I successfully created a backup archive with Acronis and I now have "mybackup.tib" on my C: drive (I think this tib file is an image of my whole C: drive although I am still unclear about whether it's everything I need to do a full restore if everything crashes.)My question now is: do I just copy that entire .tib file onto my MAXTOR One Stop drive that has just arrived?Appreciate any guidance here, thanks!JS

Hi JS,You're almost there, but not quite :)It would be better to hook up your external USB 2 Maxtor drive, run the Acronis backup module again and place the MyBackup.tib image of your C: drive onto the Maxtor. I suggest you rename the file to include the date as you will be making more backups in the future. It's safer to preserve at least one previous backup in case the next one fails for whatever reason - not likely, but you never can tell.I am assuming you have the single active primary partition containing XP, Programs, data backups, etc. Using Acronis, you can backup as many partitions as you want and all at the same time. Personally, I prefer to have XP on its own 15GB partition and all the programs on logical drive D: (the 2nd partition on the same physical drive). Once the image is created, you can relax in the knowledge that you will be able to restore your C: drive anytime by selecting the Recovery module under Pick a Task.Not only that, but after you Mount Image (under Pick a Tool) as a virtual drive you will be able to explore the image and copy across individual files and folders. Just remember to Unmount Image when you are done and before Safely Removing the Maxtor via the Safely Remove Hardware icon in XP's system tray.Great program - very versatile and user friendly. I have been using it since version 6 and I have found the technical support to be very good.Cheers!MikeEdit: One last point - remember to create the Bootable Rescue Media Disk. This is vital as you will need it to restore your image if you can't get back into Windows.

Mike:Thanks for this helpful post.Might be back with another q or two...JS

Make absolutely sure, when selecting which partitions to backup, you select the ENTIRE DRIVE containing your C: partition. The reason for this is, it is the only way Acronis will also backup the boot-sector for that drive. If you fail to do this, the selected paritions will be restored from the image, but the drive will fail to boot due to the lack of a boot-loader for the OS. There are ways to fix a corrupted boot-sector after a restore, but in the middle of a catastorphe, you really don't want this additional headache. More information on this subject can be found in the Acronis forums... Good luck. BTW, I use Acronis as well for my stuff, including differentials.AL | KCHS - Charleston AFB/Intl | USAF 437AW (~53 C-17's)FS9/Game Rig:AMD64-4000+ SanDiego OC=210/420/2520 | Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe | Corsair TwinX2048-3200C2PT (2x1GB) 2.5-3-3-8/[email protected] | Evga NV 7900GT v84.56 (1280x1024x32/4xAA/16xAF/High-Quality) | Enermax 550W PSU | Thermalright XP-120(mm) HSF | NV 1GB LAN | NV SATA-I Raid-0 223GB (3x80GB Samsung) (WinXPx64/Games) | NV SATA-II WD 320GB (Backups) | IDE-0 80GB Samsung (Archive) | Realtek AC'97 5.1 Surround | CH Yoke, TQ, & Pedals | FS9.1 (Settings max'd/60-40Vis/No-Shadows/20FPS) | WideFS v6.16 | FSUIPC v3.617 | FSGenesis Mesh (All) | PMDG (All) | PAI (All) | FSBuild2 | Etc...FS9 Support Rig:AMD3200+ | Gigabyte GA-7NNXP | Leadtek NV 5900 | Corsair TwinX1024-3200 (2x512MB) | Intel 1GB LAN | SiI3112 SATA-I 80GB Samsung | IDE-0 80GB IBM | JustCom 4port KVM | FS Wide Client | ActiveSky v6 (512x512x32bit / Wx Influanced)| Radar Contact v4.01 | FS Real Time | FS Flight Keeper | FS Commander | AI Smooth

I have only a single and very large (160GB) C:drive on my XPS Gen 4 PC with Acronis on it. There are no other partitions as far as I can see. I backed up the C: drive which seems to have WINDOWS on it along with FS9 and all FS9 add-ons etc. (Beyond this I really don't understand very much about hard drive management.)Is there anything left for me to backup in these circumstances?Jonathan

Looks to me like you're fine Jonathan. I'm glad you finally have the backup working. I agree with the earlier post about keeping more than one image file (I did have a bad one once). You can move the existing .tib file to the external drive and rename it to include the date it was created in the file name. Then, if you have room, do a second image directly to the external drive with the current date included in the file name (you can name the .tib files anything you want). Always verify the images after they are created using the Check Image function as that at least insures that the image is useable as of the time it was created. Good job on getting it all up and going.Doug

Doug:Yeah, good stuff, mate! I shall do as suggested including Check Image.Thanks to all meantime. Really great to be on this forum with some help like this. Much appreciated.JS

I finally installed the MAXTOR One Stop this afternoon and I think it's gone well. I just need some confirmation from the experts that I am covered OK:First, I installed the MAXTOR software. Then I turned it on and hit the One Stop button and was guided by the Retrospect menu to backup. I elected to copy the ACRONIS mybackup.tib file from my XPS onto the MAXTOR. It got copied over and it now resides inside the Retrospect Restore Points folder as a series of *.rdb files in a single Restore folder. I then did another full backup of my hard drive with everything on it via ACRONIS and copied it directly over to the MAXTOR using the ACRONIS interface. That got copied over as mybackup.tib_June 30 2006 fine and I checked it using the ACRONIS validation tool.I now have a coupla questions:1. The *.rdb files of my first copy total 15.8GB while the size of my latest ACRONIS *.tib file is 31.1GB. Why is this ? Surely they should both be the same size? They contain essentially the same data/info. (On the XPS, the *.tib file I made originally is 15.8GB.)2. In the event of a crash of the XPS and desire to restore, what would I restore from the MAXTOR to the XPS? The *.tib file or the *.rdb files? Does it make any difference?There's a whole pile of additional stuff in the ACRONIS manual (81 pages!) that is dizzying. I've done nothing else. The manual says that since I have the ACRONIS CD-ROM, it contains the required bootable disk media to restore so I should be OK with that. But there's all kinds of other stuff about a Secure Zone, etc. Should I do that or just ignore it all?Appreciate any further confirmation/guidance so I can relax about this stuff and know that I've done the Basic Idiot Routine that will save me if things crash and burn.Thanks!JS

I finally installed the MAXTOR One Stop this afternoon and I think it's gone well. I just need some confirmation from the experts that I am covered OK:First, I installed the MAXTOR software. Then I turned it on and hit the One Stop button and was guided by the Retrospect menu to backup. I elected to copy the ACRONIS mybackup.tib file from my XPS onto the MAXTOR. It got copied over and it now resides inside the Retrospect Restore Points folder as a series of *.rdb files in a single Restore folder. I then did another full backup of my hard drive with everything on it via ACRONIS and copied it directly over to the MAXTOR using the ACRONIS interface. That got copied over as mybackup.tib_June 30 2006 fine and I checked it using the ACRONIS validation tool.I now have a coupla questions:1. The *.rdb files of my first copy total 15.8GB while the size of my latest ACRONIS *.tib file is 31.1GB. Why is this ? Surely they should both be the same size? They contain essentially the same data/info. (On the XPS, the *.tib file I made originally is 15.8GB.)2. In the event of a crash of the XPS and desire to restore, what would I restore from the MAXTOR to the XPS? The *.tib file or the *.rdb files? Does it make any difference?There's a whole pile of additional stuff in the ACRONIS manual (81 pages!) that is dizzying. I've done nothing else. The manual says that since I have the ACRONIS CD-ROM, it contains the required bootable disk media to restore so I should be OK with that. But there's all kinds of other stuff about a Secure Zone, etc. Should I do that or just ignore it all?Appreciate any further confirmation/guidance so I can relax about this stuff and know that I've done the Basic Idiot Routine that will save me if things crash and burn.Thanks!JS

Hi Jonathan,When you copied across the Acronis .tib file to the Maxtor using the Maxtor copying utility it looks like the Maxtor has used some form of compression algorithm and has identified the files by using a .rdb file extension. To me this means that Acronis True Image will not be able to restore the image by using these files directly from the Maxtor. They will first have to be copied back to another drive/partition by using the Maxtor software. That way I am assuming the .tib file extension would be restored and Acronis would be able to read it using the Bootable Rescue Media Disk. However, I don't see this working unless you have a second internal drive that you can use to place this image file temporarily.Acronis True Image also compresses the backup image and the length of time taken to complete the backup will depend on the user's chosen degree of compression. I leave it at the 'Normal' setting.As I see it, you have 3 choices:1. You use the Maxtor Backup software utility to do your backups to the Maxtor drive. Restoration would also involve using the Maxtor Software. Not sure how that would work if the Primary partition on which your O/S resides is the one to be restored unless, like Acronis, you can do it outside Windows by using a bootable rescue disk.2. Like me, you elect to forget about using the Maxtor software and just use the Maxtor as a backup drive, in which case all you need to do is direct Acronis True Image to save the backup *.tib to the Maxtor drive. The 'Secure Zone' created by Acronis is just a protected area on your HD where you can place your backups safe in the knowledge that they won't become accidentally corrupted. I have never felt the need to utilize this facility - perhaps I should ;)3. You may choose to create backup images using BOTH the Maxtor AND the Acronis software. It's your choice :)Cheers!Mike

Mike:Thanks for your reply. I think I actually understand what you are saying (!)One other question here (and maybe it's academic if I have MAXTOR, but here goes): if the HD of my XPS is just one giant C: drive (i.e., no other partitions), does this mean that if I save any *.tib files to it using ACRONIS, it's a bit of waste of time? If the disk crashed, would anything be recoverable from that one single C: drive?Greatly appreciate your posts and advice, thanks!JS

Hi JS - Yes, it wouldn't work. Any backup files on the C drive would be lost if the drive crashed. Always keep the backup *.tib files on the external drive.Doug

OK, Doug, thanks for this advice.JS

Well, this morning, just to be safe, I decided to do a backup to the MAXTOR directly from the PC using the MAXTOR Retrospect software backup capability. But I don't know what's going on now. It's backing stuff up, "verifying" it, and now backing up more stuff without a break. I only asked it to backup my "My Entire PC", so I am wondering what is going on. The first backup session this a.m. under this procedure was 25GB and now it's doing another backup of 32GB. The entire HD of the XPS is 160GB of which 44GB is used (and of which about 15GB of that 44GB is ACRONIS .*tib file).Is this normal or has my MAXTOR gone nuts? It's got a less than transparent interface so it's hard to understand what's going on or why.Appreciate any posts, thanks.JS

Hi Jonathan,I'm afraid I can't comment on what's going on but, if you want my opinion, modern software that isn't reasonably intuitive at a basic level of operation just ain't worth using. I do appreciate your desire to experiment with what was included with your Maxtor drive, so I can only suggest you address your concerns to Maxtor and hopefully they will be able to help you get to grips with their software.Meantime, I would encourage you to use Acronis for all your backup and recovery operations. It really is quite straightforward and reliable. Use the external Maxtor to store your backup images, whether they be whole partitions or selective files and folders. Acronis can handle every permutation with ease. The interface has been designed by folk who really understand the needs of the busy end user who has neither the time nor the inclination to wade through detailed documents to find out how to make things work. Backup and recovery operations are, by their very nature, done intermittently, whether it be weekly, fortnightly, monthly or whatever. If you are like me I tend to forget how I did things on the previous occasion so user-friendly software like Acronis can be a godsend.Don't forget that once you have created your backup image you can mount it as a virtual drive and browse and copy files with Windows Explorer. Try experimenting by backing up the FS9 folder. Cheers!Mike