Problems with Recovery Boot Disc; Bad Device Support; Can't Find Backups
I recently upgraded to True Image 10 but in doing some testing this week I encountered a number of problems that make me wonder whether True Image is going to be a reliable backup solution. First, the boot disc doesn't support my Wacom Intuos 4 tablet. (Only the initial screen where you can choose whether to boot into Windows or TI supports the tablet. Once you get to the recovery screen TI ignores the tablet/mouse.)
So, without a mouse I tried using the keyboard but I discovered that pressing the tab key causes TI to reboot. Not the first tab but press about the 3rd or 4th tab press. Happened to me twice in exactly the same place. After that experience, I decided to avoid the keyboard.
In search of some way to navigate the interface I then plugged in my laptop's Microsoft Wireless USB mouse. That worked pretty well but when I got to the point where I could choose from an archive to recover from I discovered a set of backups made early this year with True Image 9. However, those backups no longer existed. Yet, they were still displayed even though I had previously deleted the actual files.
Worse, the backup that I had made an hour before was nowhere to be found. I had made the backup to an external USB drive so I then I thought I would just navigate to that drive. However, that USB drive was nowhere to be found either. So, then I assumed that external USB drives are not supported in the recovery disc. I figured OK, I'll copy the backup to an internal drive. I'd rather not, but if that's what it takes to have a secure backup solution I'll do it. So, I rebooted into Windows and copied the file to an internal drive.
After subsequently rebooting back into the recovery disc I looked for the file on the internal disk but I discovered that this disk, too, was nowhere to be found. My other five internal disks were visible but, alas, the one disk I had chosen for my backup was not visible in True Image. I rebooted into the recovery disc a second time just to make sure but it was not there. Rebooting into Windows showed that the disk and the file were right where they should be. Just not visible to True Image recovery disc.
So, I'm very glad I did this test. I didn't actually want to restore the image. I just wanted to familiarize myself with the procedure. If I had tried this after losing my system disk I'd be tearing my hair out. But, now, having done the test, I'm very nervous about relying on Acronis True Image as my disk imaging solution. At this point, I'm wondering how others manage to anyone manages to use the recovery disc successfully?
David Salahi
http://artistic-webdesign.com/
You've absolutely the right thing, which is to test a restore before relying on a backup program.
Now you can try working with Acronis to get the program working on your machine or try another brand. Most of the bigger brands have free trial periods.
A simple fix might be to just unplug the wacom and plug in mouse before booting with the bootCD. Sometimes it helps at the startup screen to use the parameter usbmouse=off. You can check the user guide for diff user parameters and how to employ them.
Good luck,
sh
Hello all,
Thank you for posting, I will be happy to help. Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.
David,
To resolve the issue with improper viewing of the archives from Acronis Bootable Media please delete the below file manually:
/Documents and Settings/All Users/Application Data/Acronis/TrueImageHome/Database/archives.xml
The is will help to renew the database of the created backup archives and their location on the machine. After that boot the system from Acronis Bootable Media (please see the information below), go to Data Recovery and Backup Management window and use the Browse for backup button to find the backups.
To fix the issue with unrecognized hard drives and Microsoft Wireless USB mouse please try ISOLINUX Bootable Media.
Please let us know the results, we should be sure that the program runs flawlessly. If the provided information is not clear or if you have any other question do not hesitate to post them and we will be glad to answer.
Thank you.