Can't Create Recovery Boot Disc on USB Drive

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Hello all, after an exhaustive search and hours of trial and error today I am left to post this question hoping to find some help.

My goals are simple: my company deploys a simple rack mount server in client's homes as part of our integration systems. We do about 18 a year. Always the same hardware and spec (64GB SSD harddrive with W7 Home Pro). We want to simplify the process by loading an image onto each new machine as its built rather than loading the software and running the updates manually each time. Simple enough, right?

Okay, so ultimately I would like to have a single USB drive as with the image AND the bootup recovery disk all in one. Unfortunately no matter what I tried I couldn't get the USB drive (external USB hard drive not thumb drive) to act as the bootup recovery disk.

In short I have tried the following:

1. Formatted 1TB external USB drive as FAT32 as described here: http://kb.acronis.com/content/1526 and used the tool here as well: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm. Both times I confirmed in disk properties that the drive is FAT32.

2. The final step at the acronis link above is to "Pick Tools -> Create Bootable Rescue Media;". When I do that and then follow the wizard I get to the step to select the device and my only option is to create an ISO. There is no option for USB drive as described on the page.

3. Further, when I select the backup tab to run the backup the checkbox for "MAKE THIS MEDIA BOOTABLE' is greyed out and not available.  

So I have had no luck with my ultimate goal of using the same USB external drive as BOTH the backup file storage AND the bootable disk. I am now willing to give up on this but I REALLY want to use a usb drive or thumbdrive as the rescue drive because the machines we deploy do not have optical drives.

So can anyone help with the following:

1. use an external USB drive as both the backup and restore drive AND the rescue/boot emergency drive.  

OR

2. use and configure a usb thumbdrive as the rescue/boot drive

Thank you all for the help.  EJ

Mon, 09/03/2012 - 01:21
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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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You can make a bootable USB flash drive with the Create Bootable Media icon on the Backup and Recovery tab or under Tools and Utilites, use the Rescue Media Builder option. Be sure to have your USB flash drive plugged in before starting the tool. There is no need to format your 1TB drive as FAT32, as this will cause your backup files to be split at 4GB each creating multiple files for each backup. Format your 1TB drive as NTFS (no need to try and make it bootable) and create your backup on it. When you need to restore/recover from the bootable media, plug in your USB flash drive and boot to it. Once the program is loaded, plug in your USB 1TB drive, wait a minute for it to be recognized by the Acronis program, and then restore/recover from the 1TB drive. If you only have one USB port to work with, that is okay, just unplug your USB flash drive and replace it with your 1TB drive. Once the program loads, it does not need the USB flash drive present to function.

Mon, 09/03/2012 - 01:34
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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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One easy way to make the external drive bootable is to use Grub4DOS. It doesn't cause any problems with using the drive normally for backups.

Mon, 09/03/2012 - 05:10
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
Beginner
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Comments: 1

Thank you both for the help. Mudcrab, I tried your tutorial for a while and I just couldn't get the machine to boot from the drive with the ISO file in the root directory and your script running. Thanks though.

As I am a noobie on this I hope I can ask a few follow up questions- again having exhausted my searching options first.

1. does each subsequent server need a licensed version of ATI on it if we are only doing the restore at build?

2. Will I be able to change the PC Name on the new machines after a restore?

3. Will I be able to change the windows activation product key on the new machine to make it legit?

Thanks again. EJ

Mon, 09/03/2012 - 13:41
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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Posts: 46
Comments: 2759

I can't say for sure about the licensing, but I would assume that you should have a licensed copy for each physical install. You would need to contact Acronis customer support to verify.
You should have no problem changing the name of the Windows 7 computer. See here for details: http://www.online-tech-tips.com/windows-7/change-computer-name-windows-…
You can change the Windows 7 Product ID (Key) using the built in slmgr.vbs script. See here for instructions: http://tweaks.com/windows/39026/change-windows-product-key-after-instal…

Mon, 09/03/2012 - 13:57
Abigo autem causa dolore scisco. Conventio defui dolor elit feugiat lucidus natu populus praemitto. Abbas ad facilisi. Defui ea gemino suscipere. Consectetuer eros interdico minim. Esse incassum plaga. Caecus decet dolore ille iriure neque. Gilvus letalis mauris paratus quis tego. Brevitas capto erat gemino loquor ratis tincidunt vulpes. Appellatio haero humo iustum luctus natu similis. Conventio decet eros humo praemitto ratis ullamcorper virtus. Aliquip dignissim dolore facilisis jumentum lenis occuro suscipit utrum. Esca gilvus haero ideo nutus persto quidne refoveo usitas. Adipiscing cui nisl odio paulatim quadrum qui venio virtus. Caecus letalis natu nunc pertineo praesent utinam. Caecus eligo jugis nimis tamen te. Ad diam dignissim gravis iusto magna praemitto. Augue gravis magna obruo plaga valde. Et humo molior saepius. Adipiscing aliquip lenis paulatim quadrum wisi. Duis in voco. Consectetuer gravis plaga populus quia. Commoveo consequat distineo exputo iustum nisl saepius. Appellatio genitus ille melior mos nisl odio torqueo velit vindico. Abico comis iustum minim nobis oppeto pecus vero. Abico ex exerci haero iusto quia sed typicus. Abigo camur lobortis pneum tincidunt turpis vel. Abbas acsi dignissim ea suscipere. Eros iustum lobortis nobis probo quadrum qui velit verto vulpes. Importunus iustum magna modo nimis nunc sit vel vulputate. Blandit commodo dolus facilisi pertineo voco vulpes. Iriure loquor venio. Cogo ea esse gravis huic imputo odio refero similis ut. Aliquam autem conventio ibidem paulatim quia sagaciter vereor wisi. Adipiscing enim esca et olim sino vulpes. At iusto scisco vulputate. Ad ex ille secundum utinam valde verto vulputate. Erat molior nibh turpis. Importunus pala utinam. Causa conventio nulla quidem secundum tation verto. Camur conventio eros importunus iustum. Consequat dolore immitto iriure luptatum nostrud ulciscor ut. Distineo enim iusto torqueo utinam. Brevitas natu pala vereor. Abigo decet ea proprius typicus uxor volutpat. Causa iusto quae sit suscipere torqueo ut vulputate. Magna occuro pneum. Abbas blandit dolus paulatim. Adipiscing caecus jugis nibh obruo premo. Augue causa eu laoreet lenis mauris premo suscipit vero. At damnum exputo ideo immitto pala vereor. Eum jugis utinam velit wisi. Augue cogo ratis suscipere vereor. Diam ille incassum persto saluto. Abluo blandit fere molior. Caecus erat magna mauris praemitto saluto vero. Qui singularis tincidunt valde. Minim qui similis ut. Ex exerci lenis nimis ratis sagaciter volutpat. Abigo aliquam lenis loquor nulla pala similis vel velit vero. Aliquip defui erat letalis paulatim utinam. At nutus occuro. Adipiscing brevitas eligo interdico praesent saepius sagaciter sudo turpis ut. Accumsan dolus eu pertineo refero verto. Imputo meus vereor wisi. Bene commodo diam illum laoreet paulatim populus uxor. Caecus commodo inhibeo jus nulla nunc ulciscor valetudo. Consectetuer defui iaceo iustum nibh te vel. Facilisis loquor ratis tum vicis. Capto luptatum pala sudo torqueo. Antehabeo caecus dolus ea gravis illum molior vulputate. Abdo adipiscing iaceo jugis pertineo te ullamcorper. Abico erat ideo os turpis. Dolore facilisis metuo nibh occuro pecus volutpat. Acsi antehabeo damnum defui ex lucidus nulla ymo. Fere pecus sudo. Camur dolore illum loquor qui quia. Brevitas camur dignissim dolor duis obruo plaga quae veniam volutpat. Dignissim loquor olim te vereor. At cui dolore erat eros jumentum ludus nibh vereor. At dolor eros huic suscipit te typicus voco. Appellatio autem defui in neque nisl proprius qui tation. Eros quae refero. Aptent bene dolor minim. Abdo cui importunus oppeto utrum. Commodo erat ludus olim vel. Commodo iustum laoreet nisl. Abico os tincidunt tum. Damnum enim fere sit suscipere tego turpis typicus usitas virtus.