Disk Director: Boot menu lost after DEFRAG

Discussion in 'Acronis Disk Director Suite' started by Peter Jacob, Mar 8, 2005.

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  1. Peter Jacob

    Peter Jacob Registered Member

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    I loose my boot menu of Disk Director 9.0 from time to time. A recovery with the boot cd always works fine.
    Today I might have found the trouble maker as it happened twice after running a Defragmentation on 2 different Windows XP installations.
    After a DEFRAG the next boot skipped the boot menu and went into the last used Windows. The recovery worked and I switched (over the boot menue) to the second windows. Executing DEFRAG there, leaded again to a loss of the boot menu.
    Therefore I assume the boot sector is updated and OSSELECTOR is not performed the next time!
    I guess this is a Windows "problem" rather than an OSSELECTOR glitch
     
  2. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Re: OS Selector: Boot menu lost after DEFRAG

    Hello Peter,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Director Suite (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/).

    Could you please clarify what defragmenting program you use? We will try to reproduce this issue in our Testing Lab and let you know the results.

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  3. Re: OS Selector: Boot menu lost after DEFRAG

    I have encountered a similar problem.

    After my defrag, using WinXP Defragmentor, Boot Selector said it was unable to find its config file.

    FixMbr allowed me back into Windows, I've just re-enabled the Boot Selector to see if it happens again.

    I'll let you know.
     
  4. user 129094

    user 129094 Guest

    same problem here with default windows defrag utility- any fix for this Acronis? This is a major issue as we cannot defrag ANY of our Os'es without loosing the boot menu!!!
     
  5. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello user 129094,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Multiboot Managing Software.

    Could you please describe what happens when you defragment your partition and then restart the computer? Where exactly do you see the error message?

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  6. user 129094

    user 129094 Guest

    After defragging in Win XP Pro, using standard XP dfrag util-

    Once Computer defrag completes, try rebooting.

    When maching re-boots, the OS boot menu does not appear- sometimes it just boots into the default os, and sometimes it just hangs at a black screen.

    The only way to recover is by using the ISO image Acronis boot disk to "re-enable" the boot menu.

    I have tested this repeatedly and fing the OS bootloader to dissapear every time the Defrag utility is ran (during the next re-boot)

    seems the windows defrag utility is modifiying something in a way that causes problems for the OS boot menu .
     
  7. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello all,

    We have examined the problem and found that there may be an error if you defragment the drive with Acronis OS Selector installed. The fix is to deactivate and then reactivate it after the defragmentation. You may do it using the "Tools" menu in Acronis OS Selector under Windows or after booting from Acronis Bootable CD.

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  8. JST

    JST Guest

    Ilya,

    A better solution would be to provide us with a lists of files and directories that should be excluded during defrag. That way everybody could just add to the exclude list of their defragmentation software.

    Best regards,
    JST
     
  9. Access Denied

    Access Denied Registered Member

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    The error also occurs if you defrag using the Acronis Disk Director Defrag on the right click menu of a hard drive from within Disk Director.
     
  10. mrtee

    mrtee Registered Member

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    I am using Diskeeper from www.executive.com on the set it and forget setting (defrags in background as needed) and I have not lost the GUI for OSS.
     
  11. JST

    JST Guest

    mrtee,

    You would only loose it if Diskeeper by chance determines that one of the files of OS Selector that shouldn't be defragmented (=moved) actually gets defragmented. Depending on the size of your harddisk and other factors this can take a long time before it actually happens.

    I believe there is an option to set certain (hidden) system file flags on files to prevent them from getting defragmented. However OS Selector is obviously missing one (or multiple) files right now.

    To solve this Acronis could either way create a patch or provide us with a list of files that shouldn't get defragmented like I suggested before.

    Regards,
    JST
     
  12. Access Denied

    Access Denied Registered Member

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    PerfectDisk moves them all the time and I have no problems now.
     
  13. JST

    JST Guest

    Eliot,

    I also use PerfectDisk, but I do have the problem. How do you know that it is moving them all the time? I don't think the software tells you which files were moved during a defrag...

    Regards,
    JST
     
  14. Access Denied

    Access Denied Registered Member

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    Sure PD does, it shows you file iD # and you can view that file ID. I have mine set to 3 and 7 on the smart placement so if I only defrag every 7-10 days, it gets moved. It may not change (the OS Sel files) but other files do which get moved in front of them. ;)
     
  15. JST

    JST Guest

    Eliot,

    That is interesting. Maybe this means that the entire file has to get moved to create a problem? Or maybe we are both using a different version? I only used the trial version so far and after my experience with PD killing OS Selector from time to time I was holding back. Especially since I was once at a client location without being able to boot up Windows... :(

    I mean I just don't like the solution given by Acronis to re-activate OS Selector every time you are doing a defragmentation. That can be forgotten so easily...

    Thanks,
    JST
     
  16. Access Denied

    Access Denied Registered Member

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    LOL, Offline boot defrag and the error returns. :D
     
  17. mrtee

    mrtee Registered Member

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    So defrag is what is causing loss of the OSS Gui!

    I just defragged with VoptXP from www.goldenbow.com and lost the OSS GUI. Had also used Diskeeper 9 in the past and the same thing happened.

    I think that I will uninstall OSS 9.0 build 1,024 and install OSS 8.0.917 as a custom install to a seperate partition then upgrade it to 9.0. And since it is a hidden partition it will not be defragged.

    OSS 8 is now installed on my machine in a seperate partition, I see no entries for BOOT.WIZ on either of my installs. I'll give it a few days and a few defrags to see what happens, then upgrade to OSS 9 to see what effect it has.
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2005
  18. JST

    JST Guest

    I wish we would get some offical feedback from support to confirm that this is a problem. I also would like to know when it will be fixed. I evaluated this product and I liked everything about it except this problem with OS Selector. Since there are working Boot Menus from other companies that can survive a defrag I am assuming that it shouldn't be rocket science to solve this problem. Like I said before Acronis could even solve the problem by providing us with a list of files that shouldn't be defragmented. We could then go ahead and add those files to the exclude list of our defragmentation software...

    Just my 2 cents...

    Regards,
    JST
     
  19. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello all,

    I ahve contacted Acronis Development Team concerning the problem discussed here. Let me post the results.

    When you defragment the disk you don't need to move the following files and folders:

    1. If Acronis OS Selector is installed on FAT partition - bootsect.sys (BOOTWIZ)

    2. If Acronis OS Selector is installed on NTFS partition
    bootwiz.sys (root directory)
    bootwiz.cfg (BOOTWIZ)
    mouse.com (BOOTWIZ)
    ossmain.exe (BOOTWIZ)
    parter.exe (BOOTWIZ)
    x.bin (BOOTWIZ)

    Again, the fix for the problem is to deactivate and then activate Acronis OS Selector.

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  20. mrtee

    mrtee Registered Member

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    OSS 9.0 installed on top of OSS 8.0 in the hidden partition created by OSS 8.0. Defraging each of the partitions has not inactivated OSS 9.0.


    Each of the other OS Documents & Settings, Program Files and Windows files are contained in a BOOTWIZ file for each OS. I only defag the partition that the Windows files are on when the OS is running. I.E. if I have partition 3 running I defrag it but not partition 1 or 2 because of the large BOOTWIZ folder.
     
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