New user questions

[constantine]

New user questions

Hello,

I am new here and I never used Image For Windows before. Been a long time user of Acronis true Image Home edition (2009/2010/2011). Currently I am having an issue with ATI of an error when using the rescue media. It does not detect any hard drive when suing their Linux cd. In Windows it does and that scenario is useless to me. So I am jumping in to use IFW. Pardon also if my questions will be so newbie on IFW. I really have not used it yet.

Along this line I would like to ask for some info from you guys if there was any of this issues with your product on that scenario or has there been any reported issues like that on IFW..?

I wanna know what to expect and do when this happens. The shock/anxiety when I want to recover an image and BAM it will say I have no hdd's and can't recover aything is very frustrating. Image backups are very important these days that even myself can't go and use a system without one.

May I ask and seek some advance guidelines say, what to expect and do on(if ever):

a. non-detection of hardisk drives
b. non-detection of external storage outside the Windows environment
c. issue related to this problem I am having as close to Acronis non-detection of drives.

As to how I backup, I do regular backups "manually". I do not do 'autobackups' as I want to know and see what I backup. Mostly whole drive / parition backups. I do not at this time automate it. All backups are saved in a separate internal hard drive and external exansion drive.

I often run a triple-boot-scenario on a single hard drive. One XP SP3 which will contain the boot folder for the 2nd and 3rd partitions:

Western Digital Drive 1:

X partition - XP SP3 - Primary/Active/System drive
Y partition - Windows 7 x32
Z partition - Windows 7 x64


Western Digital Drive 2: (logical drive)

Q partition - Office files
R partition - Personal files / Software applications
S partition - Image Backups

Western Digital External drive:

Personal Backups
Image Backup

I usually backup that whole hard drive to a single image. Recovering one/two partitions from that image or the whole image itself. I do that when I wanna to start fresh, say, from a bunggled attempt on a new software test/use/trial or when the regisrty is borked. I seldom use the XP partition(mostly the Windows 7 x32).

On a triple-boot-scenario, can I recover just one of the partitions from a single image backup in IFW?

On the 'Western Digital Drive 2:' same backup/recovery. Mostly I do all recovery using th rescue media of the app I use(as in the case of Acronis/Paragon/Macrium free).

On that premise and short understanding of how I backup, how can IFW be very effective and efficient for me?

Thank you so much

[Retrospek]

I'm no expert, but I've been using IFD/IFL/IFW for quite some time now, and I have never seen it not detect a drive in IFW. IFD sometimes won't detect a USB drive (rarely), and the 2 cases where I had onboard RAID and an additional SATA card, it did not detect the drives on the additional SATA card.

Both detect and use eSATA without an issue, so long as the drive is listed in Windows itself. For some reason, I can't get eSATA drives to hot plug, so I have reboot the machine. If the drive goes to "sleep" Windows loses track of it, and removes it from the Drive Manager List.

I have used other "name-brand" imaging software, and this is by far the best I've found so far. The least amount of issues (servers, RAIDs, USB drives, etc.), great support (response from the community and techs on the forums here is top notched), and faster updates than most products out there to continually add features and support of new hardware. By far, the best bang for the buck, IMO.

> On a triple-boot-scenario, can I recover just one of the partitions from a single image backup in IFW?

Yes, during the restore option, you have quite a few options, if you don't use automatic. There is an automatic restore process (I've never used it, I like to control things) and a manual restore process. During the manual restore process, you can select options such as the partitions you want to restore, whether or not to make the drive active, resize it the image to the target, etc.

[nlcarter]

Retrospek:

Normally you shouldn't need to reboot to get eSata drives to be recognized when plugged in while using Windows. After plugging in the drive, go to the Device Manager and have it "Scan for Hardware Changes" and it should appear.

Cheers!

[tas3086]

I too an a former Acronis user. Unfortunately, Acronis was not reliable for me either. Many restores either ended in error, or would not even start, even though the backup operation and verify was completed without any error indication. After too many posts in the Acronis forums, I gave up.

That said, I have been a TeraByte user for 2 years now and have never had a a backup or restore problem. It is a very solid product, and support from TeraByte is a lot better than the competition. Just look in the frorms, and I think that you will agree.

As with any backup systems, it is best to test a complete backup and restore sequence to insure that the product will work on your system and more importantly, that it will work when you need it to work !!