Restore CD won't allow restoration to C: partition

I have a copy of Acronis Trueimage 9.1 for Windows Server (build 3832). I made a full disk backup of our Dell Poweredge 2950 Windows 2003 Enterprise server with SAS RAID array using Acronis. When I made the backup using the bootable Acronis CD, the primary, active partition was C:, the second, logical partition was a data drive D:, and the CD drive was E:. Now, having had to rebuild the array, I need to restore it back to the way it was. The problem is that when I boot into Acronis from the CD, it insists on calling the CD drive C: and only allows restoring to D: or E:. Once it has done this, the first partition is forever known as D:, no matter what. This is a problem, because Windows is looking for the operating system kernel on C:, not D: or E:, and won't boot. I've tried different options for restoring the original C: partion, such as making the partition "active," but it still insists on restoring it as D:. I've even disabled the CD drive after the restore, and the computer still thinks the first partition on the RAID drive is D:, so Windows won't boot. It won't let me choose to restore the entire disk. I have to check each partition separately, then tell it I want to restore more partitions. I've tried including the MBR partition, with and without the backup C: and D: partitions. No matter what, C: becomes permanently unavailable as the first partition on the RAID array.

You can't reassign a drive letter in Windows if it's the operating system partition. I also don't want the drive letters to change when I restore from a backup. I don't want to have to edit the boot.ini file or change other paths. When restoring a backup to the exact same machine with no hardware changes, an image should be an image, including what letters go to what partition.

How can I force Acronis to assign the CD drive something other than the letter C: so I can restore to the backup C: to C: and, preferably, the backup D: to D:?

Thank you.

-Janet

 

I had a similar problem on xp pro, where my c: drive ended up being e: drive after I restored the image (T.I 9.0) to another hard drive. This prevented the new drive from booting properly (endless loop problem). After 2 days of trying to fix it by using different harddrives, editing boot.ini file, reloading the image etc.I finally fixed the problem by using "paragon justboot corrector" to change the letter on the harddrive system partition back to c:. When I rebooted the computer it started right up. The demo of the program will scan your nonbooting operating system and tell you what letters are in your partitions. I bought the program because I have no idea how else to change the letters manually through the repair console.There are probably other programs that might do the same thing, but this is the only thing that I tried that got my computer to work.According to website it also works with server2003.Thats the only way I know to change the partition letters on an installed image thats relatively easy to do.If nothing else works for you, you might want to try this program.

 

Hello jelewis,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Server Disk Backup Software.

Please clarify, what are the exact symptoms? Are there any error messages? When exactly do they appear? What is their text?

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

If I restore only C: as the active, primary partition on a freshly initialized RAID virtual disk, I get the following:
Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.
Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware.

If I restore the MBR track 0 information along with the original C: (and original logical partition D, I get the following error:
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

Note that the RAID array was set up in the identical way as it was for the original backup.

I am using the latest version of 9.1 build 3854 from the Acronis download site for registered users to make the boot CD.

There are no error messages before, during, or at the completion of the restore process in Acronis. This includes verifying the archive.

-Janet

 

Hi Janet..

I have a similar issue with a Dell 1850 . PERC 5i. ntoskrnl.exe cannot be found. There are slight differences with the scenario that you have employed but the results are the same.

I am using a USB external hdd to restore an image I have taken from one Dell 1850 and wish to restore to another. "My Disaster recovery plan!!!" Disaster exactly.. It has the same PERC Raid card.

The Image seems to be intact, Like you said, no error warnings or anything of that nature to indicate Acronis is not happy. I presumed Acronis would just restore the image as is on a newly formed logical drive?

Have you managed to find a solution? I have used acronis on a number of occasions and never experienced this much difficulty.

Please help!

Cheers.

 

Did Paragon work on 2003 server? Or is there another fix? I also had the same problem and was unable to find a solution

 

I'm now having this issue too. Can someone at Acronis help here? How do we change drive letters?

 

I'm not sure how to link to other post's , but on the post "backup / restore to larger drive fails" , after numerous attempts they where able to find a way to change the drive letter's and get their system to bootup. It is a complicated 23 step process but it can be done. I think you might get some good idea's from that post. If more or less you got the problem isolated to a drive letter being wrong, I still recommend you give the "paragon justboot corrector" demo a try, at least to rule it out that it won't work on server2003. When I use the program I had the option of changing all the drive letter's including the dvd rom, to whatever I wanted, but first you have to release those that are in use. I release them all and only assigned my window's partition c:, didn't even assign the other partition or dvd drive, when I rebooted windows automatically named those. But one thing I found for a fact that causes drive letter to change during a image restore , is to attempt to restore a partition into a smaller partition, example if you have 20 GB C: partition and you try to restore it onto a 19 GB partition it will cause the drive letters to change. This occurs to me on T.I 9.0.

 

Hello everyone,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Please make sure you use the latest build of both respective versions of Acronis True Image and Acronis Universal Restore. To get access to updates you should first register your software. Don't forget to recreate Acronis Bootable Rescue Media after updating.

Please try selecting the entire disk (checkmark near the "Disk 1" when choosing what to restore) during the restore process.
If that doesn't solve the problem, please try fixing the boot configuration after restore is finished by running "bootcfg /rebuild" command as described in this Microsoft article.

If the issue persists, please collect some information to let us investigate it thoroughly:

Please also create Acronis Report after restoring in the way described below:

- Download and run Acronis Report Utility;
- Select the "Create Bootable Floppy" option;
- Insert a blank floppy disk in the A: drive and proceed with creation of the bootable floppy;
- Boot the computer from this diskette and wait for report creation process to finish;
- Collect the report file from the floppy.

Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov