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Booting with recovery CD

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I've just purchased and installed ATIH 2018. I created the recovery CD and booted up to the ATI 'front' screen. Trouble is, the size of the fonts is way too big, it is difficult to get all the text on my 15" screen.

Is it possible to reduce the font size and how?

Thanks.

First impressions - I don't like the layout in recovery mode, very confusing for a critical part of the recovery process.

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Mike, do you know what your display resolution is when booted from the CD?  There may be an option in your BIOS settings to adjust this or set a default value.

The ATI 2018 User Guide states a minimum "Screen resolution is 1024 x 768"

If you are creating the older, Linux type, rescue media, then there are some startup parameters that can be set, i.e. vga=ask

See Bootable media startup parameters from the User Guide.

I am not aware of any way to do the same with the new default WinRE rescue media unless you use the MVP Custom ATIPE Builder tool - follow link to MVP User Tools and Tutorials in the forum pages.  The MVP tool allows you to set a wide range of different resolution values.

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

Steve, there is nothing in the BIOS regarding resolution and my normal setting in Windows 10 is 1280x720.

I built the CD using the built in Rescue Media Builder.

I'm probably out of my depth re the MVP Custom ATIPE Builder tool.

What would happen if I changed my normal screen resolution in Windows and then rebooted from the CD? Would that affect to bootup resolution?

Thanks.

Mike, your screen resolution in Windows is completely independent to that used by the Rescue Media on CD.

I would recommend opening a Support Case directly with Acronis and go into details of your specific computer make/model with them, then they should be able to try to advise you on what is possible with regards to screen resolution and the Rescue media.

With regards to the MVP Custom ATIPE Builder tool, this is very easy to use once you have installed the requisite Windows ADK that is needed for creating WinPE media.  

To get the ADK, simply launch the normal Acronis Media Builder tool, select the Advanced option and then Windows PE and ATI will direct you to correct MS download site.  Once you have downloaded the ADK - run the ADKSetup program and then just install the options as shown in the Builder panel. 

2017-10-30 08_10_16-Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit - Windows 10.png

Once the two ADK features are installed, then download the MVP builder zip file and extract this to C:\ then run the main MVP_ATIPEBuilder.exe program as Administrator and then follow the prompts that are shown which are self-explanatory.

Mike,

You should check the Media Builder log to see what display resolution was used in setting up your media.  You will find that log at C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Logs\ti_media-builder.X.log where X is a number. Double click on the log will open it in WordPad as it is a simple text file.

As Steve suggest it makes a difference if you built Linux media or WinRE media.  If you built WinRE media (the Simple recommended method) that should default to the same screen resolution as set in your Win 10 OS installation.

Enchantec, here is the log data;

2017-11-09T15:35:39:906+00:00 8356 I00000000: GetDisplayInfo succeeded: DPI: 96, scaling: 100%. Monitors: Resolution: 1280x720, work area: 1280x720, physical DPI: 76.
2017-11-09T15:35:39:907+00:00 8356 W00000000: EnableHiDpiScaling - console doesn't fit monitor resolution with system scaling. Set scale to 1.
2017-11-09T15:36:40:521+00:00 7924 I00180000: Bootable media type: WinPE-based media with Acronis software
Target media: CD
2017-11-09T15:36:40:535+00:00 7924 I00180000: Adding MS loader...
2017-11-09T15:36:40:535+00:00 7924 I00180000: Copying source .wim file...
2017-11-09T15:36:43:450+00:00 7924 I00180000: Mounting .wim file...
2017-11-09T15:40:05:212+00:00 7924 I00180000: Updating .wim file contents...
2017-11-09T15:40:13:042+00:00 7924 I00180000: Updating registry...
2017-11-09T15:40:13:468+00:00 7924 I00180000: Updating files...
2017-11-09T15:40:13:480+00:00 7924 I00180000: Updating regional settings...
2017-11-09T15:40:13:480+00:00 7924 I00180000: Installing additional packages...
2017-11-09T15:40:13:480+00:00 7924 I00180000: Updating drivers...
2017-11-09T15:40:13:480+00:00 7924 I00180000: Saving .wim file...
2017-11-09T15:43:03:516+00:00 7924 I00180000: Burning disc...
2017-11-09T15:47:39:398+00:00 7924 I00180000: The operation has completed.
2017-11-09T16:15:11:613+00:00 7040 I00000000: GetDisplayInfo succeeded: DPI: 96, scaling: 100%. Monitors: Resolution: 1280x720, work area: 1280x720, physical DPI: 76.
2017-11-09T16:15:11:613+00:00 7040 W00000000: EnableHiDpiScaling - console doesn't fit monitor resolution with system scaling. Set scale to 1.
 

Does that help? 1280x720 is my OS resolution.

Steve, I've just built the ADK etc ISO but I won't be able to test it until the morning.

Mike,

Your log shows that your set resolution of 1280 x 720 is outside of you monitors native resolution.  Hi DPI scaling was enabled to set the resolution to 1280 x 720 but the application console does not fit that resolution with system scaling so scaling was set to 1 which I believe means 100%.

I would suggest that you check to see that the set resolution you use in Windows is the "Recommended" resolution for your monitor and if yours is not set to the recommended resolution to change to that recommended setting, which is your monitors native resolution, and make the recovery media again. The log shows that DPI for your monitor is 76 but you are running it with a DPI or 96 which means that you have scaling set to something other than 100%.  You should set Scaling to 100% prior to building the new media as well because if you do not you will might run into the same or similar problem with the new media even though that setting in Windows is suppose to only effect text size on screen.  Resolution depends a lot on monitor type, widescreen or standard, LCD or CRT.

Here are 2 links worth reading on the subject of resolution, scaling, and DPI.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/adjust-your-monitor-for-better-screen-res…

https://www.scantips.com/basics1c.html

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

Enchantec,

I've been exploring your suggestions re resolutions and I've now set it to 1920x1080 (recommended) and scaling to 125% (recommended). I then rebuilt the simple rescue media and it now allows all the screen to show.

The reason I had it set to 1280x720 was for two reasons; I had installed a program to handle finances and that was the only res I could get to show all the different screens involved. The other reason was my eyesight! At that time I had cataracts but currently I now have one good eye and I can see the new resolution quite well but I feel I will be straining my eyes. I really need to 'up it'  a bit more.

The finance program I used I have now removed as it wasn't really what I wanted!

Might I be better off using a Linux rescue disk, if that is possible?

While I was thinking about my next move (!) the rescue console screen had frozen, when I tried to do something clicking any of  the options did nothing and I had to force a restart. Dont know why that happened!

 

 

Mike, one option here would be to set your display resolution to 1280 x 768 (being closest to the minimum required by ATI which was 1024 x 768), then create the rescue media so that this picks up that resolution from Windows, after which, once the media is created and tested, you can reset your Windows resolution to how best works for you with your reading requirements.

Hi  Steve, I just tried that  and the screen still seems too big to get all the detail in. I've been trying to use the Linux version and the screen is just fine.

The problems I'm also having is the Recovery mode. I think this v2018 is very un-intuitive as I cannot work out how I'm supposed to do a recovery! I did discover that because of the incorrect (sometimes) naming of partitions that it is not possible to recover to the original locations. I spent a lot of time on that before I read that it isn't allowed!

Has anyone done a step by step Noddy guide to Recovery for idiots (!)? I used to use earlier versions of ATI for many years and I always found it very easy to use but I stopped using it because of an irritating problem (I think it was to do with scheduling, can't remember now. But this version? I'm on the verge of ditching it and getting a refund. Mind you it does do Backups very smoothly and quickly, just that the Recovery, the most fraught (for me anyway) part of the whole thing. I've been using Macrium which has never let me down and it is very reliable. I don't have the nerve to try and do a Recovery of my C: drive.

Another gripe is that when I use the Help stuff it gives me ATI 2017, which isn't very helpful!

Mike, take a look at forum topic: [How to] recover an entire disk backup which links to a document I wrote a little while back based on ATIH 2017 but which should be no different for 2018 when using the Rescue Media interface.

In terms of Recovery and the locations to restore to, this really depends on what you are trying to recover?

Any recovery of Windows OS and Programs etc needs to be done from a Disks & Partitions backup and restoring as the same - you cannot do this via Files & Folders as would really mess up your system.

Recovery of User Files & Folders is a different matter, you should be able to do this via a number of different methods, i.e. you can still use the Rescue Media and do a full offline recovery of such data, but you can also use either the Windows ATI GUI, though my preference would be to use the Windows Shell Integration feature that allows you to open any .TIB file and work with it as if you were opening any read-only container or zip file, including using Copy & Paste to recover data to where it is needed.  The second option with the shell integration, is the ability to Mount your .TIB file as a drive letter, then work with your data from there.

Take a look at the MVP User Tools and Tutorials repository linked from the forum Useful Links section.

Hi Steve and Enchantec,

First off, thank you both for your assistance, I do appreciate it!

I'm OK with recovering files and folders, I've done that a few times, no probs. It is the recovery of my system drive that I'm concerned about. Here is a pic of my partition table. As you can see there are several partitions on the system drive, Obviously the C: partition with the OS, then an EFI partition which I believe is necessary as it is created when the OS is installed? A 128mb partition, unformatted and reserved (what is this for?), a 400mb partition (unknown), and another unknown partition 887mb.

When I do a system partition backup do I need these other partitions, I thought I needed just C: and the EFI partitions but I'm really not sure. If this step could be simplified it would (I hope) make it easier when I came to recover my system.

There is also a D:\ partition which I think is the one that would take my system back to the factory settings, I can't think why I would need that now but I have been selecting it anyway with whatever backup program I've used.

Here is a pic of my backup source in ATI.

What would you recommend I do here? I have a vague recollection of setting a recovery partition from within a backup program, it may have even been an earlier version of ATI, but how can I prove it as I assume it won't work as it would have been several years ago when I would have done it.

I'm using Windows 10 with latest updates. The backup drive is a 1tb Samsung USB 3 and I settled on using a Linux loaded USB stick for the recovery build, for the moment anyway. My resolution is 1920x1-8- and scaling is 150%.

Thanks again!

 

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Mike, I tend to take the approach that 'if in doubt, keep it' with regards to the various different unknown partitions shown in your screen images.

The sizes involved here are relatively small in the scheme of things, i.e. approximately 20GB out of your 931GB disk size.

Making an entire disk & partitions backup, with all partitions included will make for the simplest method of doing a recovery should you need to do this, as you can simply select the top level disk entry and restore to the same on the target drive and let ATI put everything back where it needs to be.

I would recommend including your E: Storage and F: Backup Drive partitions in the backup too as again these add up to less than 100GB, unless you have a specific reason for not selecting these?  If you have any ATI backup .TIB files stored in these partitions, these will be excluded by the default exclusions settings.

Mike,

I would ditto Steve's reply here.  No need to be concerned over the small partitions on your disk, just include them in your backup.

Glad you found a resolution acceptable when using the boot media.  You can have a different resolution setting for everyday use of your PC if need be.  When you boot to the recovery media the resolution that you chose for that will be applied and will not effect the one you have set in Windows on your PC.

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

Steve, I will go with your suggestion about keeping all the partitions, it was just me wondering if I could tidy them up if they weren't needed. And yes, I may as well add E: and F: at the same time!

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

Enchantec, I had forgotten that I could use whatever resolution after I had built the USB rescue stick. Thanks for reminding me!