Recovering partitions and disks
You can start recovering a partition or disk from an image backup both on the main screen and in Acronis Backup Explorer. To start recovery from the main screen, select the box of a backup containing the partition image you need to recover. Click Recover or Recover last version (if the backup has more than one version). This will open the Disk Recovery window.
If you want to recover the partition to the state it was at an earlier date, click Explore and recover under the Recover last version button. This will open Backup Explorer which allows you to select the image backup version created on that date. Clicking Recover after selecting the required version will open the Disk Recovery window.
a) Select the corresponding check boxes of the partition(s) to recover.
If you backed up an entire disk, you can choose to recover the entire disk at once by clicking Switch to disk mode. To be able to select partitions again, click Switch to partition mode.
b) In the Choose recovery destination field below the partition name, select the destination partition. Those partitions where the partition to be recovered can fit are marked by black lettering. Unsuitable partitions are marked by red lettering. Note that all data on the destination partition will be lost because it is replaced by the recovered data and file system.
To restore an image to a source partition without resizing, at least 5% of free space is required on the partition. Otherwise, the Recover now button will be unavailable.
c) After you finish with your selections, click Recover now to start recovery.
Sometimes you need to recover the MBR (Master Boot Record). For instance, it may be necessary when Windows does not boot after recovery. To recover the MBR (either together with the partition or individually), select the MBR check box.
If you recover the entire disk, the Recover disk signature check box appears. Disk signature is a part of a hard disk MBR. It is used for uniquely identifying the disk media.
We recommend that you select the Recover disk signature check box due to the following reasons:
- Acronis True Image Home 2011 creates scheduled backups using the signature of the source hard disk. If you recover the same disk signature, you don’t need to re-create or edit the backups created previously.
- Some installed applications use a disk signature for licensing and other purposes.
We recommend that you clear the Recover disk signature check box when:
- You use an image backup not for disaster recovery but for cloning your Windows hard drive to another one.
In this case, Acronis True Image Home 2011 generates a new disk signature for the recovered hard drive, even if you recover to the same drive.
Disk recovery options – click to set up additional parameters for the disk recovery process.
Use Acronis Universal Restore – click to use Acronis Universal Restore technology during recovery.
Using Acronis Universal Restore (provided by separately purchased Acronis True Image Home 2011 Plus Pack) will help you create a bootable system clone on different hardware (for more information see Acronis Universal Restore).
Choose this option when recovering your system disk to a computer with a processor, motherboard or mass storage device that is different from the one in place when the system was originally backed up.