Catch-22
I used to think cloning with Acronis was simple and sure, that at the very least, no damage was possible to the source drive in terms of it's startup in my PC. Well, I have now learned the hard way that's not true. I had successfully "graduated" to a multi-boot home system, thanks to Acronis OS selector, and I felt empowered, but now that I'm having serious problems after cloning, I'm almost ready to throw in the towel, abandon Acronis OS Selector in favor of some kind of removable C:/ drive caddy system.
I am sure I did something wrong or missed a key procedure. I am totally confused and waaay out of my depth.
So, I had a working dual-boot system on a 500 GB drive. After cloning, my source drive, still installed, wouldn't boot. The OS asked for the original OS install DVD to boot. Choosing the OS Repair option didn't succeed. Very scary. Next, I installed the cloned drive, and crossed my fingers, but I got the same OS request. After choosing Repair, only one of the original two OS partitions was bootable. Luckily, it is my most used OS. On the other partition, I will re-install the OS to get back to status quo.
Did I botch the initial clone operation by NOT removing the newly cloned, USB-connected drive before the final Restart cycle at the end of the clone process? Was that my fatal error? Any ideas would help-
I'm totally afraid to do any cloning at this point.
Next, I want to use Spilt to add a partition so I can do a "clean install" of my working OS, while maintaining the option to use the original OS. Here's my problem: when I press Split, I get this warning:
"Acronis OS Selector is installed and activated on the current partition. Your computer may become
unbootable if you move files ofAcronis OS Selector. It is not recommended to move the files, Are you sure you want to proceed?"
I tried de-activating OS selector, but I continue to get the same message. I'm certainly not feeling lucky,so I just Cancel the Split operation. Any ideas?
This is with True Image Home 10.0 (build 4,942), and Disk Director 10.0 (build 2, 160) The OS's are
Vista Business x64 and Vista Business 32.
I'm not sure what caused your problem, but it is always a good idea to remove the old drive before rebooting as Windows can and will get confused if it finds two active partitions.
For laptops it is often better to 'reverse' clone the drives, that is - put the new drive in the laptop and the old drive in the external caddy.
Thanks, LinYu and Colin. In the past week, my situation has gone from bad to worse.
I never got to make a clone. Now I have a beauty of an Acronis error message;
"Starting Acronis Loader No commands for booting operating system. Press to reboot..."
When I press Enter, the same error message appears, over and over again!
I searched the net and saw numerous references to this Acronis error message, that effectively prevents booting, but I can't follow the various recipes offered, also and I'm not running the exact same version of software and OS in some cases, plus I was doing fine with my dual boot system.
When I search the error message here at the official Acronis customer forum, I don't see ANY clear explanation for what it is, why it crops up and how to fix it. It is astonishing to me.
I never ever thought that Acronis had the potential to totally strand it's customers, but that's exactly what's happened. I cannot boot my PC anymore and I don't know why.
It would be great to learn from an Acronis employee, or anyone here, what exact steps can be taken that will allow me to once again boot my computer. My system is v10.0, the OS is Win Vista Business 64 Bit, and Win Vista Business 32bit.
I think that you might need to de-activate the OSS, but are you saying the Acronis boot CD now won't boot?
Sorry, Acronis Customer, I wish I could help, but there's not much more I can do to help you on your predicament. I do feel your frustration, though, for not being able, over more than a week, to get the attention you needed (and deserved, I guess) from one of the Acronis guys who regularly cruise these forums.
Believe me, I do understand. I am in a similar situation, about issues I and others have been experiencing with Acronis True Image 2011. I hope you are more lucky.
I do not mean to be rude, but despite all the disclaimers it has seeded all over the place, Acronis SHOULD put a substantially larger effort in providing timely and qualitative help to the customers who keep buying their product. After all, their customers, as much as their product, are the very reason for them to be. But I may be wrong.
Cheers and good luck!
Lin Yu
Hi Colin, The CD will boot. I don't know what you mean by OSS. Can I de-activate some aspect of my PC, using that CD, that will enable
me to BOOT from my hard drive (which has two partitions)? What do I look for on the CD?
p.s. thanks for caring
Thanks LinYu, it's such a mature product at v10 or v11, it's hard to imagine that they haven't seen every conceivable dead-end and wrong turn their customers wander into. You are right, a company's support systems are everything.
OSS = OS Selector
Have you tried booting to the DD CD and selecting to Reactivate OSS? Note that the OSS programs must have been included on the CD to do this. I always recommend this when using OSS.
Otherwise, have you tried booting to the Vista DVD, entering Repair Mode, and resetting the MBR? At the command prompt, run: bootrec /fixboot
Thanks, MudCrab.
I have not yet tried anything-- and I'm sorry but what do you mean by DD CD ?
I purchased v10 as a download and I used that to make a bootable dvd. I see that I get a choice of Acronis or Acronis complete.
Do you think my DVD has the same features as your included CD- a way to Reactivate OSS? What do I look for onscreen, do you recall?
or next;
yes, I read somewhere online that the original OS install disks might solve the problem. I am not sure what steps I must take to get a command prompt. (sad, I know). Is that an option when I choose to Install? how do I ensure I am not overwriting my hard drive in an attempt to get around this Acronis error message?
Also- do you know anything about an ISO file that makes a bootable CD, intended to fix my MBR? it is called mbrautowrite_en.iso and you guessed it-- I'm too afraid to run it.
Newbie bonus question: Is the MBR on my boot drive or in my PC's firmware?
DD CD = The bootable media CD created using DD or Media Builder
When you create a DD CD using Media Builder, you can select which programs to include. I usually include them all: DD Full, DD Safe, OSS Setup, OSS Activator. A sample menu is shown below:
I would advise against using the mbrautowrite iso method unless it's absolutely necessary. In some cases, it doesn't write the correct MBR to boot the system. On a Vista DVD, you would do the following:
- Boot to the Vista DVD.
- Select the language (if asked) and continue to next screen.
- Click the Repair your computer link.
- Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
- In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.
- Type bootrec /fixmbr at the prompt and press ENTER.
The MBR is basically Sector 0 (the first sector) of the drive. It's not stored in the BIOS.
That's fantastic, MudCrab. Thanks very much. I am guessing that I created my DVD using True Image Home v10, not with my edition of DD duh--Disk Director v10. As I recall, my GUI screen only showed the bottom three choices your screen grab is displaying. I will try to make a bootable DVD
again, this time from DD, and see if I can get something resembling the above. If that is the case, do I use the second option "Acronis OS Selector Activator"? Let's figure that's going to work...
and I will stay away from mbrautowrite as you suggest. It's good to hear that the MBR is on the drive not stored in BIOS.
I may take a stab at the bootrec /fixmbr option. I already have that OS disk handy-- do you think that will work just as well as the the Acronis bootable media CD?
Gratefully,
Matt
U P D A T E : Success!!! using the DD-created DVD. thank you for everything, Mud. Drunk with posibility, i might just attempt another Clone,
making sure to disable the USB-attached Clone, prior to rebooting. Good night.