ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE 9.0 - HOME User manual

User's Guide
Acronis True Image 9.0
Home
Compute with confidence
www.acronis.com

Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006. All rights reserved.
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2 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006

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YOU DO NOT WISH TO ACCEPT THE PRODUCT UNDER THESE TERMS, YOU CAN CHOOSE NOT TO
ACCEPT BY SELECTING "I decline..." AND NOT INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE.
Acronis True Image Home (the Software) is Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006. All rights are
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1. The license is to the original purchaser only, and is not transferable without prior written
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A. Providing or permitting use of by, or transferring the software to, third parties.
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Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006 3

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction...........................................................................................7
1.1 What is Acronis True Image Home?....................................................................................7
1.2 New in Acronis True Image 9.0 Home.................................................................................7
1.4 System requirements and supported media.........................................................................8
1.4.1 Minimum system requirements ....................................................................................8
1.4.2 Suppor ed operating systems.......................................................................................8 ttt
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1.4.3 Suppor ed file systems................................................................................................8
1.4.4 Suppor ed storage media ............................................................................................8
1.5 Technical support..............................................................................................................9
Chapter 2. Acronis True Image Home installation and starting ...........................10
2.1 Installing Acronis True Image Home................................................................................. 10
2.2 Extracting Acronis True Image Home................................................................................11
2.3 Running Acronis True Image Home .................................................................................. 11
2.4 Upgrading Acronis True Image Home .............................................................................. 11
2.5 Removing Acronis True Image Home................................................................................ 11
Chapter 3. General information and proprietary Acronis technologies ................12
3.1 The difference between file archives and disk/partition images ...........................................12
3.2 Full, incremental and differential backups.......................................................................... 12
3.3 Acronis Secure Zone........................................................................................................13
3.4 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager ...................................................................................14
3.4.1 How it works............................................................................................................14
3.4.2 How o use ..............................................................................................................14
3.5 Acronis Snap Restore.......................................................................................................14
3.5.1 How it works............................................................................................................14
3.5.2 How o use ..............................................................................................................15
3.6 Viewing disk and partition information ..............................................................................15
Chapter 4. Using Acronis True Image Home .........................................................17
4.1 Main program window..................................................................................................... 17
4.2 Available operations........................................................................................................ 18
Chapter 5. Creating backup archives ....................................................................20
5.1 Backing up files and folders (file backup) ..........................................................................20
5.2 Backing up disks and partitions (image backup)................................................................. 24
5.3 Setting backup options....................................................................................................25
5.3.1 Archive protection..................................................................................................... 26
5.3.2 Source files exclusion................................................................................................ 26
5.3.3 Pre/post commands..................................................................................................26
5.3.4 Compression level..................................................................................................... 27
5.3.5 Backup priority.........................................................................................................27
5.3.6 Archive splitting........................................................................................................27
5.3.7 File-level security se ings..........................................................................................28
5.3.8 Media components....................................................................................................28
5.3.9 Additional settings ....................................................................................................29
Chapter 6. Restoring the backup data ..................................................................30
6.1 Restore under Windows or boot from CD?......................................................................... 30
6.1.1 Ne work settings in rescue mode ...............................................................................30
6.2 Restoring files and folders from file archives......................................................................30
6.3 Restoring disks/partitions or files from images...................................................................33
6.3.1 Starting the Restore Data Wizard ............................................................................... 33
6.3.2 Archive selection.......................................................................................................34
6.3.3 Res oration type selection .........................................................................................34
4 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006

6.3.4 Selecting a disk/partition to restore............................................................................ 36
6.3.5 Selecting a target disk/partition..................................................................................36
6.3.6 Changing the restored partition type .......................................................................... 37
6.3.7 Changing the restored partition file sys em ................................................................. 38 t
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6.3.8 Changing the restored partition size and location......................................................... 38
6.3.9 Assigning a letter to the res ored partition .................................................................. 39
6.3.10 Res o ing several disks or partitions at once.............................................................. 39
6.3.11 Setting restore options ............................................................................................39
6.3.12 Res o ation summary and executing restoration ........................................................39
6.4 Setting restore options ....................................................................................................39
6.4.1 Files overwriting mode.............................................................................................. 40
6.4.2 Pre/post commands..................................................................................................40
6.4.3 Res oration priority ................................................................................................... 40
6.4.4 File-level security se ings..........................................................................................41
6.4.5 Additional settings ....................................................................................................41
Chapter 7. Scheduling tasks..................................................................................42
7.1 Creating scheduled tasks ................................................................................................. 42
7.1.1 Setting up daily execution .........................................................................................43
7.1.2 Setting up weekly execution ...................................................................................... 44
7.1.3 Setting up monthly execution.....................................................................................45
7.1.4 Setting up one-time execution ...................................................................................45
7.2 Managing scheduled tasks ...............................................................................................46
Chapter 8. Managing Acronis Secure Zone ...........................................................47
8.1 Creating Acronis Secure Zone........................................................................................... 47
8.2 Resizing Acronis Secure Zone........................................................................................... 48
8.3 Deleting Acronis Secure Zone...........................................................................................48
Chapter 9. Creating bootable media .....................................................................50
Chapter 10. Other operations................................................................................52
10.1 Validating backup archives............................................................................................. 52
10.2 Viewing logs ................................................................................................................. 52
10.3 Managing System Restore..............................................................................................53
Chapter 11. Mounting an image as a virtual drive ................................................55
11.1 Mounting an image........................................................................................................55
11.2 Unmounting an image ...................................................................................................57
Chapter 12. Transferring the system to a new disk ..............................................58
12.1 General information.......................................................................................................58
12.2 Security........................................................................................................................58
12.3 Executing transfers........................................................................................................59
12.3.1 Selecting Clone mode.............................................................................................. 59
12.3.2 Selecting source disk............................................................................................... 59
12.3.3 Selecting destina ion disk ........................................................................................60
12.3.4 Partitioned des ination disk...................................................................................... 61
12.3.5 Old and new disk partition layout .............................................................................61
12.3.6 Old disk data..........................................................................................................61
12.3.7 Destroying the old disk data.....................................................................................62
12.3.8 Selecting partition transfer method........................................................................... 63
12.3.9 Partitioning the old disk...........................................................................................64
12.3.10 Old and new disk partition layouts.......................................................................... 64
12.3.11 Cloning summary..................................................................................................65
12.4 Cloning with manual partitioning.....................................................................................65
12.4.1 Old and new disk partition layouts............................................................................65
Chapter 13. Adding a new hard disk .....................................................................67
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006 5

13.1 Selecting a hard disk .....................................................................................................67
13.2 Creating new partitions..................................................................................................67
13.3 Disk add summary.........................................................................................................68
Appendix A. Partitions and file systems................................................................69
A.1 Hard disk partitions.................................................................................................... 69
A.2 File systems.............................................................................................................. 69
A.2.1 FAT16............................................................................................................... 69
A.2.2 FAT32............................................................................................................... 70
A.2.3 NTFS................................................................................................................70
A.2.4 Linux Ext2......................................................................................................... 70
A.2.5 Linux Ext3......................................................................................................... 70
A.2.6 Linux ReiserFS...................................................................................................71
Appendix B. Hard disks and BIOS setup ...............................................................72
B.1 Installing hard disks in computers............................................................................... 72
B.1.1 Installing a hard disk, general scheme.................................................................72
B.1.2 Motherboard socke s IDE cable, power cable.......................................................72 t ,
,B.1.3 Installation modes jumpers................................................................................ 73
B.2 BIOS ........................................................................................................................74
B.2.1 Setup utility....................................................................................................... 74
B.2.2 Standard CMOS setup menu............................................................................... 75
B.2.3 Arranging boot sequence, advanced CMOS setup menu ........................................ 76
B.2.4 AwardBIOS .......................................................................................................77
B.2.5 Hard disk initialization errors............................................................................... 80
6 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006

Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 What is Acronis True Image Home?
Acronis True Image Home solves all backup problems, ensuring the safety of all information
on your PC. Using it, you can back up selected files and folders, or entire disks and
partitions.
If failures occur that block access to information or affect system operation, or if you
accidentally delete necessary files, you'll be able to easily restore the system and lost data.
The unique technology developed by Acronis and implemented in Acronis True Image Home
allows you to create exact, sector-by-sector disk backups, including all operating systems,
applications and configuration files, software updates, personal settings and all of your data.
You can store backups on almost any PC storage device: local hard drives, network drives or
a variety of IDE, SCSI, FireWire (IEEE-1394), USB (1.0, 1.1 and 2.0) and PC Card (formerly
called PCMCIA) removable media drives, as well as CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW,
magneto-optical, Iomega Zip and Jaz drives.
If you are going to install a new hard disk drive, Acronis True Image Home will help you
transfer information from the old one in minutes, including operating systems, applications,
documents and personal settings.
Wizards and a user-friendly, Windows XP-styled interface will make your work more
convenient. Just answer a few simple questions and let Acronis True Image Home take care
of everything else! When a system problem occurs, the software will get you up and running
in short order.
1.2 New in Acronis True Image 9.0 Home
•Support for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
•Direct backup to DVD and bootable DVD creation
•User-editable default restore options – Users can configure and save restore
parameters, such as files overwriting mode, the original or current date and time for
restored files etc.
•File-level security settings - preserving files’ security settings in the archive, storing
encrypted files in encrypted or decrypted state
•Read-write mode of mounting images
•Including MBR in partition images, an option to restore MBR from a disk or partition
image
•Bootable backup media – When backing up to removable media, users can make this
media bootable in the same manner as a rescue CD, so separate recover media is not
required
•One bootable media for all Acronis products - Writing standalone versions of other
Acronis products to bootable media
•Bootable disks ISOs – In addition to burning a bootable rescue disk, users can save its
ISO image for burning later
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006 7

1.4 System requirements and supported media
1.4.1 Minimum system requirements
Acronis True Image Home requires the following hardware:
•Pentium processor or higher
•128 MB RAM
•FDD or CD-RW drive for bootable media creation
•Mouse (recommended).
1.4.2 Supported operating systems
•Windows® 98 SE
•Windows® Me
•Windows® NT 4.0 Workstation SP 6
•Windows® 2000 Professional SP 4
•Windows® XP SP 2
•Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
Acronis True Image Home also enables creating a bootable diskette or CD-R/W that can
back-up and restore a disk/partition on a computer running any PC-based operating system
including Linux®.
1.4.3 Supported file systems
•FAT16/32
•NTFS
•Ext2/Ext3
•ReiserFS
•Linux SWAP
If a file system is not supported or is corrupted, Acronis True Image Home can copy data
using a sector-by-sector approach.
1.4.4 Supported storage media
•Hard disk drives
•Networked storage devices
•CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R (including double-layer DVD+R), DVD+RW, DVD-RAM*
•USB 1.0 / 2.0, FireWire (IEEE-1394) and PC card storage devices
•Floppy disks, ZIP®, Jaz® and other removable media
* - DVD burning is not supported in Windows 98/Me, burned DVDs cannot be read in
Windows 98/Me. Burned write-once discs cannot be read in Windows NT 4 without third-
party software. Burned rewritable discs cannot be read in Linux without kernel patch.
8 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006

1.5 Technical support
Users of legally purchased copies of Acronis True Image Home are entitled to free technical
support from Acronis. If you experience problems installing or using Acronis products that
you can’t solve yourself by using this guide, then please contact Acronis Technical Support.
More information about contacting Acronis Technical Support is available at the following
link: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006 9

Chapter 2. Acronis True Image Home
installation and starting
2.1 Installing Acronis True Image Home
To install Acronis True Image Home:
•run the Acronis True Image Home setup file
•in the Install Menu, select the program to install: Acronis True Image Home
•follow the Install Wizard instructions on the screen.
Typical, Custom and Complete installation is available. Having pressed Custom, you can
choose to install, besides Acronis True Image Home, Rescue Media Builder and Bart PE
plug-in.
With Rescue Media Builder you can create bootable rescue disks (see details in
Chapter 9
Creating bootable media
). You might not need this tool if you purchased a boxed product
that contains a bootable CD. Installing the Bootable Rescue Media Builder will allow you
to create bootable media or its ISO image at any time from the main program window or
running Bootable Rescue Media Builder on its own.
.
The well-known Bart PE utility is used to boot into a Windows-like environment from CD.
Applications are installed into Bart PE in the form of plug-ins. Choosing Bart PE plug-in
installation (disabled by default) provides the ability to include Acronis True Image Home
into a Bart PE plug-in tab. The plug-in files will be placed to the installation folder along with
other program files.
When installed, Acronis True Image Home creates a new device in the Device Manager list
(Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> Acronis Devices ->
Acronis TrueImage Backup Archive Explorer). Do not disable or uninstall this device,
as it is necessary for connecting image archives as virtual disks (see
Chapter 11. Mounting
an image as a virtual drive
).
10 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006

2.2 Extracting Acronis True Image Home
When installing Acronis True Image Home, you can save the setup (.msi) file on a local or
network drive. This will help when modifying or recovering the existing component
installation.
To save a setup file:
•run the Acronis True Image Home setup file;
•in the Install Menu, right-click on the program name and select Extract;
•select a location for the setup file and click Save.
2.3 Running Acronis True Image Home
You can run Acronis True Image Home in Windows by selecting Start -> Programs ->
Acronis -> Acronis True Image Home -> Acronis True Image Home or clicking on
the appropriate shortcut on the desktop.
If your operating system does not load for some reason, you can run Acronis Startup
Recovery Manager. However, this must be activated prior to use; see
3.4 Acronis Startup
Recovery Manager
to learn more about this procedure. To run the program, press F11 during
the computer bootup, when you see a corresponding message that tells you to press that
key. Acronis True Image Home will be run in the standalone mode, allowing you to recover
the damaged partitions.
If your disk data is totally corrupted and you cannot boot (or if you have not activated
Acronis Startup Recovery Manager), load the standalone Acronis True Image Home version
from the bootable media, supplied with the retail box or created by you using Rescue Media
Builder. Then you will be able to restore the disk from its previously created image.
2.4 Upgrading Acronis True Image Home
If you already have Acronis True Image Home installed, the new version will simply update
it; there is no need to remove the old version and reinstall the software.
2.5 Removing Acronis True Image Home
Select Start -> Settings -> Control panel -> Add or remove programs -> <Acronis
True Image Home> -> Remove. Then follow instructions on the screen. You may have
to reboot your computer afterwards to complete the task.
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006 11

Chapter 3. General information and
proprietary Acronis technologies
3.1 The difference between file archives and disk/partition images
A backup archive is a file or a group of files (also called in this Guide “backups”), that
contains a copy of selected files/folders data or a copy of all information stored on selected
disks/partitions.
When you back up files and folders, only the data, along with the folder tree, are
compressed and stored.
Backing up disks and partitions is performed in a different way: Acronis True Image Home
stores a sector-by-sector snapshot of the disk, which includes the operating system, registry,
drivers, software applications and data files, as well as system areas hidden from the user.
This procedure is called “creating a disk image,” and the resulting backup archive is often
called a disk/partition image.
Acronis True Image Home stores only those hard disk parts that contain data (for supported
file systems). Further, it does not back up swap file information (win386.swp under Windows
98/Me and pagefile.sys under Windows NT/2000/XP) and hiberfil.sys (a file that keeps RAM
contents when the computer goes into hibernation). This reduces image size and speeds up
image creation and restoration.
A partition image includes all files and folders independent of their attributes (including
hidden and system files), boot record, FAT (file allocation table), root and the zero track of
the hard disk with master boot record (MBR).
A disk image includes images of all disk partitions as well as the zero track with master boot
record (MBR).
By default, files in all Acronis True Image Home archives have a “.tib” extension.
It is important to note that you can restore files and folders not only from file archives, but
from disk/partition images, too. To do so, mount the image as a virtual disk (see
Chapter 11.
Mounting an image as a virtual drive ) or start the image restoration and select Restore
specified files or folders.
3.2 Full, incremental and differential backups
Acronis True Image Home can create full, incremental and differential backups.
A full backup contains all data at the moment of backup creation. It forms a base for
further incremental or differential backup or is used as a standalone archive. A full backup
has the shortest restore time as compared to incremental or differential ones.
An incremental backup file only contains data changed since the last full or incremental
backup creation. Therefore, it is smaller and takes less time to create. But as it doesn’t
contain all data, all the previous incremental backups and the initial full backup are required
for restoration.
Unlike incremental backup, when every backup procedure creates the next file in a “chain,” a
differential backup creates an independent file, containing all changes against the initial
full archive. Generally, a differential backup will be restored faster than an incremental one,
as it does not have to process through a long chain of previous backups.
12 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006

A standalone full backup may be an optimal solution if you often roll back the system to the
initial state (like in a gaming club or Internet café, to undo changes made by the guests). In
this case, you need not re-create the initial full image, so the backup time is not crucial, and
the restore time will be minimal.
Alternatively, if you are interested in saving only the last data state to be able to restore it in
case of system failure, consider the differential backup. It is particularly effective if your data
changes tend to be little as compared to the full data volume.
The same is true for incremental backup. In addition, it is most useful when you need
frequent backups and possibility to roll back to any of stored states. Having created a full
backup once, if you then create an incremental backup each day of a month, you will get the
same result as if you created full backups every day. However, the cost in time and disk
space (or removable media usage) will be as little as one tenth as much.
It is important to note that the above arguments are nothing but examples for your
information. Feel free to make up your own backup policy in accordance with your specific
tasks and conditions. Acronis True Image Home is flexible enough to meet any real-life
demands.
An incremental or differential backup created after a disk is defragmented might be
considerably larger than usual. This is because the defragmentation program changes file
locations on disk and the backups reflect these changes. Therefore, it is recommended that
you re-create a full backup after disk defragmentation.
3.3 Acronis Secure Zone
The Acronis Secure Zone is a special hidden partition for storing archives on the computer
system itself. For archive security purposes, ordinary applications cannot access it. In the
Acronis True Image Home Wizards’ windows the zone is listed along with all partitions
available for storing archives. Acronis Secure Zone is necessary for using Acronis Startup
Recovery Manager and Acronis Snap Restore features (see below).
Acronis Secure Zone is always available for archive creation as long as there is space for the
backup file. If there is not enough space, older archives will be deleted to create space.
Acronis True Image Home uses the following scheme to clean up Acronis Secure Zone:
•If there is not enough free space in the zone to create a backup, the program deletes the
oldest full backup with all subsequent incremental/differential backups.
•If there is only one full backup (with subsequent incremental/differential backups) left
and a full backup is in progress, then the old full backup and incremental/differential
backups are deleted.
•Otherwise, (only one full backup left, and an incremental/differential backup is in
progress) you will get a message about space error. In that case you will have to either
re-create the full backup or increase Acronis Secure Zone.
Thus, you can back up data automatically on a schedule (see
Chapter 7. Scheduling tasks ),
and not worry about zone overflow issues. However, if you keep long chains of incremental
backups, it will be a good practice to periodically check the zone free space, indicated on the
second page of the Manage Acronis Secure Zone wizard.
For information on how to create, resize or delete Acronis Secure Zone using this wizard, see
in
Chapter 8 Managing Acronis Secure Zone . .
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006 13

3.4 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager
3.4.1 How it works
The Acronis Startup Recovery Manager enables starting Acronis True Image Home without
loading the operating system. With this feature, if the operating system won't load for some
reason, you can run Acronis True Image Home by itself to restore damaged partitions. As
opposed to booting from Acronis removable media, you will not need a separate media or
network connection to start Acronis True Image Home.
3.4.2 How to use
To be able to use Acronis Startup Recovery Manager at boot time, prepare as follows:
1. Install Acronis True Image Home.
2. Create Acronis Secure Zone on the hard disk (see
Chap er 8. Managing Acronis Secure
Zone
).
t
3. Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager. To do so, click Activate Acronis Startup
Recovery Manager and follow the Wizard’s instructions.
If you try to activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager while Acronis Secure Zone is missing
from the system, you will be prompted to create the zone,
then Acronis Startup Recovery
Manager will be activated. Otherwise, Acronis Startup Recovery Manager will be activated
immediately.
When Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is activated, it overwrites the master boot record
(MBR) with its own boot code. If you have any third-party boot managers installed, you will
have to reactivate them after activating the Startup Recovery Manager. For Linux loaders
(e.g. LiLo and GRUB), you might consider installing them to a Linux root (or boot) partition
boot record instead of MBR before activating Acronis Startup Recovery Manager.
If failure occurs, turn on the computer and press F11 when you see the "Press F11 for
Acronis Startup Recovery Manager" message. This will run a standalone version of Acronis
True Image Home that only slightly differs from the complete version. For information on
restoring damaged partitions, see
Chapter 6 Restoring the backup data . .
Be careful! Disk letters in standalone Acronis True Image Home might sometimes differ from
the way Windows identifies drives. For example, the D: drive identified in the standalone
Acronis True Image might correspond to the E: drive in Windows.
3.5 Acronis Snap Restore
With this feature you can boot the OS on a crashed computer before the system is
completely restored from an image, and start work seconds after the restoration is launched.
The restoration will be continued in the background.
This feature is currently available for images being restored from the Acronis Secure Zone
(see above). Naturally, Acronis Snap Restore cannot be used if the image contains no
operating system (a logical partition or disk image) or when restoring file archives. Also,
Snap Restore of Windows 98/Me systems is not supported.
3.5.1 How it works
When the restoration procedure is started, Acronis True Image Home:
1. Finds the sectors in the image which contain system files, and restores these sectors first.
Thus, the OS is restored and can be started in a very short timeframe. Having started the
14 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006

OS, the user sees the folder tree with files, though file contents still is not recovered.
Nevertheless, the user can start working.
2. Writes on the hard disk its own drivers, which intercept system queries to the files. When
the user opens files or launches applications, the drivers receive the system queries and
restore the sectors that are necessary for the current operation.
3. At the same time, Acronis True Image Home proceeds with the complete sector-by-sector
image restoration in the background. However, the system requested sectors have the
highest priority.
Finally, the image will be fully restored even if the user performs no actions at all. But if you
choose to start working as soon as possible after the system failure, you will gain at least
several minutes, considering that restoration of a 10-20 GB image (most common image
size) takes about 10 minutes. The larger the image size, the more time you save.
3.5.2 How to use
To be able to use Acronis Snap Restore in case of system crash, prepare as follows:
1. Install Acronis True Image Home.
2. Create Acronis Secure Zone on the hard disk (see
Chap er 8. Managing Acronis Secure
Zone
).
t
. r
.
3. Activate Acronis Startup Recovery manager (see
3 4 Ac onis Startup Recovery Manager )
and create bootable media with Acronis True Image Home (see
Chapter 9. Creating
bootable
media).
4. Back up (image) the system disk to Acronis Secure Zone (see
5 2 Backing up disks and
partitions (image backup)
). You can back up other disks/partitions as well, but the system
image is mandatory.
When performing Snap Restore, the current Acronis True Image Home version always
restores the entire system disk. Therefore, if your system disk consists of several partitions,
all of them must be included into the image. Any partitions which are missing from the
image will be lost.
If failure occurs, boot the computer from the bootable media or using F11. Start the
recovery procedure (see
6.3 Restoring disks/partitions or files from images ), select the
system disk image from Acronis Secure Zone, choose Use Snap Restore and in the next
window click Proceed. In a few seconds the computer will reboot to the restored system.
Log in and start work – no more reboots or other actions are required.
You can perform Snap Restore running Acronis True Image Home in supported Windows
operating systems as well. However, it is mandatory to have bootable media in case
Windows cannot boot.
3.6 Viewing disk and partition information
You can change the way of data representation in all schemes you see in various wizards.
To the right are three icons: Arrange Icons by, Choose Details and i(Display the
properties of the selected item), the last duplicated in the context menu invoked by
right-clicking objects.
To sort messages by a particular column, click the header (another click will switch the
messages to the opposite order) or Arrange Icons by button and select the column.
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To select columns to view, right-click the headers line or left-click the Choose Details
button. Then flag the columns you want to display.
If you click the i (Display the properties of the selected item) button, you will see the
selected partition or disk properties window.
This window contains two panels. The left panel contains the properties tree and the right
describes the selected property in detail. The disk information includes its physical
parameters (connection type, device type, size, etc.); partition information includes both
physical (sectors, location, etc.), and logical (file system, free space, assigned letter, etc.)
parameters.
You can change the width of a column by dragging its borders with the mouse.
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Chapter 4. Using Acronis True Image Home
4.1 Main program window
The main program window contains the menu, the toolbar, the sidebar, the Active Tasks
pane and the main area. The main area contains operation icons, while the sidebar features
Tools and Help panels.
Most of the operations are represented two or even three times in different window areas,
providing several ways to select them for more convenience. For example, you can start the
necessary operation or tool by clicking its icon in the main area or by selecting the same
item from the Operations or Tools menu.
The main window contains operation icons divided into two groups.
The Task group contains the following operations:
•Backup – create a backup archive
•Recovery – restore data from a previously created archive
•Clone Disk – transfer the OS, applications and data from the old disk to the new one
•Add New Disk – add a new disk for data storage leaving the OS and applications on the
old one.
The Tools group contains the following items:
•Mount Image – connect a disk/partition image as a virtual drive
•Unmount Image – disconnect the connected virtual drive
•Validate Backup Archive – run the archive integrity checking procedure
•Show Log – open the Log Viewer window
•Manage Acronis Secure Zone – create, delete and resize a special hidden partition for
storing archives (Acronis Secure Zone)
•Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager – activate the boot restoration
manager (F11 key).
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•Manage System Restore – turn on/off Microsoft Windows System Restore tool and set
its options directly from Acronis True Image Home
Program menu
The program menu bar features the Operations, View, Tools and Help items.
The Operations menu contains a list of the available operations, including scheduling tasks.
The View menu contains items for managing the program window look:
•Toolbars – contains commands that control toolbar icons
•Common Task Bar – enables/disables the sidebar
•Status Bar – enables/disables the status bar
•Active tasks – enables/disables the Active Tasks pane at the bottom of the main area.
The Tools menu contains the following items:
•Manage Acronis Secure Zone – create, delete and resize a special hidden partition for
storing archives (Acronis Secure Zone)
•Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager – activate the boot restoration
manager (F11 key)
•Validate Backup Archive – run the archive integrity checking procedure
•Create Bootable Rescue Media – run the bootable media creation procedure
•Show Log – open the Log Viewer window
•Options – open a window for editing default backup/restore options, setting text
appearance (fonts), configuring email/Winpopup notifications etc.
The Help menu is used to invoke help and obtain information about Acronis True Image
Home.
Active Tasks pane
The Active Tasks pane displays the scheduled and currently-being-executed tasks. It
features its own toolbar. You can customize this toolbar view by right-clicking on it and
selecting the desired options.
Status bar
At the bottom of the main window, there is a status bar divided into two parts. The left side
briefly describes the selected operation; the right side indicates operation progress and
results. If you double-click on the operation results, you will see the logs window.
Taskbar notification area icon
During most of the operations, a special indicator icon appears in the Windows taskbar
notification area (the right portion of the status bar with the clock). If you mouse over the
icon, you will see a tool tip indicating the operation’s progress. This icon doesn’t depend on
the main program window being open. It is present for background execution of scheduled
tasks as well.
4.2 Available operations
You can perform the following operations on the computer.
•Backup and restore data, including system disks/partitions
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Click Backup or Recovery, then follow the Wizard’s instructions. See details in Chapter 5
Creating backup archives
and Chapter 6. Restoring the backup data.
.
r r
t
•Schedule backup operations
Click the very left button on a tasks pane toolbar, then follow the Wizard’s instructions. See
details in
Chapter 7. Scheduling tasks .
•Set up backup/restore options, such as backup process priority or files overwriting
mode.
Select Tools -> Options -> Default backup options or Default restoration options
and make settings. See details in
5.3 Setting backup options and 6.4 Setting esto e
options.
•Validate backup archives wherever they reside, be it local, network or
removable media
Click Validate Backup Archive, then follow the Wizard’s instructions. See details in
10.1
Validating backup archives
.
•Browse logs of Acronis True Image Home operation
Click the very right button on a tasks pane toolbar at the bottom of the window. See details
in
10.2 Viewing logs .
•Manage Acronis Secure Zone
Click Manage Acronis Secure Zone, then follow the Wizard’s instructions. See details in
Chapter 8. Managing Acronis Secure Zone .
•Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager
Click Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager, then follow the Wizard’s instructions.
See details in
3.4 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager .
•Mount partitions’ images to explore and modify their contents, or to restore
individual files
Click Mount image, then follow the Wizard’s instructions. See details in
Chapter 11.
Mounting an image as a virtual drive
.
•Unmount previously mounted partition images
Click Unmount image, then follow the Wizard’s instructions. See details in
11.2
Unmounting an image
.
•Transfer the system to a new hard disk
See
Chapter 12. Transferring the system to a new disk .
•Format partitions on a new hard disk
See
Chapter 13. Adding a new hard disk .
•Turn on/off Windows System Restore tool
See
10.3 Managing Sys em Restore .
•Create bootable rescue media or its ISO image
See
Chapter 9. Creating bootable media .
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Chapter 5. Creating backup archives
To be able to restore the lost data or roll back your system to a predetermined state, you
should first create a data or entire-system backup file.
If you are not concerned about restoration of your operating system along with all settings
and applications, but plan to keep safe only certain data (the current project, for example),
choose file/folder backup. This will reduce the archive size, thus saving disk space and
possibly reducing removable media costs.
Backing up the entire system disk (creating a disk image) takes more disk space but enables
you to restore the system in minutes in case of severe data damage or hardware failure.
Moreover, the imaging procedure is much faster than copying files, and may significantly
speed the backup process when it comes to backing up large volumes of data (see details in
3.1 The difference between file archives and disk/partition images ).
5.1 Backing up files and folders (file backup)
1. Invoke the Create Backup Wizard by clicking on the backup operation icon in the main
program window.
2. Click Next.
3. Select Backup files and click Next.
4. From the tree pane, select files and folders to back up. You can select a random set of
files, folders, partitions, disks and even computers.
If you select a partition, disk or computer, and archive all its files, including system and
hidden files, the bare-metal restore of that disk (partition, computer) still will not be
possible. You also may not be able to boot the restored operating system. Therefore, it is
recommended that you select only files and folders containing user data. To back up a disk
or partition, use image backup.
5. Click Next.
20 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006