Acronis Noobie Questions...

I DL'd & installed TI8, build 859 only yesterday. I've already created one image, which I've deleted b/c I'm still unsure whether I want to use Secure Zone (I've seen threads on other forums suggesting SZ shouldn't be utilized--causes problems). Anyway, I still went through the process of setting up SZ, just to see what it would look like. In the "Manage Secure Zone" wizard, I selected my external HD (connected via firwire--the same drive upon which I would store my image(s)); I select a partition on my external HD (I created especially for storing images; I select a SZ size; I select option to "Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager."

When I try to continue, up pops a error box saying:
"The hard disk you have selected is not available when booting your PC and you will be able to restore images from Acronis Secure Zone located on this drive only from Windows."

--First of all, WTF What good is storing a backup image on an external HD if I can't use the same drive to restore from? Makes ZERO sense to me.
--If I choose to NOT use SZ, meaning I simply create images in a "regular" partition on my external HD, would that matter?

 

Hi Feverfive, welcome to Wilders.

We keep things really simple when setting up a system with Acronis, obviously there are more complex features that can be used, however this works, and works well. A single drive is split into 2 drives and images are kept on the 2nd drive.

Hope this helps...

Cheers

 

Wouldn't matter at all, I do it all the time - I use SZ only for my onboard laptop HDD to enable restore from a crash using that drive rather than relying on being able to see external drives.

 

Hello feverfive,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Acronis Secure Zone and Acronis Startup Recovery Manager are designed to give you the ability to restore the image even if you cannot boot into Windows, for example, because of virus attack, etc. You will be able to boot into Acronis True Image stand-alone mode and restore the image from Acronis Secure Zone that couldn't be attacked by virus because Acronis Secure Zone is invisible for all applications (including Windows itself) except for Acronis True Image. However, Acronis Startup Recovery Manager should be activated on the internal drive because it cannot be guaranteed that the computer can be booted with FireWire drive.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

So in other words, in case of internal drive failure of some kind, I'd be screwed? You are telling me to simply put my backup image on another partition (or SZ) on my main, onboard drive. But that goes against every good backup practice I've read!! So, if I instead wanted to clone my drive b/c I wanted to buy a new/larger internal HD, I'd be screwed then as well since TI can't see my external drive? What kind of product is this? Sorry, not being spiteful, just seriously asking. Guess I wasn't expecting the response to be "well, using an external HD is too complicated, just throw your BACKUP image into SZ on the SAME DRIVE you are backing up." Just a bit taken aback.....

 

No, that is why you then would back up your images to CD/DVD and/or keep them on an external drive, together with a boot disk.

Cheers

 

Forgive me, maybe I'm just not understanding. Just b/c I get that error message I quote in my 1st post, does that mean TI won't be able to read my external HD in the event I needed to use the bootable CD to restore my image? I am I just confused--does the error message I get only pertain to running TI itself off the external HD, & has nothing to do w/ restoring an image stored on the external HD?

How about this: say I need to restore my image for whatever reason. My image is stored on my external, firwire HD. I use the bootable CD since supposedly, in this scenario, Windows won't boot. Assuming the CD works, I WOULD be able to restore the image stored on the external HD? Sorry, I'm being redundant at this point. I'm just thrown by the advice to store the SZ (& backup images) on the same, onboard HD.

 

Well, I went ahead & created a new backup image on my external HD, partition I: I then booted by using the CD I created when installing TI. I then attempted to verify my image by this method, but my external drive was not viewable. I did verify the image when in Windows right after creating it.

Rats, now it looks like I'll have to go back to ghost. Hate to do it since it's a major pain to use, & tediously slow, but at least I know I can use it to restore if need be, from my external HD. Guess I don't feel I should have to burn copies onto dvd's every week; especially when all the Acronis literature implies an external HD is the "best" place to store a backup image. TI is too good to be true, I guess. I'll have to let some others know on a couple different forums that TI may not be the right way to go. This is a pretty nice forum, BTW.....

 

Hello feverfive,

The problem you described now is different from the initial one. Acronis Bootable CD should recognize your FireWire drive without any problems and the issue you describe should be investigated. Actually, I have already answered you in another thread and hope to hear from you soon there.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I apologize for that; my inexactness comes from inexperience in general & with Acronis in particular. I'm still not sure if I fully understand what Secure Zone is all about. I mistakenly(?) though earlier that function might be playing a role in my issues w/ TI8; i.e., I thought SZ was preventing being able to view my external HD when booting w/ the CD. The underlying problem has always been that Acronis does not recognize my external HD when booting w/ the CD. Anyway, I don't want to keep up this conversation in multiple threads. I'll monitor this other thread where my inquiry/problem is better described: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=74544

 

Hello feverfive,

There is no problem creating the Secure Zone (SZ) on your external drive and using it to automatically limit the number of incremental images created to it. Just do not activate the Startup Recovery Manger (SRM) when creating the SZ on the external drive. Activating the SRM is the default option when creating a SZ, so make sure you select the "Do not activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager" option instead.

Regards

 

Thanks; forgive my denseness, but I think I understand now, Re: Startup recovery Mgr. My underlying problem is that Acronis does not recognize my external HD when booting w/ the CD, & I was assuming too much. Just basically confused b/c I can't get Acronis to view my external HD when not in Windows.

 

Hi again feverfive,

Just a thought but have you tried creating the "Safe" version of the boot rescue CD and seeing if that detects your Firewire HD? The Safe version CD uses a combination of your motherboard's BIOS and DOS to access the hardware instead of Linux drivers. Supposedly, the Safe CD doesn't support USB, PC Card and SCSI devices etc. However, depending on the make and model of your motherboard, you might well be able to access your external HD after booting from it. Anyway, nothing to lose by giving it a try.

Regards

 

Hello feverfive,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please try the "acpi=off noapic" workaround and if it doesn't help please create sysinfo.txt file and send to support@acronis.com along with the link to this thread (please see https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317 for the detailed instructions) and also let us know the full model name of the HDD controller your drive is connected to. We will certainly help you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Irina Shirokova

 

Thanks for the reply. I have been trying to work through this problem w/ Acronis email support (Yuri) & Ilya on this board through this thread: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=74544&page=2

I uninstalled build 859 (which was the build I first installed after purchase), and installed the previous build (826). I will give your suggestion a try when I get home this evening. Thanks....

EDIT: BTW, my basic system info is--Dell Inspiron 9300, P-M 1.6GHz; external HD is a Seagate Barracuda ATA 120 GB; enclosure is a AMS Venus DS3 w/ Oxford 911 firewire chipset.....I saw on another thread someone opining that the boot CD isn't compatible w/ some newer Dell mobo's/USB/firewire set-ups.