Boot from USB Stick

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by MikeVE, Apr 3, 2005.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. MikeVE

    MikeVE Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2005
    Posts:
    2
    Does anyone know how to boot true image 8 from a USB stick. The make boot disk command fails and when I boot from the USB stick I get a non-system disk error. I can boot from the USB stick when I format it with a boot option under dos.
    Regards,
    Mike
     
  2. MikeVE

    MikeVE Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 3, 2005
    Posts:
    2
    Well I did some digging and found out that if the stick is formatted using the FAT option it work just fine. I just booted and verified an image, which, by the way, resides on a Pocketec USB external harddrive. Sweet. My stick is a 256mb Kingston Data Traveler 2.0 4.10. The computer, Dell D800 notebook with A11 Bios.
    Hope others have success.
    Ciao
     
  3. Marc_G

    Marc_G Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2005
    Posts:
    96
    Hi Mike-

    I've tried without success to create bootable TI-8.800 recovery environment on USB. It gets a bit closer when using FAT; it looks like it's starting to boot, then just hangs.

    I'm wondering what the difference between our cases is. What sort of computer are you booting with, and what brand USB key? My computer is an IBM T42p laptop, which does support USB boot. I boot DOS flashdrives all the time.

    Elsewhere on this forum is a thread a started about the problem I'm having. Acronis support has just said they are looking into it but no useful suggestions have come from that.

    Marc
     
  4. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2004
    Posts:
    4,661
    Location:
    Menorca (Balearic Islands) Spain
    Here is a previous thread titled <USB Bootable Rescue Media Help> that confirms someone else (me!) has been successful in creating the TI rescue media to a flash drive whilst others haven't.

    Regards
     
  5. Marc_G

    Marc_G Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2005
    Posts:
    96
    Since the thread Menorcaman refered to has been fallow for a while I'll post here my specifics about what didn't work:

    2 different USB sticks: a generic 128 MB one and a Sony 256 MB stick. Both boot DOS fine, so are "bootable" sticks, and they are both USB 2.0 / 1.1 compliant.

    My laptop (IBM T42p) is running the next-to-latest version of BIOS (3.13; there are possibly some issues with version 3.14 so I've held off updating).

    The keys are recognized as USB HDD in the BIOS.

    In the TI 8.800 rescue media builder it recognizes them as removeable devices and allows me to select them. I've tried BOTH the full and safe versions.

    In the format step I leave all defaults EXCEPT that I chage to FAT away from the default of FAT32.

    Image appears to create successfully; I can see the files on the drive.

    Attempts to boot give "missing OS" error. Again, these same keys boot just fine when I've put DOS on them.

    So, either both keys don't work with Acronis, or something about the Acronis boot from Linux is incompatible with my BIOS.

    FWIW, the same keys give the same error on a T30 computer I had handy for a while. The T30 booted the same sticks as DOS drives fine.


    I encourage anyone who has tried this to post both success and failure stories so maybe we can map out the important factors.

    Marc
     
  6. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2004
    Posts:
    4,661
    Location:
    Menorca (Balearic Islands) Spain
    Further to my post at #4 above, I've just made an interesting discovery. I have been able to boot from my memory stick just fine if it's plugged into either of the 4 USB sockets at the rear of my computer (via an extention lead normally used to connect my USB 6-in-1 card reader). However, I've since found that it refuses to play ball if plugged into either of the 2 USB ports located on the front panel. These ports are connected to header pins on my Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2 motherboard.

    Looks like my BIOS doesn't include these header pins/front ports during the initial boot process (nothing in the manual to this effect). This might be worth bearing in mind if anyone else has tried (and failed) to boot a USB memory stick via their front panel port(s).

    Regards

    P.S.

    This isn't just peculiar to the memory stick because my USB hard drive doesn't boot from the front ports either.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2005
  7. Marc_G

    Marc_G Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2005
    Posts:
    96
    Interesting note!

    In my laptop-specific case, I've only got two ports, but it could be very useful info for others.
     
  8. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2004
    Posts:
    4,661
    Location:
    Menorca (Balearic Islands) Spain
    I thought computers were supposed to be logical devices? Since my Post #6 above, I've found out that, after disconnecting my Canon USB 1.1 scanner from the backplane USB 2 sockets, I can successfully boot from the flash drive connected to either of the USB 2 ports on the frontpanel. Is that strange or what o_O .
     
  9. simon_warner

    simon_warner Guest

    Just tried to boot from my USB stick (only 32MB) and I formatted it FAT. The system starts to boot and I can see the logo. Then while reading the program I see a green bar at the bottom of the screen that is growing and then ... a read error. And then I have to reboot the system.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.