problem with acronis true image home 12 and sata drives/MBR issue

[sobriquet]

Hi.

Somehow I prefer to make images of the harddisk containing the
operating system by booting from an acronis CD and making an image of
the drive containing the OS from there.
Perhaps in the past I've experienced problems making a boot from
within windows while the operating system is running, but somehow I
have the impression that making a backup while using a bootdisk is
less likely to go wrong.

However when I try this with one of my computers, acronis gives a lot
of errors when it starts up, presumably because somehow it has a
problem with a sata drive. The main drive is a pata drive, but it has
an additional sata drive installed.
In windows when I check the drives, no errors are found.

Does anyone know of a straightforward way to ensure that the acronis
boot cd includes the proper sata drivers?

Apart from this issue, I have a (presumably) unrelated problem with
that same computer.
Somehow with past experiments, I think I screwed with the MBR of one
of my drives and now when i boot up, there is no way for me to enter
safe mode by pressing F8.
Even when I formatted the complete drive and re-installed vista, there
still seems to be something different from normal, because I can't
enter safe mode.
Is there some kind of utility in vista that will allow me to inspect
the boot record of my drives and restore it to the default so I'm able
to get into safe mode again when rebooting?

Kind regards and thanks in advance for any suggestions, Niek

 

[Rod Speed]

Somehow I prefer to make images of the harddisk containing
the operating system by booting from an acronis CD and
making an image of the drive containing the OS from there.

The most obvious downside with that approach is that you cant
use the system while the image is being made, even to do
something quite trivial like read usenet etc or play freecell etc
and it isnt as convenient for time auto image creation etc.

Perhaps in the past I've experienced problems making a boot
from within windows while the operating system is running, but
somehow I have the impression that making a backup while
using a bootdisk is less likely to go wrong.

Thats correct, but it does have some downsides.

However when I try this with one of my computers, acronis
gives a lot of errors when it starts up, presumably because
somehow it has a problem with a sata drive. The main drive
is a pata drive, but it has an additional sata drive installed.
In windows when I check the drives, no errors are found.

Does anyone know of a straightforward way to ensure
that the acronis boot cd includes the proper sata drivers?

It is a linux system, so you should at least in theory be able to
do that by ensuring its got whats appropriate for that hardware.

What happens when you boot a linux live CD on that hardware with the sata drive ?

It may be that changing the config of the sata drive in the bios
may see the acronis rescue CD happier with it at boot time too.

Apart from this issue, I have a (presumably) unrelated problem with that same computer.

Somehow with past experiments, I think I screwed with
the MBR of one of my drives and now when i boot up,
there is no way for me to enter safe mode by pressing F8.

You sure about that ? It can be a bit tricky hitting the F8 key at the right time,
and you can see problems with some keyboards, particularly USB keyboards
where the bios isnt letting the keystrokes thru very early on in the boot.

You can get a problem with keyboards that have a Mode key too,
they can come up with the F8 key disabled until the Mode key is hit.

Try with a PS2 keyboard if you are using a USB keyboard.

Even when I formatted the complete drive and re-installed vista, there still
seems to be something different from normal, because I can't enter safe mode.

Likely it is keyboard problem. Strictly speaking you should wipe the
MBR before the reinstall, just a reformat doesnt necessarily touch it.

Is there some kind of utility in vista that will allow me to inspect
the boot record of my drives and restore it to the default so I'm
able to get into safe mode again when rebooting?

Yes, but its better to just wipe the MBR instead.

Kind regards and thanks in advance for any suggestions, Niek

Wot about suggestions to shove you head up a dead bear's arse ?

 

[name]

The most obvious downside with that approach is that you cant
use the system while the image is being made, even to do
something quite trivial like read usenet etc or play freecell etc
and it isnt as convenient for time auto image creation etc.

I have multiple computers, so having one of them unavailable
temporarily is not much of an issue.

Thats correct, but it does have some downsides.

Wouldn't it be a bad idea anyway to use programs while acronis is
making
a backup if you do it from windows running normally?

It is a linux system, so you should at least in theory be able to
do that by ensuring its got whats appropriate for that hardware.

What happens when you boot a linux live CD on that hardware with the satadrive ?

I might give that a try at some point, but at the moment I don't have
access to the computer, so perhaps in a few weeks I'll report back on
how it went.

It may be that changing the config of the sata drive in the bios
may see the acronis rescue CD happier with it at boot time too.

Any particular setting you are thinking of (and to what value to set
it exactly)?
I'm not that familiar with sata-related bios settings.

You sure about that ?  It can be a bit tricky hitting the F8 key at theright time,
and you can see problems with some keyboards, particularly USB keyboards
where the bios isnt letting the keystrokes thru very early on in the boot..

I'm sure about it, because previously I was able to get into safe mode
by pressing F8 and it didn't take much effort. Perhaps it has just
made it very hard, but that's also a reason I want to revert back to
the situation where it was easy to enter safe mode after a reboot.

You can get a problem with keyboards that have a Mode key too,
they can come up with the F8 key disabled until the Mode key is hit.

Try with a PS2 keyboard if you are using a USB keyboard.


Likely it is keyboard problem. Strictly speaking you should wipe the
MBR before the reinstall, just a reformat doesnt necessarily touch it.

Ok, I'll give that a try as well when I have access to the computer
again.

Yes, but its better to just wipe the MBR instead.

Any obvious utility for that or is there perhaps an option for this
hidden somewhere in the installation process from a vista dvd?

Wot about suggestions to shove you head up a dead bear's arse ?

Thanks, but I think I'll pass.

 

[Rod Speed]

name wrote

I have multiple computers, so having one of them
unavailable temporarily is not much of an issue.

Wouldn't it be a bad idea anyway to use programs while acronis
is making a backup if you do it from windows running normally?

Not necessarily, depends on what you do when the image is being created.

Those two examples I gave are something that is fine.

I might give that a try at some point, but at the moment I don't have access
to the computer, so perhaps in a few weeks I'll report back on how it went.

Any particular setting you are thinking of (and to what value to set it exactly)?

Particularly compat mode turned on.

I'm not that familiar with sata-related bios settings.

I'm sure about it, because previously I was able to get into safe mode
by pressing F8 and it didn't take much effort. Perhaps it has just
made it very hard, but that's also a reason I want to revert back to
the situation where it was easy to enter safe mode after a reboot.

Ok, I'll give that a try as well when I have access to the computer again.

Any obvious utility for that

I like samsumg's clearhdd for that. Not available from samsung
anymore for some reason but plenty of sources using google.

or is there perhaps an option for this hidden somewhere
in the installation process from a vista dvd?
Nope.

Thanks, but I think I'll pass.

You one of those wimps or something ?

 

[name]

[..]
You one of those wimps or something ?

It just doesn't seem like a particularly appealing suggestion to me.
But thanks again for all the tips and hints.