Recovery fails to find external USB drive backup file is on
Created full backup on external USB-connected hard drive. Created disaster recovery boot CD. Rebooted to the recovery CD. Recovery can't see the USB drive, so there's no way to choose the backup to be used to restore the system. No other devices connected, except wireless mouse. Using Windows Vista64 laptop with all updates.
This is the third backup tool I have tried, and none of them actually works. Hopefully, #4 will work. Sigh.
OK, I paid for ATI (there's a money-back guarantee... right?) and Plus Pack.
The Acronis ISO Builder instructions for getting WAIK are wrong. WinPE 2.1 is no longer available. Use WinPE 3.0 for Windows 7, Vista SP1 and Vista SP2.
I downloaded and installed WAIK. I used the Acronis WinPE ISO Builder to combine the Acronis stuff with the WinPE wim file, which created an Acronis wim file. After much research, I found and followed detailed instructions for turning a wim file into an iso file. See http://professionalworks.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-convert-wim-file-t…. I downloaded the free ISO burner mentioned in this forum, since Vista doesn't have a native tool, and burned the Acronis iso file to a CD. When I rebooted and changed the boot order to boot from the CD drive... it wouldn't boot.
I have already invested at least ten hours into getting ATI to work. My laptop uses ONLY standard Microsoft drivers for the external USB hard drive. How hard would it be for Acronis to provide an Acronis WinPE iso image with all of the standard drivers?
Since there's no way to be sure I will EVER succeed in creating a boot disk that can see my external had drive, even if I spent a hundred hours on it, I'm going to give up and ask for my money back.
What a shame.
The reason for the moment Acronis doesn't provide a WinPE based rescue environment is because it is technically against Microsofts licence for them to make and distribute the environment. They might as other companies may or may not have done, send a complete WinPE to Microsoft to be tested and licenced, but then it would no longer be free, so they'd either charge for it or it would increase the cost of TIH itself.
Are you sure that you burned the contents of the ISO to disk rather than the ISO itself, it's an easy error to make if you rarely burn ISO's and using a new burning program. You also don't need to convert anything, the Acronis PE builder automatically instructs WIM Builder to make an ISO.
"The reason for the moment Acronis doesn't provide a WinPE based rescue environment ..."
Others do it, so how hard/expensive can it be? For example, http://www.todo-backup.com/business/workstation-backup.htm
"Built-in WinPE based bootable disk..."
"Are you sure that you burned the contents of the ISO to disk rather than the ISO itself..."
I just followed the instructions here: http://www.acronis.com/r/support/en/kb/1091/burn_iso.htm.
"You also don't need to convert anything, the Acronis PE builder automatically instructs WIM Builder to make an ISO."
Didn't happen. The output of the Acronis ISO Builder was a wim file. So... I used WinPE tools to build the iso file from the wim file.
Are you using 2012 or 2011?
I didn't use the media builder for 2012 with the Plus Pack, but in 2011 there is a place in a wizard where you have the choice to customize a wim or create an ISO. Are you positive this step dosn't show up with 2012.
First of all, thanks to everyone who tried to help.
My objective was to create an iso file, of course. The wizard asked me for the path to the WinPE file. Beats me, so I started going through the directory tree until the wizard liked what I found, which was a wim file. The output was an updated wim file. WinPE knows how to generate an iso from the wim file. The free iso burner refereced in this forum has presumably been used successfully, since I don't see any complaints. I followed the incredibly simple directions, but ended up with a non-bootable CD.
The bottom line is: Acronis is in a problem solving business. Instead, what I got was a problem to solve, which I spent several hours on. I have moved on to an actual solution.
I installed another company's product. Three clicks and three minutes later, I had a bootable WinPE-based recovery CD. No downloading WinPE files, no reading WinPE manuals, no scrounging around on the Internet for step-by-step instructions, no false starts. Just three clicks and problem solved. That's what customers are looking for. Maybe IT folks enjoy the puzzles, but the rest of us just want a simple solution. That's what we are paying for.
It's wonderful that there are users such as you who are willing to invest their time in trying to help simpletons like me. That said, this is Acronis's problem. They need to provide solutions, not problems to solve. I hope Acronis people actually read these forums.
As for me, I'm now a happy customer of another company. It didn't need to turn out that way.
Tom
I couldn't agree more with your comments. What is the point of a backup restore solution that can't restore from a USB hard drive. Anyone would think USB hard drives are new technology!!
Please share with the forum which product you finally had success with. Acronis have lost another customer, and I really need a reliable backup solution.