TI 10 - How To Relocate Secure Zone Images?

TI 10 - How Do I Relocate Secure Zone Images?

Hi,

Is there a way to extract/copy my current "Secure Zone" images (internal drive) over to a recently purchased external esata HDD?

Now that I have an external drive, I'd rather do away with "Secure Zone" altogether.

I have an image (within "Secure Zone") of my system when it was first constructed (pristine clean), thus my desire to keep it and store it externally.

I'm using TI 10 (4942) and I haven't been able to discover how to do this.


Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!


ballen

 

You've discovered one of the many shortcomings of the so-called Secure Zone.

Keep the zone if you need the backups or restore them to spare drives then make regualr backups of that drive so the backups aren't in the SZ. Or, jsut count your losses and ditchthe SZ and start making backups henceforth in other locations.

 

ballen:

There are a couple of other ways to get access to your backup in the Acronis Secure Zone (ASZ). The underlying file structure of the ASZ is FAT32, but the partition type identifier is changed to hide the partition from Windows. So, if you have partitioning software then use it to change the partition type identifier from BCh (Acronis Secure Zone) to 0Ch (FAT32 LBA). You will then be able to see and work with the files using Windows Explorer. See post #7 in this thread for an illustration.

Or, if you have a Live Linux CD, boot your PC from the CD and you will be able to see and work with files in the ASZ. You can download Knoppix or Ubuntu or any other popular distribution that offers Live CD versions of Linux.

 

Many thanks shieber!
Restore and backup to new location is an option.

Many thanks k0lo!
Wow, what a nugget of information.
I do have Disk Director 10 (2160) but in following your instructions and viewing your post in the supplied thread #7;

"DD10/Advanced/Change Type" has no listing for 0Ch (FAT 32 LBA)

there is only;
0Bh (FAT 32) and next is 0Dh (unknown D)...no 0Ch

did find as other FAT 32 LBA choices;
Hidden FAT 32 LBA
FAT 32 LBA volume set
Free FDisk FAT 32 LBA
DR-DOS FAT 32 LBA

Would any of these be an adequate substitue?

Kinda confusing in that the post dates are recent (March 09) and your signature lists TI10 and DD10. In addition your screen shots look different than those presented in my DD10 (2160).

Regardless, your input has been invaluable.

I thank you both!

 

If you right-click on the Disk # and then select Advanced >> Edit from the pop-up menu, the Disk Editor will start. Select View >> As Partition Table.

Can you select the FAT32 LBA option from the Partition type drop-down box for the SZ partition?

 

Hi MC,

Thanks for the reply!

Yes it's listed as you've described.

I'm at a loss as to how to change it to "FAT 32 LBA" though. There are (4) different "Partition type" fields, each with different beginning and ending "cyclinder, head sector, etc." fields.

I have (3) actual partitions on the drive (C-system, D-data and then the "Secure Zone"). The (4) listed "Partition type" default values in the editor are (unknown, Scramdisk, Netware 3.x+ and unused).

For example, the 1st horizontal "Partition type" field can be changed to "FAT 32 LBA" (currently listed as "unknown"), but how do I know the following fields have the correct info in them.

Knowing Acronis changes doesn't take effect til you "commit" them, I changed this 1st "Partition type" to "FAT 32 LBA, but the subsequent fields values did not change. I did close DD without committing the actual change.

Hopefully I've made myself clear. So the summary is, yes it's listed as you've described. How would I go about making the actual "partition type" change?

Many thanks for your kind assistance,

 

The partition types you list indicate that you're probably not looking at Sector 0 of the drive. Make sure you're on Sector 0. Are you sure you selected the DISK and not a partition before you chose Advanced >> Edit?

 

That is curious. I am currently traveling and do not have access to DD10 to double-check, but as you can see from the screen shots, the FAT 32 LBA choice was available on my copy of DD 10 version 2160 while running DD10 in Windows Vista.

I see that MudCrab has given you an alternate way of changing the partition type from the disk editor. You can also make this change with Symantec Partition Table Editor, ptedit32.exe, which is a free download, or from GParted or PartedMagic or almost any other partitioning tool.

 

I've seen that before. Mine, for example, doesn't give the 0Bh option for some partitions. I think this sometimes has to do with the size of the partition, but I'm not sure.

 

Very strange. I haven't tried changing the type on an ASZ partition to regular FAT 32 (0Bh); I wonder if that would work for ballen if he can't select FAT 32 LBA (0Ch)?

 

I think I've done that before, though I don't think was a SZ partition. In my case, it didn't seem to make a difference (both accessed the partition correctly). I think it was a small partition, though.

I think that any FAT32 partition these days on anything other than a really old computer would use the LBA mode.

 

Wow, Thank You all for helpful suggestions!

MudCrab:

When I first responded to your initial post, I had highlighted the actual "Secure Zone" partition listed underneath "Disk 1".

Taking note of your 2nd post, I highlighted the actual title "Disk 1" and received (4) different horizontal "Partition type" fields. Still confusing and I couldn't locate an actual "sector 0".

From your 1st post, I can't determine from either approach which of the "Partition types" was the "Secure Zone" itself. From the looks of the "Disk Editor", I could totally screw-up if I don't know what I'm doing.

Initially after hearing the 1st response from the 2nd responder "k0lo", I highlighted the actual "Secure Zone" partition listed underneath "Disk 1" and chose "Advanced/Change type". This method is more "user friendly/straight forward" but "0Ch FAT 32 LBA" isn't an option.

k0lo;

Thanks to you guys, I haven't given up on learning more about the in/outs of DD. Something about a dog and a bone.

Since the DD method hasn't been resolved, I've followed your suggestion of obtaining the Knoppix & Ubuntu "Live CD" iso's and have burned bootable CDs.
Will try these hopefully tonight and report back my success/failure.

Greatly appreciate all your contributions!
Peace!

 

The sector number is shown at the top of the window when viewing in the Partition table view (you may need to scroll up):


The partition table is displayed at the bottom:

 

The secure zone will be the one with a Partition type of BCh. If you don't see this listed in one of the four partition table rows then your Secure Zone may be in a logical partition. Could you post a screen shot from DD running in manual mode showing the pictorial layout of partitions on your disk? This is an example.

 

Sorry for the delay MudCrab & k0lo. Out of town Friday and Saturday.

I approached the problem with a game plan of (2) of the supplied suggestions and they both worked successfully. Try the Knoppix Live CD 1st, and 2nd, Disk Director "Change Type" (not Disk Editor) to FAT32.

Sorry MC but the editor was way to complicated and my editor info wasn't matching your attachments. Greatly appreciate your taking the time to supply the screen shots. They were helpful to an extent.

The Knoppix Live CD worked like a charm. Saw and retrieved the images and transferred them over to their external location successfully.

Realizing I now had my images copied over, thought I'd see how successful changing the "Partition Type" to FAT32 worked since FAT32 LBA wasn't an available option. Once I changed the "Partition Type" and rebooted, Windows Explorer now saw the "Secure Zone" and assigned it a "drive letter". For "kicks & giggles", thought I'd try to copy from Windows and it was successful.

As we all walk away from this problem, we have more tools/info in our ever growing "bag of tricks". I can't express my gratitude enough for what you've shared with me. MANY THANKS!!!


Peace

 

Thanks for posting that. I was being lazy not to create a Secure Zone and test it myself, so it's nice to know that either FAT32 or FAT 32 LBA identifiers will work.

From what I've been able to piece together, Windows only uses the ID in the partition table for really low-level tasks like assigning drive letters at boot time and when using Disk Management console. There is another identifier coded in the boot sector of the partition and is probably used by Windows for higher-level tasks like when it figures out how to mount the partition as a drive and decode the file system. Good to know.