Windows 7 Windows 7 Restore, using Acronis?

MikeHawthorne

Essential Member
Microsoft Community Contributor
Hi Guys

I need help, this is my first time using Acronis and I don't want to blow it.
I'm ready to do a restore to solve my corrupted type and a few related problems.

I'm booting from the Acronis Recovery CD.

Once I'm in Acronis I have a few questions.

I select Recover My Disks.

In Archive Selection...
I select the back up which is on an external hard drive.

My_C_Drive created 1/3/12

Recover whole disk and partitions.
Select items to recover.

Ntfs (Windows 7) (C)
MBR and Track 0
Ntfs System Reserved

Now we are getting to where I have questions.

The next window is titled...

Specify Location (Required) It doesn't say the location of what?

Specify Partition Recovery Settings 1-1 I'm not sure what they are talking about here either?

The options are...

Disk 1 (Iomega) (G) this is the source of the backup.

Disk 2 Ntfs System Reserved (C) Drive Pri,Act Only 100 mb.
Ntfs (Windows) (D) Pri
Ntfs (Data Storage) (E)

Disk 3 My second hard drive (not involved)

So I guess the obvious choice is Ntfs (Widows) (D) Even though it's not listed as drive C: here.

Now the next one is what has me stopped....

Specify Recovery Location of Partition C. And it asks me to select a new location?

It shows the same list of drives as the previous step but...

Ntfs System Reserved (C) Drive Pri,Act
Ntfs (Windows) (D) Pri

Are grayed out.

It won't go any farther unless I pick something, and the only thing available to select is...

Ntfs (Data Storage) (E)

Just to check I picked it and went to the next step and is says that it is going to wipe this partition and put Windows here.

I want it to replace the partition that is Ntfs (Windows) (D) where my old Windows install is?

Is it asking me where the backup file is the first time?
Was I supposed to select the external drive and then select the Windows drive in the second window?

That's not really what is says.

After that it gives me the summery telling me what it's going to do, but I don't want to screw this up!!!

I know some of you have done this a zillion times so help!!!

Mike

I left the colons off the drive letters because it put a smiley face everyplace I did it.
 
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About settings, you only need to change settings if you used it when you made the backup. I usually only change the backup theme (I like to use a single backup and don't use the chain) and I also choose "sector-by-sector". So the sector-by-sector is the thing I go in to check on a restore too.

You have the recover location correct. For some reason, you might have to click on the blue link that says "new location" and select your OS drive.

I also had this gray-out thing in Acronis 2012. Strange thing is when I did "back" and then "forward" again, it wasn't gray but when I picked it, it wouldn't recover. Other bugs might be that you'll get a warning that there might not be enough space on the destination drive, even though you KNOW there is enough space. (Acronis is aware of this bug).

What I usually do is boot first with a pre-installation disk or any Windows environment disk and format the OS disk (usually C) and then boot with the acronis disk.

Rarely, when you still have issues, the solution that has always worked for me is to format the OS disk (destination) and do a quick install of Windows onto it, install Acronis and do a recover from Windows itself. Of course it will need to reboot itself and complete the recovery from DOS, which it always does successfully.
 
Crips Mike seems very complicated, why not just use system image backup in Windows?

Basher
 
It is really very straightforward. Mike has gone off course a little there, but I Zvit will sort it for him.
I am a devoted user of Acronis. . In 2011 you boot up to the recovery disk select your backed up copy and click ok through the next screen , accepting the defaults (normally!) and off you go. System image does, I am sure, the same thing, but I am not a user. I believe one difference is that with acronis you can, if you wish, recover individual programs. I understand Windows Image is more or nothing?

P.S. Which version are you using, Mike? I just worked through 2011/12 and didn't totally relate to those options.
 
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One major annoyance with Acronis is that it assigns it's own drive letters so you have to check the drive size carefully.
Joe
 
Hi Guys.

I'm using Acronis 2012.

It appeared to me that unless I made a selection it wouldn't move forward, the next button was grayed out.

It looked to me like it's asking me twice where I want to restore to and graying out the option the second time.

Am I supposed to put in the source drive the first time the window opens, and the target drive the second time? I already told it where the backup is.

The good news is that I don't have to do it right now.

I found the source of the problem and my computer is fixed.

What happened was that installing the Kingdoms of Amalur demo changed something in my graphics settings. When I went into my Catalyst setup and changed everything back to default the problem went away and Skyrim started working normally again as well.

Most of my problems come from the fact that I'm always installing and uninstalling stuff.

Thanks for the help, I still need to know how this works in Acronis, sooner of later I'll have to do this.

Mike
 
Yes, like I said, you need to put in the destination drive twice. I don't know why. First time when you pick the drive and second time during one of "next" options (where you click on the "new drive" or "new location" link and a browse windows comes up". I never understood why. And I do what Joe said... check the drive size carefully.

I am also a sworn Acronis user for years and it has never let me down. I learned how to get around it's bugs. I make a backup once a week and always have 2 - 3 backups saved. By the way, when installing Acronis, it will have 2 running services that are always running. I disable the "non-stop-backup" service and I set "backup scheduler" to manual so it doesn't run when I don't need it. Once a week I turn on the scheduler so I can do the backup. (Won't backup without it).
 
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Ok, I think I get it now.

It confused me as to why it asked for the same thing twice in row, and the second time it was grayed out.

That indicated to me that I was supposed to pick something different on one of the screens.

They could do a little to make it more logical to use, or at least say right there that you should pick the same option again. And if you have already picked the option why ask again?

Actually it says "New location", which would make sense if you didn't want to install to the original location, but then why not make it optional and just move ahead if you don't want to change it.

The next time I try this I'll know what's supposed to happen at least.
I still think that it wouldn't let me select the same option in the second window, that's what really stopped me but I'll work back and forth and see if I can get it to allow it next time.

My computer is running really well now, so I'll make a new backup tomorrow.

Mike
 
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