Can't boot usb on bld 8353

Acronis may have changed the loader between builds. Also, there are differences between booting from a CD and booting from a USB device. Just curious, but does it work if there's a CD in the drive? Does it work booting from a USB CD/DVD drive (if you have one)?

Have you tried using Grub4DOS and loading the ISO file? Section 3 of the guide shows how to do it.
Create a Bootable Flashdrive Using Grub4DOS

I think there are quite a few posts (in the old forum) from people who switched back to build 8,206 because they had too many problems with 8,353.

I followed your instructions successfully but there's no evidence that the GRUB4DOS MBR and booting code ever were installed on the USB stick although I got the message that installation was completed. The other files were installed without a problem. Any advice? (TI Home 2010Beta)

Jim Howard wrote:

...there's no evidence that the GRUB4DOS MBR and booting code ever were installed on the USB stick...

Have you looked at the flashdrive with a disk editor so you can see the sectors?

What happens when you try to boot the flashdrive?

I haven't tried the TI 2010 beta ISO file with Grub4DOS. However, in this case, it sounds like your not even getting to the Grub4DOS menu.

Yes, there's no MBR or boot code file present, both grldr and menu.lst are.

When I try to boot, the USB stick (# 1 in the boot list) is skipped over and it boots from C.

Everything went according to your example: ran the grubinst_gui.exe, got the installer window, selected whole disk (MBR), clicked "install", got the "successfully installed" message, successfully installed the grldr and the menu.lst files.

Only wrinkle in the process, when I clicked "install" in the installer window, and after I had gotten the success message, when I clicked "enter" I got the installer window again. So I tried installing again with the same results.

Hello Jim,

Thank you for using [[http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/ | Acronis True Image]]

Please try another method of creating Acronis Bootable Media on a USB Flash Drive using SYSLINUX. You can find the appropriate information here.

Thank you.

In both the User's Guide and promotional literature Acronis states that recovery media can be created on an external USB memory stick. However that can't be done with the Acronis download but only with methods (I've found four) developed apparently by independent individuals trying to solve an Acronis problem. Why isn't a solution included in the download?

I followed all steps of the syslinux approach and got the following message when I tried to put the boot file on G "syslinux.exe not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file". Now what?

i am really confused. 

the same product Acronis True Image Echo Workstation bld 8206 from Jan 26 2009 builds the USB keys (the exact same keys) correctly.  They boot fine and go into acronis fine and clone fine.

build 8353 from 7.1.2009 says its building the keys but they do not boot at all.

Both versions build and boot correctly the CD.  The reason for using the USB is that the Thinkpads can have the 1 internal drive and have a removable cd/dvd that can be replaced with a disk drive in a drawer slot for easy backup.  If you cannot build a USB then you cannot easily and quickly use the program for its intended use.

No where in the program does it say it cannot build a USB drive, and in fact it does build it, but its not bootable.
Someone needs to find out what happened and fix it and release a fix patch.  Its always good to run the latest version but this is the first time it caused such an issue. pls advise..

If you have Vista or access to a computer running Vista, have you tried resetting a flashdrive using DISKPART and then using Media Builder on it?

Using Vista's DISKPART Program to Create a Bootable Flashdrive

I suspect Acronis changed the loader being used.

This just won't work on some computers.  Working with an ATI 11 bootable rescue CD I can boot four different computers here into the rescue environment.  I can also directly boot the CD's ISO using Grub4DOS.  But neither MudCrab's Grub4DOS method nor the DISKPART method have succeeded in creating a USB stick that will boot any of them.  Two of the computers just ignore it and boot to default, and the other two hang.

Not looking for suggestions here, I'll stick with the methods that work.

the frustrating part for me is that the same usb stick the same computer all work with the earlier build and not with the newer build so it appears something is wrong in the 8353 build.  i checked file names and files different sizes and then newer so something is wrong.  booting usb is the most effective solution with notebooks with a drive drawer that can double to hold a hard disk instead of a cd/dvd it makes the most flexibility

This should be something support can fix

Oleg wrote:

Hello Jim,

Thank you for using [[http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/ | Acronis True Image]]

Please try another method of creating Acronis Bootable Media on a USB Flash Drive using SYSLINUX. You can find the appropriate information here.

Thank you.

Thanks for the help, I finally created a bootable USB memory stick and was able to boot from it. A lesson learned: in a Dell 4700 if your USB HDD is plugged into a back USB slot and the bootable memory stick is in a front slot, the machine will boot from C no matter the order set in the BIOS. However, when the memory stick is plugged into a back slot, booting occurs from the memory stick and TI Home 2010 recovery works exactly as advertised.

Jim Howard wrote:

However, when the memory stick is plugged into a back slot, booting occurs from the memory stick and TI Home 2010 recovery works exactly as advertised.

If you need to use the bootable flashdrive often, you might consider getting a short USB extension cable so you can bring a port around to the front. I did this on one of my computers. It's too difficult to crawl under the desk with a flashlight to plug something in. I ran the cable through the cable hole in the top of the desk and have it sit under my monitor.

Thanks, that's a great idea. that'll save a few skinned knuckles.

I have tried over and over to get Acronis Version 8.353 to make a Bootable Flash Drive.   I originally got the 8.206 to work using Vista and diskpart.  Then I tried many times to get 8.353 on Vista and XP SP3 to work but I never could make a bootable Flash drive.  Now I am going back to 8.206 until this is corrected.

Randy Ronne you were right. I had the same problem on 8.353. I have just installed 8.398 and it works as expected now!