Try & Decide-Security Zone & External HD

Section 3.3 of the manual to 7.0 states that "Acronis Secure Zone is necessary if you plan to use the Acronis Startup Recover Manager, Acronis Active Restore or Acronis Try&Decide features." Section 5.2.5 states that "the further you store the archive from the original folders, the safest it will be in case of a disaster. For example, saving the archive to another hard disk will protect your data if the primary disk is damaged." I chose to save my backups on an external hard drive and created the Security Zone there. My first backup was placed into the Security Zone. This created a problem for be me because Section 7.1 states "We do not recommend creating the Acronis Security Zone on external hard drive; , (USB drives ext.) as in such a case the Try& Decide function will be unavailable" I want my backups to be in the Security Zone so that that I can use the Active Restore and Startup recovery manager. But now I can't use the Try and Decide function. I really like the Try and Decide fiction. Is there any way around this problem?

 

Don't use a Secure Zone. Don't use the Recovery Manger. Do you recoveries using a BootCD. Don't mess with special partions like the SZ if you don't have to. Also, probs with Recovery Manger can be especially troublesome to deal with. Besides, the Secure Zone isn't more secure, all in all it's less secure. It's an idea whose time has come and gone. It's like using a musket to protect your valuables; sometimes it works and sometimes it blows up in your face.

 

Ha ha .... I like that musket analogy. How very true!

 

I need your help. What do I do now? I have partitioned a newly purchased 1TB USB external Maxtor hard drive. One section now has 240 GB (My C drive is 16 GB) devoted to the "Security Zone" and is now formated with FAT 32. The other section is 690 GB and is formated with NTFS. I did my first full back up (all partitions/ sector by sector to the "Security Zone".

I want to configure Acronis to be able to boot from disc.

 

There is no configuration as such to be done ... you simply make the TI boot cd from the appropriate item in the installed software menu. I think it's called Rescue Boot Media, or words to that effect.

 

I just want to be sure that I can boot to the last full backup made by Acronis. For example, what if my computer will only boot to the safe mode. This happened last weekend . When I tried to start the computer from the start button I would get a blue screen with printed options. None of them worked. Getting into the safe mode was all that could be done. I could not go back to a restore point. In such a situation, will the boot disc work when I put it into the DVD drive? I had to call Dell support and they found a way of restoring the the computer to its original state. They had me to start the computer and hold down the shift key as as soon as the Dell logo appeared, then pres F11 three times. A screen came up giving me the option to restore my computer to the original state. But it took me five days to get most of the programs I lost.

This is why I purchased Acronis. I am hoping if a similar incident occurs, I will be able to put the Acronis boot disk into the DVD drive and boot to the last full backup of Acronis.

Some people have told me that the backkup may need to be on the C drive before the boot disc will work.

 

The most convenient place to keep a Backup is on an external drive. It doesn't have to be on the C drive. You can test the boot CD before you need to use it. Just put it into your optical drive and boot the system. If it boots to the True Image menu and if you can go through a "dry run" Recovery and "see" the Image wherever you have it, then you're "good to go". You can cancel the process without actually doing the Recovery.

 

The recovery manager folder came up. I opened it and the recovery menu was there but when I clicked it a small black windwo came up but nothing happened. Here is attachment that has the window that came up after I pened the revoery manager folder.

 

I don't use the SZ nor the SRM at all. I use only the Boot CD and keep my Backups on an external drive. Maybe someone else who's intimately familiar with the SZ and SRM will advise you.

 

That was the bootable Rescue Media that I made from the tools menu of Acronis. When I inserted it, I got a file and when I opened it up that is what I got (post eight)

 

What you have shown in your post No.8 is the typical contents of an Acronis bootable rescue CD.
Normally this is not visible because the CD is put into the computer which is then booted. The Bios should have previously been set so that the boot order lists the CD drive first or some computers will let you change the boot order by just selecting one of the F keys.
On booting with the CD in its drive the computer will boot into the Acronis recovery environment. Once there the True Image screens will show the options and process wizards.

Xpilot

 

I thought the computer would reboot itself upon putting in into the tray and closing it. When I closed the tray and nothing happened, I thought there was something wrong. I did not realize I had to then shut down the computer. After I shut down the computer with the rescue CD in the tray, it worked. The computer restarted and Acronis home showed up. I tested from there by starting the restore process and my first complete backup on the external hard drive was recognized. Thank you everyone for your help.

 

Just remember that the only way to be 100% sure a Recovery will be successful is to do one .... to a spare hard drive.