Hard Drive Image Restore using Acronis True Image

You took an image of your hard drive using Acronis True Image in the last tutorial and now something has happened to your computer. Maybe you stepped in some scumware or somebody installed AOL instant messenger, which is a virus in itself, anyway your computer is not as healthy as it was. Not a problem. Acronis makes it just as easy to restore an image of your hard drive as it was to create the image in the first place. This review of Acronis True Image shows how easy it is to recover a hard drive with the Operating System and all aplications intact.

Open up the Acronis True Image program and choose the Recovery option.

Choose Recovery

Browse out to the image file that you created when your system was healthy. Hopefully you stored it in a safe place. This image was stored on another internal hard drive.

Select the Image file

This following image file was stored on a Lacie 250 gig external drive. Just to show you that you can use an external drive to do a full restore of the image. it does not really matter where you decide to store the image as long as it is in a safe accessible place.

Choose to restore disks or partitions.

Choose to restore disks or partitions

Choose where to restore the image. In this case, the image will be restored to Disk 1.

Choose which disk to restore

Then choose the hard disk drive location that the image will be placed. Be sure to choose your main drive.

Select a disk to restore to

Acronis True Image will warn you that there are partitions on the drive you have chosen and ask what you want to do with them. Select yes to delete all the partitions on the hard drive before restoring. The program does not know that the partitions are infected with something. Click next to get to the following screen that tells you what operations will be performed. Check this screen carefully to make sure that it is what you want to do, then click Proceed.

Acronis shows what it is going to do - check carefully

Of course, you are restoring an image to the drive you are using so you will be prompted that a reboot is necessary. Just click reboot.

Reboot

In just a few minutes, your hard drive will be restored to that perfect state it was in when you first made the image. Acronis has made hard drive imaging and restoration that simple.

On a scale of Bytes to Brontobytes, the Acronis True Image disk restore process gets a Brontobyte. It just works and it's easy.

If your computer is not bootable, hopefully you made a bootable CD as explained in this review.

Acronis True Image 2011 - Complete disk imaging and system disk backup for home PCs

Acronis True Image 2011

Acronis True Image 2011 has just been released with some exciting new features to keep your data safer than ever. The hard drive backup and imaging program still has all of the useful features as before with some great improvements including virtual hard drive support and the Universal Restore feature which allows you to restore an image to dissimilar hardware or a virtual machine. Acronis True Image Home 2010 supports Windows 7 and includes an online backup solution to keep your files safe, secure and available. See the Review of all of the new features of Acronis True Image Home here. A full review of Acronis True Image Home 2011 is coming shortly.
$49.99

Acronis True Image 2011 Plus Pack

The Acronis Plus Pack incorporates features that were until now only available in the Acronis Corporate editions. The add on feature adds the power to restore images to dissimilar hardware, Dynamic Disk Support to restore dynamic volumes easily and the added Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) Support to speed up your recovery process. The Plus Pack makes the move to a new computer a breeze.
$29.99

Post your Questions or Comments about Acronis True Image

    By Randy

2008-10-18 13:01:52

You have to use an Acronis bootable CD to access the True Image program. Instructions for that task are located here: http://www.whatsabyte.com/P1/create_cd.htm

    By k

2008-10-18 10:47:02

may I ask how to use True image for restore of the OS in case of OS failure. Sometimes when your windows is stuck at the XP running bar, and cant access the True Image program, so how? how to use True Image? I got True image 10

    By Randy

2008-10-03 08:33:32

Yes Acronis True Image can backup and restore an image to a separate partition. Although that is not a recommended backup strategy because if the hard drive fails, you will not be able to recover the image. A separate hard drive or an external drive is recommended.

    By sreedhav

2008-10-03 01:15:15

Hello, i have read the tutorials and if i have understood correctly the backup and restore is done "ideally"if i have another HDD installed.I have a 250 gb hard disk with partitions--,C,D,E andF.Partition F has only 56 GB space and can i backup the other partitions(High compression)to that drive and "RESTORE"? Kindly help!

    By Randy

2008-02-09 09:56:04

C - Yes. Acronis True Image allows you to restore a single partition or the entire drive.

    By C

2008-02-08 09:58:53

When this program warns you that there are partitions on the drive you have chosen. Then select yes to delete all the partitions on the hard drive before restoring. Is it possible to just delete the single partition i.e C drive, so it leaves the other partitions alone, where I have data games etc located

Comments	Date
By User	2010-05-31 22:10:44
>>Unlike my older version of Acronis on windows xp, when he boots, there is no acronis F11 notice given to do a restoration through the secure zone. How does he reach there in case he needs to do a restoration? We had already created the secure zone, and acronis said the creation was complete and okay. >> Yep, had the same problem till yesterday until I realized that you have to MANUALLY ACTIVATE that feature in the program. Strange that it would not do this automatically during install
By DVD	2010-02-26 14:54:29
Hello, i am using Acronis TI 10, i made image, and after when doing restore, i come to rebbot part, after system is rebooting and should be recovered, it just tipes "canot alocate resource region 7 of bridge 00:1c.3, and then again windows are starting and no recovery. what shall be done?
By Randy	2010-01-23 09:25:26
Marty, You need to Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager. To do so, click Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager and follow the wizard's instructions. The Acronis Startup Recovery Manager lets you start Acronis True Image Home without loading the operating system. With this feature, you can use Acronis True Image Home by itself to recover damaged partitions, even if the operating system won't start up for some reason. As opposed to booting from Acronis removable media, you will not need a separate media or network connection to start Acronis True Image Home 2010.
By marty	2010-01-22 12:47:29
I recently had my brother install acronis 2010 on his new computer/windows 7, using the secure zone. Unlike my older version of Acronis on windows xp, when he boots, there is no acronis F11 notice given to do a restoration through the secure zone. How does he reach there in case he needs to do a restoration? We had already created the secure zone, and acronis said the creation was complete and okay.
By quocdat	2010-01-16 01:29:46
chao
By blahblah	2009-11-16 16:16:48
Qs> suppose I created an image @9:00AM(status: windows working, registry perfect) I mess with windows registry @10:00AM(status: windows working, registry-messed-up) messed up means: I try some optimizations which can have negative effect. Nothing major. OK, so can I get my c: to the same state as it was @9:00AM using Acronis. Q1)Will I need to use "BOOTABLE recovery CD" even though OS is fine? can't I do it without the CD? Just like system restore. ?????????
By Joseph	2009-10-27 13:26:40
Hi, Can I take an imaged file of my backup "C" drive and then restore it to an external HDD connected via the USB port? I am just doing this to avoid even messing with my "C" for the restore. Thanks.
By John	2009-10-21 03:33:41
I backed up my entire system to an exterior hard drive using "Acronis True Image 11 Home." Yesterday, my OS went down (major failure). Today, I did a total reinstall. When I begin the Recovery process Acronis brings me to the 'tree' showing my system and "Local Disk (E:)" where my backup is stored. I put in the file name, but the "Next" button does not highlight so I have no way to proceed. Please assist me.
By Hadee Roslan	2009-10-16 16:37:54
Salam n Hola I'm in the midst of recovering my server's disk. I've got the image stored on a separate server. I've created acronis bootable iso and started the server using the iso. the disk is only 70GB with two partitions. I've been running the recovery for almost 4 hours now. at the moment it's at synchronizing with OS stage. it's been showing 13 seconds left for more than 30 minutes now. what gives? any idea?
By Bruce Myers	2009-09-14 13:51:54
Let's say my hard drive fails, can i boot up with the acronis CD and access my true image I created from an USB external hard drive, or do I have to make a acronis boot cd. Thanks, Bruce