Acronis TrueImage Backup
Menu location: GO > Programs > Backup > Acronis TrueImage

Three easy steps for a complete backup of your C: drive
1) Put this CD into drive
2) Plug in external USB drive with volume label "BACKUP2"
    Note: Any drive or partition labeled "BACKUP2", whether it be internal or external, will be targeted.
3) Reboot computer
       

A complete mirror image of your C: drive will be made in the BACKUP2 drive folder  \BACKUP\-####\C_.TIB   The '####' is a unique number automatically generated corresponding to the last four digits of your hard drive's serial number. This allows multiple computers to be backed up onto the same USB drive without having to organize separate folders yourself. Before the backup begins, you are given a 30-second opportunity to type the computer's name which will be used in addition to the auto-generated 4-digit number. If any previous backups exist inside the old 4-digit folder, they will automatically move to the newer computer-named folder.  (see example below)

Since TrueImage backs up only what has changed since the last backup (incremental), the latter backups will be much smaller than the first. Notice that the first full backup, C_.tib, is much larger than those that follow. To keep the USB hard drive from overfilling, when a total of about 16 backups are achieved, they will automatically dump to the "OLD" folder. After another 16 backups are completed, these will dump again to the "OLD" folder, overwriting the previous 16 backups. Thus, the most backups residing on the USB drive for any one computer will be 32. If for some reason you want to keep the "OLD" folder from being overwritten, simply rename it.

From theTrueImage menu, several options are available:
1) TrueImage -  customized  backup or restore
2) Backup C: - backup the C: partition (may be entire physical disk) to any disk with volume label BACKUP2
3) Backup Disk 1 - backup entire physical disk #1 to disk with volume label BACKUP2
4) Plug Backup Image - mount backup image for viewing / restoring
5) Unplug Backup Image - dismounts all images and their drive letters

How to view or restore individual files from a backup:
1) Click GO > Programs > Backup > Acronis TrueImage > Plug Backup Image
2) After you finish making selections in the Explore Image Wizard, the backup will be mounted as a drive letter.
3) Start the File Manager (GO > File Manager) and go to the drive which you chose in step #2 above.
Note: If the File Manager was already running when you performed step #'s 2-3, click the My Computer icon in the left pane of the File Manager, then click the toolbar Refresh button.

How to schedule an unattended backup:
1) Inside your computer's BIOS Setup, set the boot order to hard drive first, then CDROM second.

2) From Windows, drag and drop BootCD.bat (located in UTIL directory of this CD) to Microsoft's scheduler.
BootCD.bat will deactivate all bootable partitions on drive 0  forcing the computer to boot from this CD.

3) Click GO > System > Custom Boot  > Create aubcd1.cmd on C: and create a file similar to the one below:
@echo off
mbrwiz /active=1 /confirm /msg=1    (re-establish booting from HD)
@echo off >c:\reboot.tok     (reboot when backup completes)
cd /d x:\programs\acronis
backup_c.cmd g     (backup C: partition to USB drive G:)

4) -or- backup to a network drive:
Click GO > System > Custom Boot  > Create aubcd2.cmd on C: and create a file similar to the one below:
@echo off
mbrwiz /active=1 /confirm /msg=1
@echo off >c:\shutdown.tok    (turn off computer when backup completes)
net use z: \\compname\sharename passwd /u:compname\username    (map network drive)
cd /d x:\programs\acronis
backup_1.cmd z    (backup physical drive 1 to network drive Z: )


See Custom Boot for additional info on creating scripts.
See http://www.acronis.com for purchasing the retail version of Acronis TrueImage Backup