Acronis secure zone has mucked up XP boot

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by simonwilliams, Jan 5, 2008.

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  1. simonwilliams

    simonwilliams Registered Member

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    Can anyone help me to restore my boot up.

    I updated to Acronis 11 & created the secure zone as the new software had this "safe" feature. I created the secure zone on my 500GB standalone USB drive.

    Apparently to access this secure zone at boot up I should hit F11. However at boot up, boot up would hang & I would be told to select which disk I wanted to boot from, no hit F11.

    Selecting the 500GB usb was the only drive that would allow boot up to proceed. This was no good so I removed the secure zone via acronis, but now I get asked to insert the floppy on boot up.

    Fortunately I had made an acronis rescue disc on a usb stick & loading this & then selecting windows allows me to get booted in but this is a pain & obviously not how things should be.

    So can anyone advise how to get my pc booting up to XP correctly again? Thanks.

    Lastly I can't use the acronis image I made as this was made after the boot problem began, stoopid I know!
     
  2. simonwilliams

    simonwilliams Registered Member

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    bump, anyone, please, pretty pretty please, how do I restore XP to just boot up properly?
     
  3. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    i don't know that I can help you, but
    1. What OS?
    2. Is this a Dell
    3. Do you have hidden or diagnostic partitions as viewed thru Windows Disk Management?
    4. Is there any un-allocated space when viewed via Windows Disk Management?
     
  4. simonwilliams

    simonwilliams Registered Member

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    Thanks for the reply but I googled & found the solution elsewhere.
     
  5. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Would you mind sharing the solution you found or at least lead us with the URL to the site that helped?

    Thanks
     
  6. Oldy

    Oldy Registered Member

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    From Oldy
    Acronis true Image 11 was my first use of a 'Backup program' and the experience has been a nightmare!

    I have had exactly the same problems in that True Image managed to stuff up the Boot sector on two separate Computers! I was replacing my aging Internet and games PC's, they both had Win XP SP 2 and and small selection of software yet True Image 11 caused the new Hard drive on one PC to become unrecoverable and the other PC to 'lockup' so that only a hard boot and a full system rebuild of Win XP could clear it out!

    Both PC's had SATA hard drives and CDRoms this could be a real problem with Acronis software, the problems i have had are;

    1/ Damage to boot sectors especially if the Acronis 'hidden' partition is used.
    2/ Complete 'lockup' of both PC's during the creation of CDRoms or DVD backup disks, the discs are unusable and the PC needs to be crashed to get out.
    3/ The True Image Boot disks have NEVER worked.
    4/ The Start up recovery on F11 ALWAYS freezes with no further progress.
    5/ The Acronis Help Desk solves all problems of this kind with a "just download latest version" I have done this 4 times and I am running out of download credit with my ISP!
    6/ Acronis NEVER accept that the sofware is at fault (Its always the customers error) see point 5.

    I have now reloaded Window 5 times on two separate PC's, Downloaded Acronis 4 times and IT HAS NEVER WORKED to backup anything.

    Perhaps we would both be better off accepting that True Image is a 'bust' and move on to a more reliable backup program,

    Any Suggestions out there!
    Dissappointed customer
     
  7. _Ralph_

    _Ralph_ Registered Member

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    I couldn't agree with you more . I had a crash last night on my pc that took me 5 hours to fix using this program . I got a bootmgr missing message after doing something stupid trying to dual boot Vista and Ubuntu . The Acronis secure zone was gone and I was lost . The boot disk did not work . I finally googled on my Win 98 machine to find the fix . I never had problems with BING NG backup on 98 . I went to Acronis because of all the hype . Anyway I'm back up and will go on to BING again .
     
  8. bodgy

    bodgy Registered Member

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    1. By it's very nature the Acronis SZ with Start up recovery Manager enabled will alter your boot sector.

    2. If and or when it causes a boot up problem, one thing to try is boot with the rescue CD (you did make one didn't you, and tested it?) and from the manage SZ option - choose delete. This should restore your boot info as it was before.

    However, Dell systems sometimes cause a problem as might others that have their own inbuilt F11 type recovery utility and bios.

    When everything else fails, and access to an XP or Vista install CD/DVd is available then with XP - the Fixmbr program may sort you out - a repair install definitely will, but that wipes out any MS updates you may have.

    Vista, I'm aware has a different way of achieving this, but I haven't used Vista as yet.

    Colin
     
  9. Mac25

    Mac25 Registered Member

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    if your data is so important to you then install an internal HD to store your images, has anyone noticed most of the problems are related to a usb HD used to store images, ALL of the recovery/imaging software have problems with usb devices used for image backups.

    some are having NO problems at all with usb backup devices, that may be due to thier working knowledge of the internals of a PC & its bios related settings.

    BIOS = Basic Instructions [for the] Operating System.

    in my opinion for the first time user of Acronis you should avoid usb backups.
     
  10. gud4u

    gud4u Registered Member

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    Two ways that work to recover from modified MBR caused by the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager:
    - If you have a backup archive from before activating ASRM, load the MBR from that backup.
    - Pick any utility that can overwrite your MBR with a universal MBR.

    I've used both methods. The utility I used for MBR-overwrite was DIY DataRecovery DiskPatch.

    Supposedly, deleting the the acronis secure zone will cause TrueImage to repair the MBR, but acronis support seemed unaware of this, so I sought other solutions.

    Hope this helps!
     
  11. sparkymachine

    sparkymachine Registered Member

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    Basic Input Output System
     
  12. basskozz

    basskozz Registered Member

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    I am having the exact same issues as the OP on two brand new Dells... After I installed TI v11 and setup the Secure Zone both machines boot to a blank black screen during WinXP bootup...
    1. Is this a known Dell Issue?
    2. Is it due to the fact that they (Dell) keep a restore partition on the Factory HD's, and this could be conflicting w/ Secure Zone?
    3. How can I fix?
    The only solution that I have been using is using system restore to try and restore to a working state, but the problem keeps re-occurring and I couldn't figure out what was causing this until I came across this thread... I even had Dell on-site tech come out and they replaced the MoBo and everything... still same problem...
    Now I believe the Acronis Secure Zone is the culprit, but how do I fix?
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2008
  13. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    basskozz,
    I don't know the answer to your question. Hopefully, some of the other more knowledgeable posters will add some comments.

    1. Is the secure zone installed on an internal or external drives?
    2. Did you install the Startup Recovery Manager?
    3. Did you try removing the SZ perhaps using the TI Recovery CD.
    4. After removal of the SZ, did an un-install get you back to your original condition.
    5. Are you running Vista or XP or both?
    5. Check the sticky below and check out some of the treads about the secure zone.
     
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2008
  14. basskozz

    basskozz Registered Member

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    Internal, same HD the OS is on
    Dunno, Is that installed as part of the Secure Zone?
    I believe so because on bootup I see a screen that mentions Acronis Boot Manager (or something to that extent).
    No, is it possible to remove via the TI Recovery CD?
    Will give it a shot and report back...
    Will give it a shot and report back...
    XP
     
  15. uptone

    uptone Registered Member

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    There are two problems I see that I think maybe are being worked out with the powers to be, but in the meantime from what I have actually seen, I would not reccommend using Acronis on Dell machines. When Dell sells a machine it is preloaded with an operating system and dells own special drivers. This is to protect Dell and Microsoft from people using the system on other machines. Can't say that I blame them. But no matter what the reason, Acronis software and Dell's software/hardware don't work so good togeather.
    The other problem is that you should not make backups on external drives that are connected via USB. This does not work either. If it does work it is hit and miss. I don't reccommend it.
     
  16. basskozz

    basskozz Registered Member

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    Thanks for the update uptone,

    I removed the Secure Zone, and everything seems to be back to normal...
    Too bad TI doesn't work on Dells :thumbd:
     
  17. Joseph Zorzin

    Joseph Zorzin Registered Member

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    Is the Dell problem just with the Secure Zone? What if I just use "backup locations"?

    And, if there is a systemic problem with Dell computers, shouldn't Acronis let everybody know?

    Joe
     
  18. basskozz

    basskozz Registered Member

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    Agree'd :shifty:
     
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