F11 key
is used to access this hidden partition then *do not*
activate "Acronis Startup Recovery Manager", because
it also wants to use the F11 key. Instead, also under
Tools, create a bootable rescue media. This lets you
boot to SZ and not use F11 saving F11 for the laptop
hidden partition, if it has one.

To see how big your hard drive is, click on My Computer
and look at C: your local drive. Suppose you have an
160 gig hard drive. Open a command prompt by going to
Start -> Run and then type cmd <enter>. That will open
up a command prompt; then type dir <enter>
C:\>dir <enter>
This will generate a report, and at the bottom will say
34 Dir(s) 29,524,869,120 bytes free

This is an example, not the exact number you should see.

So suppose I had a 40 gig hard drive. Subtracting the
29,524,869,120 bytes free would mean I was actually
using about 10.5 gigs, which would take about 3 dvds
to backup or you could use 12-15 gigs to create a SZ.
The SZ is another hidden partition on the disk and it
takes up space even if you don't see it reported.
This SZ method will work quite well with a new laptop
that hasn't used up lots of space and has a pretty
large hard drive. There is not much risk to making a
backup to dvds, other than the backup might get corrupted
so you would need to validate it. There is some risk in
making a SZ because the partition is resized, but it
nearly always works well.

To add to this - I recommend that you do NOT install or use the Acronis
Secure Zone feature, but, instead, always backup *to another disk*, and NOT
the one the operating system is on! If you do that, you will not suffer
from any of the potential pitfalls of using the Acronis Secure Zone
(including the boot up modifications that can result, if using the Secure
Zone)

Stephen Harris wrote:
> Jo-Anne wrote:
>> I'm about to install Acronis True Image 11 on my new laptop computer
>> running
>> Windows XP SP2. Before I do that, is there any way to back up my current
>> settings? I've tweaked a number of things and don't want to lose what
>> I've
>> done if something goes wrong in the installation. (I don't have a floppy
>> drive.) I also plan to create a Restore Point before installing the
>> program,
>> so I suppose that would protect everything.
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>>
>>
>
> Installing Acronis True Image 11 has little risk.
> It is the next step which introduces some risk.
> If you don't have your hard drive pretty full,
> say 17 gigs of used space, you can do your backup
> to 4 dvds; more than 4 becomes confusing later.
>
> Then you can make a backup to a hidden partition
> on your hard drive called Acronis Secure Zone (SZ).
> Many of the new laptops have a hidden partition
> used for the OS and drivers restore. If the F11 key
> is used to access this hidden partition then *do not*
> activate "Acronis Startup Recovery Manager", because
> it also wants to use the F11 key. Instead, also under
> Tools, create a bootable rescue media. This lets you
> boot to SZ and not use F11 saving F11 for the laptop
> hidden partition, if it has one.
>
> To see how big your hard drive is, click on My Computer
> and look at C: your local drive. Suppose you have an
> 160 gig hard drive. Open a command prompt by going to
> Start -> Run and then type cmd <enter>. That will open
> up a command prompt; then type dir <enter>
> C:\>dir <enter>
> This will generate a report, and at the bottom will say
> 34 Dir(s) 29,524,869,120 bytes free
>
> This is an example, not the exact number you should see.
>
> So suppose I had a 40 gig hard drive. Subtracting the
> 29,524,869,120 bytes free would mean I was actually
> using about 10.5 gigs, which would take about 3 dvds
> to backup or you could use 12-15 gigs to create a SZ.
> The SZ is another hidden partition on the disk and it
> takes up space even if you don't see it reported.
> This SZ method will work quite well with a new laptop
> that hasn't used up lots of space and has a pretty
> large hard drive. There is not much risk to making a
> backup to dvds, other than the backup might get corrupted
> so you would need to validate it. There is some risk in
> making a SZ because the partition is resized, but it
> nearly always works well.

I think so, but only with the caveat I gave in the other post (of avoiding
setting up and using the Acronis Secure Zone, but instead, storing ALL
backups on a separate HD).


Jo-Anne wrote:
> Thank you, Bill! I guess System Restore is my best bet.
>
> Jo-Anne
>
> "Bill in Co." <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Creating a System Restore point before you do it sounds good, if you have
>> no other already previously installed backup imagining or cloning
>> software
>> to use. Or you could also use ERUNT, but ERUNT only backs up the system
>> registry and its associated files, so it's not as complete, of course.
>>
>> Jo-Anne wrote:
>>> I'm about to install Acronis True Image 11 on my new laptop computer
>>> running
>>> Windows XP SP2. Before I do that, is there any way to back up my current
>>> settings? I've tweaked a number of things and don't want to lose what
>>> I've
>>> done if something goes wrong in the installation. (I don't have a floppy
>>> drive.) I also plan to create a Restore Point before installing the
>>> program,
>>> so I suppose that would protect everything.
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>> Jo-Anne

The other option is to create a bootable CD with the Acronis imaging
software. This then involves NO software installation, you boot into the CD,
which loads DOS and the Acronis software directly.

On a laptop, whatever method is used, the issue is always where to store the
backup. A USB hard-disk is possible as most of these will work under DOS,
however it may be rather slow.

"Bill in Co." wrote:

> To add to this - I recommend that you do NOT install or use the Acronis
> Secure Zone feature, but, instead, always backup *to another disk*, and NOT
> the one the operating system is on! If you do that, you will not suffer
> from any of the potential pitfalls of using the Acronis Secure Zone
> (including the boot up modifications that can result, if using the Secure
> Zone)
>

"Anteaus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:85C1EB7E-FA5A-4D3A-85FB-(E-Mail Removed)...
> The other option is to create a bootable CD with the Acronis imaging
> software. This then involves NO software installation, you boot into the
> CD,
> which loads DOS and the Acronis software directly.
>

No it doesn't. It loads Linux.

> On a laptop, whatever method is used, the issue is always where to store
> the
> backup. A USB hard-disk is possible as most of these will work under DOS,
> however it may be rather slow.
>

It is slower than when done through XP, but it isn't that much slower.
Better would be a firewire drive (if the PC has a firewire port). In any
event, you can always let the whole thing do its stuff while you are doing
something else.

Thank you, Bill, Stephen, and Anteaus! I should have mentioned that I do use
Acronis on my old computer. I bought a new copy for the new laptop because
Acronis licenses its software for only one computer. What I wanted to do was
back up my antivirus program and all the changes I've made in various
settings before trying to install the Acronis program--and if I can't do
that, then System Restore should be helpful.

Once I install the Acronis software, I'll be backing up/imaging to two
external hard drives. I did manage to create a bootable CD with Acronis on
my old computer, and I used it to boot into the Acronis program and validate
one of my backups--just to make sure it would work that way.

After Acronis is working on my new computer, I'll be able to back up
everything with it and will then be ready to install SP3 and all the other
Microsoft updates and then the rest of my programs.

I'm slowly getting acquainted with the new computer.

Thanks again!

Jo-Anne

"Anteaus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:85C1EB7E-FA5A-4D3A-85FB-(E-Mail Removed)...
> The other option is to create a bootable CD with the Acronis imaging
> software. This then involves NO software installation, you boot into the
> CD,
> which loads DOS and the Acronis software directly.
>
> On a laptop, whatever method is used, the issue is always where to store
> the
> backup. A USB hard-disk is possible as most of these will work under DOS,
> however it may be rather slow.
>
> "Bill in Co." wrote:
>
>> To add to this - I recommend that you do NOT install or use the Acronis
>> Secure Zone feature, but, instead, always backup *to another disk*, and
>> NOT
>> the one the operating system is on! If you do that, you will not
>> suffer
>> from any of the potential pitfalls of using the Acronis Secure Zone
>> (including the boot up modifications that can result, if using the Secure
>> Zone)
>>
>

On Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:26:55 -0500, Jo-Anne wrote:

> I'm about to install Acronis True Image 11 on my new laptop computer running
> Windows XP SP2. Before I do that, is there any way to back up my current
> settings? I've tweaked a number of things and don't want to lose what I've
> done if something goes wrong in the installation. (I don't have a floppy
> drive.) I also plan to create a Restore Point before installing the program,
> so I suppose that would protect everything.
>
Why don't you upgrade to SP3 first?