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Since there is a fair amount of interest in this program, Acronis has just upgraded it with the following fixes:
Last available update: build #889, 2005-06-24.
Changes:
Acronis Mounter fixes
Better hardware support
GUI fixes
Registered users can get it here: Acronis Support :: Updates (login required).
Bob
Yep, must have fixed sumthin in dere, eh…
Bob
[indent]
Bob remarked:
Yep, must have fixed sumthin in dere, eh…
[/indent]
That they did; re: previous post with a link to the Wilders Security/True Image Forum. However, there appears to still be a problem for some in regard to True Image recognizing external HDD partitions . . . and for some in regard to “speed”; i.e., it has been reported that this new build is noticeably slower in creating/restoring an image. Again, these problems are not global but selective.
Due to these reports, I have delayed upgrading for now. I’m still using 826 which has been working 100%. 
Jeff
Well, it didn’t do that on my machine. 
Bob,
You are 100% correct re: “Secure Zone”, etc. 
The one advantage of creating a “Secure Zone” is that you can simply press “F11” on bootup and it automatically starts True Image and the restore process without having to use the “Boot Disk”.
As far as the external USB Drive question, yes, booting with the True Image “Boot Disk” is all you need to do and the drive will be recognized, although drive letters in most cases will be different. All you need to do is click (open) on the various letters until you find the “.tib” image file and go from there.
Lastly, as to his other question re: storing images from all the other HDD’s, that’s what I do, although I just have two. I created several partitions on my external USB 2.0 drive and store each PC’s backup images in it’s own partition.
Jeff
Howard,
The drive letters will be different because True Image when used to restore an image doesn’t run in Windows but on a Linux kernel. Thus it temporarily assigns drive letters during the process. After a restore, the original Windows configuration will be default. This applies to using both an external USB HDD and portable media, e.g., CD/CD-RW/DVD. True Image isn’t the only program that does this.
Jeff
[indent]
Howard remarked:
then the drive letters are not different.
[/indent]
NO, Howard….. the drive letters ARE different, albeit temporarily so, when you use True Image to either “Explore” or “Restore” an image. For example, your CD-RW drive may be “F” as assigned by Windows or yourself. But when you start True Image, let’s say to “Restore” an image, that drive may be shown as “D” or “G” or whatever letter True Image assigns to it for that particular session. In fact, “F” may not even show up in the Tree. So, you have to click on or expand each drive to locate the “xxx.tib” file. As soon as the operation is completed and you boot back into Windows the letters are displayed correctly. The letter assignments vary with different systems, at least in my experience. YMMV!
Jeff
Fred,
Actually, at least with True Image, IT names the file(s) of the backup, e.g., “backup.tib”, “backup2.tib”, etc. You can always type in your own file name at the start, but it isn’t really necessary. What IS important, however, when saving images to CD/CD-RW/DVD disks is that you label the disks/cases as prompted because if you want to “Explore” the image or Restore the image, you will need to insert the disks in the order they were created; the last being inserted first. This process is clearly shown when you do either of those operations. True Image prompts you to insert each disk in proper order. And fyi, sometimes, particularly when “Exploring” an image, my experience has been that True Image will first ask for the “Last” disk, then the “First” and then back to the “Last” and then on it goes. The first time this happened I was a bit disconcerted and thought something was messed up. But all that is happening is that True Image needs to read it’s own MFT of the image, located on the Last disk, then compare it to the information on the First disk, and whatever else it needs in order to complete the operation. 
Jeff
[indent]
Howard unwittingly wrote:
The requirement to insert the last CD first is an artifact of the ISO 9660 volume and file structure, nothing to do with TI.
[/indent]
Unfortunately, you know not of what you speak. True Image REQUIRES that you insert the last CD because it is on this disk that TI writes its MFT (table of contents if you will). I don’t know if you have ever Explored or Restored an True Image backup image on CD’s or not, but I have done MANY…… and this has been the routine since True Image came out and continues to be the same routine to this day. It makes perfectly good sense to me and to 1000’s of others. It is required, it works and I’m just delighted it does.
Jeff
Howard,
Here is the comment you made which I responded to: “The requirement to insert the last CD first is an artifact of the ISO 9660 volume and file structure, nothing to do with TI.”
This thread is about TRUE IMAGE; how it functions, how to create backups, restore images, etc. I couldn’t care less if you were one of the original designers of the Eiffel Tower…. it’s irrelevant to the current discussion. It was simply pointed out for the benefit of those who haven’t used True Image before, that it is essential to carefully label the removable media in their proper sequence because TRUE IMAGE requires that they insert the last burned disk first. Most everyone else took that little bit of advice as being helpful. 
Jeff
[indent]
You asked:
But what happens if you’re imaging folders to a CD? . . . etc.
[/indent]
Perhaps I’m misunderstanding what you are asking here, but it appears that you may have an incorrect assumption about what True Image does??? True Image backs up ONLY whole partitions/drives and not individual items, e.g., folders, files, etc. In short, TI creates an image of everything contained in the selected partition or drive. However, you can restore individual files, folders, etc. through the “Explore Image” feature. I know nothing about “mapping”! 
What I can tell you is that the original file structure, names, etc., is all perfectly preserved. I’ve never had a problem restoring a complete image of my system nor copying an individual file and/or folder from the image over to my C:drive.
Okay, did I even come close to addressing your question? Actually, your concerns may not be applicable to this particular program. The “Manual” is fairly comprehensive. So, if you haven’t browsed through it, you may want to do that to see if it addresses your question(s) better than I have. You can actually download just the “Manual” here: Acronis Documentation.
Jeff
Re: size of the image files: 
Is it possible that you have LOTS of .jpg and other file types which are already compressed? My c. 10 gigs ends up being compressed (normal compression) to a little over 4 gigs. And incremental images are a little over 1 gig.
If I were you, I would boot with the Boot Disk you created to find out if you can “see” the images that you have stored since they are on another PC on a network. 
Jeff
[indent]
John wrote:
I created an image in one file. Then I created the excact same image in three files. The total size for the three is twice as big as the single file. It’s no big deal.
[/indent]
Hey John….. I must admit that this statement really piqued my curiosity. 1) Where did you created the one and the three images? e.g., another HDD partition or to portable media? 2) How did you create the “three files” as opposed to the one file? 3) Why would you create an image in three files when if you could create it in one single file?
Jeff
OK, that could be. The one that took longer did have twice as much to back up and does have less ram. 256 meg compared to 384 meg. The speeds of the drives and the processors are the same and both are win 98. I’ll try creating an image on the same partition and see what happens. But either way, I am very pleased with the program. All I need now is a disaster or slow down to try it out and see if it works. 
Hi Jeff:
Thanks for the suggestions. I have looked at the manual, the FAQ, & gone to the forum. I find their forum to be less friendly than the Lounge. 
The Acronis support tend to answer questions with stock answers (their descriptions still refer to TI 7, rather than TI 8).
The FAQ says:
“Can I create an Acronis Secure Zone on an external drive?
It is not recommended that you create Acronis Secure Zone on a detachable drive. If you activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager and then for some reason disconnect the drive Acronis Secure Zone resides on, your computer may boot with a long delay or not boot at all. You will need to either connect the drive with the Acronis Secure Zone back or fix the master boot record (MBR) if the MBR becomes corrupted or the drive is unavailable.”
That seems to indicate that you can create a SZ on a removable drive & I certainly would not remove a drive after activating the Recovery Manager. I ask about SZ because it seems to me that it is much better to create backups on removable drives. If your primary drive is damaged beyond repair, stolen, etc., it would be nice to have an image safely tucked away. I’ve thought about creating images on the hard drive, then burning them to DVDs. However, I know that after awhile, I’d get lazy & stop doing backups.
As always there is a tremendous amount of information in these threads in the lounge. My new True Image software has been delivered today so I am ready to install and go. I’d like to ask one more thing if I may. My purpose for the program is to simply create an image for future use for each computer so when things go bad or the computers get all gunked up and slow I can format and restore the hard drive to this point. I have just redone each of them so they are now clean with all the software on each one that I want. And all have all the drivers and settings and options set as I want them. So I don’t expect to need more backups or incremental backups or anything like that. I am leaning toward just creating an image on each computer, then storing those images either on cd rom or on a different hard drive on the network, or both. So I would just as soon not have anything running in the back ground for the next year or two that I don’t need, and I am leary about the feature that changes the MBR so I can use the F 11 key ect. In the future if I need to restore a particular hard drive on one of the computers I will be able to format that drive and then resore the image I make. Like the cds that came with my lap top for instance. Am I heading in the right direction here? I just want to avoid having to install the OS, all the drivers, the settings, the network, and the core software, one piece at a time like I do now. Thanks to all of you for the information and suggestions and experiences you share. I have read all the threads on True Image and the entire PDF file from Acronis. Now I am looking for the best option to meet the need I took way to long to say above.
John
John,
It’s actually very simple……. Create a “Full Backup” for each PC to CD/CD-RW disks, labelling them properly when prompted, if more than one disk is required. That’s it…. !! Should you ever desire to restore the image you simply start True Image, click on the “Restore an Image” function and go for it. You do NOT have to reformat the drive. True Image does everything for you in a matter of a few short minutes. 
BTW…. make sure to create a True Image “Boot Disk” and store that with the backup CD(s). Should you find yourself in a situation where you cannot boot into Windows, you will need that to restore the image.
Enjoy the security that having a full backup of your system provides.
Jeff
John,
When you save a backup image to CD/CD-RW disks, True Image automatically controls what and how much data is burned to the disk(s). When the disk is full, it is ejected, you get a prompt to label the disk as #1, #2, etc., and insert another disk. It’s a no-brainer……. .
Jeff
[indent]
Howard asks:
A number of folkes have been giving timing figures for full and incremetal backups.
Do those figures include BOTH the copying AND verifiction phases?
I Am going to ASSuME that TrueImage has a verification option.
[/indent]
Speaking only for myself, the times I gave are only for creating an image. Verification will typically double those times. And yes, True Image has a verification feature.
I understand the temptation, but I force myself to validate the images I make on my USB HDD because I have all too often discovered that unverified backups were just wasted effort and were unusable when I needed them. Two weeks of unverified backups may also be two weeks of garbage. 
Then, in fact, you are doing some validation, just not using the bult in validation routines in TrueImage. I didn’t get that impression from your previous post, and I didn’t want anyone to think that TrueImage or any other backup/imaging app was bulletproof. 
No problem Charlotte, Typing doesn’t always convey one’s intent and then there is the question itself (from Howard) that specifically asked about TrueImage’s verification routine.
I do agree with you that ‘nothing’ is bulletproof in putering – having dabbled in computers since the early 80’s I have been 
more than once from straightline files, floppies, cd’s, tapes, etc that have failed to restore either files or volumes. TrueImage (IMHO and my 
added) come pretty darn close to fullfilling 99% of my needs – barring hardware failures of course.
Have a great weekend.
Bob
Hi Bob:
I’ve always been curious about the verification process. I’ve had the experience of having an image verified, & then find a later incrmental one “corrupt”. I went back & checked previous incrementals & found that at least one that had previously been verified, now said it was corrupt. I was able to explore the image & restore a file, however. To be on the safe side, I did a full backup, but I wondered if TI was simply wrong when it said the image was corrupt. I say that because for awhile I was getting these results (corrupt image) on the average of about 1/7 times.
Hi Phil,
It is my understanding that if TI backup file was corrupt that TI would not mount that file to browse – making it very difficult to restore anything from that file. Right or wrong, this has been my experience with TrueImage.
If you are getting corrupt images that often, I would go digging to find out why – as I have yet to have one image ‘go’ corrupt on me. Some have failed, but those failed early on and TI wouldn’t complete the image. a quick Chkdsk and TI was back up and running fine. Knock on wood 
I haven’t had ‘any’ image created yet that failed on my attempt to restore it (or parts of it).
That being said – out loud – in public – I now wait for my demise from the holy bytes of the motherboard association.
Bob
[indent]
It is my understanding that if TI backup file was corrupt that TI would not mount that file to browse
[/indent]I would have thought so too. That’s why I suspect that I was getting false readings. It’s occurred to me that I might have been stopping the schedhlp.exe service when running the scheduled backups & that might have caused problems. Another experiment for me. 
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