Acronis for WD bootable media problem.

[jfrits]

i bought a WD caviar Green HDD, that came with Acronis for Western Digital bundled backup software.  i created a bootable CD using the bootable media build component in the Acronis software.  when booting the CD it does not load the Acronis recovery software -- it displays error messages, e.g. "unable to load initial linux kernel"  or "unable to run boot menu, press enter to continue" or "unable to load initial ramdisk, press enter to continue" etc.  therefore i would like next to try to create a usb thumb drive as the bootable media.  can i do this, and if successful, how do i set up my phoenix award bios to boot from the usb thumb drive.  the only other option is to create bootable media from 47 floppies, or create an .iso file but i don't know how that is supposed to work yet.  does my bios allow to select a usb thumb drive as the boot device?

[patio]

What method was used to create the CD ? ?>

[jfrits]

Acronis bootable media builder is a component of the bundled s/w package.  that is what i used.

[patio]

It works fine on this end...try a different brand of blank media.
Or greate the boot CD on another machine...
Any other issues with this CD burner ?

[Allan]

Agreed - just try again. Acronis True Image is one of the most reliable pieces of software you'll find - and it's an invaluable backup tool.

[jfrits]

thanks, you turned out to be correct, but i am not sure it was bad media, since acronis finished the procedure "successfully" -- but when i switched to a CD-R [Windata from MicroCenter] from a CD-RW [Memorex, purchased a couple yrs. ago during a period of bad batches coming from far east factories], the "successful" procedure was truly successful, i.e. it booted and loaded TI for WD on both my pc and my laptop ODD.  maybe there is a hidden feature that does not allow a successful creation on a rewritable CD?!  after all, i would assume the operation has verified that it is a success before its confirmation msg?  after TI for WD loaded i was able to call up the wizard and various procedures.  however,

my "testing" of the recovery procedures on my HDD and backups led to an interesting question you may have come across:

after i ran the acronis boot CD i created, i tested the restore procedure.  i had selected a sector-by-sector .tib backup file for the restore.  at the point of selecting the destination partition to restore to, the pgm provided an additional option: to restore the MBR and track 0 as well.  are there any circumstances when you would recommend not to restore the MBR/track0?  i was pondering that if i was restoring a disk that was not brand new, i might want to omit the MBR restore first, and then see if the disk was fully recovered, and, if not, then to go back and restore the MBR as a second step?  any experience with this?

[Allan]

When I want to restore an image I never restore the mbr - only the partition. And when you create an image ALWAYS select VERIFY. It takes longer, but it's worth the trouble.

[patio]

Also you want to store the image files on a partition that does NOT normally get defragged...image files hate this...
I found out the hard way.

[jfrits]

When I want to restore an image I never restore the mbr - only the partition. And when you create an image ALWAYS select VERIFY. It takes longer, but it's worth the trouble.

if you are restoring your image to a brand new virgin drive, would the program even ask?  i assumed the mbr and track0 would automatically be written/restored to a brand new virgin disk, when restoring a full sector-by-sector image?  if the new virgin drive does not come out of the box with an mbr/track0 written to it? would my oem version of windows/xp recognize that this is a different drive and require a re-registration [phone call to microsoft]?

[patio]

No registration required...
The image you created is already registered and functional.....swapping a HDD won't trigger the activation process.

[jfrits]

No registration required...
The image you created is already registered and functional.....swapping a HDD won't trigger the activation process.

thanks, the MS windows registration of the image is good news.  one further Q: when i eventually swap in a brand new drive out of the box, do you think i will be asked if i want to restore the MBR/track0 separately from the full restore?  if so, should i skip that option and select only the restore of the full backup .tib file [option one]?  then should the disk be fully restored and bootable if the first selected option runs ok by itself?  if not, do i have to go back and restore the mbr/track0 only [in a second pass of the program]?  the instructions only say to restore the mbr/track0 if it is critical [sic] to boot.

[patio]

Select Y...and let it do it's thing.