Updated: 09-05, 08-07, 09-2009.
Distros: Fedora11, Mandriva 10.x, SuSe, Xandros
Hardware: Intel & AMD SATA & IDE.
Supported file systems: ext2, ext3, ext4?, ReiserFS/4, Linux Swap, NTFS, FAT32.
Will Acronis TrueImage for Windows install on Linux?
No, but a bootable rescue CD will back up Linux and Windows.
TEST: Acronis TrueImage v8 thru v10. Acronis does not seem to state anywhere on their website that this program will clone Linux except to say supports ext2, ext3 etc. The trial version disables the ability to create the rescue disk so I purchased it online. I installed the program to Windows 2000 and XP when prompted to to create a rescue disk I selected CD.
The test computer only had Linux installed.
RESULTS: I cloned a 250GB (mostly empty) drive with Linux installed on multiple ext3 partitions and one FAT32 partition to a 40GB drive. I was warned that the boot loader would need to be reinstalled. At boot an error was displayed: "no active"
Partition Magic showed the partition marked active. I booted from the original Linux install DVD and reinstalled the boot loader which solved the problem. See the step by step instructions below.
CONCLUSION: I highly recommend Acronis TrueImage for reasons of cost and performance. USB is fully supported.
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STEP BY STEP:
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Copying between two hardrives of the same size or restoring an image file to the original
hard drive requires the least amount of effort. More steps must be taken to resize the boot partition.
1.) I Installed the program in windows and generated a bootable rescue CD.
2.) I added a 40GB hard drive to a Mandrivia 10.1x Linux box.
3.) I booted the CD and copied a WD 120GB drive to a Maxtor 40GB drive. The program
provided two choices: a proportional copy or choose manual partition sizes. Example,
if the first partition is 20% of a 120GB drive then it will be smaller but still
take up 20% of the 40GB drive. The program stated that resizing would require a reinstall of
the boot loader.
4.) I tried booting and got the message "no active". I then booted from
the mandriva install DVD and chose F1 to access the repair mode. I typed rescue at the
command line and pressed <Enter> then selected the option to install a boot loader.
5.) The CD was removed and the PC restarted. The first time failed and the I repeated the
instructions above. After getting linux to boot I noticed three items listed after I selected
install boot loader - the same three things that are noramlly listed on the GUI boot screen.
6.) I pressed esc during boot and observed 2 errors on eth0 - could be dup IP
issue? But everything worked as normal: internet, and I accessed my windows SMB share with absolutely
no problems.
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