Was I given the wrong information?

I'm a new user of Acronis True Image 8.0. I've noticed more than one wish list post that mentions SATA support or RAID 0 support. Before I purchased True Image I specifically asked Acronis technical support if it worked with SATA RAID 0 arrays. Here is the e-mail response I received on June 1, 2004:

"Hello,

Thank you for taking time to contact us and for your interest in Acronis True Image 7.0.
Yes, our software supports Serial ATA RAID 0 array.
To be sure that it works in a right way with your hardware please try a trial version of Acronis True Image7.0: www.acronis.com/download/trueimage
Please visit our online store to purchase Acronis True Image7.0:
www.acronis.com/sales/online"

Now I have since used True Image 8.0 to create disk images of two separate SATA RAID 0 arrays. These images were sent to an external firewire hard drive. The creation seemed to be successful and I can explore these images just fine. Now I haven't actually tried to restore these images, but I'm counting on the fact that this would work. Do people in these forums know something that I don't know (and that apparently technical support doesn't know?)

As an aside, I originally tried making the images using USB 2.0 connections on both computers, but this failed. Both images started to be created, but then after awhile, both computers would spontaneously reboot. This happened twice on the first computer, once on the second computer, then I switched to the firewire connections.

 

Depending on your hardware, the Acronis TI rescue CD may or may not have drivers capable of restoring your RAID drives.

See, the full version of the Rescue/Boot CD is Linux based, not Win32. So unless your hardware is specifically supported by Linux drivers that Acronis includes with the Boot CD, then you're RAID arrays can't be restored using the Rescue CD.

There is a Safe Mode version of the Rescue CD that uses Dos and BIOS instead of Linux or Win32. The only way to know if this will work for you would be to try it.

In any case, restorations performed from within Windows, Should work fine, since it will use your existing Windows RAID drivers.

Good luck!

 

Hello X-ray Doc,

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

You may either download free trial version of Acronis True Image (as you were proposed by Acronis Support Team) or tell me the full model name of your SATA controller and RAID mode you want to use and I will answer you as soon as possible.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Thank you jimmytop and Ilya.

So If I understand correctly, there isn't a problem with imaging SATA hard drives or imaging RAID 0 arrays as long as you're doing it within Windows and your system has the correct Windows drivers. The potential problem occurs when you're trying to restore one of these images while using the Acronis boot disk that you create. That disk may or may not have the SATA or RAID drivers that are needed. Is this correct?

The only time I ever plan on using the restore feature is when my hard drive is corrupted and I'm not even able to boot into Windows. I think lots of people probably purchase this product with that scenario in mind. So it is extremely important that the restore feature work in this situation. Otherwise, your disk image has served no real purpose.

So Ilya, are you able to tell me if the Acronis boot disk will work in my particular situation? I'd really rather not try a restore using the boot disk as a test, especially when everything is working well.

My first computer boots off of a SATA RAID 0 array that is controlled by the Intel southbridge chip. I believe it is called the "ICH5R". This computer has Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2. My second computer boots off a non RAID SATA hard drive, also controlled by the Intel ICH5R chip. This second computer does contain a SATA RAID 0 array that is not the boot drive. This array is controlled by the Promise FastTrak 378 Driver. This computer has Windows XP MCE 2004 with Service Pack 2 (basically Windows XP Pro).

1. Can I boot the first computer from the Acronis disk and retore the Intel ICH5R RAID 0 boot drive?

2. Can I boot the second computer from the Acronis disk and restore the Intel ICH5R non RAID boot drive?

3. Can I boot the second computer from the Acronis disk and restore the Promise FastTrak 378 RAID 0 array? If not from the boot disk, could I do this within Windows?

Thank you. I hope you have answers that will make me happy.

 

Hello X-ray Doc,

The ICH5R and Promis FastTrak 378 controllers are supported by the latest build of Acronis True Image. That is why please make sure Acronis Bootable CD is created with 796 build. If not please download the latest build, which is available on our web site at http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/updates/. To get access to updates you should register your software first at http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/registration/. Please disable any download managers, internet download/connection boosters, etc. before the download.

After that please create new Acronis Bootable CD with the latest build of the program.

Please note that the only thing that will not work properly is if you restore the image of non-RAID system partition to a RAID partition it will not boot because of the lack of drivers. However the data will be restored properly and this problem will not appear with non-system partition.

Briefly, for all your questions the answer is: "Yes, you will be able to do it!"

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Ilya, thank you very much. I had hoped that I had found the best product for backups. I certainly like Acronis True Image better than Norton Ghost 2003 which I purchased first. That program completely failed at even making disk images of RAID arrays. It sounds like I should be OK with the current computer configurations I'm using. Thanks again, and sorry to see you're working on Saturday.

 

Hello X-ray Doc,

Download and install the latest build of TI, create a boot rescue CD and then create an image of your system and verify it. After that, boot from the rescue CD and go through the process of restoring an image up to, but not including, clicking on the proceed button. If everything checks out o.k. up to that point (including detection of the RAID arrays) then, when the time comes, you "should" be able to achieve a successful restore.

Regards

 

Thanks. I just tried that with computer #1 and it seemed to work OK. When the Acronis start screen said loading, at first there was an error message something like "Hub :C failed. Port 1 closed." I have no idea what that meant. But with more time the computer started into the Acronis application. I was able to see the firewire hard drive, choose the image and verify that the image was OK. I'll try something similar with computer #2. I still would like to know why USB 2.0 doesn't seem to work. I can start image creations to a USB 2.0 hard drive, but it always fails before finishing.

 

Hello X-ray Doc,

Please describe whether you have tried to create the image to the external drive after booting from Acronis Bootable CD or under Windows. If you have tried with Acronis Bootable CD please try the "acpi=off noapic" workaround and if it doesn't help please create the sysinfo.txt and sent it with the link to this thread to support@acronis.com (please see https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317 for the instructions).

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

All of my USB 2.0 attempts have been within Windows XP.

 

Bump, Ilya.

 

Hello X-ray Doc,

So did I get it right that you have tried to cerate the image under Windows and store it to your external hard drive but failed to perform the operation? If so please send a screenshot of the error you recieved to support@acronis.com along with the link to this thread and indicate in the subject of the letter that you want to contact Ilya Toytman.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman