Acronis Try and Decide on true image

Ok ive installed true image 11 thanks to the info found on here and help in the below thread , thanks all it looks like a great piece of software

i was just looking at the try and decide feature but i wasnt sure on how to go about using it

my hd set ups........

i have 2 internal 120 gig hard drives that show as 110 each,and a 500gig external 7200rpm usb drive

i have C drive- 110 gig partition with windows and all progs installed
E drive recovery - 10gig partition with the dell back up thiing and i also keep vital programs i install and a few bits stored in here

D drive - 110 gig , thats just for my music/pics/etc

, and the 500gig usb is all bigger storage like films and big downloaded files etc, and music and photos back up

i also have a 160gig usb drive that i dont use regular, but just keep a back up of all music and photos on as a back up back up !

......................................

So .. i intend to make a true image back up on the 500gig usb drive

and i want to use the try n decide feature and start up recovery thing, but im not sure where best to install the acronis safe zone thing for this and how big to use ? it says 20% of a drive recomended but that seems like a lot ?? i would of thought 3-5 gig would be fine ?

so is it best to install it on the c drive with windows etc or the storage d drive ?

OR ... does the acronis safe zone have to be the same place where the true image back up is stored ? thats where im a little confused about how this all works, id appriciate some advide and tips etc

thanks in advance !!!!

 

anyone ?

 

Backup your computer to the 500 gig external. Don't worry about the secure zone, since it will be on the external. Try and decide does not work if you use it with a program that you have to restart you computer before you use it, then it negates it.

 

thanks for the reply !!!!


i was going to back up on the external anway as thats the only option

i just wondered if making say a 5-10 gig secure zone on the d drive would work ? ie so i dont always have to run secure zone with the external plugged in, so that my external drive is always fuly protected if you get what i mean

 

Well you should not bother creating the secure zone since you will be using the external, you are just wasting space. If you create the secure zone and your hard drive dies then all the data on that drive is gone.

 

i dont think you understand what i mean. ...

i want to make a back up/true image of my c drive, on the external

but also i want to use the secure zone try and decide feature , but want to use that on my laptop hard drives, because i dont leave the external always powered up so my data is safe and prolongs the hard drives life a bit

so i want to make a secure zone on the laptop,so when i download stuff i install int he secure zone try n decide bit, and if all is well then add it to my system proper

but what i wanted to know if that can be done fine, or does both the back up/true image and try n decide bit have to be in the same part /hd ?

 

I would use a virtual pc instead of "try and decide."

 

I agree with Virtual PC or VMware. You have 3 gigs of ram so that shouldn't be a problem. I see what you are saying now, what you said will work. Create the secure zone then backup your pc to secure zone use try and decide mode. With Virtual PC or VMware you can make an XP computer or Vista then try the software in that and if you like you can install it on your desktop. It also allows you to undo changes made to your virtual machine. Plus you can delete it anytime you feel like it. Trust me, once you try virtual machines, you will like it.

 

noooooo LOL , i wanted to back up the true image to my external drive

but put a secure zone on an internal drive for try n decide, that way if i were to get anything bad, my externals not conected...plus i can also use it wherever i am,ie at my girlfriends or a mates or whatever when ive not got my external !

the virtual machines sounds interesting...whats the best one to use ? does it work the same as try n decide ?

thanks for the help !