Computer Technology Review
By Max Lyadvinsky
Director of Engineering
Acronis, Inc.
Disk Imaging in Windows — Increases User Productivity And Permits Broader Range of Backup DevicesPart 1: Introduction
The aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack sent an earthquake-sized wakeup call to IT managers and users who discovered that backup meant more than just having tapes of the corporate servers off site. Today IT managers for companies of all sizes and individual users alike realize that having a mirror image of each PC can save hours of time-maybe even days-restoring a system should the PC hard disk drive fail. Companies and individuals that had mirror images of disk drives found that they were able to get back up far more quickly than their counterparts who had only data backups. The massive hard drives in current retail PCs are changing the way some IT managers and individuals look at their backup strategy. Today, simply backing up data files is no longer adequate. Users of Microsoft Windows and Office applications recognize that along with the basic program disks, there are a multitude of patches and updates to reinstall before the software is back to its "current" status. Additionally, many of today's retail PCs are sold with the programs preinstalled; often the user doesn't even get the original program disks. In cases like this, a simply copy of visible programs to a backup medium is inadequate. Additionally, data-only incremental backups are only useful if you have a base backup of the entire disk so that you can then add the incremental backups. Users need exact duplicates of their entire hard disk drive, including the primary boot partition — where all system files and settings are stored-as well as data partitions in order to ensure they have a complete backup that can restore the drive to working order. The obvious choice is to create a mirror image of the disk-a starting place that gives you an exact copy of your disk on a CD, DVD, network drive or tape so that in the event of a hard disk failure, you can recreate exactly where you were the moment you made the backup. From a productivity standpoint, IT managers and users alike want to be able to create this image without taking the system offline — they want to create the image while the user is still doing productive work. However, traditional backup programs that cannot copy open Windows programs are unable to accomplish this, since they forced the user to reboot to DOS in order to make an image of their system partition. From this DOS environment, the system being imaged cannot access any Windows applications, and therefore the user's productivity is zero. New technology makes lost productivity a thing of the past. IT managers and individual users alike now can image their hard disk drives-including the all-important system partition-while the system is up and running in the Windows environment using Acronis True Image 6.0. And because the user is running Windows, they have access to all Windows-supported backup media, including DVD, CD-RW, network drives and tape. The package also fully supports the latest USB 2.0 and FireWire devices. This is a critical distinction because by forcing the user down to DOS, the software severely limits the number and kinds of supported storage devices. Typically, Windows applications cannot copy the system partition because they are unable to copy open files. In cases where the user's hard disk is partitioned only as one drive, that meant the user could not image their system at all from within Windows. If the disk is large enough, it could mean that the user is out of commission for hours at a time while the program chugged away at creating an image. Part 2: Leading-Edge Technology >>
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Acronis Inc. Backup software.