Contents
This is just a quick guide to backing up and restoring your installation, The full program is much more powerful and its recommended you have a look into it.
- Installation
- Backing Up Your Windows Installation
- Bootable Media
- Recovering your Windows Installation using Bootable Media
Installing Acronis
You will need a 1 GB USB flash Drive or Superior and an External Hard Drive 1-2 TB recommended. As Acronis has two free Editions compatible with SeaGate and WD External Hard Drives respectively I advise using a Drive made by either one of these companies(most External Hard Drives are from either one of these companies anyway).
The first thing I'm going to do is make a new folder on my SeaGate 2 TB External Hard Drive and call in 7347 Windows 10. This is where I will make my Acronis backups for my Inspiron 13 7347 running Windows 10 TH2.
Since I've got a SeaGate External Hard Drive I will launch the DiscWizard Setup (Acronis). Launch the compatible version of Acronis for your External Hard Drive. Note you will need to have your External Hard Drive connected to a USB port to install the Acronis Edition compatible with your External Hard Drive.
The installer will unpack:
Accept the User Account Control Prompt:
Select Install:
Accept the license agreement and then select next:
Select Next:
Select Proceed:
Disc Wizard (Acronis) will now be installed. Select Start Application:
Backing Up Your Windows Installation
Launch Acronis from the Start menu if you selected Finish in the above screen. Otherwise wait for it to open:
Select Backup and Recovery:
Select Disc and Partition Backup:
Select Switch to Disc Mode:
Highlight the Drive your Operating System is installed on, in my case the 250 GB Crucial MX200:
If you hover the mouse on your drive it will show the partitions on the Drive. We want to back up all these partitions which is why we opted for Disc Mode:
Left click destination and then select Browse:
Navigate to your External Hard Drive:
Select the folder you wish to place your Acronis backup in:
Type in the file name for your backup and then press Ok:
Ensure you have selected the Windows 10 OS Drive, have your desired location to store your backup (on the external drive) and have the file name that you want for your backup. When ready select backup now:
Acronis will backup your Windows Operating System:
Creating Bootable Media
In order to restore from your backup if you have software corruption and can no longer boot into your Windows installation or if you are wanting to install on a new drive you need to also create Bootable Media anf a FAT32 formatted USB is recommended.
When using Acronis to create a Bootable USB it only copies the files over to the USB and does not format its contents. Its advised to Format the USB using Windows Explorer before using Acronis to make the USB Bootable.
Right click the USB you wish to use and select Format:
Ensure the File system is FAT32 and call the volume label Acronis. Select Start to Format:
Select Ok at the warning to proceed with the Format:
Select Ok when it says Format complete:
Select Create Bootable Media
Select next
Tick the checkbox to the top left and then select next:
Select next:
Select the USB flash drive and then select Next:
Select proceed:
The files will copy to the USB flash Drive:
When done it will say bootable media has been created successfully. Press ok.
Recovering from a Backup
I will mention how to restore from a backup using the Bootable USB and external hard drive as its the most reliable and covers all cases.
I will test using a UEFI BIOS with SecureBoot Enabled. As you can see in the screenshot below the Boot List Options are UEFI and SecureBoot is enabled. Acronis will of course also work on a system with a Legacy BIOS.
Insert the Acronis FAT32 Bootable USB and USB External Hard Drive. Power down your Dell. Press [F12] when powerin up to enter the Boot Menu.
Use the [↓] and highlight the USB flash drive and press [Enter]
The Acronis Bootloader will now launch as you can see its been certified by Microsoft to pass SecureBoot.
Press [1] to launch SeaGate DiscWizard:
It will now launch DiscWizard:
The user interface looks very similar to the program installed within the Windows installation. Select Recovery.
Select Disk and Partition Backup:
Select Browse:
Navigate to the location on your External Hard Drive:
Select the image you want to backup from and press Ok:
Highlight the image and select next:
Opt to Recover whole disks and partitions:
Select the Disk to the top left so all the partitions in the backup are selected then press next:
Press next again:
Select the Disk you want to backup to, in this case the 250 GB Crucial MX200 and press Next:
Select ok at the confirmation warning:
Select next:
Wait for the recovery operation to complete:
Select ok
You may now exit Acronis.
It should then close and your computer should then restart.
Your computer will be precisely the same as it was when you made the recovery image.