Re: [Thinkpad] Acronis True image, what to image

Re: How to use Acronis True Image

You want to make several backups. You must have enough space so that you can make a new backup BEFORE deleted your 'last known good'.

Your 1st backup should be one of the system once everything is installed and configured to your liking and verified to work well, before you have added much personal data, have been exposed to spyware, viruses etc, or have added any software you do not _know_ to be trustworthy. Remove any software reputed to cause conflicts from this image.. you can alway fish a Norton CD out of somone's trash.

Here's one way to do it. It includes more images than truly neccesary but makes it easy to roll back. You only do this once.
0. Download and save reliable anti-virus and anti-malware packages. Put together all s/w you will install. Windows, if XP then service pack 2, key software you rely on. Don't connect directly to the internet without _some_ barrier - a common home router (these ususally do NAT) and the current XP service pack.
i. Install Windows.
ii. Install requried Windows service packs and patches.
iii install an AV
iv. install minimum required hardware updates if any. e.g. I had blue screens until updating beyond the original bios in my machine. once it's reliable, stop fixing it.
-- now save an image. it's not much use yet, this is an intermediate step. you only need to be here once. ---
v. Now start making the machine useful to you. Install the apps you rely on and remove any crud such as Norton. Remove annoying trialware you won't use. Make any cosmetic adjustments as you prefer.
vi. Use the machine a while with minimal internet use to see if everything works decently. If yes, --- save this over the last image --
vii As I said, this is not the shortest way ;-) .. Now add your less frequently used apps and try out each for a few minutes. Complexity is increasing as is the possibility of conflicts, but it's easy to roll back from here. Add only apps that you have some reason to trust - we're still building your custom base image. No image save required yet
vii Add any service, startup process or registry changes that you normally make, but only those that you have used without trouble in the past. Be conservative here. Now use the machine for a while, try to use every function you expect to need for at least a few minutes. Turning off services can have unexpected effects so excercise this config a bit.
vii ---- NOW you have a truly useful base image customized for your needs. ---- Save this and mark it as your personalized starting point. Test it and be sure it restores to a functioning system. Obviously, do not write over this one.

From here on, periodically save critical data and 2 more images. Why 2 more? Because if an serious issue arises it may have been present in your last image unbeknowst to you. So, if you image weekly you will save a current week over the image of 2 weeks ago, keeping last week's.

There may be better ways to implement this. Just keep the basic principle of having a base and 2 recent images, _plus_ a separate backup of any truly critical data. Your images are probably near your thinkpad and would be gone if something like a water leak or fire munged the room they're in, while a few 100mb of critical data can be easily archived to many other places.

Now I have to find the time to do this myself....

 In reply to:

Hi all -- thanks to this list I've decided to get Acronis True Image, and
use it to save images of my new Thinkpad.

However, I'm not quite clear on what the "smart" way to go about it is. For
example, if I:

1) install Windows, save image
2) install all Windows Updates, save image
3) install applications, save image

(I plan on using something like SyncToy or Second Copy to back up my
files -- is that not advised?)

If I then want to apply new Windows Updates, am I supposed to restore to #2,
and patch that, save the new image, and then reinstall applications? That
seems like a hassle.

I hope I'm making sense -- I'd love to know how others here actually use
Acronis to create a "bare metal" backup/restore strategy that feels like a
good fit! Is there an easy way to "reinstall" a bunch of applications?
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Received on Sun Nov 11 23:30:48 2007