Can you build bootable DVD media directly, or not?

I am talking about Acronis True Image Workstation 9.1, and I just read this thread:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/archive/index.php/t-128726.html

and from the same thread I quote (from Acronis Support, no less):
"Creating a bootable DVD directly from Bootable Media Builder is impossible."

He continues:
"Additional information can be found in the Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation User Guide (http://www.acronis.com/download/docs/)."

Well I had the user guide for TI 9.1 Workstation stored in 'my documents' directory so I went right over and had a look. I headed for Chapter 10 entitled 'Creating Bootable Media'. And I quote from there:

"If you purchased Acronis True Image Workstation on the Web, you can create bootable media using the Bootable Media Builder. For this, you will need a CD-R/RW blank, DVD+R/RW blank, several formatted diskettes (the wizard will tell you the exact number), or any other media your workstation can boot from, such as a Zip drive."

To me it seems as if the Acronis Support poster has directly contradicted the user guide, while suggesting that we read the user guide at the same time.

Could someone inform me whether you can use DVD with the Bootable Media Builder, or not?

 

If the Bootable Media Builder is what they call the Rescue CD in other versions then there is no need to use a dvd since all the files are even much smaller than the capacity of a CD.

 

Thanks for your reply.

Actually I was misreading what it said on my screen - the rescue media builder said it needed 35MB of space.

Unfortunately I misread it as 35GB of space required (sometimes you read wrong when you have an assumption in your head) and I assumed it was going to create a complete bootable image (which is what I really want).

I had been reading this:
http://www.enterprise-intl.com/Products/Acronis_UniversalRestore.html

Now I am confused. It says 'select the image to restore'. But if your machine is back to the bare metal how can you 'select the image to restore'. You could tell it to look in the optical disc drive - but you've already got your bootable media in there, can you take it out at this stage?

 

Yes, you can take out the TI Rescue CD once the program is loaded. If you use a BartPE CD, then you need two DVD drives because you can't take the BartPE CD out.

 

I don't know if Workstation 9.1 can do it, but version 10 has the feature for putting the Backup Image on a DVD with the bootable media and if the Image is too large the program will span DVDs. However if the Image uses 4 or more dvds, it is not recommended to use dvd media because of the unending number of swaps of the discs required.

 

Version 10 is not an enterprise product, and as such is not compatible with Universal Restore.

I am imaging a computer configured in Raid 0 at the hardware level, and intending to restore once reconfigured to Raid 1. Therefore the HAL will change, and I MUST use Universal Restore.

My image will take 4-6 DVDs. If you go into Workstation 9.1 and to 'Pick a task' then: Backup>Next>The entire disk contents...>[tick all partitions on next page]>[set file name and location, next]>create new full backup archive>set the options manually>select media components>select advanced>tick all the red workstation options with and without universal restore

Then you have universal restore on the disc. But will that make the disc bootable?

I am very frustrated because I MUST run this process soon, but [edit, removed I no longer think this]. It is not clear whether the screen captures shown in chapter 7 are seen just under windows. What do you see if you boot from the bootable media after an effective format?

I will effectively be formatting my drives, restarting, then inserting a disc containing the first part of my image and universal restore. I EXPECT IT TO WORK. But I have no clue what I will see on screen.

I don't know if I even understand the process correctly. Can I simply format, then insert the UR/image DVDs? Will Windows just be rebuilt from scratch? I hope so.

Please help. This is my only computer. I cannot go back to another computer if this does not work. Therefore I must understand the process thoroughly BEFORE I start.

 

OK, I must apologise for what I said about being in the dark, the guide being woefully inadequate etc.

My problem was that as I wanted to use Universal Restore I immediately went to Chapter 3.7 of the guide called 'Universal Restore'. This chapter does not contain much detail.

But Acronis thinks of UR as just a plugin. So Chapter 3.7 is not very big. The detail is all in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7. Now I'm getting somewhere.

Still nervous about changing the Raid level though. It will wipe my data, and I don't know what will happen when I put those DVDs in and reboot!

 

Well I created my 4 DVD+R backup, selecting to include ATI9.1 with universal restore on the DVD discs.

BEFORE I made RAID changes that would have wiped my data I wanted to verify my backup in a 'realistic' environment - the environment I would be backing up in. So I changed my boot order (to have CD drives above the RAID array), inserted DVD backup 'Volume 1' and restarted my computer.

Sure enough Acronis starts up with its GUI (loaded into RAM from the disk I think, quite neat). So I thought "right, I'll take the first few steps and pretend I was going to restore my disk, let's see what happens".

So I selected to restore, then I was asked to point to the location of my backup archive.

Here's the problem. Acronis had both of my DVD drives listed as 'CD' drives. I tried to locate my backup on the 'Volume 1' DVD, but Acronis wasn't showing it. All it could tell me was the amount of data written on that disc. It didn't seem to recognise any of the files (even though those same files had been verified by Acronis in the windows environment).

The only part of backup archive Acronis would recognise in this boot environment was the last volume - 'Volume 4'.

1. Perhaps backup written directly to DVD will only work in the windows environment? If so, then perhaps I need to create an 'ISO' backup, then burn this to DVD. How is this done?

2. If Acronis could start from my DVD during the boot process, then it could obviously read at least some of the files on the 'Volume 1' DVD (the Acronis program files). If it could read those files, why couldn't it read the rest of the files (the backup archive files)?

 

I have now created a new thread which is more relevant to the current status of my problems. Please read it and please help me if you can.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to close this one.

 

Done.