Tommg

I have a PC with 4 internal drives. The "C" drive(ssd drive) has the operating system and all my programs plus whatever the computer decides to place there. All data, photos and a couple backups are on the other 3 internal drives - (regular hard drives).

I have asked questions concerning Acronis before, sorry but I just cannot seem to get my mind around what is going on with acronis - help?

Have acronis 2019 - new feature is the "survival kit" in my case the system drive contains only the operating system(windows 10 and all programs) and that is what I am interested in backing up, in case of the operating system becomes corrupted or the ssd drive crashes.

When I backup the system drive "C" the result is the "C" drive is 339 GB in size and the backup of that drive is 207 GB. Question: does acronis compress the backup making it smaller in size than the "C" drive or am I missing something here? I would prefer to have the backup both not compressed & not encrypted just to simplify restoring the drive in c ase the op system is corrupted or the entire ssd drive crashes .... should I just give up and accept what acronis seems to provide - will it fit my needs?

Any help is appreciated.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Acronis is not a file by file backup system, it is an imaging application that is designed to restore entire hard disks. I have also used it to restore individual files/folders when necessary. Where it really shines is in disk cloning. I recently upgraded a Laptop to a larger SSD. Acronis made it incredibly simple to clone the new drive via a USB connection.

It is not perfect, I've had problems getting it to image entire disks to a NAS; dropped connections over my Gigabyte network. I've had better successes with backing up individual folders like pictures, music, etc. Which is fine, since restoring applications is easy. It's the data that is critical.

ALso, look at Viceversa Pro. https://www.tgrmn.com/?camp=goog_cmt&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_7HdBRDPARIsAN_ltcKoHMcAuuQQLmbku8ce4oC_mYEDZPXNudsGGxLrksl2Ao5qMHtbed4aAiNMEALw_wcB

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

You may find this Arconis discussion of their mirroring SW (which does compress data) vs cloning useful: https://www.acronis.com/en-us/articles/mirroring-software/

Tronjo Loc: Canada, BC

Yes, it compresses and depending on your setting it may backup only the sectors that are being used.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Hi Tom,

I have been an Acronis user/subscriber for 13 years. Yes, it does compress backup files. I have recovered quite a few backup files, including my C(OS drive). It works flawlessly. You may want to do a "Chat" with their support personal. They are excellent, patient, courteous and possess the necessary expertise.
Mark

RICHARD46 Loc: New Jersey

If you make a mirror image of your hard drive can you restore it to a new computer or a different motherboard?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Probably not since the new MB will need different drivers, etc. Best to backup or mirror data and downloads (which will include your application install files) and OS image. Then install the OS, reinstall aps from download folder and copy data to the new machine.

RICHARD46 Loc: New Jersey

It's the operating system that's a pain in the butt to reinstall and then you have to reinstall all your programs
Thanks
Rich

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

All depends if it’s a fresh install or an upgrade, and if an upgrade, how many aps and drivers need to be installed (and if the OS is up to date with regard to patches). We recently upgraded an up-to-date Win 7 machine with maybe half a dozen apps and a limited number of peripherals to Win 10 in less than 30 minutes.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Acronis handles all that providing you do a backup of the OS drive, usually the C drive. Mark