Booting Acronis off USB Drives
Hello,
I tried to make my USB Pen to boot Acronis and kept getting "Missing MBR-helper" error at the boot (see http://www.themudcrab.com/acronis_grub4dos.php). Tried several PCs and USB drives. After some hours I gave up on grub4dos and found a work-around.
1. Insert you USB Drive
2. Download and run YUMI (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/) - it will do ALL the formatting on the USB drive, install Bootloader etc.
3. Check "Format x:\ Drive (Erase Content)?" if you need to
4. Scroll to the bottom and select "Try an Unlisted ISO"
5. Browse and load your Acronis.iso and click on "Create".
If you want to add more .ISOs later (Hiren, GParted, you know stuff like that), just re-run the tool, OR the easier way: copy your ISO onto the USB Drive and edit the file "menu.lst". Everyone who even dares to read this posting won't need any further explanation how to do so.
Hope this helps for everyone who keeps struggling with booting off USB Drives.
(Mod's might even add a link to this thread in MudCrab's postings regarding this issue)


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YUMI works just fine with Acronis 2017 Bootable ISO, just make sure to:
- Choose "Try Unlisted ISO (GRUB)" and
- ensure that your ISO filename does not have any spaces in it or else it will not load, at least that has been my experience.
Thanks to SQLException for the initial answer!
Cheers.
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Hi Mathew, Just FYI, but this post is 5 years old. Acronis has it's own rescue media builder directly in the app that can be used to burn directly to CD/DVD, create an .iso, a .wim, or directly to a bootable USB flash drive as well. Of course, if you're using an older version, this may not give you what you're looking for, but Acronis 2016/2017 support this and create media for both legacy and UEFI systems as well as 32-bit and 64-bit.
The downside with yumi (I used to use it a lot - then went to Easy-2-boot - like it even better), is that they are only legacy/MBR boot capable. For newer systems that use UEFI and GPT disks, this presents a problem. Sure, many systems support UEFI and CSM/ legagcy mode, but not all. Also, and more importantly, how your bootable media is created and is booted, may determine how it functions...
Example: If your current OS is legacy/MBR and you get a new SSD that is formatted as GPT from the manufactuer... even if your bios supports GPT, if you try to install Windows "fresh", Windows will tell you there is no suitable drive available. In order to use a GPT disk for Windows installation, you must have UEFI enabled and boot to the media in UEFI mode. Likewise, if your system is setup for UEFI/GPT, but have a MBR formatted disk and try to install Windows to it, Windows will also say there is no suitable disk if you booted the installer in UEFI mode.
The same applies when RECOVERING (backup really doesn't matter though) with Acronis media. If you start the recovery in legacy/CSM mode, it will restore the OS as legacy. If you start the recovery in UEFI mode, it will restore it in UEFI mode. This can cause boot issues as you can never go from UEFI to legacy and can only sometimes go from legacy to UEFI when recoverying a backup. Rule of thumb is to match the bootable recovery boot method with that of the install method of the OS that was backed up.
Clear as mud? Check out these screenshots... https://forum.acronis.com/forum/121829#comment-378318
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Bobbo_3C0X1 wrote:Hi Mathew, Just FYI, but this post is 5 years old. Acronis has it's own rescue media builder directly in the app that can be used to burn directly to CD/DVD, create an .iso, a .wim, or directly to a bootable USB flash drive as well. Of course, if you're using an older version, this may not give you what you're looking for, but Acronis 2016/2017 support this and create media for both legacy and UEFI systems as well as 32-bit and 64-bit.
The downside with yumi (I used to use it a lot - then went to Easy-2-boot - like it even better), is that they are only legacy/MBR boot capable. For newer systems that use UEFI and GPT disks, this presents a problem. Sure, many systems support UEFI and CSM/ legagcy mode, but not all. Also, and more importantly, how your bootable media is created and is booted, may determine how it functions...
Example: If your current OS is legacy/MBR and you get a new SSD that is formatted as GPT from the manufactuer... even if your bios supports GPT, if you try to install Windows "fresh", Windows will tell you there is no suitable drive available. In order to use a GPT disk for Windows installation, you must have UEFI enabled and boot to the media in UEFI mode. Likewise, if your system is setup for UEFI/GPT, but have a MBR formatted disk and try to install Windows to it, Windows will also say there is no suitable disk if you booted the installer in UEFI mode.
The same applies when RECOVERING (backup really doesn't matter though) with Acronis media. If you start the recovery in legacy/CSM mode, it will restore the OS as legacy. If you start the recovery in UEFI mode, it will restore it in UEFI mode. This can cause boot issues as you can never go from UEFI to legacy and can only sometimes go from legacy to UEFI when recoverying a backup. Rule of thumb is to match the bootable recovery boot method with that of the install method of the OS that was backed up.
Clear as mud? Check out these screenshots... https://forum.acronis.com/forum/121829#comment-378318
Hi Bobbo_3C0X1,
I noticed that YUMI now has a UEFI version as well on their website. Would this work? I only ask because I'm trying to make a single disk with all of my bootable media on it (i.e. Acronis, various OSes, other utilites)
Thanks
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Alex, really not sure. I actually didn't have much luck with Yumi in UEFI mode and pretty much gave up on it. I built my own multi bootable drive using nothing more than easybcd for my legacy .wim entries and bootice for my uefi boot entries. Basically, they are all WinPE .wim files though, but it meets my needs perfectly.
To start, I used the latest Windows 10 1809 media creation tool and built a 32-bit and 64-bit combined USB drive. That gives me the latest installer and repair disk for Windows and makes it legacy and UEFI bootable. I then basically added a new folder to the root of the thumb drive called WIMS (call it whatever though) and added each boot.wim from my winpe tools like Acronis, Minitool Parition Wizard, etc. All in all I have 12 of of them.
I then used easybcd to add each .wim file as a boot option in legacy mode and then used bootice to make a boot option in UEFI mode for the same .wims.
Although this method doesn't support any Linux boot media, it's all I've been using for quite some time now and has served me well.
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