True Image 10: How to wipe ext HD of all Acronis files?
I apologize for what has become a cross posting. I left the duplicate of this posting in the 10 & 11 Backup and Recovery forum because I did not know there was a difference between B & R and True Image (and am still not sure that there is).
I have a 500 gb Seagate Free Agent HD that was used to store backups for Acronis True Image 10. The HD was partitioned creating a 350 gb secure zone. The laptop that it was used with no longer exists and I want to use the HD for other things. Connecting it to may Win 7 desktop shows me only a 150 gb drive. Apparently the secure zone created by Acronis is not visible and can't be formatted. I still have the Acronis 10 source disk but it is not installed on my PC and I am reluctant to do so. Is there a way to delete the partition on the HD so I can use the entire thing?
I was advised to delete all the partitions on that drive through the disk manager of my Win 7 64-bit OS but only the 150 gb partition and a 80 gb primary partiton are present along with my own backup drive and my system drive. The majority of the E: drive (Seagate Free Agent) is not accounted for.
The disk manager only shows the drive to be 150 GB in size instead of 500 gb. Reformatting was my first solution but I assume that only the 150 gb that Windows can see will be reformatted. I would not imagine that it should be that easy to destroy the secure partition and the backup files.
Boot from the ATI Rescue Media to see if it offers a command to delete a Secure Zone. I don't recall, as I would never use the Secure Zone: I strongly recommend against it.
Perhaps the preferred option would be to use the version 10 recovery CD and see CD will enable you to remove the secure zone.
If you do not have the 10 CD, you can download build 4942 bootable iso file and burn the iso as a bootable CD without installing onto your computer. If you registered 10, the iso download is availble from your personal account.
If that option is not successful,
You could try this free partition utility which is
Mini Tool Partition Wizard 8
http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html
Download the iso file and burn the file as a bootable CD.
I believe you will be able to delete/clear all partitons so the disk will be full size again.
I installed ATI 10 from the original disk onto an old laptop and attached the HD to it. I used the ATI 10 tools to delete the secure zone. When I asked ATI to create a secure zone from the discs it detects it shows me 2 HDs: a 233 gb HD with 2 partitions: one with 152 gb free and 81 gb unallocated and the 80 gb system HD
When I ask ATI to delete backup locations, it does not find any backup locations to delete.
When I ask ATI to recover data from files listed in the backup library. I get an error message every time saying that either the data does not exist or that it has been corrupted. Assuming that it doesn't exist I consider that evidence that the backup files are gone, but now the question remains as to what has happened to the other 250 gb that the HD should contain? Their is no apparent partition for it, ATI doesn't see it and yet ATI no longer has the data it is supposed to have.
Version 10 was ages ago so is my memory. Backup locations and secure zone may not be referring to the same thing as those versions did have a storage folder named Backup Locations.
Perhaps I am not understanding but why are you wanting new secure zones created?
I don't want new secure zones created. I just used the option of creating them to find out what available locations ATI would report.
As part of the catagory "Manage Backup Locations", ATI gives me 4 tools: Manage ATI Secure Zone, Create Backup Locations, Edit Backup Locations, Delete Backup Locations. I'm using each of the 4 to try to determine what ATI still contains after I have tried to delete the backup files. I have found out what size ATI sees as the 500 gb HD and I have found that ATI cannot locate any backup locations on the 250 gb of the HD that it is reporting. So I'm wondering if the Mini Tool Partition Wizard is going to be able to delete a partition that neither ATI nor Windows can see.
I'm wondering if the Mini Tool Partition Wizard is going to be able to delete a partition that neither ATI nor Windows can see.
It's possible, because Partition Wizard won't be running in Windows.
I'm also wondering if THIS installation is able to recognize the backup files saved by a DIFFERENT installation of ATI 10?
The HD also contains 3 folders and I don't understand where they come from or why they are there. One is named $RECYCLE.BIN and contains a recycle bin folder that seems to duplicate the recycle bin on the system drive; another is named RECYCLER that contains a recycle bin icon and the name "S-1-5-21-338708380-795008202-175...." and the third is named SYSTEM VOLUME INFORMATION and denies me access.
If it were not for the existence of these 3 folders I would delete the partitions, reformat the drive and us it as-is.
I have an embarrassing confession to make. I spent some time on the phone this morning with my IT guy/system engineer/builder. He somehow chased down the model number of the ext HD and found that is a 250 gb drive and NOT a 500 gb drive. The model number on the drive is 9NK2AE-500, and that "500" caused me to think that this drive was a 500 gb model.
The changes I made in Acronis on the laptop did, in fact, delete all the ATI data from the HD so it could be formatted and renamed.
I have installed Sync 2.1 on my Win 7 system and can now use the EXT drive as an additional archive and backup for docs and photos.
My thanks to everyone who took the time to help me with this matter.