This page documents how to create an Acronis backup run from a stand-alone Windows having full access to disks and how to restore such a backup.
Acronis True Image is backup software from Switzerland. On this page, the Rescue Media tool is used.
In order to run Acronis in a stand-alone Windows, a medium holding a Windows PE environment and Acronis has to be created.
To build such an environment, the Acronis Rescue Media Builder is used. The tool can create various bootable devices:
A good recommendation is to create a USB backup disk containing both the Acronis stand-alone environment and storage for the backup. Such a setup requires a single USB port for the backup management. Only requiring a single USB port is particularly applicable for tiny laptops.
Here’s an example of such a disk:
The disk has been partitioned with the Windows Disk Management tool. There are two partitions:
Another tip is to name the system drive “OS” or something that can deduct the system disk.
There are various methods launching Acronis from a USB or CD drive. The most convenient way to enable the launching of Acronis, is by setting the boot order in BIOS. The suggested order is:
By setting the boot order, the only requirement for booting from the USB disk, CD or DVD is by inserting the USB disk, USB memory stick or DVD in there appropriate outlet or bay.
In some cases, the boot Acronis image prompts to confirm that Acronis is to be started:
Various BIOS applications use different ways to launch a boot menu:
Here’s a Dell boot menu view:
Use the up or down arrow keys to move the pointer to the desired boot device.
Press [Enter] to attempt the boot or ESC to Cancel. (* = Password Required)
LEGACY BOOT:
USB Storage Device
Onboard NIC
UEFI BOOT:
Windows Boot Manager
UEFI: WD My Passport 12345678
Onboard NIC(IPV4)
Onboard NIC(IPV6)
OTHER OPTIONS:
BIOS Setup
Device Configuration
BIOS Flash Update
Diagnositcs
Change Boot Mode SettingsSelect the item at the line UEFI: <disk name>.
Some system disks are configured as RAID disks. Acronis does not find such disks. This has to be changed in BIOS while making a backup or restoring.
In Dell’s BIOS, the follow change applies:
+-General
+-System Configuration
+-SATA OperationChange from RAID On to AHCI while working with Acronis and revert the changes afterwards.
When Acronis is successfully booted, the following screen is shown:
Click on Back Up My Disks and the Backup Wizard screen is presented.
The list presented here can be a lot more complicated, based on the number of disks attached to this computer. If there is no disk containing the system drive, perhaps named “OS”, then a BIOS setting has to be changed, as documented here.
There are two options here:
Select the disk containing the partition “OS” (or what was chosen as the system partition’s volume name). You may select the entire disk (recommended) or the partition containing Windows. Tick Disk 1 or on the disk that contains Windows.
Untick the disk containing the operating system partition and tick on the particular partition.
NB! In order to restore a completely new disk, it is recommended have at least one backup with the complete disk structure.
Click Next.
Use the Create option and click on Browse.
Select the drive/partition where about to store the backup. Adhering to the documentation on this page, the name of the target backup partition is BACKUP. Click on that partition and enter the hostname and the version of Windows to be backed up.
NB1! The device letters do not match the device letters when Windows is up and running.
NB2! The keyboard Layout is EN-US. On a Swedish keyboard, dash is mapped to + and slash is mapped to -.
State the name of the target backup name. For convenience the name should
Click OK to continue.
Now back in the Backup Wizard dialog, click on Next.
Click Proceed.
The backup starts.
Regardless of the disk size, the window with the progress bar starts by stating that the remaining time is seven minutes. For some reason, it is always seven minutes.
Once the backup is complete, the following window confirms the success:
Exit from Acronis by selecting Close from the root menu or by clicking X on the window’s title bar.
Exit from the command window by entering “exit” on the command line (and <RETURN> of course).
Restoring is more complicated than backing up and some annoying delays appear.
After a launch of Acronis, the following screen appears:
Click on Recover My Disks. The following dialog is presented:
The list of backups may be empty or contain backups. The latter happens if a previous restore operation has been conducted.
Click Browse.
Click on the partition where the backup is located and select the backup to be restored.
Click OK.
Click on the backup file to be restored.
Click Next.
Click Next.
There should be at least one backup containing all partitions from a disk, to be able to safely restore the disk structure.
Tick on the disk to get all partitions selected.
Click Next.
A list of all existing disks is shown. Here it is important to be careful and select the proper destination disk. The window also displays the disk layout of the disk selected. The disk layout should contain the volume name of the partition holding the operating system. Here it is “OS”.
Click Next.
Click OK if you recognised the target operating system partition on the last screen. Otherwise terminate the restore procedure by clicking Cancel.
Verify that the disk and its partitions are the ones to be restored.
Click Proceed
The restore process starts. The progress time estimates are always too optimistic. Be patient.
Success. The system drive and all its partitions have been restored.
Restoring partitions is more complicated and delays will occur. This operation requires that the disk structure including the MBR block exist.
Untick the disk and tick the operating system partition to be restored.
Click Next.
Have some patience and do not click Next.
** NB! Please apply some caution to this dialog. **
If the Next button is shaded in blue when hovering over it, the program is idle awaiting input. If it remains grey, Acronis is busy.
Now click New location. Nothing happens, because Acronis is busy contemplating. Hovering over the Next button will not change its color. Be patient! After quite some time, this dialog appears.
This dialog shows the view of the target disk right now before the restore operation. It has matched the earlier wish and selection to restore the operating system partition and now it says that the target partition where to apply the backup is “OS”, which is expected. If finding that something is not understandable here, abort by clicking Cancel.
Click Accept if it looks like the target partition is the same as the partition selected from the backup earlier.
Section 1, “Deleting partition” now states the partion on the hard drive n (here 1) is going to be deleted and replaced by the contents in section 2, “Recovering partition”, that is, the partition from the backup file selected.
Click Proceed if the partitions enumerated match each other.
The estimated time is optimistic. Do something else for a while.
Click OK.
Exit from Acronis by selecting Close from the root menu or by clicking X on the window’s title bar.
Exit from the command window by entering “exit” on the command line (and <RETURN> of course).