Clone, Image, Backup Questions

[bobnrobin]

Greetings,
3rd try a "charm"??? Hope so..
Read the posts started 9-21 by Teflon. Very helpful - Thanks. Need
additional help for my situation, please and thank you.
System is WPXHome, Sp2, dialup IC. Just purchased 1st Ext. HD, No prior
exp. with EHD. Seagate FreeAgent Desk, USB2, 1TB, with software for XP
preloaded - supposedly based on Acronis TI. Also just purchased Acronis TI
11 Home. System recognizes drive as F:.
Want to make Exact copy of Entire drive C: - OS, Progs., Apps, Archived
mail, pics., music, folders files, etc. - In short Everything. Approx. 20gb
size.
Should I use the preloaded software or ATI to accomplish?
Should I make a boot disk, how and when?
Set a restore point before copying?
Defrag C: before?
"Disk Manager" for F: has setting for time to run before going into energy
save mode - how much time might be needed to clone 20+gb?
Lots of ??, I know, but this copy needs to be made before I try to
DL/Install some of the new "Live" stuff MSN dropped. And, as stated, never
dealt with an EHD and I don't want to make mistakes - want to do it right the
lst time. Did go to the Seagate and Acronis forums -some help, but not enuf.

Any and all help and advice will be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
bobnrobin

 

[Jim]

Replies inline just to keep answer close to question--

Greetings,
3rd try a "charm"??? Hope so..
Read the posts started 9-21 by Teflon. Very helpful - Thanks. Need
additional help for my situation, please and thank you.
System is WPXHome, Sp2, dialup IC. Just purchased 1st Ext. HD, No prior
exp. with EHD. Seagate FreeAgent Desk, USB2, 1TB, with software for XP
preloaded - supposedly based on Acronis TI. Also just purchased Acronis
TI
11 Home. System recognizes drive as F:.
Want to make Exact copy of Entire drive C: - OS, Progs., Apps, Archived
mail, pics., music, folders files, etc. - In short Everything. Approx.
20gb
size.
Should I use the preloaded software or ATI to accomplish? ATI - this is called a clone
Should I make a boot disk, how and when?

Yes. ATI can make a recover disk. BartPE makes a more useful recover disk
(and you can add ATI capabilities to it).

Set a restore point before copying?

Yes - it probably is not needed, but if you need ---

Defrag C: before?

Can't hurt, but mostly like a waste of time.

"Disk Manager" for F: has setting for time to run before going into energy
save mode - how much time might be needed to clone 20+gb?

Can't answer because the time taken depends on the system speeds. My
Dimension 4600 takes up to 2 hours to clone 250 GB drives.
By the way, making a clone of the system disk must be done before XP loads
hence your question of save mode is not applicable.

Another way is to create a backup file on yet another drive (this can be
done while the XP is booted from the system disk). You can expect such an
operation to take about 20 minutes.

Lots of ??, I know, but this copy needs to be made before I try to
DL/Install some of the new "Live" stuff MSN dropped. And, as stated,
never
dealt with an EHD and I don't want to make mistakes - want to do it right
the
lst time. Did go to the Seagate and Acronis forums -some help, but not
enuf.

There is nothing special about an external hard drive outside of the fact
that you can remove it easily. Whether you download the MSN software or
not depends more on your expected use of the old drive than anything else.

 

[Leonard Grey]

Acronis True Image User Forum
http://forum.acronis.com/forums/acronis-discussion-forums/acronis-true-image-forum

 

[bobnrobin]

Thank you, Leonard Grey, for taking the time to reply.
Checked the link, Thanks. Thinking that first need is to try "absorbing"
the info in the User Guide more fully. Then, can maybe ask "good questions".
Thanks, again.
bobnrobin

 

[Leonard Grey]

You're on the right track.

 

[bobnrobin]

Darn it ! Just had a reply done, tried to post - "Cannot find server"....
Thank you Jim, for taking the time to reply.
New ?: Correct to assume that all attempts to clone are to be done Offline
- not connected to internet ?
Additional explanations/info inline to your replies...
Thank you very much for your help and advice.

Replies inline just to keep answer close to question--

Yes. ATI can make a recover disk. BartPE makes a more useful recover disk
(and you can add ATI capabilities to it).

Bought the boxed ver. of ATI - the install disk is bootable. Will the
Recover disk have additional WXP info needed to start up? (There is a BART
PE plug in available at ATI site, but is 30+mb and I have dialup.)

Set a restore point before copying?
Yes - it probably is not needed, but if you need ---
Can't hurt, but mostly like a waste of time.
Can't answer because the time taken depends on the system speeds. My
Dimension 4600 takes up to 2 hours to clone 250 GB drives.

Have a Dimension 8200 - older - orig. HD was 120mb, died, new is only 80gb
(74.5 usable - 57.8 Free), so am guessing that what I want to copy is
somewhat less than 20gb.
The Seagate EHD has an option to set the amount of time it will spin between
uses before it goes into power save mode.

By the way, making a clone of the system disk must be done before XP loads
hence your question of save mode is not applicable.

Could you please explain how to accomplish this ? Is there an "F" key to
use prior to Win loading ? If windows is not loaded, how can you access the
Ext. HD in order to copy to it ? (Could find nothing in the ATI
documentation stating this.)

Another way is to create a backup file on yet another drive (this can be
done while the XP is booted from the system disk). You can expect such an
operation to take about 20 minutes.
There is nothing special about an external hard drive outside of the fact
that you can remove it easily. Whether you download the MSN software or
not depends more on your expected use of the old drive than anything else.

Expect to continue use of the Internal C: drive as before. But past bad
experience has proved that one should save what's working before attempting
to update/upgrade !! Been there, done that.
Thanks, again.

 

[bobnrobin]

Thanks,
The user forums for the various programs, etc., are mostly quite good, and
one goes there to learn. But, for 7+ years, the MS Communities have been my
first Go To for answers. Always someone who understands the MS programs/OS,
etc., and their quirks and how others will interact. Glad you're here!