Acronis Image backup of Surface Pro 3

[graye]

I usually do a "virgin" backup of new computers, so I can return them to the "out of box" experience when I pass them on. However, this requires that you preform an image backup before the first boot of the device.

So, in case anyone is interested, here is how I did it:

1) Create a bootable USB flash drive using Acronis' "Recovery Media" feature (nothing special, just follow the prompts)
2) Connect a USB hub (I have a powered hub)
3) Connect a USB keyboard, USB mouse, USB flash drive, and USB hard drive via the hub
4) Use the "volume up" technique to temporarily turn off "Secure Boot"
5) Use the "volume down" technique to select the Acronis Recovery Media as the boot device
6) Using Acronis, make a complete image of the entire drive to the external USB hard drive
7) Use the "volume up" technique to return to the default setting for "Secure Boot" (optional)

Note 1: You have to have another computer with Acronis loaded to perform step 1
Note 2: I *did* have the Type Cover installed, but I couldn't select the boot device using that keyboard (at Step 5), I had to plug in a USB-based keyboard so I could hit the "1" key.

 

[romx]

Looks pretty useless with Recovery Partition functionality.

 

[jalpert]

Not if you are getting your unit swapped out or sending it in for warranty work.

Looks pretty useless with Recovery Partition functionality.

 

[strollin]

Instead of a factory fresh backup, I do an image backup AFTER I've removed any bloatware, installed current OS updates and installed my "must have" apps on a new machine. That way I can always return my machine to a ready-to-use configuration.

 

[graye]

Instead of a factory fresh backup, I do an image backup AFTER I've removed any bloatware, installed current OS updates and installed my "must have" apps on a new machine. That way I can always return my machine to a ready-to-use configuration.

Yeah, I do that too... as well as quarterly image backups

But, by that time, I've already got Acronis loaded on the PC and no longer have to boot from recovery media to preform a backup.

You could consider the initial image technique as described in this posting as a dress rehearsal for performing a "bare metal restore". I tell my students, "You have to practice your disaster recovery plan, otherwise, it's just a bunch of words".

 

[leeshor]

Looks pretty useless with Recovery Partition functionality.

Welcome to the forum
Not sure what you are referring to but Acronis will image everything including the recovery partition. This would come in really handy if you decided to recover some space by deleting that partition. The safety factor in using Acronis, or Macrium or even Windows' native imaging is that if your system one day refuses to boot for whatever reason you could restore everything including installed software and data from the image.

 

[romx]

graye, did you checked what you can _restore_ from this image?
This process with Win8.1/UEFI/GPT can be full of surprises.

 

[graye]

graye, did you checked what you can _restore_ from this image?
This process with Win8.1/UEFI/GPT can be full of surprises.

No, not explicitly. However it's a safe bet that if you can get the Acronis pre-boot environment to see the partitions, then that means you can also perform a bare metal restore.

 

[UTDKING]

No, not explicitly. However it's a safe bet that if you can get the Acronis pre-boot environment to see the partitions, then that means you can also perform a bare metal restore.

Hi ,
New to this forum I have a surface pro not surface pro 3 would the same process work on that model
I purchase Macrium Reflect Pro & made a bootable USB drive & it can see partitions
They are as listed below
1.Windows RE tools (None) NTFS Primary 515.4mb 600mb
2.SYSTEM(None) FAT32(LBA) Primary 25.8mb 200.0mb
3.(none) Unformatted Primary 128.0mb
4.Windows(c)34.64gb 110.28gb
5(none)NTFS Primary 12.1mb 450.0mb
6.Recovery Image(None) NTFS Primary 7.08gb 7.62gb

I`ve already made a copy of my Recovery Partition to a USB flash drive

So now I`ve done all my windows 8 pro updates & before I upgrade to windows 8.1 pro I would like to make a system image to save time later
Which out of the 5 partitions do I need to backup or would it be best to backup all of them

Also as anyone manage to make a system image & restore it that works without any problems

I to have Acronis True Image But had problems getting the bootable media to work
With Macrium Reflect you don`t have to turn off secure boot & your type/touch keyboard works ok
There is also a free version of this software Check it out here http://www.macrium.com/default.aspx

 

[Kan]

Graye,

Can you explain how to install the Acronis Recovery Media on the USB flash drive?

I am new to this forum, so please pardon my dump question.

I ran "Create Bootable Media", it asks Bootable media type "Default (Linux-based media) or "WindowsPE", then under those, they each have the option of "Windows -like representation" or "Linux-like representation", which one should I pick?

Thank you in advance.

Kan

 

[kevroc]

I usually do a "virgin" backup of new computers, so I can return them to the "out of box" experience when I pass them on. However, this requires that you preform an image backup before the first boot of the device.

So, in case anyone is interested, here is how I did it:

1) Create a bootable USB flash drive using Acronis' "Recovery Media" feature (nothing special, just follow the prompts)
2) Connect a USB hub (I have a powered hub)
3) Connect a USB keyboard, USB mouse, USB flash drive, and USB hard drive via the hub
4) Use the "volume up" technique to temporarily turn off "Secure Boot"
5) Use the "volume down" technique to select the Acronis Recovery Media as the boot device
6) Using Acronis, make a complete image of the entire drive to the external USB hard drive
7) Use the "volume up" technique to return to the default setting for "Secure Boot" (optional)

Note 1: You have to have another computer with Acronis loaded to perform step 1
Note 2: I *did* have the Type Cover installed, but I couldn't select the boot device using that keyboard (at Step 5), I had to plug in a USB-based keyboard so I could hit the "1" key.

This is awesome! Thanks!

I'm pretty familiar with Acronis, but lost with the whole secure boot option and magic button presses on the sp3. I spent a few hours with no progress and then remembered this thread, so followed it carefully and everything worked. Got the W10TP OFF my SP3 and now back to 8.1 bliss

 

[Jeff Au]

Has anyone here upgraded to the new Acronis TrueImage 2015? Seems to be a dumbdown ver of ATI 2014 (Which is not necessarily a bad thing) but many are reporting critical bugs. I'm still on ATI 2013 and is now hesitant to move up to 2015.