UNsecure Zone...

Having installed ATI and created an image on DVD+RW
several days ago, I decided to create a "Secure Zone"
on my nearly empty 120gig hard drive before installing
some new software.

I started up ATI, entered the "Secure Zone" management,
and selected an 8 GB partition to be created. After this
operation had concluded, I pressed the Reboot Button and
watched in horror as my system first POSTed, then went
directly to a Blank Screen with flashing cursor in the upper
left hand corner...

After several reboot-attempts, I set my BIOS to boot from
my CD/DVR and booted from the Win98SE(final) installation
CD and found that Drive C: had been totally obliterated: no
valid drive, etc., etc. just as in This Thread

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=69483&highlight=flashing cursor

(and many others) here in this forum.

I used the Acronis Boot-CD to restore my image from DVD+RW,
and now must reinstall a few pieces of software I had installed
since first creating the image.

It's quite apparent that the "Secure Zone" is, for many users,
a very UNsecure Zone and should be avoided like the hazard
it truly is. C'mon guys: this is shoddy design and development;
you can do better than this!

 

I've never had the problems you have had, the secrue zone has always worked great for me. I wonder what went wrong in your case.

 

Generally it's not the Secure Zone that causes problems, rather it's accepting the default selection to "Active Acronis Startup Recovery Manager". Doing so modifies the MBR, and that isn't always a good idea!!

Regards

 

Hello bobthedog,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are really sorry for the inconveniences.

Could you please create Acronis Report in the way described at Acronis Help Post and send it support@acronis.com along with the link to this thread indicating in the subject of the letter that you want to contact Ilya Toytman. Please inform me in the letter if you changed your partition layout after the problem (created, resized or deleted any partitions). Also please do the following:

- Open Start\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Information;
- Choose the "Save" option in the "File" menu (or "Action" menu under Windows 2000), enter the "File name" and set the field "Save as type" to "Version 5.0/6.0 System Information File (*.NFO)";
- Send the saved file to us as well.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Hello Menorcaman,

I am afraid the problem discussed here has nothing to do with Acronis Startup Recovery Manager. There is a problem with partition table change and we need some information to find out the exact reason for it.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

These problems appear similar to mine in my post of today (7/25/2005). TI is indeed changing the MBR partition table. It is doing something that is ILLEGAL in terms of at least PartitionMagic. The computer STILL WORKS but there are overlapping partitions. I think the issue is that the change is done in Linux and what may be OK there is NOT OK in Windows. I have looked at the partition table after TI is done with it and it starts partitions at 2ctor 6 instead of sector 1 - which is a no-no. This should be and EASY and OBVIOUS issue for the software team to address.

 

Hello Ilya,

I understand that. I was just making a point in response to bobthedog's general statement regarding the Secure Zone:

Apologies for any confusion I may have caused.

Kind regards
Tom

 

Get a Dog!

 

Oops! I must have been confusing you with a Boy Scout (Bob a Job Week) . Post has been edited accordingly.

Regards