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BACKING UP DRIVES AND DATA USING ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE

BACKING UP DRIVES AND DATA USING ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE. Presentation by Mike Boesen and Terry Bibo for the PC Users Group 14 April 2009. Version: 2009_04_15. FEATURES OF A GOOD BACKUP STRATEGY. Easy to remember Uncomplicated; few steps Easy to learn Affordable cost for hardware

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BACKING UP DRIVES AND DATA USING ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE

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  1. BACKING UP DRIVES AND DATA USING ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE Presentation by Mike Boesen and Terry Bibo for the PC Users Group 14 April 2009 Version: 2009_04_15

  2. FEATURES OF A GOOD BACKUP STRATEGY • Easy to remember • Uncomplicated; few steps • Easy to learn • Affordable cost for • hardware • software • Fast or runs unattended • Robust and flexible • Dependable outcome - when recovery is needed, it works!

  3. BACKUP WHAT? • Registry • Restore points • Selected files and/or folders • All the content in a partition of the drive • The whole drive

  4. BACKUP TO WHAT? • Master hard drive (not good) • Secondary internal drive (better) • Other drive on network (better still) • Host server on the Web - e.g. Google (??) • USB flash drive, thumb drive (limited capacity; not cost-effective) • CD, DVD (slow; limited capacity) Continued …

  5. BACKUP TO WHAT? - cont. • Drive in removable caddy • slides into a cradle inside the PC • complex but very good • Drive in external enclosure • High Speed USB 2 (good; cheap; common) • e-SATA (external Serial ATA) – (uncommon; a little complex; but best of all) • Firewire (good but uncommon) • Note: 2.5” and 3.5” drives for enclosures or caddies: • 2.5” - cheap; light; but use Y-cable • 3.5” – cumbersome; swappable for internal drive; fast

  6. WHAT IS ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE? • Backup application for XP or Vista PCs • Supported file systems: FAT, NTFS, Linux Ext2/3, FS, SWAP, sector by sector • Supported backup devices/media: all • Alternatives: Casper, etc

  7. Current payware version: Acronis True Image Home 2009: Replaced Version 11 No restriction on brand of drive $70 Free old version of Acronis True Image Personal: Version 8 Build 892 Limited functionality Will create compressed archives but not clones No restriction on brand of drive Problems with some mice and/or laptops that have special partitions VERSIONS OF ACRONIS Continued …

  8. Free rebadged versions of Acronis: Seagate DiscWizard and Maxblast 5 – identical One temporarily or permanently visible drive needs to be a Seagate or a Maxtor Reduced functionality but will create both compressed archives AND clones On Seagate site: Version 11 Build 8053 (but some problems creating Rescue CD) No problems creating bootable CD with Version 10 Build 5028 (see Mike) Problems with some mice (radio, bluetooth) Bootable CD created from Acronis payware version VERSIONS OF ACRONIS – contd.

  9. Backed up stuff is compressed into a single file (or linked files) with a ‘.tib’ extension With payware versions can be selective in what’s to be included in the archive: partition/s folders files email system Can read and/or extract files and folders from the archive In Windows, simply ‘mount’ the archive as a virtual drive then copy stuff from the mounted archive Cannot boot your PC from the archive Complete “fire drill” has some risk - recreate total contents of the source hard drive (if the archive has everything in it) using the Acronis recovery CD and then boot using the recreated source drive COMPRESSED ARCHIVE BACKUP

  10. Clone of the source DRIVE is normally a bit for bit mirror image of the source drive No compression All partitions are included Contents directly visible in any Windows explorer application Contents operable on directly Can read and/or extract files and folders from the clone using any Windows explorer application Can boot from the clone drive Boot by swapping the source drive with the clone drive, or changing cabling, or changing drive jumpers, or changing drive order in BIOS Sealed USB enclosures hinder swapping Complete “fire drill” relatively easy and risk free if you can boot using the clone CLONE BACKUPS

  11. Can recreate the master drive from backup archive (if archive contains total content) Will require Acronis recovery CD to boot PC and perform the recovery Can recreate the master drive from a clone Might not require Acronis recovery CD to boot PC and perform the recovery Problems with recreating master drive from backup archive or clone, for some dual boot systems if one system is not Windows (MBR) RECREATING THE MASTER DRIVE

  12. COMPRESSED ARCHIVE DEMONSTRATION BY TERRY BIBO • Creating the compressed archive using free Version 8.0.0.892 • Acessing stuff in the archive using Mount

  13. Using free rebadged version – Seagate DiscWizard Version 10 Build 5028 Using Acronis True Image Version 11 build 8101 via rescue CD DEMONSTRATION OF CLONING

  14. CREATE BOOTABLE RESCUE CD • Create a “BOOTABLE CD” and test it to see if it IS bootable and functional • Demonstration of bootable CD – Acronis V11 build 8101

  15. BACKUP PLAN A - COMPRESSED ARCHIVE OF WHOLE DRIVE • Create a rescue CD and test it to see if it is bootable • Every 5 to 10 days: • Connect backup drive in caddy or enclosure • Make enough space on the backup drive for the backup archive to be created (delete stalest backup archive if necessary) • Create backup archive comprising a compressed image of the whole of the master drive • “Validate” the backup archive (ideally configure Ssettings to do that automatically) • “Mount” the backup archive and inspect contents. See if files and partitions can be accessed; do some cutting and pasting • Store caddy or enclosure in a safe place • Once only: shut down PC, connect backup caddy or enclosure, boot PC using the recovery CD and see if it looks like you would be able to revert the master drive from the backup archive • Optional: daily Syncback updates for selected folders: put on any drive other than the master drive (e.g. backup drive, 2nd internal drive, network drive)

  16. BACKUP PLAN B - CLONING THE WHOLE DRIVE TO A BACKUP DRIVE • Create a rescue CD and test it to see if it is bootable • Every 5 to 1010 days: • Connect backup drive in caddy or enclosure • Create a bit-for-bit clone of the complete master drive onto the backup drive • In Windows Explorer (yuk! – xPlorer2 is better!) check the contents of the backup drive to see if it looks identical to the master drive; do some copying and pasting • Store caddy or enclosure in a safe place • Once-only fire drill if you have the skills: shut down PC, swap the backup drive for the master drive, boot using the backup drive, see if it behaves just like your master drive. If everything works OK, shut down, swap backup drive out and master drive in. • Once-only test of rescue CD: boot using the CD and rehearse cloning from backup drive onto the master drive – but don’t action the last step. • Optional: daily Syncback updates for selected folders: put onto any drive other than the master drive (e.g. backup drive, 2nd internal drive, network drive)

  17. LINKS • Terry Bibo www.users.on.net/~tbibo/ • Mike Boesen www.pcug.org.au/boesen/ • Acronis www.acronis.com.au/homecomputing/ • Seagate’s Diskwizard and Maxblast 5 www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/

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