Best way to restore a HD with a boot disk

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by mcmikemc, Aug 25, 2006.

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  1. mcmikemc

    mcmikemc Registered Member

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    I have a test PC at work that I reinstall Windows on every time my company has a new install for the software we sell. I have gotten tired of this task and bought True Image in the hopes that I can decrease the amount of time I have to dedicate to this task.

    I would like to be able to boot to a DVD-R that has my boot drive backed up on it so that when I want to restore my Windows XP install all I have to do is pop in the disk and click a few times then BAM my install is restored.

    Is this possible and if so can you please tell me how or provide me with a link that will give me instructions on how to do this.

    Thank :)
     
  2. MerlinAZ

    MerlinAZ Registered Member

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    Get your system just the way you like it.
    Then create an image and burn that image onto a DVD or keep it on an external HD if you want.
    When you want your system pristine again, just boot with the Acronis boot disk, or bartPE/TI plugin, and restore from your backup.
    I would do it first as a dry run to make sure your image doesn't have any issues and you should be fine.
     
  3. mcmikemc

    mcmikemc Registered Member

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    Well I decided to just jump into this and try to figure it out by doing it and I created a boot disc with the Media Builder. I was able to boot to the disc and start True Image from the boot disc. The problem is that it does not recognize any of my hard driver. Every time I click on something that deal with a hard drive ( pretty much everything) it says it can't find any hard drives.

    I have a total of three drives in the PC I am testing this out on.

    1 x 36.7gig Western D. drive with a fresh install of XP
    1 x 250gig Seagate drive with a backup image of the XP install ( file size is just under 4gigs)
    1 x 120gig Seagate drive that I want to restore the backup to so I know how to do this in the future

    All three of these drives are SATA and are connected to a Gigabyte DS3 MB.
     
  4. MerlinAZ

    MerlinAZ Registered Member

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    Since the boot disk created by Acronis is Linux based, if it has problems with your drivers, it may cause issues.
    See what others say when they respond, but it may work if you create a bartPE disk with the True Image plugin since that is native Windows and not Linux.
     
  5. mcmikemc

    mcmikemc Registered Member

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    Well I created a new boot disk, this time using the safe mode version, and I was able to see the hard drives but not the DVD/CD drive. Maybe somebody knows a fix for this.

    I will look into that "bartPE disk w/ True image plugin" right now.
     
  6. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    It does look like the "Linux not having the required driver" problem and as was mentioned, Acronis has to provide a fix for you. BartPE will likely fix the problems since you can add drivers to it if required.

    I will mention one thing, and that is since you have multiple drives on your system, write your image file to another drive and restore it from there it will be much faster than fooling with DVDs and more reliable. Based on your observation, you should be able to do this with the TI Safe mode since you wouldn't need the DVD drive.

    You can burn the image after creating by using Nero or your favorite burning program to a DVD for extra security if you wish. Just make sure that your image will fit onto a DVD - you can set a split size in the options both under Tools or in the backup wizard to split the archive if necessary.

    Note that if you are just testing software and then restoring the old image, you shouldn't require a boot disk since TI will boot itself into the recovery environment. However, given your current problem, this method is not likely to work since the recovery environment is faulty for you at the present time.
     
  7. mcmikemc

    mcmikemc Registered Member

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    My only real option is the DVD boot disc with the backup on it. There are many reason for this which I will not burden you with.

    I tried BartPE and could not get it to work in the five minutes I had to test it. I will spend more time on Monday trying to get it to work correctly.

    Thanks for the help guys.
     
  8. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    Which this approach work for you?

    Preparation:
    1. Use a program such as ERUNT to make a copy of your pristene Windows. This will make a full copy of your registry without any of your software that you sell.

    Perform your install and testing and then
    1. Un-install your testing software from the hard drive--via the Add/Remove program.
    2. Manually confirm at all files and folders removed.

    Recovery:
    Use the registry backup in step 1 by ERUNT to completely restore the original registry which contains no references to your software.

    http://206.128.27.142/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/ubb/get_topic/f/9/t/000145.html#000000
     
  9. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello mcmikemc,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    We are very sorry for the delay with the response.

    First of all, please make sure that you use the latest build of the corresponding Acronis True Image version (build 3677 for Acronis True Image 9.0 Home and Acronis True Image 9.1 Server for Windows and build 3718 for Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation and Acronis True Image 9.1 Enterprise Server) which is available for downloading in the Product Updates section of your account at Acronis web site.

    You can find the full version name and build number by going to Help -> About... menu in the main program window.

    To get access to updates you should create an account then log in and use your serial number to register the software.

    Please uninstall any previously installed build by following Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Acronis True Image, prior to installing the latest one.

    Please create new Bootable Rescue CD after installing the update, boot your computer from this CD and see if the problem still persists.

    If the problem persists with Bootable Rescue CD created using the latest build of the corresponding Acronis True Image version then please try booting with "acpi=off noapic" parameter as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

    If booting with "acpi=off noapic" parameter does not help either then please create Acronis Report and Linux system information (sysinfo.txt) as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

    Please also let us know the exact vendors and models of the SATA controller you use and all your hard drives.

    Then please submit a request for technical support. Provide the files and information collected in your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the most suitable solution as soon as possible.

    P.S. Please also note that, as MerlinAZ has already mentioned above, a possible workaround is to use BartPE based CD allowing one to boot the computer into a Windows-like environment loading the appropriate drivers for any hardware devices at startup.

    Thank you.
    --
    Alexey Popov
     
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