What is the trick in creating a working Rescue Media disk?
I "successfully" created a rescue disk, using a CD, since < 450 MB of space is required. My optical drive is set as first in the BIOS boot sequence. Upon a cold boot up, the disk fails to be recognized. I see that no autorun file appears in the compilation. So have I run into a bug, or is there a trick to creating a rescue disk that works?
I used the following steps:
1. Tools tab -> Rescue Media Builder -> Simple.
2. ISO file -> browse to and select a temporary folder -> change name to...
AcronisP6TRescue.iso
3. Save -> Proceed -> Close.
4. Insert CD -> use File Explorer to navigate to location of the ISO file -> double-click on the image file. Default ROM burner opens like Power ISO -> Burn.
5. Test the disk by booting up your system with the disk in the optical drive.
I have never had a failed ISO burn with PowerISO or Nero Burning ROM. So what am I overlooking?
Why not burn the CD directly with the Acronis Rescue Media Builder tool? There is no need to use a separate burner program to burn the ISO to media.
Yes, Steve is correct. Use the Acronis Media Builder app to burn the CD. As I said, some third party apps will not make a bootable image of the ISO. Have no idea why.
I used a re-writable disk to avoid waste and ended up with a blank disk. If anyone cares to lend a hand, you will need to be more specific. If someone can point out where I am making a mistake in the steps I used below, I will be most grateful.
1. Tools tab > Rescue Media Builder > Simple.
2. DVD RW Drive > insert CD into optical drive > Proceed.
3. Close (when notified media has been created "successfully."
Either ATI has a major flaw in v2018, or I must have a defective copy of the software (I bought 3 licenses from Amazon). All "successful" disks I create fail, both on my PC and laptop. If ATI is unable to create rescue disk, how can anyone have confidence in rebuilding a HDD with a saved backup image?
I have obtained a ticket of support form Acronis.
Sorry to hear of the continuing issues with making good rescue media. I have only made / used USB stick media for the past several years / versions of ATI and have never had any problems in using this.
If you haven't tried it yet, then try the MVP Custom ATIPE Builder script to make the media - this is the tool that I have been using myself in preference to the integrated Acronis builder program. I like the ability to have boot media that can also be used as a standalone web browser, file manager etc. I have the Windows 10 ADK installed along with the MVP builder tool (the tool does not need installing - just unzip to the root of your C: drive).
Either way, please let us know the outcome of your Support Case with Acronis.
Last night I took the opportunity to create a rescue disk using the built in Acronis media builder. I used the simple choice and a DVD+R disk from Verbatim. I normally use the bootable USB flash drives. After creating the disk I booted from it and waited several minutes for it to load TI. I got the message to "press any key to boot from DVD" right away then the 'blue squares" logo and the spinning dots. It then went to a flashing cursor in the top left corner of the screen. I let it sit for 3 or 4 minutes with nothing happening. It was late so I rebooted my laptop and went to bed. This morning I booted from the same DVD again and this time I walked away for about 45 minutes (took my walk) and when I came back TI was up and running. I on Windows 10 1709 16299.248. So the TI 2018 built in process does work.
Good luck with your support ticket. Let us know what happens. I too prefer the MVP Media Builder.
So far I have received no response for my ticket. Since firstly using Acronis, the feel I got from the program is that this is an unfinished piece of software. If it cannot create a rescue disk boot disk, what confidence can we have in the program being able to create an image backup. Has anyone actually recovered a HDD, using this program?
If tech support fails to respond in a timely manner, I will request a refund for the three licenses I recently purchased. So far, my opinion of Acronis is... well, I better not say.
I will be happy to share my experience, if tech support responds as promised.
Djard asked: "Has anyone actually recovered a HDD, using this program?"
The simple answer is Yes! ATI has saved the day on many occasions for myself and others reporting in these forums. This has been true of all the various versions of ATI that I have used so difficult to understand why you are seeing such basic problems with creating rescue media?
The Simple choice creates a WinPE media. It is slow to boot. Even if you get it on your CD-RW disk it will be very slow to boot. CD-RW disk read much slower than CD's. It may take 10 minutes or more to boot. A USB flash drive is a much better choice.
Are you sure nothing was written to the CD-RW disk. You can see that just by looking at the back of the disk. One trick you can try, if nothing was written, is to put the disk in the drawer and leave the drawer open and rebuild the media. The drawer should close itself when the Media Builder is ready to write to it.
You should also try making a Linux recovery disk. It will boot much faster. Do this by choosing the Advanced method and then choosing Linux on the next screen. You have an older computer so the Linux media should work fine.
Acronis tech support kindly responded, intimating that Rescue Media creation is geared for Linux, not Windows. Good grief! Moreover, I was given a download of the latest version of the program, in the event my hard copy is corrupted.
When I went to install the latest version (2018-10640), Windows notified me the software is not compatible with my version of Windows, which is x64, Pro, Steve Balmer Signature Edition. Maybe the techie sent me a x86 version or perhaps for Linux. Sorry, but the name Acronis now sounds 'acrimonious' to me. This project has turned into a nightmare. I will try tech support one more time; but one more failure and I'll get a refund...look for something more stable.
Djard, ATI 2018 build 10640 should run just fine on all of the following listed versions of Windows as published in the ATI 2018 User Guide:
Supported operating systems
Acronis True Image 2018 has been tested on the following operating systems:
- Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (all editions)
- Windows 10 Creators Update (all editions)
- Windows 10 (all editions)
- Windows 8.1 (all editions)
- Windows 8 (all editions)
- Windows 7 SP1 (all editions)
- Windows XP SP3 (32-bit) *
- Windows Home Server 2011
So, really the next question is does your Windows 7 (x64) Steve Balmer Signature Edition have Service Pack 1 installed?
Since I was able to create Rescue Media successfully on a USB thumb drive, I will cancel my request for a refund, though Acronis is not a shadow of the company it used to be.
The copy of Acronis that Sadam Hassan at tech support sent me is incompatible with Win 7 Pro, 64-bit. I looked at the contents in a virtual drive and notice that it includes a Rescue Media directory.
Steve , would it be OK if I sent you the latest version of ATI I received to test? If you can get it to install, it would mean that all three of my computers with Nero Burning ROM and PowerISO are problematic. I will understand if that would be too much of a burden.
Djard, did you receive the latest version of ATI via a download link, if so, then drop me a copy via a Private Message, assuming that the download is still valid. Otherwise I will need you to perhaps put the file into such as Dropbox or OneDrive and send me a shared link to it that way.
I will also need to setup a spare computer with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit to make a valid test - I have ATI 2018 build 10640 running fine on Windows 7 32-bit on my Samsung NC10 netbook - can't remember which particular edition it is using as been some years since it was installed but don't think it was the Home one.
I don't use either of Nero Burning ROM or PowerISO for burning CD's. I normally would let the Acronis Rescue Media Builder burn direct to media, or else I used to use CDBurnerXP or Gizmodo for other ISO images I wanted to burn.
Djard, as per my PM - the checksum for the ATI 2018 build 10640 .ISO file was identical to the file shown in my Acronis account downloads.
I was able to create a working Rescue Media CD from the ISO using a Verbatim 700MB CD-R blank disk that I burnt using CDBurnerXP from the ISO file.
The CD booted first time of asking on my Legacy laptop, though slower than the USB sticks that I usually use.
As this was an ISO file, I have not tried setting up a Windows 7 system for testing, as the boot media really does not care what version of Windows OS is on the system when booting. This laptop came originally with Vista and has run Windows 7 before upgrading to 10, plus also is running Ubuntu Linux 16.04 LTS. ATI running from the CD saw all my different partitions and file systems with no issue.
Djard - hopefully, you have a solution. Just to give you some feedback regarding my experience. In the past, I have created both CD and USB recovery options and have used both to recover several times. I agree that ATI is a learning curve and not the most user-friendly software. I often encounter issues that I don't understand or have a hard time finding a solution. For me, most often it is the lack of education/skill on my part and sometimes I fail to see how to connect the darn dots. The forum has been super valuable for me and the guys like Steve have been SUPER helpful especially when I need the instructions at the dummy level.
BTW I have tested other recovery software and I find ATI to be the best (for me). I'm sure that I have not tested all possible recovery software offerings but I have tested several. Each offering I tested there was a group of people that felt it was the best and they were very knowledgeable in its usage.
For me, the ATI support has been very good but I most often have better results in the forum. The support via the ticket is at a skill level that often seems to be well above my skill level and often they don't understand what I'm trying to explain or the answer does not seem to fully address the issue.
There are some good videos https://www.acronis.com/en-us/tutorials/ but they are NOT updated for ATI 2018 and this makes it difficult for me to apply the knowledge and get the same results.
Good luck!!!