Auto-Defrag and OS Selector

I keep having to reactivate my OS Selector; I started thing that it mab be caused by the auto-defrag I have turned on in Diskeeper.

I spoke to DK personnel, and they said I should exclude the key files that the OS Selector relies on.

Soulds like a good idea, but how do I find out what these files are -- specifically, the ones that would, if moved, cause a problem with OS Selector activating at startup?

Help here would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Chuck Billow

 

The OSS files are stored in a hidden folder name BOOTWIZ located on the drive on which you installed OSS.

You may be able to browse directly there in DK to exclude the folder (or all the files and sub-folders), or you may have to Enable viewing of Hidden and System files in Windows Explorer to be able to see it.

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Are you getting an error message or is Acronis Loader just not loading?
Do you still get the ESC/F6 message?

Do you use OSS from inside Windows to switch OS's?
If you do, make sure you have the same build installed in each Windows OS, otherwise it can cause corruption in the OSS files.

 

MudCrab: That's easy enough... thanks.

BTW, do you think that it may be possible that that IS what's disrupting the OS Selector process?

Regards,
Chuck

 

What version and build of DD/OSS are you using? (2,160 is the latest)

I suppose it's possible that DK is causing the problem. Couldn't you just turn off DK's automatic defragging and see if the problem goes away? Or is the problem not ocurring frequently enough?

Are you having to reactivate OSS every day, once a week, etc.?

Also, when booted into OSS (when you start your computer), make sure the build shown is 2,160 and not an earlier version. I had one situation where OSS was installed from a cd and it installed the previous version (somehow the updated build didn't get put on the build 2,160 cd).

I don't know how sensitive OSS is to having its boot files moved. I've never had any problems associated with that (but I don't use DK). However, GRUB and VISTA for example are sensitive to the position of the files. Move the files and a repair is needed. So those kinds of things do happen.

 

MudCrab:

I'm using the most recent versions of both...

This can happen several times a day...

I could just shut off the auto-defrag first, and then exclude files if that IS the problem, you're right.

Regards,
Chuck Billow

 

I too am a Diskeeper user. The Acronis tech staff suggested installing OSS on a separate logical partition and then excluding that partition from the Diskeeper defrag list. That works fine for me.

But, I bet merely excluding the BOOTWIZ folder from treatment by Diskeeper might work as well.

The reason Diskeeper defrag activities interfere with OSS is that some of the OSS control files contain references to physical locations on the hard drive. When Diskeeeper moves things around, these references become invalid and OSS gets upset. At least that's what I understand.

 

MB:

You're absotively right that moving the files in the BOOTWIZ folder drives OSS **crazy**.

I've found though, that you don't need to put the two on separate partitions. I run both from my "Primary C" and have worked without incident since I excluded the BOOTWIZ folder and files.

Regards,
Chuck Billow