I have received a query by P.M., but am replying in this topic because others may be interested.
I have an Acer Laptop with XP Home pre-installed;
no installation disc and a right royal pain when Windows File Protection / System File Checker demands Windows Installation Discs.
Acer included Factory Recovery Discs for a instant fresh XP plus pre-installed Office bundle etc, and the local "Currys" shop supplied H.P. Installation discs when they sold my daughter a H.P. Printer.
I have never had any need for Acer's Factory Recovery Discs or the H.P. installation Discs.
My first attempt at restoring a image from a 30 GB HDD to a vacant 160 GB HDD was not valid.
I had validated the backup image with the "Live under Windows" Acronis application,
but I had NOT validated it by using the Acronis Boot CD.
Had I done so I would have realised my mistake of not creating a new CD when I updated Acronis.
The existing CD of the previous version did not understand the image created by the latest version.
I had to swap out the 160 GB and plug back in the 30 GB HDD
and then create a brand new Boot CD with the latest Acronis version.
My first valid attempt was a perfect success.
It booted up fine and all my applications were ready to run.
I do not know about the latest versions of Acronis,
but version 11 seemed to use a Linux based Boot CD.
This had generic drivers which were generally compatible with common hardware,
but some hardware was less compatible with generic Linux ! !
When the Acronis User Forum was on Wilders it was not uncommon to see a new topic from some one with only one post.
He/She either failed to validate an image before depending upon it,
or alternatively had validated under Windows but NOT tested whether the Boot CD was compatible with the hardware.
Ouch.
I suspect alternative image backups such as Easus may also be Linux based.
Macrium provides both a Linux Recovery CD and a BartPE CD.
Because I have the purchased version of Macrium I also have a "Windows P.E. 2.0" Boot CD.
If you use the Free version of Macrium you cannot receive a free download of "Windows P.E.".
But I believe this is something you may be able to extract from a Vista or W7 system.
I will admit that I worry about the first use of a Boot CD,
but once it has worked and the system has booted I only need a duplicate CD to be full of confidence
N.B. I never do anything unless I have both a means of undoing it and also at least one extra redundant "way back home";
Even so, I always trust an image that is validated under Windows.
I feel safe that if the checksums are good under Windows they will still be good under the Boot CD.
I have a spare Boot CD should my latest CD get scratched.
I keep earlier images in an archive just in case.
I also have a viable image on a Flash drive just in case my main archive HDD should die.
When restoring with Acronis, or Ghost, and probably many others,
I believe they sort of defrag what is restored - there are no empty spaces other than the big one at the end.
This is not a perfect Defrag and dedicated defrag utilities do a better job of optimising the file sequence for faster booting etc.
A good thing about Macrium is that it restores files to the same positions,
so if a particular file needs to be within ???? MB of the start of the disc,
it will be in the same position when restored and it should boot well.
I do not know what can go wrong when files are defragged upon restoration by Acronis/Ghost etc.
but I have my suspicions ! !
N.B. When I create a new image I restore that image as a different partition which proves everything is good.
Then paranoia strikes and I do a file/folder comparison of C:\ with the restored image just to be sure.
I also repeat the comparison when I wonder if anything has sneaked in when I was not looking ! !
Finally I repeat the comparison before I make the next image,
and that reminds me of any stuff I have downloaded, rejected, and forgotten to remove,
and when I have a lean clean machine I do the backup image and restore to the comparison partition etc.
I cannot guarantee that a backup image will always restore a bootable system,
but once I have proven the compatibility of the technology with my hardware,
and have spare CD's and spare images, my fears disappear.
The only thing that I could wish for would be an omission of all the Hewlett Packard Printer Rubbish ! ! !
I rarely need to print.
Only once in 6 years have I used the scanner because it was available.
That saved me the 10 pence the local shop would have charged for making a xerox copy of a legal document ! ! !
Never ever at any time will I allow H.P. to "Share on the Web"
I have now identified a critical "Share ..." executable and changed its extension so it cannot run,
and I am pleasantly surprised that although the H.P. Installation Disc may be requested when I print,
I am able to proceed without using the disc - I can even scan if I wish.
regards
Alan