Will Dormann wrote:
Matt wrote:

Hello,

I am evaluating Acronis True Image 7.0, have previously only used
DriveImage and Ghost (2003).

True Image so far looks truly impressive. However, I have 2 key
questions/concerns:

1) Image verify

I created an image, then verified it with the source partition (my
WinXP system parition), and the image "verified successfully." I then
removed and added a couple minor files to my source partition, reran
the verify, and I still get the "verified successfully" message.
Bummer, not what I expected. What makes it verify unsuccessfully?


Image verify is used to verify the archive integrity. For example, it
would detect if there was an error writing to the destination, or if the
media that the image was written to has developed errors. I assume it's
doing some sort of checksum/hashing routine. It does not compare the
files in the archive to the source again.


2) Creating bootable DVD image write disks that can "refresh" a
system?

I want to copy TrueImage image files to a DVD that I can make bootable
such that I insert the DVD into a system, reboot, and the system
automatically and with no human input required (except for maybe a
"verify system refresh" confirmation button) reset the designated
partition back to the state of the image.



Yes, it's possible. But you'll need to create the disc yourself.
There's no option to add files to the bootable media that TrueImage
creates, plus it's for a bootable CD, rather than DVD.

1. Create a Bootable Rescue CD using the Acronis software.
2. Create an image of that Bootable CD using your CD authoring software.
3. Open that image file using WinISO
4. Save boot information to a file called "trueimg.wbt"
5. Get CD Shell and extract it to a directory somewhere
http://www.cs.uic.edu/~mter/cdshell/
6. Get Bootable CD Wizard for CD Shell and extract those files to the
[cdshell]\boot subdirectory that you selected above. Overwrite the
cdshell.ini file if it prompts you
http://bootcd.narod.ru/

Now you're ready to create the bootable DVD.

7. Open Nero and create a new DVD-ROM (Boot) project.
8. On the Boot tab, select Image file, and select the file
[cdshell]\boot\loader.bin
9. Use the "No Emulation" setting, and the number of loaded sectors
should be 4. (Other values should be left at the default)
10. Create a DVD directory structure like this:

/ (root) (Put your system backup / image (TIB) files here)
|
+ BOOT (The CDShell / BCDW files reside here)
|
+ ACRONIS (put the trueimg.wbt file here)


That's it. Save your Nero project and that way the next time you want
to create a bootable rescue disc, all you will need to do is update your
TIB files. (Or if you overwrite the old TIB files, Nero will pick up
the changes and automatically include the latest version)

Once you're satisfied that it works, you can edit your
\boot\bcds\bcds.ini file to get rid of the extra junk, and probably set
it up to automatically boot right into Acronis.

Also, in your Acronis backup settings, you're going to want to have 2GB
as the max image size. Files larger than that won't fit on an ISO
filesystem.

-WD
Wd,
I also purchased Acronis 7.0, an upgrade from 6.0. I had difficulty
backing up my system and contacted tech support. I would start a
backup, and it always ended with an error message saying the back up had
errors but did not indicate what was wrong. Acronis responded with
some new dll files and the backup ran ok. I have not had a chance to
restore it to see if it works. I reverted back to Ghost 2003 and have
had no probs at all, it works and works correctly every time. Acronis
is probably a good product but I am a bit reluctant to use it for my
image backup as Acronis would never tell me why I was having problems,
and what they did to correct it. My messages to Acronis about what they
did to fix it went by the way side or so it seems.