HOW TO DO IT: USING ACRONIS 8.0 SIMPLE?

HOW IS IT DONE: ACRONIS 8.0?

I have Windows XP Home and after installing Acronis True Image 8.0, my Drive C reads USED SPACE: 5.22 GB, FREE SPACE: 2.12 GB or just 29% disk space left, and that's after compressing some files AND disabling Windows System Restore. In other words, Installing Acronis took a lot of space which I was okay with AS I THOUGHT in my understanding of the install procedure, it was taking a picture of my entire Drive C during the process. Although a very careful PC User and even with a portable USB for backup, I wanted something that would restore my WinXP as I have it loaded, without having to ever again wipe & reformat in case of a major crash like I had early in February, where Windows would not open. Shortly afterwards, I discovered Acronis and the boxed version said even a Beginner could do it. I thought I had found a technological miracle. I'm not a newbie to PC use so my dilemma is very EMBARRASSING as I installed Acronis 8.0, read the Users Guide and did all I could to understand how Acronis works. In the end I was thoroughly confused and I don't even know if I have a True Image of my entire Drive C that would restore Windows as I have stated. Every time I read the Users Guide, I get a different interpretation and therefore do nothing. I thought when I installed Acronis, a magic shot was taken of Drive C and I could proceed to forget it for the most part, or that anything I needed to do thereafter would be clearly, simply, outlined (which 81 pages of the Users Guide doesn't do in my case). And, how in the world does the Installation CD become the Bootable CD? I can see my entire Drive C Tree in Acronis and open any Drive C application from that Tree but when I click on Explore Image, the "Next" button is grayed out. I now suspect I don't have an image of Drive C that would restore my computer in its current state. I have spent a little over two years, self-taught, learning all about computer technology as I love to know how things work. Anything is simple ONCE YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IT. But, for some reason Acronis True Image has brought me to my knees and I feel less than a Beginner and so EMBARRASSED I've waited until now to present my case. Actually, I need an angel of mercy and knowledge to answer my distress call and I'll even put away my pride while everyone is having a big laugh. Perhaps someone can understand what I need to know as I'm not even sure I have made clear my dilemma, But to sum it up: (1) Did Acronis take a picture of my Drive C during installation as I wishfully thought? (2) If not, and I have to take a picture of entire Drive C, which is what I want, how much more disk space is required for the image? (3) Can Acronis actually restore my computer as I currently have it loaded - and with the Installation CD (how?). Maybe I tried to digest too much reading the entire Users Guide, but it messed up my thinking and with my inability to understand the disk space issue I've stated, here I am, totally incapacitated regarding Acronis True Image......HELP!!!

Many Thanks
RED-FACED CYBERGAL

 

Hello Cybergal,

No, True Image doesn't take a "picture" (i.e. create an image) of your hard drive during installation. However, did you by any chance create an Acronis Secure Zone? Run True Image and select "Manage Acronis Secure Zone" from the "Tools" options. If, on the second page of the Manage Acronis Secure Zone Wizard, you're presented with an option to "Remove Acronis Secure Zone" then the answer to the question is "yes".

Before we can help you with creating and restoring images you'll need to clarify a few points for us first:

1. What is the total size of your main hard drive?

2. How many partitions are there on your main hard drive?

3. Do you have more than one hard drive fitted in your compute?

4. Is your computer fitted with a CD/DVD recorder?

Regards

 

Thanks, Menorcaman for stepping up the the plate. Now, with my reply, you will see how little I know as Acronis True Image has made me aware:
1. The Original total size of my main hard drive (My Computer/Properties) says 7.35 GB. Note what I stated in my first post as to how much disk space I have left after installing Acronis (29% or 2.12 GB).
2. I don't know what Partitions are but can only guess it's the Drive C Tree (all the little "+" signs would add up to over 100 but like I said, don't know exactly what a partition is.
3. Only one hard Drive (Default Drive C). I do have an external, portable hard drive, but I just plug that in for document & photo backup.
4. CD/DVD Recorder(?). All I know is I have the standard CD/DVD. I've never burned anything. Nothing more than inserting a CD for installation, just as I did with the boxed Acronis CD.
5. I didn't Install Acronis Secure Zone because apparently I have the Bootable CD which must be the Installation CD, as I read it in the Users Guide.

Thank you,
Cybergal (Still Red-Faced)

 

Hi, Menorcaman

You are the MAN.

You sure your name is not Daniel.

Take Care,
TheQuest

 

Hi Cybergal,

Lets do this in stages.

A full install of TI should occupy approximately 25MB of your hards drive. Can you remember how much free space you had before installing it?

No, all those little plus signs are part of your hard drive "Directory Tree". Partitioning effectively splits a physical disk into a number of smaller drives. If your hard drive has more than one partition then Windows will assign a separate drive letter to each of them. It would appear that your hard drive has only got one partition i.e. drive C:.

O.K. noted. I'll come back to this later because it looks as if you'll need to use the external hard drive for your images. However, in the meantime, what is the size of this external drive and is it connected via USB or Firewire?

You'll need to ascertain whether this optical drive has the capability to record to CD. If not then I hope your computer has a floppy drive because, one way or another, I think you'll need to create the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media.

I gather from this that you bought a retail boxed version of TI. Is that correct? In which case, I'm not sure but I don't think the installation CD serves the same purpose as a Acronis bootable rescue CD. Perhaps someone else out there could confirm this please?

Anyway, please provide the info requested above and we will then move to the next step.

Regards

 

5-06-05: Menorcaman, you obviously know "how to." But, now I have another dilemma AND I WOULD LIKE FOR YOU, MENORCAMAN, to help me solve it, if you would be so kind. Here's what happened:
1. I went ahead and proceeded to take an entire image of Drive C. It would not complete as it ran out of disk space, which it what I suspected, so I cancelled.
2. (My USB Portable Hard Drive is USB 2.0 with 1.5 MB so I'm sure it would not be enough even if I had enough disk space for the image on drive C) to proceed.
3. From the installation of Acronis, I didn't tell you before, that after the installation, a spontaneous ACRONIS DRIVE (E), WHICH IS EMPTY, appeared at "My Computer." I don't know what it does. I thought I would come to understand what its purpose was later on. It called itself "Acronis Sz."

4. I decided to UNINSTALL ACRONIS TI for the time being because of not enough disk space. When I bought the Retail boxed Acronis, I had the required MB's and nothing was said of needing more disk space for the actual image. At the time of Installation, I had about 32 MB's disk space left.
5. Therefore, I proceeded with the UNINSTALL OF ATI. When it was done, my 29% disk space (with ATI Installed) DROPPED TO 12%!! I can't figure it out UNLESS THAT Acronis Drive (E) has something to do with it. When I uninstalled ATI in Add/Remove Programs, I even went into Program Files and deleted it there but when I went into the Registry, I found Acronis still there and upon clicking "delete," it would not delete Acronis due to "Error while Deleting Key."
6. THIS IS WHERE I NEED YOUR HELP (OR ANYONE ELSE WOULD BE WELCOME): HOW DO I GET RID OF THAT ACRONIS DRIVE (E) THAT SPONTANEOUSLY APPEARED IN MY COMPUTER WHEN I FIRST INSTALLED ATI? I'm going to have to solve this Disk space problem NOW before I can even consider Re-Installing Acronis. I WOULD SO APPRECIATE YOUR HELP AGAIN, IF THAT'S POSSIBLE. AEROSPACE ENGINEER, RIGHT? I was very impressed with your answers and I would have proceeded had I not run into this present problem. PLEASE HELP, AGAIN.

 

5-06-05 Later Post Note: (PLEASE READ MY PREVIOUS 5-06-05 POST FIRST, THEN PROCEED TO READ THIS POST NOTE):
As to my Free Disk Space dilemma (after Uninstalling Acronis) I decided to do an Optimization of Drive C with my Norton Systems Works Utility (Windows will not optimize a disk below 15%). When Norton finished optimizing, the Free Disk Space then read 29%. I can breathe a sigh of relief BUT THIS STILL ISN'T RIGHT as you will notice from my first post of May 4th, 29% disk space left is what I brought my disk space back up to when I first installed ATI, by disabling Windows System Restore (12MB) and compressing some graphic files. It doesn't make any sense as I have not added anything that would cause a disk space drop. This may have to be resolved later unless there is a cure known to someone.

I STILL HAVE THE PROBLEM OF NOT BEING ABLE TO DELETE ACRONIS FROM MY COMPUTER REGISTRY AND I AM STILL IN A QUANDRY OVER THE SPONTANEOUS ACRONIS DRIVE (IT'S EMPTY) THAT I WANT TO REMOVED (HOW??).

Cybergal (TO MENORCAMAN or anyone else interested)

 

Acronis Sz = Acronis Secure Zone. You must have let it create this when you installed TI the first time. That's where all your Hard Drive space went.

Also, you really need to be more clear when stating your free space. A MB is a megabyte. A GB is a gigabyte. If all you had was 32mb free on your drive then you wouldn't even be able to boot up. You probably meant 32gb..??

Anyway, you should have followed menorcamans original advice and removed the secure zone before you did anything else. Why did you ignore that part of his original post?

You would be home free because that would have deleted the secure zone and you would have gotten your free space back..... You may need to reinstall TI just to delete the Secure Zone now.

However, I would highly recommend that you get a friend or someone with some computer knowledge to actually come to your location and help you out in person. I'm sorry to be so pessimistic but this is not going to be very easy via forum posts. Not with your lack of experience (no offense intended, just trying to be realistic is all )

Anyway, good luck with it.

 

Sorry about the MB and GB mixup and I certainly am a novice regarding Acronis. Just remember that the boxed version said a "Beginner" could do it.

I did not disregard Menorcaman's advice regarding "Secure Zone." I didn't have it installed. In the very beginning, I did have it installed and I quickly uninstalled it in Windows Add/Remove Programs. I even followed Menorcaman's advice even though I knew I had Secure Zone uninstalled.

YES, I NEED HELP, SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW..........

I appreciate your comments and now have a clear understanding of MB's and GB's.

Cybergal

 

How to recover the space allocated to the Acronis Secure Zone (SZ)? Well, hopefully Norton System Works didn't muck things up so just reinstall True Image, run it and select "Manage Acronis Secure Zone". With luck, on the second page of the Wizard you should see two options; "Manage Acronis Secure Zone" and "Remove Acronis Secure Zone". If so, go to "B" otherwise proceed to "A" and create a new SZ.

A. On the second page of the Wizard select Disk 1 and click "Next". On the next page tick the box next to your C: drive and then click "Next". On the following page move the slider to the left to create a SZ of approximately 1GB and then click "Next". On the next page make sure you select the option "Do not activate the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager" and then click "Next". On the final page of the Wizard click "Proceed". The Computer will then reboot and create a SZ. Once you're back in Windows, run True Image and remove the SZ via the "Manage Acronis Secure Zone" Wizard as detailed in "B".

B. On the second page of the Wizard select the "Remove Acronis Secure Zone" option and click "Next". On the next page tick the box next to your C: drive as the partion you want to return the space to and then click "Next". After the "Analysing C:" has finished you will be taken to the final page of the Wizard where you just need to click "Proceed". Acronis should then reboot and remove the SZ. Once you're back in Windows again, check the free space on drive C:. What does it read now?

Regards

 

5-08-05 HOPEFUL REQUEST TO AN ACRONIS ADMINISTRATOR (OR ANYONE WHO MIGHT POSSESS THE KNOWLEDGE IF MY REQUEST IS EVEN POSSIBLE): I cannot take the chance of Re-Installing Acronis TI and having something quirky going awry as it has apparently done in my case. Maybe when I get a larger hard drive will I try Acronis. (I hope you read my issues from my very first post).

I am not by any means a computer wizard but I am definitely not computer illiterate in my 2 yrs. of acquiring knowledge AND I can swear that I did not ever create an Acronis Secure Zone; if fact, until my first post, I had not yet tried to create an image (Red-Faced Cybergal). I DID, upon installation from the CD (boxed retail version), included Recovery Manager in the installation and upon reading the Users Guide, saw that Recovery Mgr. & Secure Zone worked together but that I didn't need either since I had the boxed version & therefore the Bootable CD! I promptly went back and had the option in Windows Add/Remove Programs to remove Recovery Mgr., which I did, AND IT WAS CONFIRMED THAT RM HAD BEEN UNINSTALLED. THE PROBLEM IS, THAT THE "ACRONIS Sz." DRIVE NEVER WAS REMOVED AT "MY COMPUTER!"
Upon the complete Uninstallation of TI, I even went into Program Files, discovering the Acronis files were still there and deleted all those files, then going carefully into my Registry and deleting everying I could find relating to Acronis. However, a file still remains in the registry and will not delete, perhaps related to the Acronis sz Drive E issue.

Therefore, is it even possible to Remove this embedded Acronis Sz Drive E from my computer as I cannot chance a re-installation?The Boxed, Retail Version & Users Guide are very misleading. It had to have been roughly translated into English from another language. I don't harbor any sour grapes as I believe in learning even from "failures." And, congratulations to those (many, I'm sure) for whom Acronis works and "saved your bacon." But if it worked for a beginner, it was pure luck in my opinion as I am no beginner EXCEPT when brought to my knees by Acronis.

Cybergal

 

CG, you are like the proverbial apprentice wizard - You know just enought to think you know how to make the magic work, yet in reality you lack the skills and experience to do it right. And when it did not work, you resorted to brute force and blindly went ahead and riped the system apart by manually deleting files and registry keys left and right.

Sorry to sound harsh, but that is the truth.

The Secure Zone is an area setup on your hard disk for storing (True Image) images. The disk space is normally obtained by down-sizing your C-partition, so no matter how many files or registry entries you delete, the Secure Zone will still exist - and it will still take up space on the disk.

Unless you fancy doing some manual disk re-partitioning and re-sizing using tools like Acronis Disk Director (and with your history I would not recommend that), your best bet is to re-install True Image and follow Menorcaman instructions TO THE LETTER, because he is a true, skilled wizard.

 

My 11 year old daughter knows how to reboot her box with the boot CD on and create or restore an image. It took me all of 10 minutes (and a hands on approach) to teach her how to do it.

Your opinion doesn't really carry much weigth after the display of utter computer illiteracy you've put forth. The Manual is quite explicit and explains in detail how ATI works, and what any user, whatever his/her skill level, should do to add some needed level of redundancy to his/her system

You are the type of newbie that will never or hardly ever learn simply because of this attitude of thinking that being a "beginner" is something bad. Everyone is at your level at some point, then people learn and move on.

Is that right? I'd like to see your level of expertise using the recovery console to better evaluate your assertion.

It's very easy to blame a piece of software, when in reality it is a simple matter of GIGO, or perhaps PEBCAK.

 

Hi, MiniMax and sandokan


It was all Cybergal's first post.

Re my quote to Menorcaman:-

Take Care,
TheQuest

 

Hi Cybergal,
Well, you've gotten quite a number of "warm" responses, but I hope you are still reading. If you had the courage to hack the Registry, you certainly should have the courage to reinstall TrueImage and remove the SecureZone.

When you do the reinstall, do it slowly and read the full text on each page. It's not a big deal, and the new installation will recognize the Secure Zone that already exists. Then follow the instructions given here by Menorcaman to remove the Secure Zone. You will have your full hard drive back, and you can make images to a CD/DVD burner or an external hard drive.

Then you'll be an Apprentice First Class and on your way.

 

5-09-05: Thanks, jmk94903 (John) for being the kind, constructive professional with your reply. I have never understood why certain, judgmental persons, who are the ones who give Forums a bad name, take personal offense and make quick-tempered, rude comments as in the case of my experience with Acronis. If they had not blindly read my posts, they would see that I blamed no one with my ATI experience and they are not sitting at my computer and seeing the results. Any professional will tell you that 2 knowledegable people using the same program won't necessarily have the same outcome, and my style is not one of "ripping out" anything. Rude, insulting people have problems that would never be solved by arguing my case. My lawyer-husband would confirm that fact. Besides giving Forums a bad name, these people are never as smart as they would like to believe and could never grasp that concept.

Again, I will make clear: Thanks, Menorcaman and John and Congrats to those having success with ATI. I have many success stories of my own in all walks of life, including the computer and will continue on with absolutely no hard feelings....such is Life.

Cybergal

 

At this time I won't edit any posts - but I will remind everyone to refrain from personal comments from this point out as per our TOS.

 

EVERYONE PLEASE NOTE GLOBAL MODERATOR DETOX'S COMMENT IN POST #17. I am just trying to understand certain issues in ATI and in due time have plans to reinstall Acronis for good when I either obtain a larger hard drive or work around what I now have (29% Free Space which is not enough to make an image of my entire Drive C).

Perhaps someone in ACRONIS SUPPORT might take note of the following issues which is where I was in posting, which I certainly thought was benign, but brought on an onslaught of responses, with only John in Post #15 giving me courage to do a Re-Install and following through on Menorcaman's advice. (Yes, Menorcaman is the wizard and I trust him).

I need to clarify a statement I made in one of my post, where I said I had "installed" Acronis Secure Zone but later uninstalled it. At that time, not even having attempted to make an image, I was confusing component names. I had installed Recovery Manager but I had never "created" a Secure Zone which was proven by following Menorcaman's advice in his first paragraph of Post #2, but could not understand why when I totally Uninstalled ATI, the "Acronis sz Drive E" was not removed at "My Computer." This still remains one issue I would like resolved (Acronis Support?) as I have no idea if this Empty Drive uses Disk Space. The Properties of that Acronis sz Drive E reads Free Space: 6.69 GB, Total Size: 6.69 GB with Used Space: 656KB. (My Default Drive C is intact with no problems). Disk Space is the issue:

But to prove to myself that I had done everything correctly, I proceeded with John's advice to Re-Install and follow through with Menorcaman's remaining instructions (that would be Instruction A. and B.; ie, creating a Secure Zone, then Removing it as outlined in Menorcaman's Post # 10). But when all was done, the "Acronis sz Drive E" at "My Computer" was not removed (but the secure zone was), even after Uninstalling ATI once more. So, that proved to me that it wasn't Secure Zone that had embedded that drive on My Computer but apparently it is the main driver which Acronis installs. Why isn't it removed with Uninstallation? And, is this Driver which calls itself "Acronis sz Drive E" taking up Disk Space (because I did not get all my disk space back)?

One last comment regarding the Users Guide and the boxed retail ATI: Was, perhaps something left out of my box?? My retail box had only the Installation CD and yet the Users Guide refers to the boxed version as having a Bootable CD, making clear the difference between the downloadable version and the boxed version. Therefore, with this last question regarding Bootable CD, I have simply stated two (2) issues that I would hopefully like resolved or noted by Acronis Support as I have noticed in the Forum that they sometimes do reply to a post. MANY THANKS.

Cybergal

 

In the interest of being helpful to you I offer the following suggestions:

1) Briefly describe your relevant hardware/software setup.

2) Simply state what you wanted or intended to do with TI8.

3) Briefly summarize what you actually did toward that end.

4) Clearly describe the current status of your computer or operations.

5) Ask for specific help related to the above.

Your questions right from the first seem to evolve into rambling personal declarations, pleas and criticisms. They are entirely too verbose and contradictory for most of us to respond to in a helpful manner.

You are unwittingly sabotaging your own need for assistance by persisting with such a confrontational and critical tone in your posts.

My suggestion is to start a new thread using the suggestions made in 1-5 above and see if that helps you get the assistance you need.

 

Sorry, (Post #19 Forum Member) but you've got me all wrong. Menorcaman and John were trying to help and were much appreciated. I don't know how else to drum that in. MY POST #18 REQUEST IS DIRECTED TO THE ACRONIS SUPPORT TEAM AS I CANNOT SEND AN IMAGE OF MY DRIVE TO E-MAIL SUPPORT.

TO THAT END, MY POST #18 IS A SUMMARY AND STILL STANDS AS A REQUEST TO THE ACRONIS SUPPORT TEAM, SHOULD THEY LOOK IN AND CARE TO RESPOND.

Cybergal

 

You don't want help.....you want attention.

Good luck.

 

To IflyPrivate, I've noticed in other Forums that when you were frustrated you lashed out at Acronis, now me. No big deal .

SINCE I HAVE REACHED AN IMPASSE, I JUST WANT TO KEEP THE ACRONIS SUPPORT TEAM AWARE OF MY 2 ISSUES SUMMARIZED IN MY POST #18: 1. Why won't the Acronis Drive at My Computer remove itself with Uninstallation and 2. Was there suppose to be a Bootable CD in the retail boxed version? The content in my Summary of Post #18 was a self-test to rule out anything I might have possibly overlooked.

Respectfully,
Cybergal

 

Cybergal, have you tried emailing Acronis support directly? It is curious that the secure zone won't go away completely. In the future, whenever you are ready to reinstall TI, please don't use the old boxed version. You can get a free upgrade from the web site to the latest version/build as long as you've registered your purchase.

In the mean time, if you are registered, you may be better off dealing with this directly with acronis email support... thereby avoiding the publicity that this thread seems to have generated and also getting some direct assistance

Just a suggestion! I know you're frustrated so I hope you can get your free space back. And also please reconsider my previous recommendation to get a tech-savvy friend or co-worker to come in and help you in person, that may also be much more productive than trying to do this over the internet.

good luck

 

Has anyone else seen an "Acronis sz Drive X" in My Computer?

I don't see that even if I create a SecureZone by taking space away from the C partition and activate the Recovery Manager, and this is what Cybergal did. I'm doing this with Build 800 in Windows XP Pro SP2.

 

Nope. And BTW, the secure-zone should not show up in explorer. The whole idea about the secure-zone is that it is hidden from normal sight!

(Cybergal, could you please make your posts more readable? One of the reasons I have not responded is that I can't/won't read all this badly formatted text. )