Help with Boot Disks

I work in an enterprise that has several OSs (NT, XP, Win2K Pro), hardware configs (with and without CD R or RW) and several versions of TI (server and workstation, 7 and 8, a couple of builds).

Some of the IT guys say a particular boot disk can be used anywhere. Here's my findings as my restore plan is developed for my section:

Some restore disks for builds won't show the network. Some disks for some versions will find an image over the network but two error messages are issued: 1) Not a TruImage archive (it is) or 2) The image is corrupt (it isn't).

If I boot an operating machine into Windows that has TI for the same version and edition as above, it can see the image and can be explored.

All of this is terribly confusing to wade through when disaster strikes (there's at least 6 disks here - and we've not explored Safe vs. Full).

Can anybody help? Specifically:

1. Are all images produced over time compatible with the latest versions and editions?
2. Can recovery boot disks be used on disparate machines?
3. Why the bogus "corrupt" message for a boot disk when Windows running TI can see it?

Any help is appreciated.

mjclifford

 

Hello mjclifford

Yes

A boot rescue CD isn't machine specific. In order to benefit from better hardware support/program bug fixes, you should always create a new boot rescue CD for each new build of TI. That said, be aware that occassionaly, certain hardware configurations work best with an earlier build.

I gather this is something the Acronis development team are still working on.

Regards

 

Thanks, Menorca.

Anybody else with tips and suggestions to cope with this stack of recovery disks I've discovered is necessary to acquire an image over the net?

mjclifford

 

If you look at wdormann and menorcaman's guide to producing a bootable CD or DVD, it's quite simple to extend the process to have various versions of the boot cd available from the menu. I have been doing this for years and my boot menu includes the choice of various safe, noacpi, and regular versions all the way back to TI version 6. Within versions 6, 7 and 8, I have many builds available on one CD. I can always find one that will work for any computer.

 

earlier versions cannot read newer ones. So for example acronis 7 has some issues with image files created using acronis 8. Different builds of the same version however dont have any issues reading these.

But the solution to your problem is to use a standard image and acronis version. You dont really need different versions of acronis on seperate systems because you can use the same one and purchase a license for them.

You need the LATEST Version of a boot cd and then bin the older versions, newer versions support more hardware and previous images. Older versions dont but will still work with their version images.

 

Picking up on beenthereb4's suggestion, check out Wolfgang Brinkmann's <Bootable CD Utilities web site>. It contains a wealth of information on how to create multi-boot CDs.

Regards

 

I have a *huge* problem with the product at the moment. There's an image on a networked machine (M2) of M1. This image has been verified time and time again and it can be mounted in Explorer.

M1 is crashed. Several boot disks can get it up and get across the net. However, the "this file is not a Truimage file" comes up.

Take M1, put on a Win2K system, add networking, and install TI again. It can see the image and mount it, but can it restore the image? NO! The primary partition is busy, but that's the only way to get around the bogus corrupt message! So there's no way to restore an image, just files from an image after a disk has been wiped and a system placed on it.

Anybody see a way around? Please advise. I think my company has been blindly making images w/o a way to get them back.

mjclifford

 

Now that you have M1 running, try this:

1. Use Partition Magic or Acronis Disk Director to create a second partition on M1 by resizing the first partition.
2. Copy the image to the second partition.
3. Try to restore the image from within Windows and accept the option to reboot.
4. After rebooting restore the image from the second partion to the first partion.

 

Hello mjclifford,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

We are really sorry for the inconveniences.

Could you tell please what build of Acronis True Image you use? Also please make sure the image file has .tib extension.

When you restore the image you get an message that the partition is busy and you are asked whether you want to reboot the computer. Please choose to reboot and you should be able to restore the image after this.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I've tried a variant of this. The image was placed on a dvd, however, and read from Drive D. All other steps were the same. Got the "partition busy" error. However, I'll follow this steps, assuming that the image can be copied to the safe partition. - michael

 

The build is the latest. Your support people suggested that I download the latest build about 5 days ago to fix another problem. The image was written with TI 7 in May.

Also tried this suggestion. No go. Then got the bogus "file is not a TI image message".

Flame on: Ghost never gave up 1 nanosecond before a restore of an image. Flame off.

 

The key is to boot from the boot CD or accept the "Reboot" option when it tells you that the partition is busy from within Windows.

 

Hello mjclifford

Please try to check the image after booting from Acronis Bootable CD with the "check Image" tool.

Acronis True Image 8.0 should work normally with the images created with older versions of Acronis True Image, so it is not a problem.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I attempted all the steps above with no luck. Moreover, a search on this forum for the phrase "corrupted image" returns several other posts with the same problem.

I have a downed machine, a company that routinely has been doing images, an image that verifies, and the same image that won't restore. This is bad. If I wanted to restore only files (which is now the situation), I could have used PKZIP. Files are being plucked from the image.

Support is an email address to sign up for a support agreement.

Somebody please tell me fast how to work miracles.

michael

 

Hello mjclifford,

If you need to get some files from the image you may explore the image under Windows. This will result in mounting the image file as a logical disk which will be visible in "My computer". You may just navigate to it and copy the necessary files.

Could you tell what is the result of checking image when you boot from Acronis Bootable CD? Is image OK or not?

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

That's the extent of it. We can't get an image (with the thousands of settings, layout, etc.) out of it, only individual files.

Incidentally, you're published phone number in San Fransico is disconnected.