Using Acronis 2010 after upgrading to Windows 7

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Recently I installed Acronis True Image Home 2010 on my HP m8200n desktop computer. I am new to this backup software and would like to use its backup features to reinstall programs and data after I upgrade my PC from Vista to Windows 7 using the ‘clean install’ method instead of the in place upgrade. For backup I use an USB hard drive (500GB) and make a full image backup once a month followed by an incremental backup once a week for three consecutive weeks. After the third incremental backup I repeat this cycle again. I would appreciate if some of you can give me some tips on how to use this saved disk image to restore programs and other files after the windows 7 upgrade is completed. I do know that an inplace upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 would be easier, however I want to start with a clean slate installing the new OS. Any tips on how to use the Acronis backup/restore program to reinstall my applications would be greately appreciated :

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I do not believe you can restore programs from a back up image. You need to use the original installation media from the programs you want. As far as data, when you clean install from the Win 7 media, a folder called windows.old is created. You can open this folder and drag data such as pictures, music, videos, favorites, etc. to your new OS. Data from the programs previously mentioned should be available as well, but not the programs themselves. Sorry

Please do not do an inplace upgrade. Many of the problems encountered are because of these in place upgrades. I do not believe you will be happy. It was less than half a days work to completely install win 7 and all my programs and make my new OS look the same as the old.

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Thank you for your reply. I did not know that windows 7 creates an old system backup folder during a clean install.

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Thank you for your reply. I did not know that windows 7 creates an old system backup folder during a clean install.

That is only if you don’t format the partition. I strongly recommend you backup what is important to you before you start the install. I don’t think there is any way around reinstalling your applications.

Joe

--Joe

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Dietmar,

I upgraded in place from XP Pro to Windows 7 Home Premium using LapLinks program PC Mover Upgrade Assistant. It worked like a charm and I did not have to reinstall my applications which would have been a big pain in the butt. I highly suggest you take a look at this program. Go to: http://www.laplink.com/pcmover/pcmoverupgradeassistant.html

Richard

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I just want to second Ted’s comments. A completely clean install, including the formatting of the partition is the best idea. In fact, I usually delete the partition and then establish a new partition.

I have been using Acronis for a long time and am now using Acronis 2010. I don’t care for its interface now as much as the earlier versions as it is not as intuitive, but it is still terrific. Once you make your image you can browse it using Acronis or you can use Acronis to make a temporary ‘virtual drive’ that contains all of the files from the backup as though they still existed on your drive….they’ll work too. However: You cannot reliably reinstall applications. As Ted pointed out, you’ll need to reinstall these. But that’s the best idea anyway.

Good Luck! You’ll learn to love Acronis, I’m sure!

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I do not recommend the upgrade in place. Most , if not all the major tech forums and experts agree that clean install is better. I would just insert the DVD, and reboot. Boot from the DVD, and choose custom. When asked where to install the new OS choose your old OS partition and install. This does not format the drive but installs the new OS in the partition and saves the old OS in the windows.old folder. Once you have dragged everything you wish to save from the windows.old folder, I would suggest deleting this folder since it consumes a large chunk of space on your hard drive.

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Hi Bob Harris,
I also have been using Acronis for a long time and in particular during the testing of Win7 RC1 which I ran from about April 09 until a few days ago when I upgraded my machine to a i7-860 Chip on a P7P55D-LE ASUS Board with 4Gb DDR3 1333 RAM and a 808GB hard drive. I purchased an OEM Win7 Home Premium disk and have loaded it and all is fine except that when I try to load Acronis 2010 is says that the program is not compatible with Home Premium yet it worked fine on the RC1 installation. Acronis web site confirms that fact. I can only assume you guys are using Pro or Ultimate as I cannot get it to run on Home Premium.. If you are getting it to load on H/Prem, please let me know how. The first thing I do after an installation is to use Acronis to take an image of the installation as my primary backup, but I cannot do it with H?Prem
Cheers
Allan.

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Hi Bob Harris,
I also have been using Acronis for a long time and in particular during the testing of Win7 RC1 which I ran from about April 09 until a few days ago when I upgraded my machine to a i7-860 Chip on a P7P55D-LE ASUS Board with 4Gb DDR3 1333 RAM and a 808GB hard drive. I purchased an OEM Win7 Home Premium disk and have loaded it and all is fine except that when I try to load Acronis 2010 is says that the program is not compatible with Home Premium yet it worked fine on the RC1 installation. Acronis web site confirms that fact. I can only assume you guys are using Pro or Ultimate as I cannot get it to run on Home Premium.. If you are getting it to load on H/Prem, please let me know how. The first thing I do after an installation is to use Acronis to take an image of the installation as my primary backup, but I cannot do it with H?Prem
Cheers
Allan.

I’m running Acronis 2010 with Windows 7 Home Premium without problems. My version of 7 is the retail version I got through the half price pre-order offer.
My machine came with Vista Home Premium and I just created a new partition and clean installed Windows 7 to that so I can dual boot.
Joan

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Am curious as to why no one has mentioned the Image backup program in Win7? I have used it a couple times lately and have read of others who have used it to recover from a disaster and it seems to work fine. Might mention that I had problems trying to use acronis 2009 and 10 and that is when I discovered the program in my operating system. I am using Win7 Ultimate.

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Am curious as to why no one has mentioned the Image backup program in Win7? I have used it a couple times lately and have read of others who have used it to recover from a disaster and it seems to work fine. Might mention that I had problems trying to use acronis 2009 and 10 and that is when I discovered the program in my operating system. I am using Win7 Ultimate.

The original poster is trying to upgrade his system from Vista to Win7. Therefore, he can not use the Win7 imaging program initially.

Joe

--Joe

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As I understand it Acronis takes a snapshot of entire dreve os /applications / emails the lot and you can only “recover” these all at one time. However it is possible to recover FILES that is say something out of MY DOCS a bit involved but not too difficult. Best of all is to split the hard drive say C drive into C and D and keep all files on D. Makes life very simple if it is necessary to do something with O/S also handy for shifting all docs to another computer.

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Try using Acronis manually (rather then the select and wait process offered) to see if that allows you to achieve what you want. I two had problems but the manual way from memory did ask a question (cannot remember exactly but feel it had something to do with Win 7 Home Premium relinquishing control to Acronis) after which Acronis seems to have assumed normal operation.

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I can’t address the upgrade questions, but I have done several bare metal installs using older versions of Acronis, and I didn’t need any program disks to do it.

Meanwhile, I now have a computer that was upgraded from Vista Home Premium 64 to Win 7 64. I used the Win 7 backup program to protect the new software configuration. Today, I just finished upgrading to Acronis 2010, and I made my first Acronis backups. One big advantage of Acronis is that you can mount the drive images and use data from them, whereas you can’t do that with the native Win 7 backup.

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