TI and external USB drive problems.

I own the retail versions of TI 8, 10, and 11, and I can't get them to recognize some of the external USB hard drives I own. I've tried a 2.5 inch 160gb Toshiba hard drive, a 2.5 inch 160gb Western Digital hard drive, both of them USB powered and a 3.5 inch Seagate 160gb external drive with its own power source.

I've tried a Y-cable that allows you to draw power from 2 USB ports to hook up the 2.5 inch USB powered drives thinking it was a power problem and it hasn't helped. The 3.5 inch Seagate external drive has its own power supply and its a retail external drive not a internal drive put into a 3rd party case. Windows can see the drives just fine.

But TI can't see the drives when booting from the TI CD. I only run TI from the boot CDs I don't install it under Windows. I 've seem the problem on a Intel 865 PERL Socket 478 P4 motherboard, BioStar NForce 3 Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64 motherboard and a BioStar P4 motherboard with VIA chipset. None of these machines is overclocked.

Strangely enough I also have a 2.5 inch USB powered 250gb Seagate external drive that TI will recognoze without using a Y-cable. Is there some difference in the USB chipsets these external drives use that causes TI not to recognize them? Does TI 2009 fix this?

 

You hit the nail on the head - the chipsets. The workaround is to make a BartPE cd that has the True Image plug in embedded in it.

If you do the Custom install for ver 8 and 10 (not sure if it applies to ver 11), you will get the option to have the installation process put the True Image plug-in (it's called the BartPE plugin, here) in a folder on the hard drive.

This previous post explains how to make such a BartPE cd:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=839781&postcount=1

There's also a whole topic devoted to making that special BartPE cd, but I find the instructions in the above message much easier to follow.

Another option is to download the Trial version of the latest True Image, make the Rescue CD and see if it would recognize your externals. Be aware though, that the Trial Rescue CD does not have the Backup feature, only Recovery.

 

Hello moody,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

Always make sure that you are using the latest build of Acronis True Image as it has better hardware support under Acronis bootable media. The latest build as well as BartPE plugin can be downloaded from your account on our web site after you register the program.

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev

 

Thanks DwnNdrty.