Locked out!
I have a system from 2008 - it still works! I've used the backup/recovery many times. Recently I had a problem with a flash player update in Firefox, which froze the OS on bootup. I was downloading the ATI backup, when it occurred to me it might be a problem with a Codec software I downloaded, so I cancelled the recovery and decided to use an earlier backup. ATI offered a hidden partition for the recovery. I tried this again, and it put the recovered backup into the system drive, only now it called it the D drive. The C drive was now the codemeter (dongle flashdrive) for my music software, so I removed it and the drive reverted to C.
Problem is I can't get beyond the ATI start screen. For some reason, the people that built the PC (Synergy Music via Digital Village - no longer functioning) decided to make the F8 a drive boot selection, rather thanthe Windows safe boot - I can't do a safe boot. I tried using the XP Pro disc but it ended up with a blue screen. I tried "restore original OEM zone" but that's not possible - possibly because the partitions have been changed.
Any ideas? If I formatted the disk with the OS on, on another PC, then
downloaded the original XP Pro onto it on the original PC, downloaded
I guess a newer version of ATI, would I be able to use the backups I
have on the other disk? I suspect there's some way around this, but
I seem to be going around in circles. Good job I backed up my data!
Cheers
Jamie

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Thanks Shadow
I have my C drive backups on the second disk drive. I've already done a recovery of one of these, in fact I've done this a few times in the past few days, so I know the backup images are OK. It was when I interrupted a recovery that the problems started - partitions renamed etc. It renamed the C drive temporarily as the dongle codestick for Samplitude, my music DAW. This is only a few MB, so maybe Acronis is having a problem with the partitions. In any case I can't get beyond the Acronis screen the same one you get with F11, and can't boot into Windows. I see no .iso boot file to download in my Acronis account, only the registration details - probably because there is only support for recent products - mine is from 2008. As I said reverting to the original OEM zone isn't an option.
I feel there must be some way of getting past the Acronis screen, but failing that I think I'll put the disk drive with the C drive into my other PC as a second drive and see what's on there. If I deleted the Acronis partition and put the disk back in the original PC, and the OS boots up, I guess that would give me the option of getting a newer Acronis TI, or using System Restore instead.
Would a new Acronis True Image be capable of recovering backups done with the 2008 version?
Thanks again
Jamie
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I've managed to access the hard drive with the operating system partition on it via my old computer (not easy - the newer computers have very inaccessible hard drives). Via computer management on XP I can see the partition with the Acronis TI on it, plus the system partition and a data partition. From my perspective, all I can think of doing is to delete the Acronis partition (on the backup screen it tells me there is no data that is of any use - presumably to prevent pirating of the program) and hope the recovery I did will boot up. Again I'll ask if anyone knows whether a new version of Acronis True Image will work with backups done with the program from 2008. I guess if I can't access the backups, or if the one which is recovered won't boot, I'm left with the option of reinstalling XP into a formatted drive and reloading my software from scratch. A pain but nothing will be lost. I've finished a five year Jazz recording project and now I want to start mixing. Assembling all the plugins and software might be a long project too - I hope there's a simpler way!
Cheers
Jamie
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Hi Jaime,
What version of Acronis are you working with? Last build of v10 was released in 3/2007. Last build of v11 was released in 7/2008. Bootable media is available for these and every version since these dates. You should be able to start your system successfully from boot media, and newer versions of Acronis are able to open and recover .tib images created in an earlier version of the software.
As far recommending you delete partitions or data, I don't think that's a wise idea. It depends on what you have for back ups.
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Thanks for that, Shadow
The problem with getting an Acronis upgrade is that XP is no longer a supported
platform, so that's not an option. I'm certain the Acronis program was corrupted
when I interrupted the recovery (note to self: don't do that!) so as far as I could
see the only way was to remove it. I tried searching for "Acronis" and "TrueImage" files to delete, but unfortunately, the Acronis tendrils seem to
be deep in the registry, and since I can't boot into safe mode (not sure why the
PC maker disabled that) there's no way to winkle out the necessary files.
I did quite a bit of research on the internet and discovered I'm not the only one
with this problem! In the end I've decided to format the disk and start again,
as I have everything backed up - there goes the weekend.
Acronis is a program that has served me well for many years. My current machine is great for audio, but I'll need to go to a 64bit one for my next project which will require a lot of MIDI tracks, at least for the compositions. I'll have to think about which backup system I use - I'm a little wary after this experience to use a program which can take over your computer and lock you out.
Thanks again
Jamie
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