reformatting external USB drive

I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal hard
drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True Image 11
Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its first
backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS. However, it
didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program doesn't
reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself; I was also
told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.

Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me to a
website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Big_Al
Tue Jun 17 17:52:16 PDT 2008

Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
> I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal hard
> drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True Image 11
> Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its first
> backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS. However, it
> didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program doesn't
> reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself; I was also
> told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.
>
> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me to a
> website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jo-Anne
>
>
If you clone from drive to drive, you erase everything on the
destination drive, or at least the partition you clone to.

If you backup (image) your internal HD, then it will just place a file
on the external drive containing the image.

Either method you can recover from.

Clone just means that you can just install the external drive in your
internal and away you go.

I like to make images. I can make quite a few 10 gig images on a 320
gig drive. And go back quite a ways back to see old versions of files.

HTH.

Jo-Anne
Tue Jun 17 18:01:29 PDT 2008

Thank you, Al! I think I was making images with my backup rather than
cloning the drive. What Acronis did was create five backup files. I've been
told that's because it had to split the backup into 4GB files, since with
FAT32 there's no way of having a file of more than 4GB. Hence my interest in
reformatting to NTFS.

Jo-Anne

"Big_Al" <BigAl@md.com> wrote in message
news:OFvEY2N0IHA.5520@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
>> I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal
>> hard drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True
>> Image 11 Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its
>> first backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS.
>> However, it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program
>> doesn't reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself;
>> I was also told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.
>>
>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me
>> to a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
> If you clone from drive to drive, you erase everything on the destination
> drive, or at least the partition you clone to.
>
> If you backup (image) your internal HD, then it will just place a file on
> the external drive containing the image.
>
> Either method you can recover from.
>
> Clone just means that you can just install the external drive in your
> internal and away you go.
>
> I like to make images. I can make quite a few 10 gig images on a 320 gig
> drive. And go back quite a ways back to see old versions of files.
>
> HTH.

Big_Al
Tue Jun 17 18:03:46 PDT 2008


Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
> Thank you, Al! I think I was making images with my backup rather than
> cloning the drive. What Acronis did was create five backup files. I've been
> told that's because it had to split the backup into 4GB files, since with
> FAT32 there's no way of having a file of more than 4GB. Hence my interest in
> reformatting to NTFS.
>
> Jo-Anne
>
> "Big_Al" <BigAl@md.com> wrote in message
> news:OFvEY2N0IHA.5520@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
>>> I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal
>>> hard drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True
>>> Image 11 Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its
>>> first backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS.
>>> However, it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program
>>> doesn't reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself;
>>> I was also told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.
>>>
>>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me
>>> to a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>> Jo-Anne
>> If you clone from drive to drive, you erase everything on the destination
>> drive, or at least the partition you clone to.
>>
>> If you backup (image) your internal HD, then it will just place a file on
>> the external drive containing the image.
>>
>> Either method you can recover from.
>>
>> Clone just means that you can just install the external drive in your
>> internal and away you go.
>>
>> I like to make images. I can make quite a few 10 gig images on a 320 gig
>> drive. And go back quite a ways back to see old versions of files.
>>
>> HTH.
>
>
Yes, I have my drive formatted to NTFS, and it holds 36 gig files just easy.

Gerald
Tue Jun 17 18:11:38 PDT 2008

Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
> I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal hard
> drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True Image 11
> Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its first
> backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS. However, it
> didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program doesn't
> reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself; I was also
> told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.
>
> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me to a
> website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jo-Anne
>
>
I don't think it matters to Acronis what format the backup drive is.
If you should want to reformat, it will destroy any data on the drive,
unless it is in a separate partition, then you can format the other
partition. The time to test it is now. Move a file from it's usual
location then see if Acronis can replace it from the USB drive.

Should you desire to reformat a USB drive, plug it in then go to
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Disk Management. Then right click
on the USB drive and select Format. MAKE SURE YOU ARE FORMATTING THE
CORRECT DRIVE. It will give you a drop-down choice to format in NTFS
or Fat32.

I just formatted a USB drive tonight using this, as well as changing
it from 3 partitions to a single partition. Very easy.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

Too much of a good thing is *wonderful*.

Jo-Anne
Tue Jun 17 18:17:25 PDT 2008

Thank you, Gerald! That's exactly what I wanted to know.

Jo-Anne

"Gerald Ross" <gwader@comsouth.net> wrote in message
news:%23fwYCBO0IHA.4500@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
>> I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal
>> hard drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True
>> Image 11 Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its
>> first backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS.
>> However, it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program
>> doesn't reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself;
>> I was also told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.
>>
>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me
>> to a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
> I don't think it matters to Acronis what format the backup drive is. If
> you should want to reformat, it will destroy any data on the drive, unless
> it is in a separate partition, then you can format the other partition.
> The time to test it is now. Move a file from it's usual location then see
> if Acronis can replace it from the USB drive.
>
> Should you desire to reformat a USB drive, plug it in then go to Control
> Panel>Administrative Tools>Disk Management. Then right click on the USB
> drive and select Format. MAKE SURE YOU ARE FORMATTING THE CORRECT DRIVE.
> It will give you a drop-down choice to format in NTFS or Fat32.
>
> I just formatted a USB drive tonight using this, as well as changing it
> from 3 partitions to a single partition. Very easy.
>
> --
> Gerald Ross
> Cochran, GA
>
> Too much of a good thing is *wonderful*.
>
>
>
>

Jo-Anne
Tue Jun 17 18:17:42 PDT 2008

Thank you again, Al!

Jo-Anne

"Big_Al" <BigAl@md.com> wrote in message
news:%23G$Iz8N0IHA.5944@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
>> Thank you, Al! I think I was making images with my backup rather than
>> cloning the drive. What Acronis did was create five backup files. I've
>> been told that's because it had to split the backup into 4GB files, since
>> with FAT32 there's no way of having a file of more than 4GB. Hence my
>> interest in reformatting to NTFS.
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>>
>> "Big_Al" <BigAl@md.com> wrote in message
>> news:OFvEY2N0IHA.5520@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
>>>> I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal
>>>> hard drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True
>>>> Image 11 Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did
>>>> its first backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to
>>>> NTFS. However, it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the
>>>> program doesn't reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do
>>>> so myself; I was also told that this reformat won't affect data on the
>>>> drive.
>>>>
>>>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me
>>>> to a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>>>
>>>> Thank you!
>>>>
>>>> Jo-Anne
>>> If you clone from drive to drive, you erase everything on the
>>> destination drive, or at least the partition you clone to.
>>>
>>> If you backup (image) your internal HD, then it will just place a file
>>> on the external drive containing the image.
>>>
>>> Either method you can recover from.
>>>
>>> Clone just means that you can just install the external drive in your
>>> internal and away you go.
>>>
>>> I like to make images. I can make quite a few 10 gig images on a 320
>>> gig drive. And go back quite a ways back to see old versions of files.
>>>
>>> HTH.
>>
>>
> Yes, I have my drive formatted to NTFS, and it holds 36 gig files just
> easy.

Ghostrider
Tue Jun 17 18:19:19 PDT 2008


Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
> Thank you, Al! I think I was making images with my backup rather than
> cloning the drive. What Acronis did was create five backup files. I've been
> told that's because it had to split the backup into 4GB files, since with
> FAT32 there's no way of having a file of more than 4GB. Hence my interest in
> reformatting to NTFS.
>
> Jo-Anne
>

Just for your peace of mind, cloning is best reserved for making an
exact duplicate of a hard drive [partition] into another hard drive
that might eventually be used inside the computer as a functioning
part. OTOH, making a disk image file is more typical for producing a
more precise backup of a hard drive, or parts of it. The image file is
typically used to restore files, folders, etc., when the need arises.
If large image files are involved, it is better to use NTFS partitions.

Jo-Anne
Tue Jun 17 18:30:06 PDT 2008

Thank you, Ghostrider! I'm beginning to understand the difference.

Since it probably wouldn't be easy to remove my external drives from their
cases, I think I should plan on always imaging the drive rather than cloning
it. If my internal drive dies, I would then buy another one and restore to
it from the external.

As far as I know, Acronis is an imaging program rather than a cloning
program--or at least at its website it refers to its "patented disk imaging
technology." Moreover, you have to make a separate boot disk with Acronis
(if you want one), which suggests that it's not cloning the internal
drive--right?

Jo-Anne

"Ghostrider" <-00-@fitron.142> wrote in message
news:uaS9OFO0IHA.3968@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
> Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
>> Thank you, Al! I think I was making images with my backup rather than
>> cloning the drive. What Acronis did was create five backup files. I've
>> been told that's because it had to split the backup into 4GB files, since
>> with FAT32 there's no way of having a file of more than 4GB. Hence my
>> interest in reformatting to NTFS.
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>>
>
> Just for your peace of mind, cloning is best reserved for making an
> exact duplicate of a hard drive [partition] into another hard drive
> that might eventually be used inside the computer as a functioning
> part. OTOH, making a disk image file is more typical for producing a
> more precise backup of a hard drive, or parts of it. The image file is
> typically used to restore files, folders, etc., when the need arises.
> If large image files are involved, it is better to use NTFS partitions.
>

Bill
Tue Jun 17 19:03:24 PDT 2008

If your source drive system partition is formatted as NTFS (which it most
likely is if you're using WinXP), you should be imaging it or cloning it to
a similarly formatted NTFS partitition in the backup drive. I'd say get
rid of the FAT32, unless you have some special need for that (like backing
up a source's FAT32 partition to a similar partition on the backup drive).

Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
> I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal hard
> drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True Image 11
> Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its first
> backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS. However,
> it
> didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program doesn't
> reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself; I was
> also
> told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.
>
> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me to
> a
> website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jo-Anne

Jim
Tue Jun 17 19:40:45 PDT 2008

How to Convert FAT Disks to NTFS

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456984(TechNet.10).aspx

Jo-Anne
Tue Jun 17 20:21:02 PDT 2008

Thank you, Jim! I've printed it off and will use it tomorrow to format my
second external drive. Then I'll see if I can do it to the first one without
destroying the data on it.

Jo-Anne

"Jim Hurley" <arachnaut@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:NA_5k.10247$uE5.9058@flpi144.ffdc.sbc.com...
> How to Convert FAT Disks to NTFS
>
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456984(TechNet.10).aspx

Jo-Anne
Tue Jun 17 20:21:53 PDT 2008

Thank you, Bill! I'll do the reformatting tomorrow.

Jo-Anne

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:O4O3$dO0IHA.3968@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> If your source drive system partition is formatted as NTFS (which it most
> likely is if you're using WinXP), you should be imaging it or cloning it
> to a similarly formatted NTFS partitition in the backup drive. I'd say
> get rid of the FAT32, unless you have some special need for that (like
> backing up a source's FAT32 partition to a similar partition on the backup
> drive).
>
> Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
>> I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal
>> hard
>> drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True Image 11
>> Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its first
>> backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS. However,
>> it
>> didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program doesn't
>> reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself; I was
>> also
>> told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.
>>
>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me
>> to a
>> website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>
>

Lil'
Wed Jun 18 08:15:45 PDT 2008

"Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
news:%23VO92uN0IHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal hard
>drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True Image 11
>Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its first
>backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS. However,
>it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program doesn't
>reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself; I was
>also told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.
>
> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me to
> a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>
> Thank you!
>
> Jo-Anne
>

Just some tech jargon info to add to what's been said alredy in reply. The
partition contains the file table information and that file table is the
format, whether FAT32 or NTFS. Normally, with standard partitioning tools,
you have to remove the partition and create a new one with a file table
appropriate to what you want. XP has a converter to get around that for
FAT32 to NTFS. If you're starting with a blank hard drive, no files, you
might as well just do it the old way in XP's disk management. This will
map out any bad areas during the process. Converting tool in XP does not.

Since you have 2 large hard drives, I would consider using one for an
imaging target. The other, I would use as a monthly clone target, leaving
disconnected/off otherwise. If your onboard hard drive fails, you can toss
in the clone for quick recovery. If that fails, you can wipe the clone with
TI, and restore your latest image to that hard drive.
--
Dave

Jo-Anne
Wed Jun 18 09:18:43 PDT 2008


"Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
news:e8hcwYV0IHA.4492@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
> news:%23VO92uN0IHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal hard
>>drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True Image 11
>>Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its first
>>backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS. However,
>>it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program doesn't
>>reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself; I was
>>also told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.
>>
>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me
>> to a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>>
>
> Just some tech jargon info to add to what's been said alredy in reply.
> The partition contains the file table information and that file table is
> the format, whether FAT32 or NTFS. Normally, with standard partitioning
> tools, you have to remove the partition and create a new one with a file
> table appropriate to what you want. XP has a converter to get around that
> for FAT32 to NTFS. If you're starting with a blank hard drive, no files,
> you might as well just do it the old way in XP's disk management. This
> will map out any bad areas during the process. Converting tool in XP does
> not.
>
> Since you have 2 large hard drives, I would consider using one for an
> imaging target. The other, I would use as a monthly clone target, leaving
> disconnected/off otherwise. If your onboard hard drive fails, you can
> toss in the clone for quick recovery. If that fails, you can wipe the
> clone with TI, and restore your latest image to that hard drive.
> --
> Dave

Thank you, Dave! You've put it very clearly. One more question: If I can
clone to my hard drive (and I'm not sure if Acronis True Image does that), I
assume I'd have to take it out of the case to put it into the
computer--right? That doesn't look possible with the two drives I bought (WD
Passport).

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

Lil'
Wed Jun 18 22:30:07 PDT 2008

"Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
news:en4c27V0IHA.4364@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
> news:e8hcwYV0IHA.4492@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
>> news:%23VO92uN0IHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal
>>>hard drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True
>>>Image 11 Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its
>>>first backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS.
>>>However, it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the program
>>>doesn't reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do so myself;
>>>I was also told that this reformat won't affect data on the drive.
>>>
>>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me
>>> to a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>> Jo-Anne
>>>
>>
>> Just some tech jargon info to add to what's been said alredy in reply.
>> The partition contains the file table information and that file table is
>> the format, whether FAT32 or NTFS. Normally, with standard partitioning
>> tools, you have to remove the partition and create a new one with a file
>> table appropriate to what you want. XP has a converter to get around
>> that for FAT32 to NTFS. If you're starting with a blank hard drive, no
>> files, you might as well just do it the old way in XP's disk management.
>> This will map out any bad areas during the process. Converting tool in
>> XP does not.
>>
>> Since you have 2 large hard drives, I would consider using one for an
>> imaging target. The other, I would use as a monthly clone target,
>> leaving disconnected/off otherwise. If your onboard hard drive fails,
>> you can toss in the clone for quick recovery. If that fails, you can
>> wipe the clone with TI, and restore your latest image to that hard drive.
>> --
>> Dave
>
> Thank you, Dave! You've put it very clearly. One more question: If I can
> clone to my hard drive (and I'm not sure if Acronis True Image does that),
> I assume I'd have to take it out of the case to put it into the
> computer--right? That doesn't look possible with the two drives I bought
> (WD Passport).
>
> Thank you again!
>
> Jo-Anne
>

Cloning will make an exact image to whatever the hard drive you choose for a
target. Using the clone onboard your PC for a boot drive is a factor if
your bios doesn't support 48 bit lba (large hard drives). If that is a
problem, the imaging software, if you make the imaging restoration the exact
size of the original (default), you should have no problems.
--
Dave

Jo-Anne
Thu Jun 19 10:05:37 PDT 2008


"Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
news:O0hiK2c0IHA.2408@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
> news:en4c27V0IHA.4364@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>
>> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
>> news:e8hcwYV0IHA.4492@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
>>> news:%23VO92uN0IHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>>I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal
>>>>hard drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True
>>>>Image 11 Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did its
>>>>first backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to NTFS.
>>>>However, it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the
>>>>program doesn't reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do
>>>>so myself; I was also told that this reformat won't affect data on the
>>>>drive.
>>>>
>>>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point me
>>>> to a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>>>
>>>> Thank you!
>>>>
>>>> Jo-Anne
>>>>
>>>
>>> Just some tech jargon info to add to what's been said alredy in reply.
>>> The partition contains the file table information and that file table is
>>> the format, whether FAT32 or NTFS. Normally, with standard partitioning
>>> tools, you have to remove the partition and create a new one with a file
>>> table appropriate to what you want. XP has a converter to get around
>>> that for FAT32 to NTFS. If you're starting with a blank hard drive, no
>>> files, you might as well just do it the old way in XP's disk
>>> management. This will map out any bad areas during the process.
>>> Converting tool in XP does not.
>>>
>>> Since you have 2 large hard drives, I would consider using one for an
>>> imaging target. The other, I would use as a monthly clone target,
>>> leaving disconnected/off otherwise. If your onboard hard drive fails,
>>> you can toss in the clone for quick recovery. If that fails, you can
>>> wipe the clone with TI, and restore your latest image to that hard
>>> drive.
>>> --
>>> Dave
>>
>> Thank you, Dave! You've put it very clearly. One more question: If I can
>> clone to my hard drive (and I'm not sure if Acronis True Image does
>> that), I assume I'd have to take it out of the case to put it into the
>> computer--right? That doesn't look possible with the two drives I bought
>> (WD Passport).
>>
>> Thank you again!
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>>
>
> Cloning will make an exact image to whatever the hard drive you choose for
> a target. Using the clone onboard your PC for a boot drive is a factor if
> your bios doesn't support 48 bit lba (large hard drives). If that is a
> problem, the imaging software, if you make the imaging restoration the
> exact size of the original (default), you should have no problems.
> --
> Dave
>
Thank you, Dave! Anna on this list said that my Dell should support large
hard drives; I think she's had experience with the same model I have.
Nonetheless, for now I'll stick to imaging with Acronis--and might well do
some regular backups at least of my data, either with my old Easy CD Creator
or with xcopy (which I used back in the pre-Windows days).

Jo-Anne

Lil'
Thu Jun 19 21:25:47 PDT 2008

"Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
news:egaty6i0IHA.3968@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
> news:O0hiK2c0IHA.2408@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
>> news:en4c27V0IHA.4364@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>
>>> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
>>> news:e8hcwYV0IHA.4492@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:%23VO92uN0IHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>>>I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal
>>>>>hard drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True
>>>>>Image 11 Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did
>>>>>its first backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to
>>>>>NTFS. However, it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told the
>>>>>program doesn't reformat drives but that it might be a good idea to do
>>>>>so myself; I was also told that this reformat won't affect data on the
>>>>>drive.
>>>>>
>>>>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point
>>>>> me to a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you!
>>>>>
>>>>> Jo-Anne
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Just some tech jargon info to add to what's been said alredy in reply.
>>>> The partition contains the file table information and that file table
>>>> is the format, whether FAT32 or NTFS. Normally, with standard
>>>> partitioning tools, you have to remove the partition and create a new
>>>> one with a file table appropriate to what you want. XP has a converter
>>>> to get around that for FAT32 to NTFS. If you're starting with a blank
>>>> hard drive, no files, you might as well just do it the old way in XP's
>>>> disk management. This will map out any bad areas during the process.
>>>> Converting tool in XP does not.
>>>>
>>>> Since you have 2 large hard drives, I would consider using one for an
>>>> imaging target. The other, I would use as a monthly clone target,
>>>> leaving disconnected/off otherwise. If your onboard hard drive fails,
>>>> you can toss in the clone for quick recovery. If that fails, you can
>>>> wipe the clone with TI, and restore your latest image to that hard
>>>> drive.
>>>> --
>>>> Dave
>>>
>>> Thank you, Dave! You've put it very clearly. One more question: If I can
>>> clone to my hard drive (and I'm not sure if Acronis True Image does
>>> that), I assume I'd have to take it out of the case to put it into the
>>> computer--right? That doesn't look possible with the two drives I bought
>>> (WD Passport).
>>>
>>> Thank you again!
>>>
>>> Jo-Anne
>>>
>>
>> Cloning will make an exact image to whatever the hard drive you choose
>> for a target. Using the clone onboard your PC for a boot drive is a
>> factor if your bios doesn't support 48 bit lba (large hard drives). If
>> that is a problem, the imaging software, if you make the imaging
>> restoration the exact size of the original (default), you should have no
>> problems.
>> --
>> Dave
>>
> Thank you, Dave! Anna on this list said that my Dell should support large
> hard drives; I think she's had experience with the same model I have.
> Nonetheless, for now I'll stick to imaging with Acronis--and might well do
> some regular backups at least of my data, either with my old Easy CD
> Creator or with xcopy (which I used back in the pre-Windows days).
>
> Jo-Anne
>

xcopy won't work. xxcopy will most of the time.
--
Dave

Jo-Anne
Thu Jun 19 22:17:45 PDT 2008

Dang! I thought xcopy could copy to any "real" drive although not to a CD or
DVD. I Googled xxcopy; I assume you're referring to a freeware program that
I would need to download rather than something that comes with
Windows--right?

Thanks again!

Jo-Anne

"Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
news:uQnj32o0IHA.3680@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
> news:egaty6i0IHA.3968@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>
>> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
>> news:O0hiK2c0IHA.2408@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
>>> news:en4c27V0IHA.4364@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>>
>>>> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
>>>> news:e8hcwYV0IHA.4492@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>>> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
>>>>> news:%23VO92uN0IHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>>>>I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the internal
>>>>>>hard drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True
>>>>>>Image 11 Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did
>>>>>>its first backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to
>>>>>>NTFS. However, it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told
>>>>>>the program doesn't reformat drives but that it might be a good idea
>>>>>>to do so myself; I was also told that this reformat won't affect data
>>>>>>on the drive.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point
>>>>>> me to a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thank you!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Jo-Anne
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Just some tech jargon info to add to what's been said alredy in reply.
>>>>> The partition contains the file table information and that file table
>>>>> is the format, whether FAT32 or NTFS. Normally, with standard
>>>>> partitioning tools, you have to remove the partition and create a new
>>>>> one with a file table appropriate to what you want. XP has a
>>>>> converter to get around that for FAT32 to NTFS. If you're starting
>>>>> with a blank hard drive, no files, you might as well just do it the
>>>>> old way in XP's disk management. This will map out any bad areas
>>>>> during the process. Converting tool in XP does not.
>>>>>
>>>>> Since you have 2 large hard drives, I would consider using one for an
>>>>> imaging target. The other, I would use as a monthly clone target,
>>>>> leaving disconnected/off otherwise. If your onboard hard drive fails,
>>>>> you can toss in the clone for quick recovery. If that fails, you can
>>>>> wipe the clone with TI, and restore your latest image to that hard
>>>>> drive.
>>>>> --
>>>>> Dave
>>>>
>>>> Thank you, Dave! You've put it very clearly. One more question: If I
>>>> can clone to my hard drive (and I'm not sure if Acronis True Image does
>>>> that), I assume I'd have to take it out of the case to put it into the
>>>> computer--right? That doesn't look possible with the two drives I
>>>> bought (WD Passport).
>>>>
>>>> Thank you again!
>>>>
>>>> Jo-Anne
>>>>
>>>
>>> Cloning will make an exact image to whatever the hard drive you choose
>>> for a target. Using the clone onboard your PC for a boot drive is a
>>> factor if your bios doesn't support 48 bit lba (large hard drives). If
>>> that is a problem, the imaging software, if you make the imaging
>>> restoration the exact size of the original (default), you should have no
>>> problems.
>>> --
>>> Dave
>>>
>> Thank you, Dave! Anna on this list said that my Dell should support large
>> hard drives; I think she's had experience with the same model I have.
>> Nonetheless, for now I'll stick to imaging with Acronis--and might well
>> do some regular backups at least of my data, either with my old Easy CD
>> Creator or with xcopy (which I used back in the pre-Windows days).
>>
>> Jo-Anne
>>
>
> xcopy won't work. xxcopy will most of the time.
> --
> Dave
>

Bill
Thu Jun 19 23:59:11 PDT 2008

Yup - you gotta download it (it does not come with Windows). But (IIRC),
it's free. (But my memory might be off).

Jo-Anne Naples wrote:
> Dang! I thought xcopy could copy to any "real" drive although not to a CD
> or
> DVD. I Googled xxcopy; I assume you're referring to a freeware program
> that
> I would need to download rather than something that comes with
> Windows--right?
>
> Thanks again!
>
> Jo-Anne
>
> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
> news:uQnj32o0IHA.3680@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
>> news:egaty6i0IHA.3968@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>
>>> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
>>> news:O0hiK2c0IHA.2408@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:en4c27V0IHA.4364@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>>>
>>>>> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message
>>>>> news:e8hcwYV0IHA.4492@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>>>> "Jo-Anne Naples" <naples@tbcnet.com> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:%23VO92uN0IHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>>>>> I recently bought two external USB drives for backing up the
>>>>>>> internal
>>>>>>> hard drive on my Windows XP SP3 computer. I also bought Acronis True
>>>>>>> Image 11 Home to do the backups. I thought that when the program did
>>>>>>> its first backup, it would reformat the external drive from FAT32 to
>>>>>>> NTFS. However, it didn't. I asked on the Acronis forum and was told
>>>>>>> the program doesn't reformat drives but that it might be a good idea
>>>>>>> to do so myself; I was also told that this reformat won't affect
>>>>>>> data
>>>>>>> on the drive.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Should I do the reformat? If so, how do I do it? (If you could point
>>>>>>> me to a website offering this information, that would be wonderful.)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thank you!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Jo-Anne
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Just some tech jargon info to add to what's been said alredy in
>>>>>> reply.
>>>>>> The partition contains the file table information and that file table
>>>>>> is the format, whether FAT32 or NTFS. Normally, with standard
>>>>>> partitioning tools, you have to remove the partition and create a new
>>>>>> one with a file table appropriate to what you want. XP has a
>>>>>> converter to get around that for FAT32 to NTFS. If you're starting
>>>>>> with a blank hard drive, no files, you might as well just do it the
>>>>>> old way in XP's disk management. This will map out any bad areas
>>>>>> during the process. Converting tool in XP does not.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Since you have 2 large hard drives, I would consider using one for an
>>>>>> imaging target. The other, I would use as a monthly clone target,
>>>>>> leaving disconnected/off otherwise. If your onboard hard drive
>>>>>> fails,
>>>>>> you can toss in the clone for quick recovery. If that fails, you can
>>>>>> wipe the clone with TI, and restore your latest image to that hard
>>>>>> drive.
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Dave
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you, Dave! You've put it very clearly. One more question: If I
>>>>> can clone to my hard drive (and I'm not sure if Acronis True Image
>>>>> does
>>>>> that), I assume I'd have to take it out of the case to put it into the
>>>>> computer--right? That doesn't look possible with the two drives I
>>>>> bought (WD Passport).
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you again!
>>>>>
>>>>> Jo-Anne
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Cloning will make an exact image to whatever the hard drive you choose
>>>> for a target. Using the clone onboard your PC for a boot drive is a
>>>> factor if your bios doesn't support 48 bit lba (large hard drives). If
>>>> that is a problem, the imaging software, if you make the imaging
>>>> restoration the exact size of the original (default), you should have
>>>> no
>>>> problems.
>>>> --
>>>> Dave
>>>>
>>> Thank you, Dave! Anna on this list said that my Dell should support
>>> large
>>> hard drives; I think she's had experience with the same model I have.
>>> Nonetheless, for now I'll stick to imaging with Acronis--and might well
>>> do some regular backups at least of my data, either with my old Easy CD
>>> Creator or with xcopy (which I used back in the pre-Windows days).
>>>
>>> Jo-Anne
>>>
>>
>> xcopy won't work. xxcopy will most of the time.
>> --
>> Dave