Drive Letter Question

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by mattn, Feb 17, 2008.

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  1. mattn

    mattn Registered Member

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    Hi,

    I am trying to use True Image 8 to restore the "C:" partition on my laptop to a previous state via a backup on an external drive. I can boot from the Acronis CD and access the backed up partition without problems. However, Acronis never asks me to assign a drive letter and in the final summary page, says that the drive letter will be

    "C: -> -"

    which makes me think that it's not going to assign a drive letter? I am afraid to continue because I don't want to screw anything up? Does anyone know if this is okay?

    Thanks,

    Matt
     
  2. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    I've never had to be concerned with drive letters in all my True Image Recoveries. I don't even look at what the dialog windows in the Recovery process say about drive letters. I just make sure I choose the correct .tib file and the correct destination drive. But I've used and continue to use ver. 9 build 3677. I used ver. 8 for a short while also with a few problems not to do with drive letters.
     
  3. jkb242

    jkb242 Registered Member

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    What the heck gives with the drive letters changing? I have had this happen to me twice in as many restores but always seems to be related to using the emergency restore CD. What method do you use.


    If the system is not bootable, what other choices do you haveo_O
     
  4. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Same here.

    You should not assign a drive letter from TI. Let Windows do that when it boots. Windows will give itself C: drive if you have used the correct technique.

    http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

    These rules apply to imaging as well.
     
  5. jkb242

    jkb242 Registered Member

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    Brian,

    I saw the write up that it looks like you posted regarding how to avoid drive letter assignment issues but the only method mentioned as I read this was the use of fdisk /mbr which can only be run from a floopy boot.

    I tried that on one ocassion and it worked for me a few weeks ago but I tried it this past week when I was really in trouble and really needed to boot to the new restored drive and it did not work. I was very careful in doing this but it just would not work. My system drive which somehow became corrupt would not boot therefore I was unable to get into the registry.

    This is the part that really makes me nervous with ATI should I have to restore from the CD. What's more, I tried to contact Paragon Software regarding a copy of their "just boot" but these silly folks wern't taking phone calls and all I got was an answering machine to leave a message. This was not a call to tech support but to sales!! Can you imagine??

    So this is my concern that third party software is a good thing to have to prevent this from hanging one up should this happen again. That makes me very uneasy.

    I could find no way to assign any drive letters in ATI.

    Do you have any suggestions for me.
     
  6. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    jkb242,

    I can cause drive letter problems whenever I want or I can make sure they don't happen. Acronis TI is not responsible. It's a Windows issue.

    You don't need special software to fix a drive letter problem. fdisk /mbr is enough.

    http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm#method3

    If you don't have a floppy drive, fxdisk from a CD works the same way.

    Another tool is Clear Sig which is part of BING. CD or floppy.
     
  7. jonyjoe81

    jonyjoe81 Registered Member

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    The problem with fdisk/mbr and also the acronis fxdisk cd iso, they work only if the original drive letter was c: , I actually tried the fxdisk cd once and that didn't fix my drive letters.

    It was by luck that I found about "paragon justboot corrector", if that hadn't worked I would have probably be looking for a different backup software. I always keep it close by when I restored my hard drives, it has worked everytime I have needed it. When I have used it, I always release all the drive letters from the registry, and only assign the system drive letter, during bootup windows will automatically assign all the other drive letters. It goes quick and the restored drive works following the reboot.

    Acornis true image works good most of the time but some situations (not operater error), will cause you to have drive letter change problems which are easy to fix with the right utility. I tried to download the demo from the paragon's website and had the same problem with server not found, but you might try a different website for the demo. Just make sure you unrar the file (do not use the self burning file to burn-it because it will produce a corrupt cd). Just use nero to burn the ISO. The demo will let you read the drive letters and boot.ini file but won't save changes. It's the only program that I recommend because it has worked for me when nothing else would. From my expierence you do need special software whether free or paid to fix drive letters, I don't rely on true image to work perfectly everytime.

    http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/downloads/JustBoot_Boot_Corrector_38938_p/
     
  8. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    I use ONLY the bootable True Image Rescue CD (the BartPE version) to do all my Backups and Restores. In fact I don't even have the TI software installed on my system anymore. It is a little slower using the boot CD, but for me, it is safer. And as someone else said, I let Windows take care of the drive letters. If your newly restored drive is connected as the Master in the Primary ide channel, it will always be C. I don't know how Sata drives are treated as I'm not using any sata drives.
     
  9. K0LO

    K0LO Registered Member

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    The combination of the above two statements points clearly to this being an operator error. As Brian has said, only Windows assigns drive letters; not ATI or any other backup software; they have nothing to do with drive letter assignments.

    Another way of saying this is that you can't just blindly clone or image without being aware of how Windows assigns drive letters or else Windows may rearrange them in a way that you do not expect. Once you understand the hierarchy that Windows uses when assigning drive letters you will never again have a problem.

    Here is an older description from the early days of DOS and here is a later one from the days of Windows 2000. I doubt much has changed in XP or Vista but if anyone runs across a more-recent description, please post it here for everyone's benefit.
     
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