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Universal Restore Option not available in Recovery Menu

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Please help if you can, I am already pretty desperate...

I need to move my Win7 Installation to a new hard disk, after a motherboard crash etc.
So I got the True Image Home 2010 plus package.
I installed it on my notebook, True Image first, with 64 digit serial number, downloaded newest version for that, afterwords installed the Plus Pack, with another 64 digit serial number. I then made a new bootable CD on the notebook, selecting all available options for inclusion.

I booted the broken computer with the new CD. It currently holds the old disk (IDE) and the new one (SATA). I made a backup of the old system partition to some data partition then wanted to restore with universal restore.

However, when starting the recovery manager, I simply do not have that checkbox "use universal restore" that I can see in the manual and on my print out from the internet.
What's wrong? Where did I make a mistake? Or is there a bug in the program? I need that computer running.

BTW all that is with the German version, but that shouldn't matter that much, the checkbox is missing.

Thanks a lot for any clues!

Steffen

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You may want to try the downloadable ISO image file from your account as an alternative to the one made via the bootable media builder. I've tested a German version with Plus Pack and the Universal Restore option shows up fine.

thanks for the suggestion, I have downloaded the plus iso file, but it also did not work, same problem

I believe I now know what the problem is, just do not know how to solve it .

The old system was running originally WinXP. Win7 came later as an addition, installed as dual boot, on the second partition of a second hard disk. So, the .tib file of the Win7-partition is probably missing some info from the boot sector, maybe of the first disk, so that True Image does not recognize that it is a Windows system backup and thus does not provide the Universal Restore Option

Apparently this possibility was not foreseen by the developers.

I do have a backup of the complete old system, with both disks, MBRs, everything. Although already 3 months old, maybe it helps to restore the system with the universal restore feature.

Any ideas anybody?

Um "Universal Restore" auswählen zu können, muss in dem Image das wiederhergestellt werden soll eine "Aktive" Partition mitgesichert worden sein (wie z.B: die 100 MB große Partition "System-reserviert" von Windows7).

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/10028

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Thanks for the link on the other discussion.

So, I am not alone...
My system does not show such a 100 MB Partition. So, I conclude, as did the other guy, that Universal Restore is not so universal and simply does not work in some environments. You would think that if they can't fix this problem by now (the old thread is from April) at least that knowledge of it would have made its way to the support people by now, but apparently not so. Not a glorious chapter for Acronis.

Falls noch nicht geschehen, würde ich Tagsüber über "Livechat" den Support kontaktieren:

http://www.acronis.de/support/

Bei "Kontakt" "Starten Sie hier" auswählen. Support sollte bei Recovery Problemen kostenlos sein.

Ich würde Windows7 auf der neuen Sata Disk neuinstallieren (um die "System-reserviert" Partition zu bekommen). Danach würde ich die Windows7 Partition mit dem vorhandenen Image wiederherstellen.

Jetzt ein neues Image erstellen (System-reserviert und Windows7). Mit dem Image sollte "Universal Restore" auswählbar sein. Selber probiert habe ich es nicht, es könnte meiner Meinung nach funktionieren.

this evening i post all my frustration with this product....
it seems things of other world..... there is always something not good.
first installing new version a few months ago, tilt of usb 3.0

after, with version advanced, every 20 days "license not valid"

went back to normal version.

all ok on main computer.

trying to restore on another pc an archive. not appearing UNIVERSAL RESTORE ON THE BOOT DISC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FORTUNATELY I'M IN HOLIDAYS NOW... but a lot lot lot of time going to trash....

please next time before release a product, do a big beta testing....

Hello all,

Thank you very much for your posts and I will do my best to assist you.

I understand the frustration caused by the inability to use Acronis Universal Restore because the Windows 7 System Reserved Partition was not included in the backup.

However, I would like to offer the following workaround. Install Windows 7 again and make sure the 100 MB partition is there. Restore your Windows 7 image to the Windows 7 installation partition. Create a new full backup including the system reserved partition. Then, you can recover using Acronis Universal Restore.

If you need additional help or have any other questions, please let me know.

Thank you.

Are you kidding?

1) my original post is over a month old. Do you really think I wait that long until maybe somebody might provide a solution? Of course I did a clean installation of the operating system in the mean time.

2) You don't seem to care to read previous posts very well. It is not that a 100 MB partition was just not included in the backup, there was no such thing to begin with. What good is a "Universal Restore" if you have to reinstall the operating system in the first place to be able to use it? Where is the sense in that? Just to make sure you will have to do at least one reinstallation of the operating system, even if your system does not crash?

Seriously, as long as this ominous 100 MB partition is a requirement you should give a warning to customers BEFORE they buy. Would save them a lot of frustration and time. And you would have less unhappy, angry people shouting at you. So far, my experience with Acronis products was flawless. But a Universal Restore that is everything but Universal, that's pretty impudent.

Acronis Moderator:

I have a similar issue but I am trying to restore an XP image so the Win7 system reserved partition can't be an issue with this full backup file.

I have other backups that do show me the Acronis Universal Restore (AUR) check box but this one (and several others) do not. What is up? Can you explain to me how TIH2010 decides if it should display the AUR option or not? If You tell me the rules perhaps I can understand why some backup images will allow AUR and some will not.

What is it looking for?

Harry

The Windows 7 System Reserved Partition is only created on a new install to a non- partitioned disk (or if you as the install to change partitions) If , like me, you install Windows 7 to a disk that is already partitioned to your liking then the 100MB System Reserved Partition is not created.
It seems very strange to me that you would key on this partition as being critical to using Universal Restore.

This partition also has nothing to do with XP and I am experiencing the same issues with some Full Backup Images made on an XP drive (primary , active ) you have not convinced me the lack of a Win 7 System Reserved Partition is the reason that AUR is not available.

I have 2 different XP images. Both are single partitions, (active, primary). Both are full drive backups (mbr and system). One allows me to select the AUR option , One does not.

Is there a way to trick TIH2010 Plus Pack to force the option?

Hello Steffen and Harry,

Thank you very much for your feedback.

Steffen, please accept my sincerest apologies for the inconvenience.

Harry,

I will definitely assist you with this.

Acronis Universal Restore is prompted if our software detects that there is a supported Windows operating system in the image. There are quite a few factors, that can cause the Universal Restore not to appear. I would definitely recommend the following Knowledge Base article that deals with this issue and offers various solutions to this problem. You can find it here:

Acronis Product Does Not Prompt to Use Acronis Universal Restore

Please get back to me in case you have additional questions or any other issues.

Thank you.

I thought I was going by the book here. Ran a full backup on one computer (windows 7 pro 64-bit) and tried to restore it on another computer. Purchased the plus pack for the universal restore specifically. Backup was on the entire disk. Upon restoration wizard, I also do not have an option to use the universal restore.

Anton:

I followed the recipe in the link you provided.
This time I used

1) The backup is of a full disk, MBR track0 and active partition CHECK
2) I'm restoring an XP operating system so it is supported CHECK
3) I selected that partition to restore CHECK
4) no dynamic disks involved CHECK
5) no SCSI in the boot.ini just multi CHECK
6) I ran check disk on the source disk, no problems CHECK
I made a fresh backup using the ATIH Plus Pack .iso image availabe in my downloads
I booted a laptop with this image, save the backup to USB attached hard drive.
Then I booted the target machine with the same .iso made CD and tried to restore it.
7) I still do not get the Universal restore option.

Hello Adam and Harry,

Thank you for replying.

Adam, I will definitely assist you. Did you by any chance go through the Knowledge Base article that I mentioned? Was the backup taken without the Windows 7 system partition and the restore not?

Harry,

Thank you for your cooperation and your follow-up. Most likely the issue is related to your peculiar hardware configuration, however it is too early to say what is wrong exactly.

I will follow-up via a private message to provide with you instructions so that we can resolve this issue.

Please let me know if you have additional questions.

Thank you.

Anton:
Yes I followed the KB article you suggested. My steps 1-7 2 posts above relate to the 1-7 steps in that KB article.

The backup is from a 100% XP machine so there is no Win 7 partition. I am trying to restore it to a machine that has Win7 on it.

As stated previously, I do have a similar disk backup (from my prior XP hardware) that will restore to this Win 7 hardware with the Universal Restore Option. For some reason my new XP hardware machine is not creating an image that allows the Universal restore.

I will reply to your PM with the Diags you requested.

Harry