Backup, Disk Image, Disk Partition
A quick word concerning the new release of Acronis True Image Home 2011. It appears that the software is unreliable in its present state and has been causing problems for those that have used it.
There are various fixes on the way and some have already been released in the United States and in some other countries. So hold fire for now if you are thinking of buying it and wait for the patches to arrive.
Scroll to the bottom to see known issues that are still outstanding.
http://www.acronis.com.au/enterprise/support/updates/changes.html?p=8736
Chances are, if you have recently purchased a pre-built PC, you will find you have more than one logical hard drive when you click on My Computer. It is more than likely that you will have not only a C drive, but also a D drive.
Does this mean you have two hard drives inside your machine? No, it simply means that the single hard drive has been split into two separate partitions.
Two logical drives created on a single physical one. Think of it like tearing a piece of A4 paper in half, to make two smaller A5 pieces.
This is fine, until you need a single larger piece of paper to contain the text or drawing you are working on.
So what happens if one of your logical partitions gets full? Simple, re-partition the drive to make a single larger one.
We use disk partitioning tools to achieve this. This simple articles does not attempt to teach the user how to do this, we will make that the subject of a later post, for now we are simply going to introduce the major disk partitioning tools.
- Diskpart – A built in Windows command, works only with the command line, not recommended for people new to disk partitioning.
- Logical Disk Manager – Built into the Windows computer management console, very basic, ok for simple usage but unable to handle more complex partitioning operations.
- Partition Magic – The granddaddy of disk partitioning tools, this software can do it all, but at a cost.
- Partition Master – A well respected payware application, very similar to Partition Magic.
- Acronis Disk Director Suite – Simple to use premium package, ideal for first timers to disk partitioning.
These are all good disk partitioning tools in their own right, each of which tends to fit a different type of user, from advanced to basic. Check back soon for some actual tutorials on how to perform disk partitioning using these tools.
Computer hardware is not infallible, even the best specified RAID units can and do lose data now and then, despite their high price tag.
Most people who have used a PC for a period of time will have experienced some form of data loss, either through hardware failure or accidental deletion.
If you can relate to this, then read on, maybe Acronis True Image Home Edition can help you in the future.
Large corporations have known the value of disk imaging for a long while. A simple concept which can save a lot of time.
Disk imaging involves taking a complete snapshot of a hard drive (usually the operating system drive) and storing it elsewhere, to be reloaded intact if needed. This is far quicker than re-installing a PC and a full application suite.
Acronis True Image Home Edition contains a full range of disk imaging tools, to create an image and reload it if the worst should happen.
Acronis True Image Home Edition also comes with a full backup suite. The software is able to automatically backup files, folders, system areas and user settings, all set up using a very simple wizard, great backup software with a simple interface.
However, even the most complete backup is only as good as the last time it was run. If you forget to backup regularly, you can still lose significant amounts of data.
Acronis True Image Home Edition gets around this by running its continuous real time backup system. Every few minutes Acronis True Image Home Edition will create a snapshot image, which allows the user to roll back their system should something go missing.
Overall, Acronis True Image Home Edition is something that everybody can benefit from installing, providing significant levels of data integrity, and that all important peace of mind.
To get more information about Acronis True Image Home click here…
How many times have you saved data, including pictures, documents and spreadsheets to “My Documents” and then needed to set up as regular backup schedule to make sure that if something goes wrong with your hard disk, then you can restore (almost) everything?
Almost anybody who uses a PC seriously will have done this, set up their save locations, and then automated a backup. Well help is at hand, and you may not need to do this any longer!
Throw it all into your DropBox
How would you feel if I told you that you never have to backup your personal files again? Most people would never believe me, but it is entirely true thanks to a service known as DropBox.
How DropBox works is to allocate you an amount of on-line storage place, and then use an operating system integrated service to synchronise a local folder (you DropBox) with your online storage. This is done in real time, and changes will be mimicked across multiple PCs linked to the same DropBox, so if you change a file on your laptop, your desktop PC gets the same change! So simply save all your data to your DropBox and forget about backups, it’s all taken care of on the fly.
Is there a downside to using DropBox
Unfortunately yes there is a slight downside to using the free version of DropBox. The free version only allows for the storage of 2GB of data, although you can get a little more free space by referring friends.
This is not really enough to store documents, photographs and music all in one place. DropBox do offer two premium plans, one which offers 50GB of space for $99 per year, and another which offers 100GB of space for $199 per year. Personally I subscribe to the larger package, and have found this to be plenty, I no longer worry about backing up my data, I simply let DropBox take care of it in the background.
To get more information about DropBox click here…
