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General discussion

Acronis True Image 9 Question

Jul 24, 2006 1:09AM PDT

I was wondering when you do a backup using this program how could you copy all the backup data onto a CD. I have excatly 12.4 GB of storge on my hard drive so how can this be copied to a CD when a CD won't be able to store all that data?

Thanks in advance.

Discussion is locked

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It will just take a number of CD or a couple of DVDs if you
Jul 24, 2006 11:39AM PDT

a DVD writer and DVD media. Are you backing up a partition or an entire hard disk ? Depedning on the files...you'll get some compression too.

Does the system have a second hard drive ?

VA{CMD

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backup
Jul 24, 2006 1:43PM PDT

I plan to backup the entire hard disk and I don't have a dvd writer and I only have one hard drive. How many cd's do you think I would need to do this?

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Quick estimate...twenty...
Jul 24, 2006 3:17PM PDT

I can't say for certain since I'm unsure of the level of compression that would be used (if any) and exactly how much data each CD could hold (capacity can vary), but a quick estimate would by 20 CDs in order to hold 12.4GB of data, assuming 620MB per CD. That's the reason CDs are not the preferred media for backups...it would only take 3 DVDs or one 20GB hard drive.

Now, though initially more expensive, it's a good idea to use rewritable media so that you can erase the discs and reuse them for future backups...it'll save money in the long run. An even better option is to buy a second hard drive (and external enclosure if you like) and save multiple backups on it. Of course, it depends on how much you want to spend on the backup system.

John