Acronis Startup Recovery Manager

[JD]

Is anybody using this on Windows XP home edition SP3?

I ask because I recently installed Acronis True Image Home 2009 which is
working good, so far; but it suggest I activate the Startup Recovery
Manager so I can use it at "boot time", should a problem occur.

From the user manual, it states: "When Acronis Startup Recovery Manager
is activated, it overwrites the master boot record (MBR) with its own
boot code."

Do I really want to do that?

 

[Malke]

Is anybody using this on Windows XP home edition SP3?

I ask because I recently installed Acronis True Image Home 2009 which is
working good, so far; but it suggest I activate the Startup Recovery
Manager so I can use it at "boot time", should a problem occur.

From the user manual, it states: "When Acronis Startup Recovery Manager
is activated, it overwrites the master boot record (MBR) with its own
boot code."

Do I really want to do that?

Here are the official Acronis forums. This would be a good place to ask your
question.

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=64

Malke

 

[Roy Smith]

Is anybody using this on Windows XP home edition SP3?

I ask because I recently installed Acronis True Image Home 2009 which
is working good, so far; but it suggest I activate the Startup
Recovery Manager so I can use it at "boot time", should a problem
occur.

From the user manual, it states: "When Acronis Startup Recovery
Manager is activated, it overwrites the master boot record (MBR) with
its own boot code."

Do I really want to do that?

Well the choice is yours. It won't harm anything if you do activate the
startup recovery manager, though you will see a slight difference in the
startup routine. What it does is add a screen that gives you the
opportunity to press F11 (I think) to start the Acronis TrueImage
software instead of booting Windows. In either event I would strongly
recommend creating a recovery CD just in case your hard drive should
ever be trashed to the point where it won't boot at all.

 

[JD]

Well the choice is yours. It won't harm anything if you do activate the
startup recovery manager, though you will see a slight difference in the
startup routine. What it does is add a screen that gives you the
opportunity to press F11 (I think) to start the Acronis TrueImage
software instead of booting Windows. In either event I would strongly
recommend creating a recovery CD just in case your hard drive should
ever be trashed to the point where it won't boot at all.

It does mention F11. I have created the recovery CD so I'm curious as to
if I really need the Recovery Manager.

I'm not sure if I want to change the boot sequence. That's my concern.

 

[JD]

Here are the official Acronis forums. This would be a good place to ask your
question.

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=64

Malke

I'm not a big fan of the forum. I prefer newsgroups where I don't have
to register but I will take a look at the forums in your link. Thanks!

 

[Big_Al]

JD said this on 3/1/2009 11:17 AM:

Is anybody using this on Windows XP home edition SP3?

I ask because I recently installed Acronis True Image Home 2009 which is
working good, so far; but it suggest I activate the Startup Recovery
Manager so I can use it at "boot time", should a problem occur.

From the user manual, it states: "When Acronis Startup Recovery Manager
is activated, it overwrites the master boot record (MBR) with its own
boot code."

Do I really want to do that?

My logic is, if you have the recovery CD or have the original Acronis CD
like I have (its bootable) then that and your backup should be the
insurance you need. I'm not too much into this automated stuff. A
simple recovery works.

 

[Anthony Buckland]

...
... F11 [is mentioned]. I have created the recovery CD so I'm curious as
to if I really need the Recovery Manager.

I'm not sure if I want to change the boot sequence. That's my concern.
...

I've made several F11 recoveries (I'm using TI 9.0, build 2337).
I've found the technique really convenient if I want to recover
from the Secure Zone (a segregated area on the same disk
as C. I've never had a failure to recover thus, and have never
noticed any negative (or positive) effect on the boot sequence.
The interval during which F11 starts the recovery manager is
very brief (I need to hover my finger over F11, and have missed
a couple of times (just boot again) from slow reflexes), and
in normal boots it's easy to not even notice the message.

Clearly, you need a recovery CD (two is better) and external
images, for when your hard drive needs replacing, or for
backing out to some earlier versions of TI, or for when your
home burns down or is burgled (with loss of machine or
drive), or for when Thor sends you a thunderbolt that fries
your electronics.

 

[JD]

JD said this on 3/1/2009 11:17 AM:
My logic is, if you have the recovery CD or have the original Acronis CD
like I have (its bootable) then that and your backup should be the
insurance you need. I'm not too much into this automated stuff. A
simple recovery works.

That's why I ask the question. I have the bootable original install CD
and I made a recovery CD and I'm backing up to multiple USB drives so
I'm not sure I need the extra insurance of the Recovery Manager.

If the HDD was to fail then the Recovery Manager would be useless?

 

[JD]

...
... F11 [is mentioned]. I have created the recovery CD so I'm curious as
to if I really need the Recovery Manager.

I'm not sure if I want to change the boot sequence. That's my concern.
...

I've made several F11 recoveries (I'm using TI 9.0, build 2337).
I've found the technique really convenient if I want to recover
from the Secure Zone (a segregated area on the same disk
as C. I've never had a failure to recover thus, and have never
noticed any negative (or positive) effect on the boot sequence.
The interval during which F11 starts the recovery manager is
very brief (I need to hover my finger over F11, and have missed
a couple of times (just boot again) from slow reflexes), and
in normal boots it's easy to not even notice the message.

Clearly, you need a recovery CD (two is better) and external
images, for when your hard drive needs replacing, or for
backing out to some earlier versions of TI, or for when your
home burns down or is burgled (with loss of machine or
drive), or for when Thor sends you a thunderbolt that fries
your electronics.

I have the install CD which is bootable and I made a recovery CD and I'm
backing up to USB drives. I'm just not sure I really need the Recovery
Manager.

 

[Big_Al]

JD said this on 3/1/2009 8:19 PM:

That's why I ask the question. I have the bootable original install CD
and I made a recovery CD and I'm backing up to multiple USB drives so
I'm not sure I need the extra insurance of the Recovery Manager.

If the HDD was to fail then the Recovery Manager would be useless?

That's my understanding. No HD, nothing to boot from, to boot too, to
fix with etc. Its reload / recover time.

 

[Anthony Buckland]

...
I have the install CD which is bootable and I made a recovery CD and I'm
backing up to USB drives. I'm just not sure I really need the Recovery
Manager.

OK, here's a hypothetical for you. Your system gets buggered to
the extent that you can't access a USB drive. I've never seen this
happen, but ... If you don't have a backup image on DVDs
(a pain compared to using a USB drive), and you didn't let the
Recovery Manager get installed, with an image in the Secure
Zone, how are you going to recover?

 

[JD]

OK, here's a hypothetical for you. Your system gets buggered to
the extent that you can't access a USB drive. I've never seen this
happen, but ... If you don't have a backup image on DVDs
(a pain compared to using a USB drive), and you didn't let the
Recovery Manager get installed, with an image in the Secure
Zone, how are you going to recover?

Oh, in worse case scenario?

Unplug the SATA drive that contains the Acronis backups from my spiffy
Vantec SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter and plug it into my mobo?

Or remove the other SATA drive that contains the other Acronis backups
from my spiffy fan cooled Antec USB case and plug it into my mobo?

Or start up my backup computer and transfer updated data files to it?
The backup computer that contains mirrored drives via Acronis from my
current computer. OK, I'm still building that computer and mirroring the
drives so I'm not sure how XP is going to like booting to a duplicate
computer.

I still haven't decided on the Recovery Manager. But I appreciate your
concern. Gives me some things to think about and/or plan for. I'm a
Windows user, anything is possible when it comes to errors. ;-)

 

[Anthony Buckland]

Oh, in worse case scenario?

Unplug the SATA drive that contains the Acronis backups from my spiffy
Vantec SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter and plug it into my mobo?

Or remove the other SATA drive that contains the other Acronis backups
from my spiffy fan cooled Antec USB case and plug it into my mobo?

Or start up my backup computer and transfer updated data files to it? The
backup computer that contains mirrored drives via Acronis from my current
computer. OK, I'm still building that computer and mirroring the drives so
I'm not sure how XP is going to like booting to a duplicate computer.

I still haven't decided on the Recovery Manager. But I appreciate your
concern. Gives me some things to think about and/or plan for. I'm a
Windows user, anything is possible when it comes to errors. ;-)

Actually, I realize my hypothetical was a case of trying too hard.
A rescue disk is capable of restoring to a totally messed up,
or for that matter new, hard disk. It will have the drivers for USB
access. If there's a _physical_ reason USB won't work,
restoring the software won't work, a physical fix will be needed.
Basically, I use the Recovery Manager because it's handy for me.