TI8 Will not restore image

I am using TI8 build 903 on a new Dell 9100. TI has trashed the hard drive twice now. First it trashed the Partition Table when I activiated the Startup Recovery manager. After that Dell sent me a new HD with all the software installed. I made a backup of all partitions execept one where I was putting the TIB file. Note that I use PartionMagic 8 to create multiple partitions. Note also that there are 3 partitions on the drive when it arrives from Dell.

With the new drive I did NOT use the startup recovery manager but did create a Secure Zone. The same thing happened - TI8 started moving partitions instead of just taking a piece of the partition I asked it to use for the SZ. When it was done the partition table was again trashed.

I have a TI recovery CD and I had saved my backup TIB to a different computer. I tried to restore my C drive from the backup up but now when I boot I get the error "<windowsroot>\system32\hal.dll does not exist". I can look at the TIB file on my other computer and see that the DLL is indeed on the backup. I am assuming that the backup image is not restoring properly but do not know why.

So not only had TI trashed my hard drive twice, it won't even restore the backup that would save me many hours of work.

I cannot send a report since there is no way to get the computer working without clearing the HD and starting over.

But this problem is clearly repeatable using PartitionMagic, A dell 9100 (or other Dell system) and TI 8 build 903. I do not know if other builds would solve the problem or not.

PLEASE HELP!!!

 

I should mention that Ihave a Dell 9100 with a 160GB SATA HD.

I am very disappointed that Acronis has replied to posts AFTER mine. This is an issue where I cannot restore a backup - that is CRITICAL. The computer is useless without the backup. I tried downloading the MBR FIX program mentioned in your sticky note and that had no effect.

If a backup program cannot do a restore when it is needed, what good is it?

And if tech support ignores the hard questions, like this one, ...

 

Let me hazard a guess: You said that you backed up 3 partitions. Did you restore all 3 partitions? You need to do this to get the "C" partition in the right spot to boot. If you did restore all three, then boot from an XP CD, select the recovery console and type fixmbr and press enter. Try to boot. If it will not boot repeat the process (boot from CD) then fixboot and press enter. Good luck!!

 

Hello drac,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Could you please do the following:

- Download Acronis Report utility from http://www.acronis.com/files/support/AcronisReport.exe;
- Run Acronis Report utility and select the "Create bootable floppy" option;
- Insert a blank floppy disk in the floppy drive and proceed with creating the bootable diskette;
- Boot the computer under consideration from this diskette and wait for report creation process to complete;
- Send the report.txt file from the floppy disk to support@acronis.com.

We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I did restore all partitions.

I also just backed up drive C and then restored it - which caused the system to not boot. This was from a system that was booting. All I did was backup drive C reboot to be sure it still booted then restore drive C. It no longer booted. All the backup and restore was done from a TI 8 build 903 recovery CD.

I am reinstalling Windows one more time so I can do that process again and get you the report data to try and help others in my situation. I will send you the file as soon as I have it made.

Please keep in mind this is a Dell 9100 with a 160GB SATA hard drive. The 9100 is BRAND NEW. They just started shipping within the past 60 days or less. If you have not tried TI on one you may find that there are issues - especially with the SATA drive - that is causing the problem.

Thank you for your help.
Lou

 

I have some new information for you!

In attempting to reproduce the problem so I could create the report file for you I was able to get TI to work without a problem (so far).

What happened differently was: I created the TI secure zone BEFORE I partitioned the drive into multiple partitions (C, E, F, G, H). In all previous situations the drive was partitioned first (using PartitionMagic and then TI 8 was used to backup and restore the partition(s).

When I ran PartitionMagic after running TI and creating the secure zone, PM said that the extended partition crossed the 1024 cylinder boundry and should be an ExtendedX partition not and Extended partition. It said that problems could result but I did not have PM change the partition. I was able to create the multiple logical drives using PM and was still able to successfully restore using TI.

 

Hello drac,

To create Acronis Report you don't need to reinstall Windows. The floppy can be prepared on another computer. The report will reflect the state of the system as it is after the problem and we will be able to analyze the issue and find the reason. If you encounter any further problems please feel free to contact us.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I did create the reports and emailed the files to the support department as I was told to do. I have not heard back from them with results.

Also note that I can get the system to work by running TI8 FIRST to create a secure zone and THEN running PartitionMagic. If I run PartitionMagic first, and then run TI8 to create a partition TI8 will cause the partition table to become corrupt and will be unable to backup and restore data - at least from the C drive. If I run PartitionMagic and then run TI8 - even if I do not create a secure zone or recovery manager the partition table is OK but TI8 will not backup and restore (it goes through the motions and says it is successful but a restored image of drive C will not boot). If PartitionMagic is run on the drive without using TI8 to create a partition FIRST, TI8 will NOT WORK at ALL. However if I use TI8 to create a partition first I can then use PartitionMagic and TI8 will work fine.

 

drac:
I hope to return one of a considerable number of "helps" that I have received from this excellent group of TI users.

Please read the article "Using Acronis True Image 8.0 written by Gene Barlow.
It is located at: http://www.ugr.com/nl1204.html

Particularly interesting comparing your issue is the section on "Acronis Secure Zone." Mr. Barlow recommends against its' creation.

Best wishes,
Charlie Jones

 

Charlie,

Thanks for the info. It was an interesting article.

However there are two issues that are important to note. If you read this thread you will see that unless I DO create a secure zone I cannot partition my hard drive and have TI work. I do not have to use the secure zone and in fact I can release it after I am done partitioning the drive, but for my system - and this is only true for my system or systems like it with a large SATA hard drive (I suspect), I must force TI to create the extended partition.

The second issue raised in the article is that the author suggests backing up one partition at a time.

Hopefully Acronis tech support or someone else will respond to this, but I thought that if you do not back up all partitions on the drive, andif you want to restore the whole drive it will not restore correctly. I think it is based on whether the master boot record and partition table get backed up.

Thanks again for the url to the article.

Regards, Lou


R

 

Hello drac,

Thank you for taking the time to contact Acronis Support Team. If you don't receive any reply within 48 hours please let me know your Acronis request # which was sent to you in autoreply to your letter and I will find out the reason for the delay.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman