Summary: After installing the application there's a critical step you need to take first, before even thinking about backing up.
Once you've installed Acronis True Image Home, the first step may not be what you might expect. Rather than thinking about what to backup, we need to first prepare for a restore.
(Second installment in the "Backing Up" series.)
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The scenario you want to be ready for is when your machine won't boot. Even if you have a backup, it's no good to you if you can't boot your machine and run software that would restore that backup.
Your first step, then, is to use Acronis' built in wizard to create a bootable CD.
(Downloadable mp4 - 5,647,195 bytes)
Transcript
Now that you've installed Acronis, there's actually a very important first step that you need to take before even backing up your machine.
And that is to create a Bootable Rescue Media.
What this wizard does is it creates a bootable CD, or the image of a bootable CD, that you would use in the case where you want to restore from a backup, but your machine won't boot.
In most cases, what you'll do is run through the wizard fairly quickly. The default options are pretty much what you want.
I have it create an ISO image.
And, in this particular case, that's my only option since this machine has no CD burner.
Once you've created the ISO image, you would then burn it to CD using a tool like Image Burn.
In this particular case, it's now asking me where I want to put it and what I want to call it.
I'm giving it a name, Acronis Rescue CD ISO.
These are a summary of the options that I've selected.
It's a fairly quick process to actually create the image.
All it's really done is created a 65 megabyte file.
Once completed, you can then, as I said, use a tool like Image Burn to write that to CD. I'll actually show that as a separate step later.
But, to reiterate, the important take-away here, is before even considering what and how and whether to backup, make sure that you create a bootable rescue media that you would use in the worst case when your machine doesn't boot.
Related:
The "How To Backup" Series
Installing Backup Software The first installment in our backing up series is to install backup software. We'll install Acronis TrueImage Home 2009.
Creating Bootable Rescue Media using Acronis TrueImage Home After installing the application there's a critical step you need to take first, before even thinking about backing up.
Making a Full Backup using Acronis TrueImage Our first step after installing Acronis and creating rescue media is to create a full backup.
Scheduling Automatic Backups with Acronis TrueImage Now that we've created our first full backup, it's time to let Acronis do it's job automatically - we'll schedule an automatic backup task.
Restoring A File Using Acronis TrueImage Home We have our backup program running, now it's time to try restoring a file from that backup.
Restoring An Image Using Acronis TrueImage Home Your machine has crashed, and the hard disk reformatted or replaced - it's time to restore your entire machine from an image.
What do I do with incremental backups when restoring? If you've been backing up regularly you'll probably have a full backup and a collection of incremental's. We'll look at how they're used.
Acronis TrueImage Home - Backup Software Acronis TrueImage Home is a cost-effective, easy to use, reliable backup software solution.
Article C3836 - August 11, 2009
Hi Leo,
Thanks for your prompt reply. Basically, all I do is place the DVD in the drive and activate the menu option in Acronis which attempts to create the Rescue disk. When prompted, I select the DVD media as the target (instead of an ISO file, which is the only other option). Then, I see a "Processing..." window with a green bar for about 45 seconds. As the bar reaches the end, I get the following message:
Bad Media! Provide another media and try again.
If I try it on a DVD which I had previously used to burn BartPE, Acronis detects that the media is not empty and prompts me to Format it. When I accept, it attempts the operation once more and displays the same message as above. Is it possible that the Rescue Disk media is limited to a specific format, e.g. CD-R and will not accept DVD as a media for this purpose?
Once again, your help would be greatly appreciated.
29-Sep-2009
Posted by: Bracha at September 29, 2009 12:17 AM
Hi Leo,
Just wanted to inform you (and all readers) that I was finally successful with the creation of the Rescue Media and then went on to create my first full backup. However, I had to perform 2 changes before succeeding:
1. Modify the default archive size under: Tools->Options->Default backup options->Archive splitting. Set it to: Fixed Size 4.7 GB DVD Drive.
2. Use DVD-R and not DVD+R media. Unfortunately, Acronis was not able to write to the DVD+R media (though other software packages were successful).
Is the above limitation a known issue? If so, do you know if it will be addressed in any future version?
Anyway, I have it working now and hopefully the backup content is in good shape, just in case...
Thanks again for all your help.
Posted by: Bracha at October 2, 2009 3:32 AMI tried Acronis TrueImage Home 2010 and the interface is a bit different.
My purpose is HD replacement. I wasn't successful with my restore attempt and I am coming here to figure out what to do. I installed from CD and made a backup to restore from.
Starting over again, here is what I have:
I installed AcronisTI and made a bootable CD(even though I have a CD I purchased with the box)
This changed the status under "Your System" from "not fully protected" to fully protected. I wonder why it would say this without my backing up again(I did to begin with).
I don't see "My Computer" under backup; rather, I see "My Disks" or "Files & Folders."
I am guessing "My Disks" is the best choice.
Next at the top: Disk backup: "Disk and Partition Backup."
Under this stage called "Partitions to back up" I am confused.
I am on an Asus EEE PC 1000HE and it has four partitions: 1)C NTFS (Unlabeled) capacity 72.06 GB(ONLY one selected by default) 12.39 GB used, Pri,Act
2)D NTFS(Unlabeled) capacity 72.06 GB , 2.059 GB used, Pri
3)E FAT32(PE) capacity 4.888 GB 3.369 GB used, Pri Hid
4)F None(Unlabeled) 39.50 MB, 0x used Pri
Where does the Master Boot Record come into play? In this stage I see the steps as follows: Required Steps: 1)What to back up)on this one currently
Posted by: snail at January 12, 2010 6:54 PM2)Archive location
3)Finish.
Also, because I restored my backup to my new hard drive, will I just restore from my new image over the old, unsuccessful image which did not boot?
(Cont)Restarting Backup/Restore operations
I am at What to back up and by default Neither "Back up sector-by-sector (requires more storage space)" nor "Back up unallocated space"(which is grayed out) are checked.
Posted by: snail at January 12, 2010 6:56 PM(Cont) reattempting Backup/Restore
Posted by: snail at January 12, 2010 6:59 PMsorry, one more detail on this stage
Under the type for the E it says "FAT32(LBA)" and for F it says nothing under space used and "0xEF (EFI)"
for type.
What do these mean? Is the MBR always on the system partition(primary and active)?