User’s Guide Acronis® True Image 11.
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Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction.........................................................................................10 1.1 What is Acronis® True Image Home? ............................................................................... 10 1.2 New in Acronis True Image 11 Home................................................................................ 10 1.3 System requirements and supported media ....................................................................... 12 1.3.1 1.3.2 1.3.
5.3.5 Backup performance ................................................................................................. 41 5.3.6 Archive splitting........................................................................................................ 42 5.3.7 File-level security settings.......................................................................................... 42 5.3.8 Media components....................................................................................................
Chapter 11. Creating bootable media ...................................................................76 Chapter 12. Other operations................................................................................79 12.1 Validating backup archives ............................................................................................. 79 12.2 Operation results notification.......................................................................................... 79 12.2.1 Email notification ..........
A.2.4 A.2.5 A.2.6 Linux Ext2............................................................................................................ 110 Linux Ext3............................................................................................................ 110 Linux ReiserFS...................................................................................................... 111 Appendix B. Hard disks and BIOS setup .............................................................112 B.
Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 What is Acronis® True Image Home? Acronis True Image Home is an integrated software suite that ensures security of all information on your PC. It can backup the operating system, applications, settings and all of your data, while also securely destroying any confidential data you no longer need.
successful, you can apply those changes to the real system or discard the changes as you wish. If, during these operations, the system crashes or is infected by a virus, you can delete the temporary duplicate and restore your system to a known, healthy condition. A simple reboot will restore your original hard disk and any changes, including the virus or other unwanted changes, will be gone.
1.3 System requirements and supported media 1.3.1 Minimum system requirements Acronis True Image Home requires the following hardware: • Pentium processor or higher • 128 MB RAM • FDD or CD-RW drive for bootable media creation • Mouse (recommended). 1.3.
* An FTP server must allow for passive mode file transfers. Data recovery directly from FTP server requires the archive to consist of files of no more than 2GB each. It is recommended that you change the source computer firewall settings to open Ports 20 and 21 for both TCP and UDP protocols and disable the Routing and Remote Access Windows service. ** Burned write-once discs cannot be read in Windows NT 4 without third-party software. Burned rewritable discs cannot be read in Linux without kernel patch.
Chapter 2. Acronis True Image Home installation and startup 2.1 Installing Acronis True Image Home To install Acronis True Image Home: • Run the Acronis True Image Home setup file. • In the Install Menu, select the program to install: Acronis True Image Home. • Follow the install wizard instructions on the screen. Typical, Custom and Complete installation is available. Having pressed Custom, you can choose to install, besides Acronis True Image Home, Rescue Media Builder.
To save the setup file: • Run the Acronis True Image Home setup file. • In the Install Menu, right-click on the program name and select Extract. • Select a location for the setup file and click Save. 2.3 Running Acronis True Image Home You can run Acronis True Image Home in Windows by selecting Start -> Programs -> Acronis -> Acronis True Image Home -> Acronis True Image Home or clicking on the appropriate shortcut on the desktop.
Chapter 3. General information proprietary Acronis technologies and 3.1 The difference between file archives and disk/partition images A backup archive is a file or a group of files (also called “backups” in this guide), that contains a copy of selected file/folder data or a copy of all information stored on selected disks/partitions. When you back up files and folders, only the data, along with the folder tree, is compressed and stored.
Unlike incremental backup, when every backup procedure creates the next file in a “chain,” a differential backup creates an independent file, containing all changes since the last full backup. Generally, a differential backup will be restored faster than an incremental one, as it does not have to process through a long chain of previous backups. A standalone full backup might be an optimal solution if you often roll back the system to the initial state or if you do not like to manage multiple files.
For information on how to create, resize or delete Acronis Secure Zone using this wizard, see in Chapter 10. Managing Acronis Secure Zone. 3.4 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager 3.4.1 How it works The Acronis Startup Recovery Manager lets you start Acronis True Image Home without loading the operating system. With this feature, you can run Acronis True Image Home by itself to restore damaged partitions even if the operating system won't load for some reason.
backups as possible. You might spend hours exploring multiple files in your backup archives trying to guess which of the outdated backups can be deleted without losing important data. To save you from annoying search and analytic tasks, Acronis offers a new approach to backup strategy by providing automatic management of your archives, stored in local or network folders called backup locations.
3.6 Acronis Active Restore® Acronis Active Restore allows you to boot the OS on a crashed computer before the system is completely restored from an image and start work seconds after the restoration is launched. The restoration will continue in the background. 3.6.1 Limitations in using Acronis Active Restore 1. Acronis Active Restore is currently available for images located in the Acronis Secure Zone only. 2. Acronis Active Restore does not support images of Windows Vista.
If failure occurs, boot the computer from the bootable media or using F11. Start the recovery procedure (see 6.3 Restoring disks/partitions or files from images), select the system disk image from Acronis Secure Zone, choose Use Active Restore and in the next window, click Proceed. In a few seconds, the computer will reboot to the restored system. Log in and start work – no more reboots or other actions are required.
help of techniques that meet or exceed most national and state standards. You can select an appropriate data destruction method depending on the importance of your confidential information. The File Shredder provides the same capabilities for individual files and folders. Finally, the System Clean-up wizard ensures elimination of all your activity traces; while working with a PC, you leave thousands of bytes of evidence showing your actions (records in various system files) that you don’t even know about.
Chapter 4. Using Acronis True Image Home 4.1 Program workspace Often the first thing that strikes the eye after launching Acronis True Image Home is a wide colored bar in the main program window. This is called the "Traffic Light" bar. The Traffic light bar lets you see at a glance the current state of your system with regard to backups. It also displays information on the date and time of the last backup and this backup’s result, as well as whether backup tasks are scheduled or not.
• If a scheduled backup has failed due to any reason, the system state changes to "Alert" and the Traffic light turns red. Only running the scheduled backups affects the Traffic light color and system state. If you launch the Create Backup Wizard manually and perform an unscheduled backup, the Traffic light color and system state will not change. The color will not change if you schedule a "One time only" backup task.
• Backup and Restore – Create a backup archive or restore data from a previously created archive • Try&Decide –Make changes in a temporary copy of your system and then decide whether you want to apply the changes to the actual system • Disk Utilities – Clone and add hard disk, wipe disks, securely destroy files, and clean up the system. • Management Tools – Manage backup locations, archives, scheduled tasks, and view logs.
• Show Log – Open the Log Viewer window • Options – Open a window for editing default backup/restore options, setting text appearance (fonts), configuring e-mail/Winpopup notifications, and other capabilities The Help menu is used to display help and obtain information about Acronis True Image Home. Status bar At the bottom of the main window, there is a status bar that is divided into two parts.
Select Tools -> Options -> Default backup options or Default restoration options and make settings. See details in 5.3 Setting backup options and 6.4 Setting restore options. • Set up sending notifications about Acronis True Image Home operation Select Tools -> Options -> Notifications and make settings. See details in 12.2 Operation results notification. • Create backup locations Create a folder with special properties for storing backup archives.
• Mount partitions’ images to explore and modify their contents, or to restore individual files Select Operations -> Mount Image and follow the wizard’s instructions. See details in 13.2 Mounting an image. Images can also be mounted through the Windows Explorer by right-clicking on an image archive and selecting Mount in the context menu. • Unmount previously mounted partition images Select Operations -> Unmount Image and follow the wizard’s instructions. See details in 13.3 Unmounting an image.
Chapter 5. Creating backup archives To be able to restore lost data or roll back your system to a certain known-good state, you should first create a data or entire system backup file. 5.1 What data to back up? If you plan to keep specific data protected, such as a current project, but are less concerned with restoring your operating system and settings, select the file-level backup. This will reduce the archive size, thus saving disk space and possibly reducing removable media costs.
system files, drivers, etc., but not the data files and folders you use in your work. To be able to restore the data files and folders, select the Disks and partitions. If such is the case, select disks or partitions to back up. You can select a random set of disks and partitions. By default the program copies only the hard disk sectors that contain data. However, sometimes it might be useful to make a full sector-by-sector backup.
and folders or files matching the criteria you specify. While adding criteria, you can use the common Windows wildcard characters. For example, to exclude all files with extension .tmp, add *.tmp. 4. Go to 5.2.5 Selecting the backup destination. 5.2.2 My Data backup Back up categories of files: documents, finance, images, music, video. Each default category represents all files of associated types found on the computer’s hard drives.
To add a custom data category, click Create, select the folder (data source) and provide a name for the category. You can include in the category all files in the selected folder or apply filters to select the specific types of files that you wish or do not wish to back up. To set a filter, select its type: Back up files of the following types only or Back up files of all types in the source except the following. Then click Add new and select the desired file types in the window that appears.
You can select file types as follows: 1. By name. Enter the file name in the upper Name field. You can use the common Windows wildcard characters. For example, My???.exe will select all .exe files with names consisting of five symbols and starting with “my”. 2. By type. Tick off the desired file types in the list. You can also search desired registered file types by entering their extension or description in the Search field. 3. By extension.
File filtering can be applied to manually added folders as well. For example, you may want hidden and system files and folders, as well as files with .~, .tmp and .bak extensions, not to be stored in the archive. You can apply custom filters, using the common Windows wildcard characters. For example, to exclude all files with extension .bmp, add *.bmp mask. These filter settings will take effect for the current task.
1. Launch the Create Backup Wizard by selecting Operations -> Backup in the main program menu, and then select My Application Settings. You can also launch the wizard directly from the desktop. To do so, right-click on the application label and select Backup in the context menu. In this case, the program will automatically set My Data mode and mark the application executable file for backup. To back up the application settings, choose My Application Settings. 2. Select applications to backup.
You can select the following items: Messages contained in .PST/.DBX Database Files E-mail accounts For Microsoft Office Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003 Mail Folders Calendar Contacts Tasks Notes Signatures News Folders User Settings Address Book For Microsoft Outlook Express Mail Folders Address Book (select Windows Address Book). Acronis True Image Home provides backup of IMAP (Internet Messages Access Protocol) mail folders for Microsoft Outlook. This means that you can back up folders stored on a mail server.
case, all incremental and differential files appended to the old full backup will be unusable. It is recommended that you delete these files. If you are going to append an incremental or differential file to an existing archive, select any of the target archive files. It doesn't matter which one you select if the files are stored in the same folder, as the program recognizes them as a single archive.
5.2.7 Selecting the backup options Select the backup options (that is, backup file-splitting, compression level, password protection, etc.). You can Use default options or Set the options manually. If the latter is the case, the settings will be applied only to the current backup task. Or, you can edit the default options from the current screen. Then your settings will be saved as the defaults. See 5.3 Setting backup options for more information. 5.2.
You may want to adjust the backup process priority. To do so, click on the process icon in the System Tray and select Low, Normal, or High priority from the menu that appears. For information on how to set the default priority, see 5.3.5 Backup performance . If you burn an archive to several removable media, be sure to number them, since you will have to insert them in order during restoration. You might want to see the log when the task is completed.
5.3.1 Archive protection The preset is no password. An archive can be protected with a password. To protect the archive from being restored by anybody except you, enter a password and its confirmation in the text fields. A password should consist of at least eight symbols and contain both letters (upper and lower case, preferably) and numbers to make it more difficult to guess.
The optimal data compression level depends on the type of files stored in the archive. For example, even maximum compression will not significantly reduce the archive size if the archive contains essentially compressed files like .jpg, .pdf or .mp3. Generally, it is recommended that you use the default Normal compression level. You might want to select Maximum compression for removable media to reduce the number of blank disks required. 5.3.
5.3.6 Archive splitting Sizeable backups can be split into several files that together make the original backup. A backup file can be split for burning to removable media or saving on an FTP server (data recovery directly from an FTP server requires the archive to be split into files of no more than 2GB). A backup destined for a backup location or Acronis Secure Zone cannot be split. The preset is Automatic. With this setting, Acronis True Image Home will act as follows.
will be able to read them. Decryption may also be useful if you are going to restore encrypted files on another computer. These options relate only to file/folder backup. 5.3.8 Media components The preset is disabled. When backing up to removable media, you can make this media bootable and will not need a separate rescue disk. The Acronis One-Click Restore is a minimal addition to your rescue media, allowing oneclick data recovery from an image archive stored on this media.
This option lets you run a backup even if there are bad sectors on the hard disk. Although most disks do not have bad sectors, the possibility that they might occur increases during the course of the hard disk’s lifetime. This feature is also useful during unattended backups when you cannot control the backup process. If you enable this feature, the backup will be performed regardless of read and/or write errors that could occur on the bad sectors. 2.
Chapter 6. Restoring the backup data 6.1 Restore under Windows or boot from CD? As mentioned above (see 2.3 Running Acronis True Image Home), Acronis True Image Home can be run in several ways. We recommend that you first try to restore data running Acronis True Image Home under Windows, because this method provides more functionality. Boot from the bootable media or use the Startup Recovery Manager (see 3.4 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager) only if Windows does not load.
If the archive is located on removable media, e.g. CD, insert the last disk in the series first and then insert disks in reverse order when the Restore Data Wizard prompts you. Data recovery directly from an FTP server requires the archive to consist of files of no more than 2GB. If you suspect that some of the files are larger, first copy the entire archive (along with the initial full backup) to a local hard disk or a network share disk. See notes and recommendations for supporting FTP servers in 1.3.
4. Select a folder on your computer where you want to restore selected folders/files (a target folder). You can restore data to its original location or choose a new location, if necessary. When you choose a new location, the selected items by default will be restored without restoring the original, absolute path. You may also wish to restore the items with their entire folder hierarchy. If such is the case, select Restore absolute paths. 5. Select files and folders to restore.
7. The next selection allows you to keep useful data changes made since the selected backup was created.
6.3.2 Archive selection 1. Select the archive. If the archive is located in Acronis Secure Zone or in a backup location, select it to choose the archive at the next step. If the archive is located on removable media, e.g. CD, first insert the last CD and then insert disks in reverse order when the Restore Data Wizard prompts you. Data recovery directly from an FTP server requires the archive to consist of files of no more than 2GB each.
Using Active Restore When restoring a system disk/partition image (except for Windows Vista images) from Acronis Secure Zone, you have a choice of using use Acronis Active Restore. If you choose this option, you will proceed directly to the summary window (6.3.12 Restoration summary and executing restoration). A few seconds after pressing Proceed, the computer will reboot to the restored system. Log in and start work — no more reboots or other actions are required.
You can restore files from disk/partition images only if they have the FAT or NTFS file systems. 6.3.4 Selecting a disk/partition to restore The selected archive file can contain images of several partitions or even disks. Select which disk/partition to restore. Disk and partition images contain a copy of track 0 along with MBR (master boot record). It appears in this window in a separate line. You can choose whether to restore MBR and track 0 by checking the respective box.
If there are partitions on the target disk, you will be prompted by the Nonempty Destination Hard Disk Drive window stating that the destination disk contains partitions, perhaps with data. You will have to select between: • Yes, I want to delete all the partitions on the destination hard disk before restoring – all existing partitions will be deleted and all their data will be lost. • No, I do not want to delete partitions – no existing partition will be deleted, discontinuing the recovery operation.
By default, the original partition type is selected. Selecting Active for a partition without an installed operating system could prevent your computer from booting. 6.3.7 Changing the restored partition file system Though seldom required, you can change the partition file system during its restoration. Acronis True Image Home can make the following file system conversions: FAT 16 -> FAT 32, Ext2 -> Ext3. For partitions with other native file systems this option is not available.
6.3.9 Assigning a letter to the restored partition Acronis True Image Home will assign an unused letter to a restored partition. You can select the desired letter from a drop-down list. If you set the switch to No, no letters will be assigned to the restored partition, hiding it from OS. You should not assign letters to partitions inaccessible to Windows, such as to those other than FAT and NTFS. 6.3.
6.4.1 Files overwriting mode The option allows you to keep useful data changes made since the backup being restored was done. Choose what to do if the program finds in the target folder a file with the same name as in the archive: • Overwrite existing file – this will give the archived file unconditional priority over the file on the hard disk. • Overwrite existing file if it is older – this will give the priority to the most recent file modification, whether it be in the archive or on the disk.
Unchecking the Do not perform operations until the commands execution is complete box, checked by default, will permit the restore procedure to run concurrently with your commands execution. If you want the restore to be performed even if your command fails, uncheck the Abort the operation if the user command fails box (checked by default). You can test execution of the command you created by clicking the Test command button. 6.4.4 Restoration priority The preset is Low.
Chapter 7 Try&Decide The Try&Decide feature allows to create a secure, controlled temporary workspace on your computer without requiring you to install special virtualization software. You can perform various system operations without worrying that you might damage your operating system, programs or data. After making virtual changes you may apply all of the changes to your original system. You also can select to discard all changes.
• System reverting - You can make settings determining program's behavior when discarding changes and reverting the system to the previous state. If you would like to have the choice of making a decision on whether to apply changes before system shutdown, leave the Show decision dialog at system shutdown box checked. If you uncheck the box, the changes you have made will be discarded automatically at system shutdown or rebooting without you being notified.
• If you are satisfied with the results, apply the changes to the real system by selecting Apply changes and then clicking the Decide button. You can also apply the changes by right-clicking on the program's icon in the system tray and selecting Make a Decision > Apply changes in the context menu. • If you do not want to apply the changes, select Discard changes and then click the Decide button.
It is important to remember that in the Try mode you will not be able to perform backups (including scheduled ones) on the Acronis Secure Zone and restore data from the Zone because the Try&Decide feature locks the Acronis Secure Zone while running. 7.
Chapter 8. Backup location management This section covers creation and deletion of backup locations, setting rules for backup locations and viewing archives contained in backup locations. Before you start managing backup locations, be sure to read section 3.5 Acronis backup locations, stating their purpose and basic principles. 8.
You want to avoid backing up to the same disk where your operating system and user data are located. If you have only one disk and cannot store your backups outside the computer, use the Acronis Secure Zone instead of backup locations. When using removable media, a network share or an FTP server, consider the storage device’s free space and availability of that storage in case you need data recovery. 8.1.
8.2 Editing backup locations To launch the Edit Backup Location wizard, select the Management Tools category in the main program window and click Manage Backup Locations and Archives in the Main group or select the Tools -> Management -> Manage Backup locations and Archives in the main program menu to navigate to the Backup Locations window. Then select Edit Backup Location. Select the location and enter the new values for backup rules.
Chapter 9. Scheduling tasks Acronis True Image Home allows you to schedule periodic backup and validation tasks. Doing so will give you peace of mind, knowing that your data is safe. You can create more than one independently scheduled task. For example, you can back up your current project daily and back up the application disk once a week. All the scheduled tasks appear in the Scheduled Tasks window, where you can create, edit, delete, rename, change their schedules, as well as start and stop them.
4. Select the destination for the backups that will be created on a schedule. If you choose to create the backup archive on a network drive, you will have to enter a user name and a password for network access. 5. If the archive destination is other than a backup location, select the backup mode (full, incremental, differential). See details in 5.2.6 Selecting the backup mode. For definitions and basic information about full, incremental and differential backup modes see 3.
create, to recover data from each of them, you will additionally use only the base full backup. 6. Complete configuring the backup task in the usual way (see 5.2.7 Selecting the backup options and 5.2.8 Providing a comment). 7. Perform task running scheduling. • Manually later – the task will be saved, but not launched automatically.
• Daily – the task will be executed once a day or once in several days • Weekly – the task will be executed once a week or once in several weeks on the selected day • Monthly – the task will be executed once a month on the selected day To postpone a scheduled task until the next time when computer is idle, check the Wait until computer becomes idle box.
• Weekdays • Every х days – once in several days (specify the interval). If you want the task to be repeated several times per day, check Repeat task every x hours box and specify the interval in hours. If the computer is off when the scheduled time comes, the task won’t be performed, but you can force the missed task to run at the next system startup by checking a box under the Start time fields. 9.1.
If the computer is off when the scheduled time comes, the task won’t be performed, but you can force the missed task to run at the next system startup by checking a box under the Start time fields. 9.1.3 Setting up monthly execution If you select monthly execution, set the Start time and days on which to execute the task: • Day – on the specified date • The – on the specified day (e.g. on second Tuesday or fourth Friday); select this from the drop-down lists. Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
If the computer is off when the scheduled time comes, the task won’t be performed, but you can force the missed task to run at the next system startup by checking a box under the Start time fields. 9.1.
Chapter 10. Managing Acronis Secure Zone The Acronis Secure Zone is a special partition for storing archives on the same computer that created the archive. The Acronis Secure Zone is a required component for using the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager and the Try&Decide feature. For more information about these functions, see 3.3 Acronis Secure Zone, 3.4 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager, and 3.
3. Select the partitions from which space will be used to create the zone. 4. In the next window, enter the Acronis Secure Zone size or drag the slider to select any size between the minimum and maximum ones. 72 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
The minimum size is about 35 MB, depending on the geometry of the hard disk. The maximum size is equal to the disk’s unallocated space plus the total free space on all partitions selected at the previous step. When creating the zone, the program will first use the unallocated space. If there is not enough unallocated space, the selected partitions will be decreased. Partition resizing may require a reboot. Reducing a system partition to the minimum size might prevent your operating system from booting. 5.
2. Select to increase or decrease the zone. You might need to increase it to provide more space for archives. The opposite situation might arise if any partition lacks free space. 3. Select partitions from which free space will be used to increase Acronis Secure Zone or that will receive free space after the zone is reduced. 4. Enter the new size of the zone or drag the slider to select the size. When increasing the Acronis Secure Zone, the program will first use unallocated space.
10.4 Deleting Acronis Secure Zone 1. When prompted by the wizard, select Remove Acronis Secure Zone. 2. Select the partitions to which you want to add the space freed from the zone. If you select several partitions, the space will be distributed proportionally to each partition. 3. Next, you will see a list of briefly described operations to be performed on partitions (disks). After you click Proceed, Acronis True Image Home will start deleting the zone. Progress will be reflected in the opened window.
Chapter 11. Creating bootable media You can run Acronis True Image Home from an emergency boot disk on a bare-metal system or a crashed computer that cannot boot. You can even back up disks on a non-Windows computer, copying all its data into the backup archive by imaging the disk one sector at a time. To do so, you will need bootable media that has a copy of the standalone Acronis True Image Home version installed on it.
• Acronis True Image Home full version Includes support of USB, PC Card (formerly PCMCIA) and SCSI interfaces along with the storage devices connected via them, and therefore is strongly recommended. • Acronis DriveCleanser This is a standalone version of the Acronis DriveCleanser utility that will allow you to destroy confidential data on your PC disks easily and permanently even if you uninstall Acronis True Image Home.
4. If you are creating a CD, DVD or any removable media, insert a blank disk so the program can determine its capacity. If you choose to create a bootable disk ISO image, specify the ISO file name and the folder in which to place it. 5. Next, the program will estimate how many blank disks are required (in case you have not chosen ISO or CD) and give you time to prepare them. When you are finished, click Proceed. After you create a boot disk, mark it and keep it in a safe place.
Chapter 12. Other operations 12.1 Validating backup archives You can check the integrity of your backup images to be certain that your archives are not damaged. You may perform such validations on a schedule (see Chapter 9. Scheduling tasks) or by launching the Backup Archive Validation Wizard. 1. To launch the Backup Archive Validation Wizard, select Operations -> Validate Backup Archive from the main program menu. 2. Select the archive to validate.
By default all notifications are disabled. 12.2.1 Email notification To set up e-mail notification, select Tools -> Options -> Notifications -> E-mail: Provide the email address to which notifications will be sent as well as the outgoing SMTP server name and port. A user name and a password might also be needed if the SMTP server requires user authentication.
• if the operation failed (check Add full log to the notification to add the full operation log to the message) • during the operation when user interaction is required After setting up e-mail notifications, you can send a test mail message by clicking the appropriate button. 12.2.2 WinPopup notification To set up WinPopup notification, select Tools -> Options -> Notifications -> Windows Messenger (WinPopup): Provide the name of the computer to which notifications will be sent.
The left pane can contain up to 50 log entries. If there are more, you can browse the list using the buttons with the left and right arrows. To delete a log entry, select it and click the Delete icon. To delete all log entries click the Delete all log entries icon. You can also save a log entry to file by clicking the appropriate icon. If any step was terminated by an error, the corresponding log will be marked with a red circle with a white cross inside.
Chapter 13. Exploring mounting images archives and Acronis True Image Home offers two kinds of archive contents management: mounting for images and exploring for both images and file-level archives. Exploring images and file-level archives lets you view their contents and copy the selected files to the hard disk. Mounting images as virtual drives lets you access them as though they were physical drives.
3. The program opens Backup Archives window displaying the backup location contents. The backup archives are grouped by backup types. You can view the contents of a selected archive by clicking Show Backup Content on the sidebar or by double-clicking on the selected archive. 4. The program shows the contents of the selected archive. You can select any number of files or folders from the archive being explored and restore them.
1. Select Tools -> Management -> Manage Backup Locations and Archives in the main program menu to open the Backup Locations window. 2. If you want to search a file in all the backup locations you have (including ones created on FTP servers and network share disks), type the filename in the Search field and click the Search button (with the magnifying glass icon). You can enter a part of filename. For example, entering "report" will result in searching all files whose name contains the "report" string.
If you added a comment to the archive, it will be displayed to the right of the drives tree. If the archive was protected with a password, Acronis True Image Home will ask for it. Neither the partitions layout, nor the Next button will be enabled until you enter the correct password. 3. If you selected an archive containing incremental images, Acronis True Image Home will suggest that you select one of the successive incremental images (also called “slices”) by its creation date/time.
5. Select whether you want to mount image in Read-only or Read/Write mode. 6. If you select Read/Write mode, the program assumes that the connected image will be modified and creates an incremental archive file to capture the changes. It is strongly recommended that you list the forthcoming changes in the Comment section to this file. 7. The program displays a summary containing a single operation. Click Proceed to connect the selected partition image as a virtual disk. 8.
Chapter 14. new disk Transferring the system to a 14.1 General information Sooner or later, most computer users find that their hard disk is too small. If you just don’t have space for more data, you can add another disk just for data storage as described in the following chapter. However, you might find that your hard disk does not have enough space for the operating system and installed applications, preventing you from updating your software or installing new applications.
14.2 Security Please note the following: if the power goes out or you accidentally press RESET during the transfer, the procedure will be incomplete and you will have to partition and format or clone the hard disk again. No data will be lost because the original disk is only being read (no partitions are changed or resized) until data transfer is completed.
You can determine the source and destination using the information provided in this window (disk number, capacity, label, partition, and file system information). 14.3.3 Selecting destination disk After you select the source disk, you have to select the destination where the disk information will be copied. The previously selected source becomes grayed-out and disabled for selection. If any disk is unpartitioned, the program will automatically recognize it as the destination and bypass this step.
14.3.4 Partitioned destination disk At this point, the program checks to see if the destination disk is free. If not, you will be prompted by the Nonempty Destination Hard Disk window stating that the destination disk contains partitions, perhaps with data. You will have to select between: • Delete partitions on the destination hard disk – all existing partitions will be deleted during cloning and all their data will be lost.
• Keep data – leave the old disk partitions and data intact • Destroy data – destroy all data on the old disk If you are going to sell or give away your old disk, we recommend that you make sure you destroy the data on it. If you are going to keep it for data storage, you can create a new partition layout on it. In this case, the disk will be ready right after cloning is complete.
The second method takes more time, but makes it impossible to recover data afterwards, even with special equipment. The first method is less secure, but is still suitable for most cases. 14.3.8 Selecting partition transfer method Acronis True Image Home will offer you the following data transfer methods: • As is • Proportional – the new disk space will be proportionally distributed among cloned partitions • Manual – you will specify the new size and other parameters yourself Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
If you elect to transfer information "as is," a new partition will be created for every old one with the same size and type, file system and label. The unused space will become unallocated. Afterwards, you will be able to use the unallocated space to create new partitions or to enlarge the existing partitions with special tools, such as Acronis Disk Director Suite. As a rule, "as is" transfers are not recommended as they leave much unallocated space on the new disk.
Along with the hard disk number, you will see disk capacity, label, partition, and file system information. Different partition types, including primary, logical, and unallocated space are marked with different colors. If you selected manual partition creation earlier, the partition layout will look different. This partitioning method is described below. 14.3.11 Cloning summary In the next window, you will see a list of briefly described operations to be performed on the disks.
Along with the hard disk number, you will see disk capacity, label, partition, and file system information. Different partition types, including primary, logical, and unallocated space are marked with different colors. To resize any partition, check the Proceed relayout box. If you are satisfied with the partition layout shown, uncheck this box (if checked). Clicking Next, you will proceed to the cloning summary window.
Chapter 15. Adding a new hard disk If you don't have enough space for your data, you can either replace the old disk with a new higher-capacity one (data transfers to new disks are described in the previous chapter), or add a new disk only to store data, leaving the system on the old disk. If the computer has a bay for another disk, it would be easier to add a data disk drive than to clone a system one. To add a new disk, you must first install it in your computer. 15.
there is unallocated space near it). Having provided the new partition location and size, you can input a label for the new partition. If you make a mistake at partitioning, click Back to redo the process. Finally, you will be taken back to the partition layout screen. Check the resulting partitions layout and start creating another partition or move on by unchecking Create new partition in unallocated space and clicking Next. 15.
After you click Proceed, Acronis True Image Home will start creating new partitions, indicating the progress in a special window. You can stop this procedure by clicking Cancel. You will then have to repartition and format the new disk or repeat the disk add procedure. Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Chapter 16. Security and Privacy Tools Acronis True Image Home includes utilities for secure destruction of data on an entire hard disk drive, individual partitions, as well as for erasing individual files and eliminating user system activity traces. These utilities ensure the security of your confidential information, as well as maintain your privacy when you work with a PC, because they clean-up the evidence showing your actions (records in various system files) that you don’t even know about.
3. To destroy permanently the selected files using the desired method, click Proceed in the next window. 16.2 Acronis DriveCleanser Many operating systems do not provide users with secure data destruction tools, so deleted files can be restored easily by using simple applications. Even a complete disk reformat can’t guarantee permanent confidential data destruction. Acronis DriveCleanser solves this problem with guaranteed and permanent data destruction on selected hard disks and/or partitions.
• Leave partition as is — just destroy data using the method selected below • Delete partition — destroy data and delete partition • Format partition — destroy data and format partition (default) In this example, the switch is set to Format. This will allow you to see the results of partition and data destruction, along with the reformatting of the partition. 16.
Acronis DriveCleanser offers you another useful capability — to estimate the results of executing a data destruction method on a hard disk or partition. It features an integrated DiskViewer hard disk browsing tool. The aforementioned methods offer various levels of confidential data destruction. Thus the picture you might see on disk or partition depends on the data destruction method. But what you actually see are disk sectors filled with either zeros or random symbols. 16.
16.5 System Clean-up The System Clean-up Wizard enables you to securely remove all traces of your PC actions stored by Windows.
After selecting the components to remove, you can run the clean-up. 16.6 System Clean-up Wizard settings If you want to change the default system clean-up settings, click the corresponding link in the first window of the System Clean-up Wizard. To enable or disable any System Clean-up component, check or uncheck its Enable this component flag. In the System Clean-up Wizard Properties window you can also set clean-up parameters for each system component. Some of these parameters apply to all components.
Under the Windows operating system, a search string can represent a full or partial filename. A search string can contain any alphanumeric symbols, including comma and Windows wildcard symbols, and can have values similar to the following: • *.* – to delete all files from the Recycle Bin – with any file names and extensions • *.doc – to delete all files with a specific extension – Microsoft document files in this case • read*.
3. Select the "Computers" setting and leave its default value (*.). As a result, all computer search strings will be deleted from the registry. Upon entering the "Computers" setting value, you can browse the search strings found by Acronis System Clean-up in the registry. To do so, click Show Computers. You will see the window with full and partial computer names searched for in the network. These items will be deleted. 16.6.
16.6.6 "System Password Filter" setting Here you can enter any full or partial passwords values separated by semicolons. You can also use * and ? wildcards to set this parameter. To see the passwords to be cleaned according to your filter, click Show passwords. 16.7 Cleaning up separate system components If you don't want to clean up all system components, you can clean an individual component separately.
Appendix A. Partitions and file systems A.1 Hard disk partitions The mechanism that allows you to install several operating systems on a single PC or to carve up a single physical disk drive into multiple “logical” disk drives is called partitioning. Partitioning is performed by special applications. In MS-DOS and Windows, these are FDISK and Disk Administrator.
The FAT16 file system has a 2GB limit that permits a maximum 65,507 clusters that are 32KB in size. (Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista support partitions up to 4GB with up to 64KB clusters). Usually the smallest cluster size is used to make the total cluster amount within the 65,507 range. The larger a partition is, the larger its clusters are. Usually the larger the cluster size, the more disk space is wasted. A single byte of data could use up one cluster, whether the cluster size is 32KB or 64KB.
A.2.6 Linux ReiserFS ReiserFS was officially introduced to Linux in 2001. ReiserFS overcomes many Ext2 disadvantages. It is a 64-bit journaling file system that dynamically allocates space for data substructures. Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Appendix B. Hard disks and BIOS setup The appendices below provide you with extra information on the hard disk organization, how information is stored on disks, how disks should be installed in the computer and plugged into the motherboard, configuring disks with BIOS, partitions and file systems, and how operating systems interact with disks. B.1 B.1.
Hard disks with an IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) interface are connected to the motherboard via a 40- or 80-thread flat marked cable: one of the threads of the cable is red. Two IDE hard disks can be connected to each of the sockets, i.e. there can be up to four hard disks of this type installed in the PC. (There are three plugs on each IDE cable: two for hard disks and one for the motherboard socket.
The hard disk with the jumper in master position is treated by the basic input/output system (BIOS) as bootable. The jumpers on hard disks that are connected to the same cable can be in the cable select for master/slave position. In this case, BIOS will deem as "master" the disk that is connected to the IDE cable closer to the motherboard than the other one. Unfortunately, hard disk markings were never standardized. You might well find that markings on your hard disk differ from the ones described above.
Large PC manufacturers like Dell and Hewlett-Packard produce motherboards themselves, and develop their own BIOS versions. You should always refer to the documentation that came with your computer for instructions on proper BIOS configuration. B.2.2 Standard CMOS setup menu Parameters in the standard CMOS setup menu usually define the geometry of the hard disk.
In BIOS setup, you can set the Type parameter to User Type HDD (user-defined type). In this case, you also have to specify the value of the translation mode parameter, which can be Auto/Normal/LBA/Large. Translation mode is how sector addresses are translated. This parameter appeared because in BIOS versions, there were limitations to the maximum address capacity of disks, which is 504 MB (1024 cylinders x 16 heads x 63 sectors x 512 bytes).
The BIOS numbers disks according to the order in which they are connected to IDE controllers (primary master, primary slave, secondary master, secondary slave); next go the SCSI hard disks. This order is broken if you change the boot sequence in BIOS setup. If, for example, you specify that booting has to be done from hard disk E:, numbering starts with the hard disk that would be the third in usual circumstances (it is usually the secondary master).
Appendix C. Hard Disk Wiping methods Information removed from a hard disk drive by non-secure means (for example, by simple Windows delete) can easily be recovered. Utilizing specialized equipment, it is possible to recover even repeatedly overwritten information. Therefore, guaranteed data wiping is more important now than ever before. The guaranteed wiping of information from magnetic media (e.g.
The description of built-in information wiping methods No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Algorithm (writing Passes method) United States 4 Department of Defense 5220.22M United States: 4 NAVSO P-5239-26 (RLL) United States: 4 NAVSO P-5239-26 (MFM) German: VSITR 7 Russian: GOST P50739-95 1 6. Peter Gutmann’s method 35 7. Bruce Schneier’s method 7 8. Fast 1 Copyright © Acronis, Inc.
Appendix D. Startup Parameters Additional parameters that can be applied prior to booting Linux kernel Description The following parameters can be used to load Linux kernel in a special mode: • acpi=off Disables ACPI and may help with a particular hardware configuration. • noapic Disables APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller) and may help with a particular hardware configuration. • nousb Disables USB modules loading. • nousb2 Disables USB 2.0 support. USB 1.
• pci=bios Forces to use PCI BIOS, not access the hardware device directly. For instance, this parameter may be used if the machine has a non-standard PCI host bridge. • pci=nobios Disallows use of PCI BIOS; only direct hardware access methods are allowed For instance, this parameter may be used if you experience crashes upon boot-up, probably caused by the BIOS. • pci=biosirq Uses PCI BIOS calls to get the interrupt routing table.