Can't creat bootable image with TI 9.0

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by woodp, Nov 18, 2005.

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  1. woodp

    woodp Registered Member

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    Can't create bootable image with TI 9.0

    Two years back, I had a Compaq NC4000 laptop with a 30G drive partitioned into two 15G partitions. I imaged the drive with TI, and then restored onto a 60G drive. I reinserted the 60G drive into my laptop and everything worked fine.

    Today I have a Compaq NC4010 laptop with a 40G drive partitioned into two 20G partitions. I can backup the drive using TI 9.0, but when I restore it to the new 80G drive, the restored copy won't work ... Actually, I have two different failures, both of which are repeatable:

    Case #1: 80G target drive is unpartitioned.
    The restore process starts and ends with no errors, but when I insert the new 80G drive in my laptop, it doesn't boot but instead freezes with a blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner.

    Case #2: 80G target drive has one or more partitions.
    TI won't run and insists on rebooting into a "safe mode" like environment. From here, the restore process starts normally and seems to end normally, but then gives me a red, "Corrupted Partition" error. To the best of my knowledge, the partition is NOT corrupted.

    Both of these failure mechanisms are repeatable. I've probably tried 6-8 times to copy one drive to the other. I'm running out of things to try ...

    Notes:
    - The source drive is a Fujitsu 40G and the target is a Hitachi 80G TravelStar running at 7200RPM.
    - I'm actually removing the laptop drive from the laptop and plugging it into my desktop computer during the image and restore process.
    - While the new 80G drive is still connected to my desktop, I can scan the disk and all the files look fine.

    Help!
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2005
  2. discuss

    discuss Guest

    I think TI 9.0 is full of bugs and is not at all stable.

    I have also faced a similar problem with the boot disk created from TI 9.0 build 2302.

    I had created a backup using TI 9.0, then used the boot disk to restore after my OS upgrade failed.

    the boot disk kept asking me to switch between last and first volume (image spanning multiple CDs) for almost 15 minutes when I gave up.

    I then took the same image and restored is using TI 8.0 boot disk, which I had lying around from the trial version.

    At least TI 8.0 was stable.
     
  3. tachyon42

    tachyon42 Registered Member

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    When Microsoft Windows is installed it records all sorts of hardware specific information in various Windows system files. One of the pieces of hardware is the Fujitsu 40G disk drive. The image file created from the Fujitsu 40G disk will, of course, have all this hardware specific information. When you restore this image to the Hitachi 80G TravelStar the files will restore OK however the Windows system files don't have any information about the Hitachi 80G TravelStar. When you boot this disk Windows knows this Windows installation is for a Fujitsu 40G but during the boot process it finds different hardware information because the disk drive is now a Hitachi 80G TravelStar. Hence your various boot errors.

    It has nothing to do with Acronis TrueImage. It is a consequence of a Windows installation being hardware specific.

    If you search this forum you will find information about 'sysprep' which may help you.
     
  4. Xpilot

    Xpilot Registered Member

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    Sysprep may help in this case but it really should not be necessary.
    Every time a new build of TI comes out I test it by removing my main HDD and restore to a different HDD. I have done this with bigger and smaller HDDs of different makes. This works every time either from an internal slave HDD or USB HDD where my images are saved.
    When making images it is important to ensure that the whole source drive is selected and the same when restoring also do not forget to jumper the replacement drive correctly. I always create images from within Windows and restore by booting from the recovery CD. Recovery from the USB drive is much faster if booted from the BartPE CD with plugin but the Acronis CDs also work.
     
  5. rharris270

    rharris270 Guest

    Are you attempting to run TI from within windows, or from its bootable CD? The bootable CD is more reliable, especially when restoring the partition with the operating system.

    Also, are you making/restoring "partition" images or "disk" images?

    When switching disks this becomes an important question. The partition images not NOT include the master boot record, but the disk image can. (You may need t check a box when making the image.) Without a MBR a disk will never be bootable.

    Note that Acronis offers a free fix-MBR-tool for cases where the cloningwas successful, but the disk will not boot. Go to this page and start eading about half way down:

    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317
     
  6. woodp

    woodp Registered Member

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    Re: Can't create bootable image with TI 9.0

    I know where you're going with this but I doubt that's my problem. In my case, I get past the BIOS portion of the boot, but freeze with first disk access ... like the MBR isn't being read ... I *wish* I could get as far as you suggest, to the system files ...

    Thanks, I'll have a look at that!
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2005
  7. woodp

    woodp Registered Member

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    Re: Can't create bootable image with TI 9.0

    Right now I'm using the installed version of TI9

    I'm making full images containing both partitions.

    Hm, I was thinking MBR may be my problem. Now you've given me something to look for. Thank you!

    I'll give that a try as well. Thanks again!
     
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