True image 2009 try and decide-restart fails

Hi all
Just joined after dowloading TIH 2009 trial
I have created secure zone 40gb. Try and decide works but not the option to restart. Acronis loader loads ok with option 1 to continue with try and decide
option 2 to go back to windows.
Option 2 ok
Option 1 restarts and again I arrive at same screen, if I restart again same thing happens.
I have deleted secure zone and than reinstated it. Makes no difference
System
- Vista ultimate, AMD dual core 3800 processor, 3gb ram

Can anyone help please as I am getting frustated and I wonder if anyone has been successful with restarting try and decide

John

 

Hello and Happy Holidays

I had a similar problem. I left my computer running for a day or two with software I was trying inside Acronis Try and Decide. I came home to a computer that kept re-booting itself as you described. I ended up resorting the entire hard drive from the Acronis archive I created a couple of days before.

I believe the hard drive image and the try and decide storage areas were both set up on and external hard drive.

One problem with the restored drive is my MS office applications no longer work.

Did you ever find an answer to the re-boot problem? Have you seen any of your other programs loose functionality after restoring a hard drive image?

Regards. CMS

 

I had the same problem here. After my first attempt at T&D the computer failed to boot so I had to restore. Second time around it worked. I have since decided that T&D is not useful to me.
The T&D screens says "strongly recommended" to do a full backup before using it. In that case as only one location is covered under T&D I might as well do the full backup, not bother with T&D in a secure zone,try things out and if things dont work then do a full restore.

Others might find a use for T&D but for not me.

 

Just a note, the SZ isn't guaranteed to work properly if it lives on an external drive, unless that drive is connected as eSata.

Colin

 

That is a valid point. I used an internal SZ and still had the problem.

 

Hi again, thank you for swift responses
To clarify
The secure zone is on another internal drive
The try and decide works, it is just when I want the restart back into try and decide it does not, say when an av program install needs a reboot.
I do have full image back up just in case.( on a different internal drive)

Not sure the 2009 version adds to v 11 in view of this glitch except it has nicer interface. Reply awaited from Acronis support.
4elmago
As regards contstant rebooting I had this problem as I could not hibernate nor close down. This is a separate topic so contact me if you wish to learn how I solved it. None of my other programs are affected by TIH problem . My office 2007 enterpise is ok

I might try putting secure zone on C partition to see if this works

Cheers John

 

I am also having problem with the try and decide.
What I did was enable try and decide, my secure zone is on my 1st internal hdd. Then i install some download manager software...chinese one..then after playing around for 3 hours...decided it's good so want to apply changes.
Click on apply changes, after few minutes, halfway thru the progress bar, the screen reverts back to the try and decide timer page and the timer continues..
No matter how, always revert back to timer screen. So i thot maybe changes already applied...so i restart...in the end, system cannot even boot..had to restore from previous image backup and using the boot cd..
Also dunno why like that...

 

Hi everyone and happy new year

Still no progress. Acronis sent standard type response saying latest build might help. Have replied to Acronis that latest buildi makes no difference. That prog ok apart from this problem and that maybe we need to accept this problem as many others on forums have same problem. Also I mentioned that my trial period will finish shortly.
No further replies from Acronis so far.

By the way I put the secure zone on main drive (as opposed to other internal one) still no improvement. I suspect the restart aspect of try and decide is seriously flawed. If so I wonder why Acronis do not admit it.

No point in persevering but if by chance I get a further response from Acronis I will post it here

Cheers

John

 

Just wanted to add a +1 to this thread. I installed the TI2009 trial today, and am having the same problem with Try&Decide: on reboot, the T&D menu comes up OK, but selecting the option to "continue in this mode" results in the system rebooting and entering the T&D menu again. The only option that allows Windows to boot successfully "discard the changes". It appears that T&D is not correctly loading the Windows boot sector if you select the "continue" option.

I am upgrading from TI2008, but I never used T&D before today so I have no idea whether this problem is new to TI2009.

 

Right onthe money!

Since the prudent course with T&D is to make a backup first, then there's no point to T&D. If you decide not to use whatever you're trying, just restore the backup to get the PC back to its original state -- and then you're not mucking about needlessly with hidden partitions.

Although in many cases, a windows Sys Restore might be faster, depending on circumstances. Tr&D ahs never made much sense in its various incarnations -- seems more like something Acronis thought up as a way to get an extra bullet on the features list than something users have actually found useful.

 

Hi all, again

Thanks to all for comments

Shieber, yes I do make sure I have workable full back ups (more than one to make sure)

Always trying new progs hence interest in try and decide. I have now given up on this function but I am annoyed try and decide does not do what it "says on tin"!
Acronis T.I. and (disk director) is a good prog and got me out of problems many times.

Acronis support dont seem very interested.

Thanks again

Cheers

John

 

Hello all,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

First of all make sure you are using the latest build of Acronis True Image Home 2009 (9646). By default, T&D saves the information to free space on the partition you have selected for protecting by Try&Decide. So first check whether you have enough free space on the partition/drive you have selected to save virtual changes.

If you use Windows Vista, only the Acronis Secure Zone is available as the location to store virtual changes. So if the issue persists check Acronis Secure Zone size, if it's not the case try to rebuild Acronis Secuer Zone from the scratch.

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev

 

Hi everyone,

Try & Decide does not work for me either...

It used to work perfectly well with True Image Home 11, but not at all with True Image Home 2009 (latest build 9646 installed on a fresh new XP SP3 machine).

When I decide to "Discard all changes" it reboots, then "Starting Acronis Loader" comes up and Windows XP starts loading (black screen with the XP logo). It lasts 3 - 4 seconds and then hangs on an empty black screen. I need to do a hard reboot to get back to Windows.

"Apply changes" works. But "discard changes" forces me to always do a hard reboot which is very annoying...

And when I want to try a software that requires a reboot after the installation... then I get the same problem with PC freezing on reboot and I am forced to leave the Try and Decide mode.

Let's see what Acronis Support says.

 

Try and Decide was supposed to make more convenient the process of backing up and restoring when trying out new software. Unfortunately, the convenience has never really been there. T&D is the extra chrome on an Edsel or Mercury Turnpike Cruiser.

 

Hello all,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

Contact Acronis support and submit technical request using this link or contact us via Live Chat describe the issue in details and attach the following information:

1) Could you please download Acronis Report utility available at http://download.acronis.com/support/AcronisReport.exe and run it, create a report and send it to us? Please compress the Acronis Report output file into an archive (e.g. with WinZip) and attach to your message by browsing for the archive. This would provide us with detailed information on the hard disk partition structure.

2) Could you please do the following?

- Open Start\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Information;
- Choose the "Save" option in the "File" menu (or "Action" menu under Windows 2000), enter the "File name" and set the field "Save as type" to "System Information File (*.NFO)";
- Send us the saved file.

3) Boot from the latest media created;
Hit the ESC key when "Loading kernel.dat....." string appears.
After you get the "boot: " prompt, please input the following command:

kernel.dat initrd=ramdisk.dat ramdisk_size=55000

So, the boot line will be:

boot: kernel.dat initrd=ramdisk.dat ramdisk_size=55000

Press Enter and wait till the command prompt appears:
/ #

After that please type the following commands:

cd tmp
mkdir mntdir
mount /dev/fd0 mntdir
sysinfo > mntdir/sysinfo26.txt
umount mntdir

Send us the sysinfo26.txt file from the diskette.

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev