TI 11 can't read drive or run after partion removed with DD

I have an Acer computer with a hidden restore partition on the front of the drive ahead of the C: partion. Since I have a good TI image I no longer need or want this Acer restore partition on my drive. To regain the 9 gigs of drive space I used DD 10 to delete the partition and expand the C: partition into that unallocated space. When I re-booted into Vista the restore partition was gone and the C: partition now occupied the entire drive as I desired. Everything seemed to be working OK until I attempted to make a new image of this configuration. It was then that I discovered that TI 11 couldn't read the C: drive. It would hang up and stop responding at the point that it analized the partition. I then booted with the DD 10 boot disc and it would never get into the GUI before it hung up.
I was never able to get either Acronis app to see the drive again until I used a WinXP install disc to delete the partition and do a quick format. After that I was able to use TI 11 to restore my last Vista image. Now both TI 11 and DD 10 will read the C: partition as before the deletion. I would certainly like to delete that restore partition and get my 9 gigs of drive space back but not at the expense of losing the ability to use my two Acronis apps. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Sam

 

What build of DD 10 did you use?

Did you run a chkdsk on the C: drive after the resize to check for any errors?

Assuming there are only the recovery and Vista partitions on the drive, the easiest thing to try would be to boot to your DD CD and delete all the partitions on the drive (so the drive is empty) and then boot to your TI 11 CD and restore JUST the Vista partition, selecting to resize it during the restore to use the entire disk.

 

My DD 10 build is 2160.

I did run a chkdsk on the C: drive after the resize.

After I deleted the partition with DD 10 then DD 10 would no longer boot. It would hang up and stop responding while trying to load the GUI. DI 11 would boot but when I would try to make a backup it would hang up and stall when it was analizing the C: drive. I had to do a hard shut down to get the computer back. Neither app could read the C: drive after I deleted that partition with DD 10. The only way I was ever able to get them to see the C: drive again was to delete the partition and do a quick format on the C: drive with a WinXP install disc that I have. After that I was able to boot with DI 11 and restore a previous Vista image I had made before I deleted the partition with DD 10. As a test, I repeated this whole procedure three times and got the same results each time. I finally gave up and just left the 9 gig "restore" partition on the drive. It just doesn't seem to work on my Vista computer.

 

So I take it you didn't try what I suggested in the previous post:

This does not require DD to resize the partition since the resize is performed by TI during the restore process.

 

Yes, what you suggested is the easiest and most obvious thing to try. That's why it was the first thing I tried before I used the method described in my OP. When I did it that way then Vista failed to boot at all. When I used the method described in my OP Vista booted normally and appeared to be fully operational in every respect. In fact, I used the computer for several days without any problems at all. I assumed that the operation had been successful. It was only when I attempted to make an image of that configeration that I discovered that DI 11 couldn't read the drive and would hang up in the attempt to do so. Even though Vista was completely usable in that state, not being able to make a new image of it with DI 11 was unacceptable for me. Therefore, I restored the original image as explained in my OP. Now, both DI 11 and DD 10 are working correctly again. What's up with that?

 

When you say "Vista failed to boot at all" what exactly do you mean?

Did Windows start and fail with an error message?

Did you get a black screen with a small blinking cursor?

Did you get an empty black screen?

When you did the Vista partition restore, did you also restore the MBR and Track 0?

Did you try booting from your Vista DVD and doing a boot repair to see if that would allow Vista to boot properly?

 

When I say "Vista failed to boot at all" I mean it would get up to the point showing the desktop and then reboot and start all over again. It just ran in a loop.
Yes, I restored the MBR with the Vista partition. I don't remember seeing a Track 0. If there was one there I probably did.
I don't have a Vista DVD for this computer. It was a refurbished machine and came with with Vista preinstalled and the restore partitiion on the first 9 gigs of the drive ahead of the Vista partition. It is this restore partition that I have been attempting to remove. I have a good Acronis image that I have restored several times so I don't need this partition now. I just want to remove it and make a new Acronis image of the drive with only the Vista partition on it. That is what I haven't been able to do so far.

 

Here are some ideas of what I would try:

If you boot to the DD CD and just delete the recovery partition (leave the Vista partition the size it is), do both DD 10 and TI 11 both start and see the Vista partition correctly? From the CD and from Vista?

In other words, is the problem DD and TI are having starting being casued by deleting the recovery partition or by resizing the Vista partition?

If the programs work correctly with the drive with just the recovery partition removed, you might try booting to the DD CD and moving (don't resize) the Vista partition to the beginning of the drive.

Then check again if TI and DD can start and see the drive and partition okay. Also, make sure Vista boots properly and doesn't end up in a reboot loop.

Finally, if everything is okay, use DD (or Vista's Disk Management, you might want to try it both ways if one doesn't work) to resize the Vista partition from the right end to the end of the drive to use the unallocated space.

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Do you have TI 10?

If so, have you tried using the Vista BCD fix in this thread, creating a new TI 10 image of the Vista partition (make sure to keep your existing good TI 11 image of the entire drive) and then restoring that to the drive with resize to use the entire drive?

It would be interesting if you got the same results or if TI 10's restore would work.

 

Yes, I have both TI 10 and TI 9. That would be an interesting experiment. Unfortunately I won't be able to try it on that particular computer. It is already in the hands of its new owner and I no longer have access to it. I do, however, have another Acer Vista computer exactly like it on the way. When it gets here I will perform the experiment on it and post the results back here on the forum. Thanks very much for your time and advice.
Sam

 

If you didn't change any tasks that included the old partition/drive geometry, then TI 11 will fail - normally it won't let you even edit the task. This is with using XP, it might exhibit different behaviour with Vista.


Colin