Acronis clone

[jmt356]

Is cloning the hard disk in Acronis the same as backing up the hard disk? If not, what information does the clone have that the backup does not have?

[Leif]

Cloning is much more than backing up - it allows to you restore a complete working system to a new hard disk, rather than just backing up installation and data files. See Cloning Software from Acronis.

[StuartR]

The main differences between a clone and an image backup are:

• A clone is an identical copy on a hard disk, and can be used to immediately replace the failed hard drive. An image backup must be restored before it can be used.
• An image backup can be followed by a number of incremental or differential backups. A clone cannot.
• An image backup requires less storage space than a clone.

[jmt356]

Right before giving my computer to the technician to replace the hard disk, I made an image of the hard drive's C, D, and E drives/partitions. When I get the computer back with a new hard drive, it will come back with Windows installed and the same partitions. So when I get back the repaired computer, I'll be able to make it look like the way it was by "restoring" the image? What exactly does this entail? Do I just select partition drive D from the backup and tell Acronis to restore it to drive D on the hard drive and the same for E and F? Is this basically the inconvenience that restoring a clone image avoids or does a clone offer some other advantages as well?

Is the following true:
- When I back up my entire hard drive, I need to take each file and put it back to the original place if I then get a new hard drive. I then have to reinstall all of my software.
- However, if I clone my hard drive, I just press a button in Acronis and Acronis makes the new hard drive look like the old without my having to tell Acronis where to put all the files and without my having to resintall all of the software.

What is the extent of information that Acronis can backup in the backup tool? Can it back up my list of favoriates in IE? Is there a way to restore that? What about the way my computer looks with its desktop, the specific icons I have in the shortcut try? Can those be restored as well? I assume the hard disk clone would be able to restore all of that.

[StuartR]

...Is this basically the inconvenience that restoring a clone image avoids or does a clone offer some other advantages as well?...

There are some significant mis-understandings here.

You CANNOT restore a clone. When you clone a hard drive you create another hard drive that is effectively identical (but may have more free space). You can then take out the old hard drive, put the new one in, and continue as though nothing had happened.

If you have an image backup of a whole drive then you can use Acronis to restore all of the partitions. This will overwrite everything on the disk. You could also use Acronis to restore just one partition, leaving the others alone.

If you make a backup or a clone of the partition that has your windows installation then this will include ALL of your favourites, desktop and every other thing that is stored on the partition.

[tedshemyers]

Right before giving my computer to the technician to replace the hard disk, I made an image of the hard drive's C, D, and E drives/partitions. When I get the computer back with a new hard drive, it will come back with Windows installed and the same partitions. So when I get back the repaired computer, I'll be able to make it look like the way it was by "restoring" the image? What exactly does this entail? Do I just select partition drive D from the backup and tell Acronis to restore it to drive D on the hard drive and the same for E and F? Is this basically the inconvenience that restoring a clone image avoids or does a clone offer some other advantages as well?

Is the following true:
- When I back up my entire hard drive, I need to take each file and put it back to the original place if I then get a new hard drive. I then have to reinstall all of my software.
- However, if I clone my hard drive, I just press a button in Acronis and Acronis makes the new hard drive look like the old without my having to tell Acronis where to put all the files and without my having to resintall all of the software.

What is the extent of information that Acronis can backup in the backup tool? Can it back up my list of favoriates in IE? Is there a way to restore that? What about the way my computer looks with its desktop, the specific icons I have in the shortcut try? Can those be restored as well? I assume the hard disk clone would be able to restore all of that.

I think your terminology is somewhat incorrect. Acronis uses Clone and Image, as do most Imaging apps.

When you say Backup above (highlighted) I assume you mean Image. If this is the case, then no you do not need reinstall all apps. An Image is, for all practical purposes, an exact copy of EVERYTHING on your HD stored as a compressed file. You would have to ensure you create a Rescue Media Builder with the version of Acronis your are using. When you wish to restore that Image, you would insert the Rescue Media into your optical drive, boot to the CD/DVD, and select to start Acronis. From here you would choose to restore your Image, tell Acronis where to restore to and select Backup now.

Acronis.jpg

As seen here, you would choose what to Image (In the example both C and D drives are selected), where to store the Image (I use an external USB 1 TB HD), the name of the Image, and using Disk Backup option, compression amounts, validation, etc.

You just go in reverse for restoration. I posted some Acronis True Image Home 2011 Instructions in the Windows Secrets Lounge but maximum Image uploads here prevet moving these instructions to here.

[jmt356]

Ted: when I say “restore my entire hard drive,” I mean restore the image of the entire hard drive. I sent my laptop for repair and it will come back like a factory shipping model, with all my data gone and Windows installed. I have an image of my entire hard drive. Do I need the Rescue Media Builder to restore it in this case, or is that only for restoring an image when a hard drive crashes?

Stuart, as long as I restore ALL of the partitions of my the old corrupted hard drive that was about to crash, including the partitions that had my Windows installations file, will my computer look exactly the same as it did when I made the last incremental backup?

[StuartR]

Do I need the Rescue Media Builder to restore it in this case, or is that only for restoring an image when a hard drive crashes?

To recover your entire system, overwriting the version of windows that is on the hard drive, you will need the bootable Acronis rescue media.

...will my computer look exactly the same as it did when I made the last incremental backup?

Yes, your computer should look identical, so long as the hardware is the same.

[Just Plain Fred]

I have an image of my entire hard drive. Do I need the Rescue Media Builder to restore it in this case, or is that only for restoring an image when a hard drive crashes?

jmt356,
Hello.. If the image is on an internal \ external (2nd) Hd you can also do the following work around ( in-case you don't have a recovery disk)
1.Boot up your new OS.
2.Install Acronis TI Home to new OS.
3. Run backup from within Windows. (your old image) From you 2nd HD
4. Your back to where you were.
Regards Fred

[tedshemyers]

Do I need the Rescue Media Builder to restore it in this case, or is that only for restoring an image when a hard drive crashes?

To recover your entire system, overwriting the version of windows that is on the hard drive, you will need the bootable Acronis rescue media.

...will my computer look exactly the same as it did when I made the last incremental backup?

Yes, your computer should look identical, so long as the hardware is the same.

StuartR, Thanks for the answer. I was already at work today when jmt356 asked his latest questions. I am so glad I discovered Imaging. I "play" with my OS a lot, and install / uninstall lots of stuff, and consequently hose my Os regularly. With an Up To Date Image I can be back in business in less than 10 minutes. What a life and time saver. I have been on the Image bandwagon big time ever since. I think the key is "Up To Date". Whenever a change takes place I reimage. With my 1 TB Ext. USB HD, I can store numerous Images for bot my wife's and my laptops.

[jmt356]

Since my computer will look the same if I simply restore the image of my last incremental backup, which included all files in all of the partitions of the hd, then I fail to see what “restoring” a clone does that restoring my backup doesn’t (I put the first “restoring” in quotes because I am not sure what the appropriate term is for putting the clone on a hard drive).

Regarding the rescue media disks, when I first purchased the laptop, Windows asked me to insert 3 dvds to create recovery disks, which I proceeded to do. These recovery disks are different from the Acronis Media Rescue Builder and cannot serve its purpose, correct?

Also, talk of a new OS is not relevant to my case. The laptop is going into the shop and coming out with a new hd with all of my files erased, but with the same version of Windows reinstalled. It currently has the same version of Windows as it had before it went to the shop, Windows 7, which is what I had on the system when I created the last incremental backup. Therefore, I don’t need the Acronis Media Rescue Builder, correct? I should just restore my last incremental backup to make it look identical to how it was before it went to the shop?

Before restoring my backups to my computer, which I just got back repaired from the shop, I want to back up everything so that in case anything goes wrong during the restore, I can easily restore the laptop to the way it was when I got it back from the shop and before I restored the backups. What should I do in this case, clone the hard drive or create a complete backup? Please note that I would clone or backup the 320 GB drive to an external hard disk within only 200 GB of free space, so I assume I wouldn’t be able to clone it, since cloning it causes the exact same image of the hard drive to be replicated on the new hard drive (in this case, the external hd), and furthermore, that the destination drive (in this case, the external hd) needs to be empty or if it’s not, the cloning process will cause the files contained on the destination drive to be overwritten, since by definition cloning creates an exact image of the source drive to the destination drive.
Therefore, I should perform a complete backup, not a clone, correct?

[StuartR]

...I fail to see what “restoring” a clone does that restoring my backup doesn’t (I put the first “restoring” in quotes because I am not sure what the appropriate term is for putting the clone on a hard drive).
...

This is STILL based on a misunderstanding. You don't restore a clone, or put a clone on a hard drive. A clone is on a hard drive when it is created. You simply make that cloned disk your boot drive.

The advantage of a clone over a backup is that you can use it without needing to do a restore. You could get the same effect by creating a backup and then restoring it to a new hard drive, but creating a clone is quicker and doesn't require any additional storage space.

[jmt356]

Thanks Stuart, I think I see the difference now. If I understand correctly, for someone who is trying to backup a computer's hard disk on an external hard drive that he doesn't want to look exactly like the computer's hd because the external hd has files on there that the computer's hd does not have, and he doesn't want the external hd's other files to be deleted, then creating an image rather than a clone is the right step. If however he is replacing his hard disk with a new one then cloning the new hd is the right step if he wants the new one to look exactly like the old one.

[jmt356]

I just realized that the shop sent my laptop back with a different HD: the original was a Western Digital; the new one is a Hitachi. This means I cannot simply restore the image to make everything work like it did before, right? If I do, Windows will try to access data on the Western Digital but won't find it and won't be able to boot up, is that right? Is there a way to restore the computer in consideration of this?

[tedshemyers]

Stick the Acronis Rescue media into the DVD drive, and boot to the Rescue Media. Select Acronis in the first option, then select Restore your HD and follow the instructions. The rescue Media has the Acronis files on it that allow you to Restore. This is the case whether you are Restoring an Image file you created, or placing a Clone of you original OS onto the new HD. Either way you need the Rescue Media to use the Backup, whether Image or Clone.

The difference is that an Image is a single compressed file of the entire HD where as a Clone is an uncompressed copy of the HD placed onto another HD. Clones were originally intended where you are replacing a HD and you would connect both HD's at the same time, then transfer the info on HD #1 to HD #2.

[jmt356]

Hi all. I'm posting back my results. I restored the latest incremental backup on my laptop. The fact that the hd was a different one from that which was in the laptop from before repair didn't cause any apparent issues. Windows apparently recognizes the current hard drive and is able to boot up and run.

After I restored the latest incremental backup image, the computer looked exactly the same as it did before it went into the shop and got all the files and programs wiped away. I didn't have to reconfigure any of my settings, reinstall any programs, nothing. Restoring the image to the new disk had the same effect as cloning the old drive to the new disk would have had, if I understand cloning correctly.

On another note, I didn't need any Acronis Rescue Media. I just restored the image located on the external hd to the current disk, and told Acronis to overwrite any partitions on my current hd. Acronis proceeded to lock the external hd, then prompt me to restart, then locked the local C drive, then began restoring the image, and 5 hours later, completed and Windows prompted me to restart.

So far, I haven't experienced any problems with restored image. I imagine the fact that the current hd is a different model from the one from which the image was taken won't cause any problems, as if it was going to cause problems it would have caused them by now, but I keep my fingers crossed that no more problems will arise.

[tedshemyers]

Might I suggest also that at any time you make a change to your new HD, add apps, updates, etc, you might want to consider creating a new Up To Date Image. That way if something unexpected happens again, once you have restored once again, you will not have to redo all the updates and new apps. They will now be included with your Up To Date Image. Because of Up To Date Images, I have gone so far as to turning off System Restore and have never looked back. I have not once been sorry I did this. The space once used by System Restore is now used in ways I believe are much more useful to me.

Also, I believe the Acronis Rescue Media is needed if the system will not boot at all. If you have an original Acronis Disk this will work, but as in my case, you downloaded the Acronis app, then the Rescue Media allows your system to boot so that you can use the Acronis Image to restore your system.

[Bigaldoc]

Me too, Ted! I no longer use Acronis, having switched to Shadow Protect. But, ever since I started using weekly imaging and nightly incrementals, I have had system restore turned off. Never missed it one bit and have had to recover MANY times in the past few years. Quick, easy and painless!