As Emeril the chef would say, Acronis has "kicked it up a notch. Bam!"
Background: I've been attempting for years to make clones rather than mirror images of my C drives, as clones are much less cumbersome to create and use. The instructions always appear sooooo straightforward. Problem is, I've never been able to boot with the results. I would always get a message to "insert your first installation disk," but neither that nor the System Repair disk would solve the problem. Today, I decided to give it one more try -- and got the same result as always.
Logging on to the Acronis web site informed me that my annual subscription for True Image 2017 is active until the end of April, so I clicked Support.
Whoa!
The first image depicts what I saw after clicking Support.
The next image shows what I saw after clicking the top-left box.
Of the various choices, I prefer chat for 2 major reasons 1) I generally begin chatting within a minute or two 2) I can save the entire session to read over later.
Here is what happened: someone named Sujoy came on and, after we'd spent some time wrestling to the ground precisely what my problem is, she replied, "You need to use your Rescue Media to Add the Drive before you can use it as a target."
There's more to the story. After I'd exited and saved the chat, she sent me a lengthy email informing me that her name is Sujoy Maharana, and if my problem is not solved, then .... She listed all sorts of alternative solutions in detail and, in addition provided the case number to use if I needed more customer service, PLUS a username and password to use for expedited attention!
However, by the time I saw that email, my first-ever clone was already up and -- with each and every one of my 30 or so desktop shortcuts not only "present and accounted for" but actually functional, despite the fact that most of their targets are on my external HDDs.
Here's another pleasant observation: the True Image 2018 downloadable User Manual (PDF) is actually not only understandable but also exceedingly-well organized.
Moreover, it states that my 2017 version is the exception to the rule that backups made with one version may not function correctly with the newer version. Plus, there is no charge for updating.
I almost never "update" my system if all is well, but I will admit that, because the manual for 2018 is so well done, I'm going to spring for the software version that it covers -- but only after creating a "snapshot" with RollbackRXPro that I can roll back to if necessary ("trust but verify").
BTW, apart from cloning there are dozens of other tasks that this "integrated software suite that ensures the security of all the information on your PC" is capable of, including not only syncing but also wiping files. The functionthat particularly interests is Acronis Active Protection, which is a real-time program designed to prevent a hostile takeover by ransomware. I'll do my homework before installing it. I'll report back later the outcome of "updating" from ATI 2017 to 2018.