Anyone here use Acronis true image 2009 as there back up software ?? having just installed it to my pc must admitt it looks a very neat bit off software with a lot off great features just a bit confused with a few things if anyone could advise ??

1/ how do I back up say my pictures to my external hard drive in non compressed mode ie so I can actually view my photos on the h/drive ??

2/ If I do a complete system save to my hard drive is there anything to stop me adding anything else to the hard drive at a later date ??

3/ if I ever had to use this complete system back up is it just a case off running the software and everthing will be restored as it originally was, obviously xp is installed on the pc as supplied so I take it it wont actually copy the actual windows xp operating system ??

there is mention off just having to press F11 upon start up should I ever have a system failure and things will automatically restore, sounds great- anyone ever had to use this particular facility ??

first time I have used anything like this but would kinda like to get things sorted just incase I ever need to call upon this saved info.

cheers

 

Acronis is awsome. I use it here.

1) Uhhh, why not view them on the PC where you backed them up from? Backup isnt the same as moving off to another drive as that other drive could fail and then you wouldnt be backing them up. Acronis will take your original pictures from your PC, compress them and store them in a file format it understands. If you could get access to those files there is a chance you could start messing around with them which would compromise the integrity of the backup routine.

2) Nope. You can do an incremental backup the next time and it will only backup the changes since your last backup. You can then restore to different backup points along the lifetime of the backups.

3) Complete system backup is exactly that. You can restore the PC to the exact moment you initiated the backup, no need to reinstall the operating system (OS) first then restore. You can either boot into the secure partition or whatever its called, or boot off the recovery CD and restore that way.

I use it if I want to test a different build or want to "roll back" to my fresh install of the OS which is a damn sight quicker than reinstalling.

J

 

Okay thanks for the advice really do appreciatte that. sure I will learn all the various ways as I go along but at least I know how to at least get started ??!!

thanks again