I've not been here in a while and have searched as I know many of you use Acronis for backup.  I've never used this before but have an OEM copy of Acronis 2014.  I'm trying to back up my complete Win 7 installation before downloading Win 10.  I want to do this before free Win 10 expires but do need to revert to Win 7 in order to support some legacy projects.
 
I think I've done this but before I screw everything up I'd just like to ask if I've done this properly.  I've backed up my complete Win7 disk using both the "standard" algorithm and the "by sectors" option - just in case.  Both have been validated, there is only one partition on the disk and I've also made a recovery CD.
Q1. Is the by sectors option necessary to do a full restoration after I've backed up the Win 10 install?
Q2.  Before I install Win10, have I done this properly and can I completely restore Win7 to where I am now?
 
Thanks for your help and I apologise for being "off topic".

Hi Mr Ease.
 
I did exactly what you are about to do. I have used Acronis for many years with only the standard algorithm and I have restored windows 7 many times, so you should be good to go. I understand that it is a little nerve wracking the first time, but it has never let me down!
 
One thing that I would check though - in order to back up your new win 10 installation after you have completed it (before returning to win 7) you may need to update to at least acronis 2015 to ensure  win 10 compatibility. You will certainly have no issue restoring win 7 using acronis 2014, but I have never tried backing up or restoring win 10 with any version earler than 2015, which will of course restore both win 7 (including backups made with earlier versions) and win 10.

Hi Bruce,
 
Thanks very much for responding!  I guess when I go to Win10 I'll find out if 2014 is OK....  Otherwise I won't be able to back it up and I'll have to get 2015. 

If you just boot from the CD and backup/restore that way - it should work fine - especially since you only have one partition.
 
I've found that the "sector" backups can prevent having to re-authorise some plugins (like Spectrasonics ones) if you ever have to restore. It takes a lot more space though - so I don't usually bother...

jbraner
I've found that the "sector" backups can prevent having to re-authorise some plugins (like Spectrasonics ones) if you ever have to restore. It takes a lot more space though - so I don't usually bother...

Interesting. Suggests that some authorization schemes somehow integrate the disk geometry into their design. Something like this data must be found on this physical sector to confirm that a simple copy was not being used. 
 
In general the sector by sector copy is designed to reproduce a copy (forensic image) of the original disk, such as you might need if you were trying to recover data on a copy of the original disk on another hard disk to avoid damage to the original. Since it is copying sector contents including empty sectors and data that is no longer addressable from the system because it was "deleted" it will require at a minimum an unallocated space on the restore disk at least the size of the original disk. The standard image does not include everything that is actually on the disk, but will restore it to the usable state that it was when the image is made. Stuff that has been deleted will not be included. 
 
The sector copy could also be used to copy the image of a disk containing another operating system, like Linux, since the restored image would be identical to the original. The standard image restore attempts to restore a usable (Windows aware) version of the original, and would not know what to do with another OS.

Mr. Ease
I've not been here in a while and have searched as I know many of you use Acronis for backup.  I've never used this before but have an OEM copy of Acronis 2014.  I'm trying to back up my complete Win 7 installation before downloading Win 10.  I want to do this before free Win 10 expires but do need to revert to Win 7 in order to support some legacy projects.
 
I think I've done this but before I screw everything up I'd just like to ask if I've done this properly.  I've backed up my complete Win7 disk using both the "standard" algorithm and the "by sectors" option - just in case.  Both have been validated, there is only one partition on the disk and I've also made a recovery CD.
Q1. Is the by sectors option necessary to do a full restoration after I've backed up the Win 10 install?
Q2.  Before I install Win10, have I done this properly and can I completely restore Win7 to where I am now?
 
Thanks for your help and I apologise for being "off topic".

  Sector by sector takes longer and I don't think it compresses. Just select clone disk, then validate. I just did this a few days ago and no problems with True Image 2010.  The worst thing you could do is a clean install of W10. Also W10 does a fine job of reverting back to W7. 

You should update version of Acronis, otherwise you can get some issues.

brabtle38
You should update version of Acronis, otherwise you can get some issues.

I didn't and no problems.