Acronis Recommends Laptop Users Image Hard Disks before Traveling

Here are 8 rules to keep your work safe and save you money if your laptop computer fails due to hardware or software problems

August 18, 2006, Burlington, MA — Traveling by air, rail or automobile with your laptop and other electronic devices isn't as easy as it used to be. With all of the fear, uncertainty and doubt caused by recent terrorist threats, rethinking how you travel with your electronic devices is taking on more importance. Thus, to backup your laptop hard drive is a must, since laptop backup allows you to retrieve your data in minutes, not hours or days.

Acronis, Inc. (www.acronis.com), the technological leader in storage management software, has come up with several recommendations concerning laptop backup that could aid the business and casual traveler to ensure their data is safe and secure. To backup laptop data properly, follow the tips:

1. Image your laptop — Create an image of your hard disk. This backup laptop image, which includes all operating system, applications, configuration files and data, can be used to restore your system to a known, working condition should the laptop disk drive be damaged or corrupted.
   
2. Use an external hard disk — Store and carry an image of your computer on a USB hard disk or thumb drive. This will help you enormously should your computer be damaged during your travels.
   
3. Use a hidden partition to save your image — A hidden partition on a hard disk can be used to store a complete image of your computer. Should your hard disk fail due to a virus, spyware or bad software install, you can get your system running again in minutes by restoring the image of the disk from this hidden partition on the hard disk. Microsoft Windows does not need to be working in order to restore your computer back to its former working condition.
   
4. Plan ahead — Use an external hard disk or a USB thumb drive to store critical data files, such as presentations. If your computer is lost or stolen, you can always use the files on the external disk to get you through a presentation.
   
5. Use your corporate network — If your company has a corporate network, create an image of your hard disk and store it on the network. If your computer is damaged during transit, you can access this stored image over the network and retrieve important data files. You also can use one of the Internet-based storage sites to save your image.
   
6. Restore to a new computer — Make sure your disk imaging and backup software can restore the image of your old computer to new, dissimilar hardware. Chances are that if your laptop is lost or stolen, your new computer will have different hardware, requiring different drivers. Only software that can restore an image to dissimilar hardware can get you up and running; some programs only allow you to restore your image to exactly the same hardware.
   
7. Beware volatile batteries — Recent news events confirm that accidents happen, including laptops catching fire. Protect your work. Protect your wallet. Image your hard disk so that if your hardware is damaged, you can get back to work quickly.
   
8. Keep abreast of travel rules — Currently, the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has no restrictions on traveling with computers. However, rules change as worldwide events change. Before you travel, check the TSA Web site for any new restrictions. The web site address is www.tsa.gov.