Restore

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

[no comment]

Yes

 

[Bill in Co.]

And I would rather it would NOT be hidden (as I've also been discussing with
Anna), since I want to know exactly what is there and have at least some
access to it via explorer (just as you can with the alternate drive
backups). But since I can't, I haven't used it (as of yet).

Which reminds me: It sounds like you have used it, John (the Secure Zone),
so is there anyway to give those Secure Zone backup images at least some
brief description, or meaningful filenames, so you can readily identify
them? I mean when you don't use the Secure Zone, of course you are able
to type in a brief description for the backup image before it is written,
and a filename, which are very helpful. I don't know if you can do either
of those by using the Secure Zone (I read the filename was autogenerated,
for instance, and I don't know if a description is allowed before creating
the image - AND is viewable afterwards should you want to decide which image
to restore).

 

[John Barnett MVP]

When using the Secure Zone ZA blocks the filename option, simply telling you
that you don't need a file name.

When I backup I always create a 'full' back up not an incremental so,
basically, there is only ever one backup file for selection. Acronis,
therefore, self selects this file when I direct it to the secure zone for
imaging back to the disk.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
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reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Bill in Co.]

So you mean you can't store a collection of backup images in the Secure Zone
that are 1) easily identified and 2) can be chosen at will to use later (for
a restore operation)?

Well, if that's the case, it's not worth it to even try to use it, then.
Just storing one autonamed(?) image is of little use to me. That's a pity,
as I have LOTs of unallocated space on my one internal HD just begging to be
used for such storage.

Plus - when I went to try out creating a Secure Zone (but NOT the Startup
Disk option), Acronis showed that it *also* planned on moving my Dell system
restore partition (located near the end of the drive) in the process.

However, this primary partition (and the adjacent 7.8 MB unallocated space)
is normally *unmoveable* (at least in Partition Magic), so I just exited it
at that point to be safe. Why it is unmoveable, I don't know, but I
assume it has something to do with Dell System Restore expecting that
partition to be at a precise location on the HD (should you select that
option at bootup using the Ctrl F11 keys).

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Bill as I've said I only do full back up's not incremental and I also delete
the secure Zone and create it again prior to doing a full backup. Without
actually trying an incremental backup I can't say whether you can access the
secure zone to choose a restore image - either way you need the first full
backup on the secure zone to start the process.

Acronis always puts the secure zone at the 'end' of the hard drive. If there
is something there in the first place it will delete it ( I found that out
to my horror some years ago). Now Paragon Hard Disk Manager puts its 'backup
capsule' at the end of your last available partition (assuming you have
sufficient unallocated space) and, of course, it can be moved, whereas the
Acronis Secure Zone cannot.

Although I have used the Secure Zone I do find, now, that it is easier to
just create a partition on a removable hard drive and backup to that rather
than using the Secure Zone.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Bill in Co.]

Bill as I've said I only do full back up's not incremental

Same here, John. I *wasn't* talking about doing incremental - I was
talking about saving *several full image backups* in the Secure Zone. IOW,
multiple images from different dates (for potentially different occasions).

and I also delete the secure Zone and create it again prior to doing a
full backup.

OH! But that's because you apparently only want to store ONE complete
image backup. But I don't understand why you would be so limited (on just
storing one image backup there) - it's nice to have several images (for
different dates).

Without actually trying an incremental backup I can't say whether you can
access
the secure zone to choose a restore image - either way you need the first
full
backup on the secure zone to start the process.

No, again, I wasn't ever talking about incremental or differential backups,
John - only FULL backups, but for different dates. Are you saying you
can't do that using the Secure Zone (and be able to access any one of them
for a restore operation later)?

Acronis always puts the secure zone at the 'end' of the hard drive. If
there
is something there in the first place it will delete it ( I found that out
to my horror
some years ago).

Well THAT is disgusting. Lovely.

Dell stores *its* system restore partition (and it's a primary partition)
out there. (And Acronis said (in the list) it was planning to move it
(but not delete it), but, thing is, I don't think it is moveable, and I
don't want to risk losing it, either).

Now Paragon Hard Disk Manager puts its 'backup
capsule' at the end of your last available partition (assuming you have
sufficient unallocated space) and, of course, it can be moved, whereas the
Acronis Secure Zone cannot.

Hmmm. Possibly some more potential problems here.

Although I have used the Secure Zone I do find, now, that it is easier to
just create a partition on a removable hard drive and backup to that
rather
than using the Secure Zone.

Oh, absolutely!!!
And that's what I've been doing up to now. But its space (on the USB
external HD) is limited, and of course, it's slower)

But I have all this wasted space on my one internal HD that is just begging
to be used.

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Bill as I mentioned in my last post without actually testing the Secure Zone
to check whether you can actually access multiple backups I can't really
comment; however, setting backing up multiple full backups isn't a problem,
so I will try it and let you know what happens.

As for actually backing up I am not restricting myself to simply 'one'
backup. My current backup scenario works as follows:

1 Full backup to Secure Zone on Primary Hard drive
1 Full backup to separate partition on removable hard drive
1 Full backup saved to DVD's (offsite and secure)

The DVD backup is kept for around one month before being erased and
recreated. The backup on the removable drive is kept for around 2 weeks
before being erased and recreated. The backup on the Secure Zone is kept for
one or two days before being erased and recreated. So, as you can see, there
is always three backups.

You might like to contact Dell about the backup partition being 'moved' as,
once again, it is something I haven't personally tried. My current desktop
is only 8 months old and came with a backup partition and pre-installed with
Vista Home Premium. As soon as I got it home I installed Acronis and backed
up Home Premium to a set of DVD's. Once that was done I deleted the backup
partition and reformatted he whole hard drive. Finally I created a new
partition (C: drive) and installed a retail copy of Vista Ultimate. I also
have a retail copy of XP Professional running on VMware Workstation Virtual
Machine software.

Give me a day or so to create a couple of full backups to the Secure Zone
and then I'll get back to you with the results of whether you can access
'both' (or more) or jut the latest backup from the secure zone.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Bill in Co.]

Bill as I mentioned in my last post without actually testing the Secure
Zone
to check whether you can actually access multiple backups I can't really
comment; however, setting backing up multiple full backups isn't a
problem,
so I will try it and let you know what happens.

OK, sounds good John. Thanks. More below..

As for actually backing up I am not restricting myself to simply 'one'
backup. My current backup scenario works as follows:

1 Full backup to Secure Zone on Primary Hard drive
1 Full backup to separate partition on removable hard drive
1 Full backup saved to DVD's (offsite and secure)

The DVD backup is kept for around one month before being erased and
recreated. The backup on the removable drive is kept for around 2 weeks
before being erased and recreated. The backup on the Secure Zone is kept
for
one or two days before being erased and recreated. So, as you can see,
there
is always three backups.

I see.

You might like to contact Dell about the backup partition being 'moved'
as,
once again, it is something I haven't personally tried. My current desktop
is only 8 months old and came with a backup partition and pre-installed
with
Vista Home Premium. As soon as I got it home I installed Acronis and
backed
up Home Premium to a set of DVD's. Once that was done I deleted the backup
partition and reformatted he whole hard drive. Finally I created a new
partition (C: drive) and installed a retail copy of Vista Ultimate. I also
have a retail copy of XP Professional running on VMware Workstation
Virtual
Machine software.

Give me a day or so to create a couple of full backups to the Secure Zone
and then I'll get back to you with the results of whether you can access
'both' (or more) or jut the latest backup from the secure zone.

Thanks. It will be interesting to hear.

And also just how the backups are differerentiated from each other in the
Secure Zone. I'm assuming they are "autonamed or autonumbered", without
having any identifying comments that you can ever see, so that they'd be
pretty hard to really identify, (unless you have written some helpful
identifying info down somewhere else, with a short identifying comment as to
what each backup was for). Just like when you're NOT using the Secure
Zone, but just using Acronis to make backups on an external drive, and then
you ARE able to see the comment line on each of image backups when you go to
make another backup.

 

[Lee Antony]

Images in ATI secure zone are identified by date and time. Clicking on an
image in the list also shows full or incremental plus any comment you made
when creating the image.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Interesting. And thanks for that info, Lee.
And - how are the file names? Can you change them at all before or after
the image is created, like you can using external image backups, or are they
rigidly pre-assigned and pre-generated, with no override capability
whatsoever? (You know, like backup1, backup2, backup3) - and
unchangeable.

And can you selectively delete some of them within TI, or is it an all or
nothing proposition - meaning, you have to keep them all (or delete them
all)?

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Bill,

It is possible to select a set backup from the Secure Zone. Each backup is
auto-named with the ate of the backup followed by the time - for example: 17
July 2008 3:59:52PM. Unfortunately you can't name the file yourself; however
you can add a description which will appear in the right hand pane of the
restore data wizard.

Looking at your reply to Lee, you also asked if the backups in Secure Zone
can be deleted. From what I can see he straight answer to that is No! Looks
like if you want to delete anything you are going to have to completed
delete the secure zone and recreate a new one.

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Bill in Co.]

Bill,

It is possible to select a set backup from the Secure Zone. Each backup is
auto-named with the ate of the backup followed by the time - for example:
17
July 2008 3:59:52PM.
Ugh.

Unfortunately you can't name the file yourself;

Ugh again.

however, you can add a description which will appear in the right hand
pane
of the restore data wizard.

Well, at least that part is good.

Looking at your reply to Lee, you also asked if the backups in Secure Zone
can be deleted. From what I can see he straight answer to that is No!
Looks
like if you want to delete anything you are going to have to completed
delete the secure zone and recreate a new one.

Well, what a bummer!

Well, this, in conjunction with the other issue I have with the Dell System
Restore partition, leads me to believe it's probably best to just forego
using the Secure Zone.
At least that's the way I see it for now. Thanks.

 

[Lee Antony]

Much snipped - see below:

Well, what a bummer!

Copied from help file Acronis True Image 11.0:

The Acronis Secure Zone is available as a location to store backup files as
long as there is free space in the Zone. If there is not enough space, older
backups will be deleted to create free space. The program uses the following
approach to clean up Acronis Secure Zone:

If there is not enough free space in the zone to create a backup, the
program deletes the oldest full backup with all subsequent
incremental/differential backups.

If there is only one full backup (with subsequent incremental/differential
backups) left and a full backup is in progress, then the old full backup and
incremental/differential backups are deleted.

If you are in the process of creating an image and there is not enough free
space, you will get an error message. In that case, you will have to
increase the size of the Acronis Secure Zone and then run the backup
operation again.

Thus, you can back up data automatically on a schedule, and not worry about
zone overflow issues. However, if you keep long chains of incremental
backups, it will be good practice to periodically check the zone free space,
indicated on the second page of the Manage Acronis Secure Zone Wizard.

 

[Moi]

Surely, external hard disks are so cheap now that it makes sense to do your
Acronic imaging to an external hard disk?

 

[Bill in Co.]

Yes, I knew that already Lee (read it before), but thanks for posting it
anyways.

It's what it didn't say - that it left out, that I was addressing here.
Like the things that you and John brought out.

Thanks.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Normally, yes. However, for just doing a quick backup and restore for
some software testing, there is a significant speed penalty in doing that
(I'm talking about using the external USB enclosure drives).

 

[Daave]

Normally, yes. However, for just doing a quick backup and restore
for some software testing, there is a significant speed penalty in
doing that (I'm talking about using the external USB enclosure
drives).

Fortunately, eSATA drives are affordable:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822161044

No speed penalty whatsoever.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Yeah, I've heard about that, but I've been putting it off. But maybe it's
getting close to that time to take a look.

 

[Nonny]

In my original post I said "but the Image file can not be located on the
same drive
partition.".

Yes it can be on the same drive, just not the same partition.

Bill is old and has attention problems. A few more times telling him
this and he might catch on.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Bill is old and has attention problems. A few more times telling him
this and he might catch on.

This was already addressed days ago. You're 4 days behind the times, so
who really has the attention problem here? (rhetorical)