Startup Recovery Mgr vs Rescue Boot disk?

Greetings!

I am considering True Image 8.

I have two systems:

a. Dual-boot: Win2kPro/Win98SE
b. Dual-boot: WinXP/Mandrake Linus 8.2

I back up for total protection. I have used imaging software to restore the entire drives (seldom a need to restore a partition or file).

I have searched through the forum and read through the user guide but need clarification on several items . . .

As I understand it, restoring from Windows is preferred. However, there are two alternatives to Windows restore: Startup Recovery Manager and full system rescue boot CD.

I need to get a better understanding of the differences between SRM and the full system rescue boot CD.

1. Acronis' unique Startup Recovery Manager allows to restore your system without creating a bootable rescue media. Just press the F11 button during the PC start up and you'll be able to restore your system in just minutes.

As I understand this, Windows is available (which has True Image installed) but if there's a problem then one can use the SRM to restore. So, one reboots and presses F11 during the boot sequence. However, again as I understand it, the availability of SRM depends on Windows/TI being "available" in some way or manner.

SRM seems scary. I read somewhere that this wipes out--overwrites-- the original MBR. With a dual boot system this can be messy. I don't want to go down that road (BT-DT). BTW, is there a way to disable/hide this function on the toolbar to prevent accidental activation and wipeout of MBR?

2. Full System Rescue Boot CD. One can boot TI from the CD to restore images (from other sources such as another CD). My understanding is that one boots into TI with the rescue disk, remove the rescue CD, insert the image archive CD (that will then be restored). As I understand it, all this is done without any problem associated with overwriting the MBR?

Thank you for taking time to respond!

janusz

 

Hello janusz,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/).

Yes, you are right, Acronis Startup Recovery Manager does rewrite the MBR and we don't recommend you to use it if you have another boot loader written into your MBR (Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is compatible only with Acronis OS Selector starting from the version included into Acronis Disk Director Suite 9.0). Please also note that Acronis Startup Recovery Manager requires Acronis Secure Zone in order to be activated and function properly.

"Full System Rescue Boot CD. One can boot TI from the CD to restore images (from other sources such as another CD). My understanding is that one boots into TI with the rescue disk, remove the rescue CD, insert the image archive CD (that will then be restored). As I understand it, all this is done without any problem associated with overwriting the MBR?" - this is completely correct.

"BTW, is there a way to disable/hide this function on the toolbar to prevent accidental activation and wipeout of MBR?" - you cannot hide this function. However, even if you accidentally click on it there appears the wizard of activating and you will be able to Cancel the operation.

Thank you.

 

Thanks! I appreciate the fast response!

One remaining question:

Your statement "Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is compatible only with Acronis OS Selector starting from the version included into Acronis Disk Director Suite 9.0" --- Does this mean that if I am using the boot manager (OS Selector) to select my OSs, then the use of the Startup Recovery Manager feature will NOT overwrite the MBR??

TIA,
janusz

 

Hello janusz,

Yes, you are right. If you activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager and Acronis OS Selector is already installed then there appears an icon named "Acronis Secure Zone" in the Acronis OS Selector boot menu.

Thank you.