Vista - acronis backup

hi , i have just started using acronis true image v11 ,it is my first full
backup using this software .it has given me the option of making an image of
my c drive and d drive i am backing up to a 5oo gb seagate hard drive .my
question is will this be a bootable recovery from my external hd should i
ever need it and will i be able to copy this backup onto a new hard drive in
my laptop if i needed to and would i be able to reactivate vista hp from a
backed up and restored 'd' drive partion ,i am asking because as with a lot
of laptops /pc's these days the operating system is on a partition so if any
thing happens to my hard drive i don't have a copy on disc to reinstall

thanks in advance for any advice
--
martyb

marty wrote:
If you choose to "Clone" a drive Acronis will make an exact copy so that
some day in the future you can insert that drive instead and it will be
like nothing happened except of course you lose whatever you did before
cloning.

If you have more than one drive you can make an "Image" of one drive on
the other, so that if one breaks you have a copy. An image will be able
to make an exact copy of the drive as it was on the date you made the
copy, but to do this you may need to have a CD prepared... if your
operating system drive dies you have no operating system to restore the
image with. Acronis will allow you to make such a CD.

The best possible answer to your question is to read the Acronis
documentation, sorry but there are so many options it is impossible to
explain all here.

Marty, backing up to a removable drive is no different to backing up to a
selection of DVDs. You will, of course need to create the Acronis bootable
Rescue media to enable you to access the recovery files on your external
hard drive. When you need to recover the Acronis image all you need do is
connect the external hard drive, insert the bootable rescue media CD into
the CD/DVD rom and reboot your pc. Once Acronis has loaded, select Restore
and then follow the Acronis restore Wizard.

Acronis creates a full image your your hard drive (or hard drives, if they
are selected). I regularly backup my C: drive using Acronis (I back up to a
separate internal hard drive and a set of DVDs) When the image is restored
no activation is needed, the activation files are copied over during the
imaging process.


--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"marty" <marty@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C27B0B62-1B3A-4B8C-9FDC-B938EA18846C@xxxxxx

thanks for the response , i have started to read the help pages in acronis
,you're right the options are endless .I have however started to make an
image of my hard drive onto my external hard drive , i will explore the other
options available when i am more familiar with the software and it's
capabilities ,once again thanks for the response
--
martyb


"Charlie Tame" wrote:

hi "john" does the bootable media have to be acronis or will the one i made
through windows backup and restore do the same job
--
martyb


"John Barnett MVP" wrote:

Even if you "copy" your drive to an external hard drive you can not boot
from a USB drive.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)



"marty" <marty@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:72CF2821-FBE8-42D6-91D3-489BA9F2C14F@xxxxxx

You have to create the Acronis bootable CD to use it during boot time for
restoration purposes.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)



"marty" <marty@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C182D06A-52DB-4D3D-9CE4-C1D891BAD92B@xxxxxx

thanks every one for the help thats cleared alot of questions up.The help in
acronis is good but it makes for heavy reading it's good to have things
explained in "idiot proof"
--
martyb


"Richard Urban" wrote:

marty wrote:
Nothing is idiot "Proof", think "Idiot Resistant" instead

The perfect answer is probably to install your OS or start with a new
machine, install Acronis and make what they call a "Full Backup".

Then do all your updates and install important things and make another
separate "Full Backup"

If you always keep #1 you have a virtual clone of your OS in case
anything gets really hosed.

#2 is in case something you installed turns out to be bad and do damage,
not likely but it's happened.

Of course these may have trouble if you change the hardware (Drivers
will be wrong etc) so if that happens your regular backup will become #1.

Even keeping a backup on the same drive is useful (If other resources
are limited) because unless that drive suffers physical harm you guard
against software damaging the OS, but of course it is not as safe as
using a different drive.

"marty" <marty@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0437D62C-A3E8-4113-9260-8193933E8BD9@xxxxxxHi, Marty
By now you have learned that there is more to this than just 'making a
backup. No matter how you make your backup or image, you can not be sure it
will work unless you actually test it. I would suggest that you purchase a
200 to 500 gigabyte hard drive for testing purposes. It must be of a type
that can be installed inside your computer in place of your current hard
drive. Where I live they are often on sale for $50 to $100. Create your
image and boot media, then replace the internat drive with this test drive,
and use your boot media to boot up and install the image. Then reboot and
test that the image actually works as you expect it to. It would be
terrible to make your backups and not know you forgot some necessary detail
and wind up with useless backups when and if your system dies.

-Paul Randall