Acronis Disaster Recovery

[Edward W. Thompson]

Acronis True Image software is regularly recomended in these NGs. What are
opinions of the Disaster Recovery feature of True Image, is it worth
implementing?

 

[peter]

I am running True Image 10 and I dont see that option.............or do you
mean the Startup Recovery manager?? or the Bootable rescue media??
The startup recovery manager works in conjuction with The Secure Zone and by
means of pushing F? as the system boots and before XP/Vista loads allows you
to restore an Image or to restore Files from within that image in order to
solve a non booting XP/Vista problem
The Bootable Rescue Media basically does the same thing except your running
off a CD/DVD...and takes a little longer.
peter

 

[DL]

Works for me

 

[HEMI-Powered]

DL added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

Works for me

I assume the OP meant the bootable floppy or CD to do an emergency
recovery in the event that Windows is completely inoperative even
in Safe Mode. I have testing mine that it CAN launch and CAN detect
my external HD, but fortunately, I've not had a reason to actually
use it, and hope I never do.

 

[Anthony Buckland]

DL added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

I assume the OP meant the bootable floppy or CD to do an emergency
recovery in the event that Windows is completely inoperative even
in Safe Mode. I have testing mine that it CAN launch and CAN detect
my external HD, but fortunately, I've not had a reason to actually
use it, and hope I never do.

I've restored my C: partition several times with Acronis, and it always
worked.
Disaster recovery is the same as just wanting to back out of a software
change that went bad, or anything in between. In each case, the entire
partition is restored to its previous state. The only difference is that in
some
cases you will use DVDs or a removable drive instead of using the Secure
Zone (hidden partition Acronis creates on your hard drive) as the source
from which to recover. The one time I had to deal with a failed hard drive,
I first used a manufacturer's disaster CD to restore the factory state, then
overwrote that with a much more recent version of C: saved with Acronis
on DVDs (first step in overwriting, load Acronis itself from the CD which
you
hopefully let Acronis make for you).

An exception to the above is a really minor recovery where you just want
to restore a file or a few, which you can do by copying files from a
partition
image saved by Acronis.

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Anthony Buckland added these comments in the current discussion
du jour ...

I've restored my C: partition several times with Acronis, and
it always worked.

I'm quite happy to hear that! If you don't mind saying, why are
you having to rebuild/recover so often? My XP Pro SP2 box almost
never even needs a restart except after updates and I guess I've
been lucky on errant driver problems or malware.

Disaster recovery is the same as just wanting to back out of a
software change that went bad, or anything in between. In
each case, the entire partition is restored to its previous
state. The only difference is that in some
cases you will use DVDs or a removable drive instead of using
the Secure Zone (hidden partition Acronis creates on your hard
drive) as the source from which to recover. The one time I
had to deal with a failed hard drive, I first used a
manufacturer's disaster CD to restore the factory state, then
overwrote that with a much more recent version of C: saved
with Acronis on DVDs (first step in overwriting, load Acronis
itself from the CD which you
hopefully let Acronis make for you).

An exception to the above is a really minor recovery where you
just want to restore a file or a few, which you can do by
copying files from a partition
image saved by Acronis.

I do full image backups with True Image, not the folder kind. I
thought that I had to do a files/folders-style "image" rather
than a full image in order to do a selective restore. Do I
understand you correctly that I could recover something like a
corrupt file or one I discovered disappeared simply by accessing
one of my periodic 5 gig full partition image files?

 

[Tom Willett]

| I do full image backups with True Image, not the folder kind. I
| thought that I had to do a files/folders-style "image" rather
| than a full image in order to do a selective restore. Do I
| understand you correctly that I could recover something like a
| corrupt file or one I discovered disappeared simply by accessing
| one of my periodic 5 gig full partition image files?
|
| --
| HP, aka Jerry

Jerry: You can indeed restore selected files from a full image backup.

Tom

 

[AJR]

Anthony states "...instead of using the Secure Zone (hidden partition
Acronis creates on your hard drive) as the source from which to
recover....". In numerous posts about Acronis the "Secure Zone" gets little
or no mention. As a refresher, the secure zone is a "safe" partition on the
HD and the MBR is modified to present "Hit F11 to restore...." at boot -
much like the restore system set up by OEMs.

Acronis also provides for backup to an external, or separate internal,
location - and both processes, Secure Zone and external backup can be
scheduled jointly as well as incremental or differential backups.

regarding HEMI-Powered's post - current "beta" testing of several
applications has resulted in the need for often during a system restore.

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Tom Willett added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

| I do full image backups with True Image, not the folder kind.
| I thought that I had to do a files/folders-style "image"
| rather than a full image in order to do a selective restore.
| Do I understand you correctly that I could recover something
| like a corrupt file or one I discovered disappeared simply by
| accessing one of my periodic 5 gig full partition image
| files?
|
Jerry: You can indeed restore selected files from a full
image backup.

That is simply terrific news, Tom! Thank you for relaying it.
Thankfully, I've not even needed to do that. Over the years, I've
had a small number of occasions where something goes south, away or
corrupt in Windows or an app. For that, I have been successful in
finding it in a CAB file. For selected file or folder restores,
I've used my external HD and optical backups successfully.

But, thanks to you, I now have one more arrow in my quiver!

 

[Tom Willett]

When you click on "Recovery", you have the option to restore just files.

Tom
| Tom Willett added these comments in the current discussion du
| jour ...
|
| >| I do full image backups with True Image, not the folder kind.
| >| I thought that I had to do a files/folders-style "image"
| >| rather than a full image in order to do a selective restore.
| >| Do I understand you correctly that I could recover something
| >| like a corrupt file or one I discovered disappeared simply by
| >| accessing one of my periodic 5 gig full partition image
| >| files?
| >|
| > Jerry: You can indeed restore selected files from a full
| > image backup.
|
| That is simply terrific news, Tom! Thank you for relaying it.
| Thankfully, I've not even needed to do that. Over the years, I've
| had a small number of occasions where something goes south, away or
| corrupt in Windows or an app. For that, I have been successful in
| finding it in a CAB file. For selected file or folder restores,
| I've used my external HD and optical backups successfully.
|
| But, thanks to you, I now have one more arrow in my quiver!
|
| --
| HP, aka Jerry

 

[HEMI-Powered]

AJR added these comments in the current discussion du jour ...

Anthony states "...instead of using the Secure Zone (hidden
partition Acronis creates on your hard drive) as the source
from which to recover....". In numerous posts about Acronis
the "Secure Zone" gets little or no mention. As a refresher,
the secure zone is a "safe" partition on the HD and the MBR is
modified to present "Hit F11 to restore...." at boot - much
like the restore system set up by OEMs.

Acronis also provides for backup to an external, or separate
internal, location - and both processes, Secure Zone and
external backup can be scheduled jointly as well as
incremental or differential backups.

regarding HEMI-Powered's post - current "beta" testing of
several applications has resulted in the need for often during
a system restore.

I assume you're referring to my "I don't beta test with my Visa
card" stance. If yes, I am curious as to why you DO? Are
certain/all upgrades/updates super important to you for REAL
reasons, e.g., you have an actual bug or failure or there is a
feature or feature set in the newer mousetrap? Those are the ONLY
two reasons I will be an early adopter of anything from any
company.

And, if my "beta" testing were literally destroying my entire
system, I would sure as hell rethink what I'm doing and perhaps
either stop upgrading/updating and/or find new developers. But,
that's just my opinion, YMMV.

Now, what I have to do more often than I like is to roll back my
system to a prior RP. Since I ALWAYS set my own RP before I even
let my malware protection update the system, I have been very
succesful. MS and app updates should be obvious, but why do I
care about malware? Because Symantec, eTrust, and Zone Alarm mix
in changes to their basic operation engine and to their
detections engines along with simple signature updates. It is
changes to software, some of which is system-critical, that is
the danger of a melt-down. MS usually, but not always, sets an RP
but the other guys I mention do not. Spybot is also one that
always sets its own.

I went to True Image some time back for a couple of reasons: the
last time I needed to have my system rebuilt by my
nephew/friend/PC builder, it was a long, ardurous journey, and
the other was that I had a suspicion that I was being hacked, and
wanted to step up my malware/spyware detection capability, put a
strong SW firewall in place, AND image C:\ to restore to a known
stable system in case a hack/malware attack took place. And,
naturally, to avoid having to spend a couple of weeks getting
things back the way I want them.

And, although I mentioned this before, it bears repeating: I have
NO data I created stored on C:\. Yes, some apps like Turbo Tax
insist on using My Computer, but for them, I back up the files to
another partition. I have extended data-only partitions to
prevent catastrophic loss of MY data in the event I need a true
nuke and reinstall of Windows.

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Tom Willett added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

When you click on "Recovery", you have the option to restore
just files.

Thanks, Tom. The reason I didn't know this is that Help is sparse,
there is no manual, and while I've tested to ensure I could at
least start TI from a bootable CD, I never tried an actual test
recovery, hence I never saw the option.

I love it when I learn new things as a by-product of getting
involved in other people's difficulties, very nice or you and
others to point me in the right direction when I'm blind to
critical facts or options.

 

[Tom Willett]

The info is in the help files in my Acronis ;-)

Tom
| Tom Willett added these comments in the current discussion du
| jour ...
|
| > When you click on "Recovery", you have the option to restore
| > just files.
| >
| Thanks, Tom. The reason I didn't know this is that Help is sparse,
| there is no manual, and while I've tested to ensure I could at
| least start TI from a bootable CD, I never tried an actual test
| recovery, hence I never saw the option.
|
| I love it when I learn new things as a by-product of getting
| involved in other people's difficulties, very nice or you and
| others to point me in the right direction when I'm blind to
| critical facts or options.
|
| --
| HP, aka Jerry

 

[HEMI-Powered]

Tom Willett added these comments in the current discussion du
jour ...

The info is in the help files in my Acronis ;-)

I know that - now, Tom! In a day long past, the manual that came
with either SW or HW not only told you how to use it but often gave
you helpful tips even mini- or maxi-tutorials on how to take the
best advantage of what they offer. But, technical writing is so
expensive today and surveys have proven that fewer and fewer people
read it, that virtually no one even puts a PDF manual on their CD.
Instead they rely on their help system. Those generally work well
for me, but if and only if, I know what to search for. The problem
is like trying to use a dictionary to find out what something means
without knowing the word or an encyclopedia without knowing the
general subject name. Help is of no help in pointing out features,
except perhaps the home page.

You've been more than polite and helpful to me, so I'll just say my
missing this is more ramblings of an old fool, YMMV. Have a great
day!