Seeing USB drive From Boot Disk

Connect the ext HD on another system, boot with your TI CD and see if the ext HD can be seen. I had the same problem with my newer laptop - ext HD was visible on the older laptop. But in my case I was using a very old build, #768. When I booted with a CD made with build #826 the ext HD on the newer laptop was seen.

 

I am using a CD from build 826; had the same issues w/ a CD from build 859.

 

In that case then, to eliminate some kind of conflict with the motherboard or other items in your system, try the same on another computer system.

 

I see your point; I'll just need to find someone w/ another machine w/ a 4-pin firewire port so I can try to connect in the same way as I do on my notebook. Thanks for the advice.

 

Hello feverfive,

I have read your correspondence with Yuri and we contacted our Development Team. They need the sysinfo.txt from you to solve both problems: with the FireWire drive and with keyboard and mouse. There is an alternative way to get the information. After you get to the Linux Kernel Settings, remove the "quiet" and wait till the # prompt appears please issue the command:

sysinfo

After that please make photos of the output using a digital camera. You can use Shift+PgUp and Shift+PgDn keys in order to scroll the screen manually.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Ughh. I know it's hard to believe in this day and age, but I don't have a digital camera; I'm not much into photography. The .txt file I sent after running that Acronis system info .exe in Windows doesn't provide the correct information? Just to make sure I am doing things correctly w/ the commands provided earlier: all I need to do is enter each command (the first one after the # sign appears), press <Enter> after each command, then enter each subsequent command; the .txt file SHOULD then automatically be saved to floppy after typing the final (umount mntdir) command & pressing <Enter>? I don't need to do anything else? I don't know how I can get this file to you....

 

Ilya,
Here's a link to the notebook stand I use--http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?sku=A0389720&c=us&l=en&cs=04&category_id=5441&first=true&page=productlisting.aspx Since my keyboard, mouse & floppy are connected to the base, and the base is connected via one USB2 connector to my notebook, could that be why my wireless mouse & USB keyboard can't be used when in the Linux Kernel Settings? The base/stand acts as a USB hub....... Could that also be why nothing is written to my USB floppy when in the Kernel Settings? Anyway, I'll try connecting all my peripherals directly to the USB2 ports on my notebook to see if that makes a difference.

 

Well, I tried connecting my keyboard & mouse directly to the USB ports on my notebook, & still no go. I'm at a loss now what to try. How come I was able to access my external HD after going into the Linux Kernel Settings the other night, but can't access it via the boot CD now? Strange..... I know Acronis wants to see the .txt file, but I can't figure out how to create/send it; it's not working as none of my USB devices (i.e. floppy drive) work when in Linux Kernel Settings). Presumably I'll have to hope Acronis, on the next build, will support connectivity w/ more types of drives/devices. For now, I've paid my money, so I'll just keep my fingers crossed that a fix for me will materialize on the next build. Thanks to all who tried to help.

 

Just grasping at straws here ... how about using the keyboard and mouse that is part of the notebook. i.e. dispense with the usb ones.

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear, but I do that--I use my onboard keyboard & mouse to enter the commands in Linux Kernel Settings. BUT, since none of my USB devices are recognized when in those settings, nothing gets written to my USB floppy drive, thus I can't save/send the .txt file that support is requesting. It's also beyond strange (to me at least) that I could access my external HD when using the boot CD the other night (after going into Linux Kernel Settings & entering an "escape" command), but now, I can't access my external HD in DOS no matter what I do, and the "escape" command in Linux Kernel Settings does nothing now; it doesn't work!! I don't have a clue....

 

By way of encouragement, I mentioned that when I upgraded to build 826, the TI boot CD was able to see my ext hd (usb 2) whereas the older build I had, build 768, could not. Well yesterday, just for kicks, I booted with the 826 Cd and the ext. hd DID NOT show up. To make a long story short, what solved it for me was to go into the registry and delete everything pertaining to Acronis. I had first uninstalled the program, but still the ext. hd was not seen and, as with most programs, uninstalling a program always leaves some registries entires.

So don't give up and if you're comfortable with editing the registry, maybe you should try that. There is a feature in "regedit" to save the registry first before attempting any kind of modification. But, be warned, you can make your system unbootable if you make the wrong move in the registry.

 

Or you could try downloading a registry cleaner (the "jv16" toolkit from macesoft has a good one). It'll clean an amazing amount of gunk from the registry and probably make your pc boot faster too.

 

I think you mean macecraft as in www.macecraft.com. I use their RegSupremePro ($17). But even a registry cleaner may not take out everything.

 

I use something called regsrubxp; it has never failed me before, and I have run it since the uninstall of build 859 / install of build 826. I will take a look at the registry manually as well. I'm sure it's something mundane causing all of this, I just need to figure it out. Meanwhile, I have no way to restore my system from the external HD; guess for the time being I'll have to attempt saving to DVD's; time to search the forum to make sure I have the correct burning software to do that.

 

Regarding saving to DVD I have yet to have success with this - getting the TI boot CD to see an external usb DVD device. But it is not something I am going to pursue since DVD media is too small for the image even though it can span several DVDs. Large hard drives being the price they are today, is far easier to image to.

But let us know if a manual search of the registry finds anything Acronis.

 

Hi Did you manage to boot from your USB, or can anyone boot from USB??

I just bought the converter today, backed up my system with it onto my spare hard drive, but couldent boot from it, used MBR fix from this forum but still no joy...

 

Yeah, I just got done searching the forum--looks like burning to DVD is iffy @ best. I would have to span across, probably, two DVD's. Man, I'm feeling a bit naked right now knowing I can't restore an image. To be honest, I'm a bit leery of messing w/ the registry manually (I've done it beofre, but....), but I can sure as heck at least look at it.

 

Hey Ilya (or Acronis Support in general),
Since I've been unsuccessful in reliably getting TI8 to access my stored image on my external HD via the boot CD, any chance you'll let me upgrade for free when TI9 comes out? Here's to hoping the next build of TI8 fixes my accessibility problems.

 

Hi feverfive,

In my view, there is no point in messing with your registry as it (or Windows) doesn't come into play when booting from the (Linux based) rescue CD.

Couple of things you could try though:

1. Enter your BIOS setup and see if there is an entry similar to "Enable Legasy USB". If so, try changing it from "Disabled" to "Enabled" or vice versa.

2. If that doesn't work then create a "Safe" version of the rescue CD and try that. The Safe version uses a combination of your motherboard's BIOS routines and DOS to access the hardsware. It supposedly doesn't support USB, PC-Card, SCSI etc but, depending on the age, make and model of your motherboard/BIOS it may well detect your USB devices correctly.

Regards

 

Yes, I think you suggested this to me earlier; I forgot to give it a try. I will now, though. Thanks.

 

Continuing the saga of "To See Or Not To See" an external usb HD. Today my boot CD (build 826) absolutely refused to see my ext. USB HD, in spite of retrying the things I tried and which worked previously.

So I made a "Safe" version of the CD and "Voila!" ... the TI boot CD now sees my ext. USB HD. Now whether the image can be restored, I have not tried that yet.

Interesting though is when I went through the Restore process as far as I could without actually doing the restore, there was a message on the very last screen that says, "Acronis is unable to see the 160G hard drive when connected to the onboard usb ports. You have to use a USB to PCMCIA adapter" or words to that effect.

All this while showing me the image - which I was able to select for restore -which I have on my 160G ext. hd., which IS connected to the onboard ports.

Anyone else come across this or can explain this?

 

Hello feverfive,

Since it is almost impossible to write down the whole output of sysinfo.txt could you please to input the following command:

cat /proc/bus/ieee1394/devices

and write down the output and send it to us? This output is much smaller than the output of sysinfo command and it should provide us with the information about the FireWire drive. As for the free upgrade, we will consider this option, however, I am almost sure the problem can be solved with Acronis True Image 8.0.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Ilya,
Thanks; I will run that command (from Linux Kernel Settings, right?) when I get home tonight. Regarding the free upgrade, I was actually being tongue in cheek about that!! I am relatively confident you'll get this resolved for me; if not in the current TI8 builds, then perhaps in the next one.

 

Ilya,
I tried running the command, but all I get is a "system error 2" message. I ran the command immediately at the # prompt; I did NOT run any other command first. Looks like the computer gods don't want me to get system information to you. After that command didn't work, I executed an "exit" command, this booted me into TI8 in DOS.

I attempted to verify the image I have stored on my external HD. TI8 started analyzing my partitions, and seemed to be analyzing my external partitions (in addition to C:, it showed D:, E: & F: in the "Analyzing Partition x:" dialog box; which would correspond to the 3 external partitions I have labeled in Windows as M:; T: & I: ).

But, once it got to the screen from which I would select the image to verify (the ones that lists all partitions), the left nav panel showed only "My Computer" and nothing below it; i.e., there was no tree directory beneath; TI8 simply hung & was clocking (hour glass showed on my cursor). I let it sit like that for approx. 20 minutes, then I tried to cancel out, but that did nothing, so I had to hard re-boot. Any further suggestions?

 

You haven't confirmed it yet so did you actually try using a "Safe" version of the bootable rescue CD?

Regard