Hrdware Compatibility w/ Linux boot environ

Looking for input from the experts here.

There are currently 118 pages of threads in this forum. After scanning the most recent 40 pages of threads that had activity since Feb 1, 2005 (yeah, my head hurts, but no one can say that I haven’t tried to do my homework first) to understand potential installation/usage issues, I’m concerned about TI recognizing all of my disks when attempting to do a restore.

While I recognize that if I boot from within Windows I should be able to see all disks, my purpose of using TI is as a tool for part of my disaster recovery plan (i.e.- re-imaging my RAID 1 array after a total meltdown in that array, or from damage to that ARRAY due to virus, hacker, etc.). I therefore assume (possibly incorrectly; am I missing something here?) that I can’t count on having the ability of restoring my RAID array from within Windows, but only from the TI rescue CD, or as a last resort, the TI Startup Recovery Manager.

a.Assume that ALL 3 of my HDs (two Seagate SATA 7200.8s for the boot RAID 1 (C: ) array AND one separate Seagate SATA 7200.7 HD (E: and F: ) where I will store my images) are running off the same Intel ICH6R SATA RAID controller chip. All volumes are Basic, not Dynamic. How likely am I to experience problems restoring the boot array from the image stored on my E: partition (non-RAID HD) using the TI 8 b800 boot rescue CD? If there are potential issues, are there workarounds? Will the Linux-based environment on the TI8 b800 rescue CD (or the Startup Recovery Manager) recognize the three Seagate 7200.x SATA HDs as one array plus one separate HD?

b.If the single (non-RAID) HD where I store the RAID array image was a PATA HD instead, would I: a) have to do fewer steps to the workaround? b) experience fewer problems? (Though I’ve already purchased HD 3 as a SATA drive, it’s unopened, so I can probably still take it back and exchange it for a PATA equivalent if having the PATA will make my life easier when doing a restore.)

Thanks in advance for all responses,
Rhino

 

The full version of the Acronis TI boot CD is Linux-based. Therefore, it has to have Linux drivers for your hardware. Acronis tries to include as many as they can but some SATA controllers in RAID mode and USB drives, etc, are not supported. On very rare occasions you can use the Safe version of the boot CD which uses a combination of DOS and BIOS to handle the hardware. Again, it just depends on if your hardware is compatible.

Your hardware may be compatible with the Linux boot CD already. If it's not, Acronis can provide a BartPE plug-in that will allow you to boot to a Win32 environment, load your Windows RAID drivers, and perform the restore that way.

Info on BartPE bootable CD:
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
Note: this is the BartPE page, it does not include the plug-in for Acronis TI. Acronis would have to provide that, but they have already stated that they would do so if you can't use the Linux disk.

 

Hello mr_rhino,

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

Current version of Acronis True Image 8.0 (800 build) supports Intel ICH6R SATA RAID controller and P-ATA RAID controllers in Acronis Bootable Rescue Media.

You may download free trial version from http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/, create Acronis Bootable CD and make sure it will recognize your drive correctly.

Thank you.
--
Irina Shirokova