Replacing my hard drive

[jmt356]

Is a full system backup of my C, D and E drives complete with 6 incremental backups backed up once a week over the last 6 weeks a "clone"?

[DaveA]

No, by definition a Clone is bit for bit copy of the drive.

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_cloning" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jmt356]

If I try to write to my new disk the Acronis image contained in my full system backup of my C, D and E drives and its 6 incremental backups on my new hard drive, which according to DavdA is not a Clone, will all of the programs that were installed on my old disk be restored to my new disk?

What if I created a new full system backup (without any incremental backups)? Would that be a "clone"?

[StuartR]

I am not sure what you mean by the phrase "full system backup".

My version of Acronis allows me to do "File Backup" or "Disk and Partition Backup". You need to have a backup of all the partitions on your hard drive in order to restore a working operating environment.

[jmt356]

In Acronis True Image Home 11.0 (build 8,101), there is a "Backup and Restore" option on the program home page. When selecting Backup and then selecting "Disks and partitions" and selecting the whole hard drive as the backup, you get an option to create an incremental or differential backup, which append the latest changes since a previous backup, or to create what my version of Acronis calls a "new full backup," which means it copies the disk or partition as it is, as opposed to recording only those changes since the last "full backup."

By full system backup, I mean "new full backup" or "full backup" as explained above.

Are either of these "clones":
- Full backup of my hard drive, which includes my C and D partitions
- Full backup of my hard drive, which includes my C and D partitions, along with its incremental backups

Will writing either of these images to my new hard drive automatically cause Windows and other programs installed on my old drive to be written to my new hard drive:
- Full backup of my hard drive, which includes my C and D partitions
- Full backup of my hard drive, which includes my C and D partitions, along with its incremental backups

[StuartR]

A clone is when you create an exact copy of a drive or partition, without any intermediate creation of a backup.

If you create a backup of your drive and partitions, and then restore this to another hard drive this will be equivalent to creating a clone.