Problem Doing Restore from External Drive

My IDE hard drive crashed, so I replaced it with a new one. The Acronis image that I want to restore is contained on an external USB drive. Both high-speed USB and Legacy USB are enabled in the BIOS.

The problem is that when I connect the external drive, the booting process hangs up (I can't even get back into BIOS Setup at that point). If I disconnect the external drive, all is well and I can boot into ATI. But then of course, ATI can't see my external drive where the backup image is located.

Any suggestions as to what I can do to enable my USB external drive connection? Thank you......

 

At what point in the booting process does it hang?

Have you verified that when you have the USB drive connected that the computer is still trying to boot from the CD and not the USB drive?

Have you tried plugging in the USB drive after TI is already booted and running?

 

bbarry,

Can you boot into Windows with non bootable USB flash drives attached to the computer? Or with that USB HD attached and no TI CD?

 

Not sure I know what you mean about booting into Windows, since I have not yet installed it. Do you mean booting with the Vista installation DVD; if so, I haven't tried that since I didn't think I needed to.

But yes, with a non-bootable USB flash drive inserted, it does boot up....I can then get into Setup or TI if CD loaded.

No, with the USB HD attached and no TI, I can't boot - it hangs up at the Intel screen. The USB HD seems to be the problem.

 

It hangs up at the first Intel data screen, where it says to press F2 for Setup.

Not sure how to verify whether computer is trying to boot from TI CD or USB drive. My system hangs and the booting process just stops (I waited once for 5 minutes, just to make sure).

Yes I tried plugging in the USB drive after TI started running, but it didn't ever recognize the drive.

 

Did you try booting to the Acronis Menu from the CD, plugging in the USB drive and then selecting to start TI Full Mode?

 

I have one USB drive that causes this problem. I connect it when I'm at the screen where I choose the full version of TI or the safe version. Then it is recognized.

You should also try Disabling Legacy USB support and booting from the TI Rescue CD with the drive attached.

Also try turning off the High-speed USB support and booting...

 

My bad. I just re-read your first sentence.

 

I never reach a screen where I can choose full or safe version of TI - it just boots up from the CD and I select Recovery. Am I doing something wrong here?

I will try disabling Legacy USB support and high-speed USB support and see what happens. Thanks....

 

Yes, I have tried plugging in the USB drive while Acronis is booting up, but then Acronis can't see the drive.

I am not quite sure what you mean by selecting to start TI Full Mode. I simply insert the bootable Acronis installation disk, watch it load, and then when the menu screen comes up I select Recovery. At that point I can see all the drives (hard, floppy, CD/DVD, etc.) except for the external USB drive, which is where my backup image is.

 

John, I disabled both Legacy USB support and then later high-speed USB support, but my problem persists.

If I connect this external USB drive to my other computer, it seems to work just fine......I can read it's contents and I can continue to back up data files to it.

Any other suggestions?

 

Assuming you did a normal install of TI and created the TI CD using the Media Builder program, normally you get an Acronis menu that shows up to allow you to select what you want to do. You can select the Full Mode, Safe Mode (if included) and Windows (plus DD and/or OSS if you have those programs included. You're saying that you never get this screen?

I assume you're still using TI 10. If you have it on another computer, you could try creating another CD and include both the Full Mode and Safe Mode versions. That should force the menu even if Windows isn't detected.

You may also need to use the quiet acpi=off noapic option detailed in Section II of the PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST thread. However, to use this with TI 10, you need to get to the Acronis menu.

Here is a picture showing part of the menu screen and also the pop-up box when you press F11 to add parameters:

 

Please understand that this is the first ATI restore that I have ever attempted......I do automated backups weekly and then sorta forget about them. And I am trying to do a backup to a computer that doesn't yet have Vista installed (it's on my image).

That is not the menu I get, but again I never used the TI Media Builder program.....didn't know I had to since my installation disk is bootable.

The menu I get basically has two high-level options (other than the usual tool bars) - Pick a Task (Backup or Recovery) or Pick a Tool (Manage AI Secure Zone, Activate AI Startup Recovery Manager, etc.)

I usually select Recovery, after which AI analyzes my disks and partitions and then shows the contents of My Computer. Sadly, the external USB drive containing my backup image is not shown (because I can't ever boot to AI with the drive connected).

If I choose Activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager, I get an error message saying that files required for activating Acronis Secure Zone are not available. I am then instructed to insert a bootable CD (but it's already inserted) or run ATI from Windows (but I can't, because Vista is not installed).

What CD are you suggesting I create on my good PC? Again, I didn't think I needed to create a CD since my installation disk is bootable.

Since I can't get to the menu you show, I don't guess I can do what is suggested in Section II.

Bottom line is that I'm not even saying this is a problem caused by AI. All I know is that I replaced a crashed HDD, I carried my USB external drive containing my AI image into the "repaired" computer, but after I connected it I couldn't boot into AI. So I am desperately seeking help wherever I can, because my AI images (I have 2 of them on the external drive) are doing me no good.

Thanks to everyone for all your help, but I am still dead in the water. I'm far from being a PC guru, but I can follow directions fairly well.

 

This would be before the CD starts to boot. I would guess that something in the BIOS doesn't like the drive.

Have you tried this: Leave the USB drive disconnected. Start the computer with the TI CD in the drive. Immediately after the "F2 for Setup" screen changes to the next screen, plug in the USB drive. The idea is to get the drive plugged in after the BIOS is done doing its thing and before TI scans for USB devices.

 

The problems you are experiencing is abnormal. A couple thoughts.

1. Copy the backupu archive to a different external drive. Perhaps you have a friend whose you could use temporarily. You really have need yourself for another external drive anyway. For best safety, you need to be alternating your backups between different external drive or alternate sources. If you should choose this route, check the link below
Instead Of buying an external drive, consider buying a combination item.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1419603&postcount=26

2. or, Install your new hard drive into another computer. Boot from the Rescue CD and perform the restore to the new drive. Be careful of correct drive selection. Remove the drive and install into a new computer before its first reboot following the restore.

3. It sounded like maybe you were installing the new drive into a new computer. The computer may balk at booting if the computer being restored differs from the computer being imaged.

4. If the TrueImage upgrade is newer than your retail disk, you usually benefit from upgrading to the newer version because it has newer drivers (and newer bugs, sometimes) so it can see newer hardware. Every time I create a new TI Rescue CD, I use a Sharpied pen to write the serial number, version number and build number on each CD. I also retain each Rescue CD that I create because it just may be needed when restoring an image created with that specific CD.

5. I would attach the problem external to another computer and check the disk for errors (chkdsk x: /r)

6. Try using a different cable and perhaps connect to a different usb connector.

 

Thanks Grover. Here's where I stand:
1. That's a good idea. I've never copied an archive before, but I will read the manual and see how to do it. I was alternating my backups. The other one was going to a spare drive on my primary PC, connected through my home LAN. Only now I don't know how to access this remote hard drive since my broken computer is not operational on the LAN.

I did just buy an IDE enclosure with my new IDE drive. I have my "sick" drive in there, trying to see if I can apply utilites to make it bootable again.

2. My new computer has only SATA drives/controller, so I don't know how to connect my new IDE drive to it (except via the USB enclosure).

3. No, I probably didn't make myself clear. I am installing the new drive back into the same computer. The computer (and Acronis) see my new drive.

4. That's probably an good idea. I have never created a rescue disk because my retail version of ATI was bootable from the installation disk.

5. The problem USB external drive works fine when connected to my other computer. I can see all the contents and I can continue to backup my data to this drive. And until my old computer crashed, the external drive worked fine there also. But I will do a checkdisk.

6. I can't use a different cable, because it is permanetly attached to the drive (this drive is a Seagate FreeAgent). I did try all the USB ports, both front and back.

Thanks for these and any other suggestions.

 

An *.tib archive file is just another file which can be copied in the usual manner--such as drag & drop or copy/paste. These could be copied from your lan or external via even a mini thumb/flash drive if it has sufficient capacity. Whenever you copy a backup archive, it is always prudent to use the Rescue CD and validate the newly copied version.

 

What version of True Image are you using? It sounds like you may be on version 7, 8, or 9.

What sort of computer are you using? Brand, motherboard, how old is it? Does it have SATA drive capability?

 

John, I am using version 10, build 4942. I've been backing up with it for a couple of years....this is the first time I've tried to restore with it. Everyone keeps talking about a Rescue Disk, but my TI installation disc is bootable so that is what I have been using......is it necessary to create a Rescue Disk?

Late last night I copied my .tib file to another external drive, which I am now getting ready to validate and see if I can do a restore from there.

The computer I am using is a 5-year old Velocity with a Pentium 4 processor and 4gb of memory. In addition to the IDE drive that crashed, it has two small SATA drives, neither of which is large enough to hold my restore (they were initially in a Raid0 configuration).

Thanks......

 

If the build on the installation CD is 4,942, then there is no reason to create a new CD using Media Builder. The Rescue Disk or Rescue CD is just the bootable CD to allow you to do backups and restores. If you purchase the retail version and have the bootable CD that comes with it, it's basically the same thing except that it also has the program installers on it.

 

Thanks MudCrab. But as discussed above in this thread, I don't get the same TI menu that you showed.

But what I've just done is to copy my .tib file to another partiton on my "sick" drive as GroverH recommended, and this drive is now in an enclosure that I can connect via firewire instead of the USB connection that I've been having problems with. Hopefully I can now boot into TI and it will see the firewire drive with my cloned .tib. If that doesn't work, I will temporarily remove my new internal drive, copy my .tib file to a partition on it, and try again from there.

Needless to say, I appreciate the help from everyone, and I will keep you all posted.

 

bbarry,

re: "It hangs up at the first Intel data screen, where it says to press F2 for Setup."

I've seen the boot problem you're experiencing before when I installed a second printer/scanner on my desktop via the USB port. It would eventually boot, it just took 10-15 minutes to do so. It would hang at the BIOS screen (the one you're seeing) and stay there for several minutes before booting. Anybody familiar with a normal boot sequence just gives up after 30-60 seconds, so it appears that it won't boot at all, but it will given enough time. I think my wife called me away for a few minutes, so I left and came back to find the system booted, much to my surprise, or I don't think I'd ever waited that long otherwise.

I did a web search at the time and there were several posts just like mine claiming the problem was related to the USB port connection. I simply moved the new printer to another USB port and the problem went away. I still don't understand exactly why it was having problems with one port and not another, but it was definitely USB related.

So if you haven't already tried it, disconnect all your USB devices except the HD, and choose a different USB port for it, and see if you can boot normally like that.

 

I'm getting close but I need a bit more help.

I finally gave up on being able to restore from an external hard drive (USB or firewire) - I tried three and ATI could not recognize any of them. So I copied/validated my .tib file from one of these external drives onto one of two partitions on my new hard drive. I then re-installed the new drive into my "sick" computer. My thinking was I would then have everything on an internal drive, so I could do my restore from one partition to another.

I booted from my ATI installation disk, and everything started out great. ATI could see both partitions on my new drive as well as the .tib file on the 2nd partition. So I started the restore process, and then the system locked up. It locked up at the screen where I was asked Which Partition or Disk to Restore. I had two choices:
(1) "Vista Install" (which was the name of the hard drive partition that I had originally imaged for backup purposes)
(2) "MBR and Track 0"

Contrary to visual instructions I printed off the internet, I could only check one box or the other. I chose "Vista Install", clicked Next, and then the system totally locked up, to the point that I had to power it off and back on.

I feel that I'm getting close......help.

 

Oops. After posting the above, I found in the users guide that there can't be any partitions on the new target drive. Which means that the .tib file I copied to the second partition of the new drive will be deleted before it is ever restored.

However, I FINALLY got my Seagate external USB drive to be recognized by ATI, so I started another restore from the .tib image stored there. But then I ran into the same problem stated above - the system totally locked up after I chose which Partition or Disk to Restore.

What am I doing wrong at this point?

 

You should be able to restore from one partition to another on the same drive. Just make sure you only select the one partition. If you are trying to restore an Entire Disk Image then the image file can't be on the same drive.

The lock-up problem sounds like something else than the fact the image was on the internal drive.

How did you finally get TI to see the USB drive?

Have you tried the quiet acpi=off noapic option detailed in Section II of the PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST thread? I would guess not because you don't get the Acronis menu when you boot your TI CD. Can you create a new TI CD? If you do, make sure to include the Safe Mode version. It may work better for you, but you would want the image file to be on the internal drive for speed purposes.

Is TI on the other computer so you can create the CD on it?