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Unable to restore C: drive partition from External USB HD

Thread needs solution

I am using Acronis 10 Home. I've used it several times before....backing up and restoring, and haven't had problems...until now.

I am attempting to restore a full OS partition from a backup made 1 weeks ago. I have tried to do this a couple of ways:

Opening Acronis in Windows (XP Pro), setting up the backup source, and disk to restore. I have had Acronis validate the backup. No problems there. Then the system reboots and the external drive containing the backup image is seen to be active/busy. Then that stops. The Acronis window says: "14hrs left". There is no visible (light) or audible sounds coming from either the computer or the external drive, indicating that nothing is happening. The computer's screen then freezes. Leaving things untouched for 7 or 8 hours...no change. I have to manually shut the system down. Reformat the hard drive, reinstall Acronis, and then repeat this process, but this time, trying to restore a different backup image on a different external drive. Exactly the same scenario. Nothing happens even with a different backup on a different external drive.

I have tried booting from an acronis bootable drive with either of the external source hard drive connected, and one of two things happens then:
1). The Aconis window appears, then I go through the exact same scenario as before, making the same source and destination choices, etc...and as before, the screen freezes and no activity is detected on the source or destination drives after a few minutes of activity only on the external (image source) drive.

OR
2) The boot disk stalls and never brings up the window for proceeding with configuring the backup.

I am really disgusted with the program. I was reliant on it, since it had functioned several times before as expected. I haven't a clue as to how to brainstorm this one. The thought of reformatting, reinstalling and reconfiguring dozens of applications and transfering many gigs of data...probably a couple of weeks of my time...is daunting.

Please give me some idea of how to begin to trouble shoot this problem. Please...

Chick

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I wanted to ask if, by checking off the box MBR to restore along with the main disk partition, whether, if there is a problem with the MBR, this could be responsible for my problem...or not? AS I said, it appears that the partition is validated successfully (though there is no message indicating this). I have always checked off the MBR along with the main partition when trying to restore a disk, so is there any logic (i.e. is there any likelihood that the restoration could be successful if I don't check the MBR partition) to trying to restore the main partition without the MBR? Am I dreaming/ hoping???

Thanks,
Chick

Can you verify if you're using TI 10 or TI 2010? Many people just state "10" when they mean 2010.

Is anything new connected to the computer now than when the restores worked successfully before? This especially includes any devices with "drives" in them (iPod, printer with media card slots, media readers, MP3 players, etc.). If so, try disconnecting them and see if it's any better.

If available, download the ISO from your Acronis account and create a CD from it. The drivers may be more updated and it may work better.

Otherwise, you could download the trial version of TI 2011. Then use the TI 2011 CD (or do it from Windows) to restore the backup.

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Whether or not you select to restore the MBR shouldn't be making any difference. It sounds more like a problem with the Linux kernel and/or drivers TI uses not correctly supporting the computer.

I am using 10, NOT 2010. The computer is connected to nothing other than the external USB drive containing the backup image. Good thought, though.

I am not sure I understand the ISO. I know it's an image file, but other than that I'm not sure how it fits into any solution of this problem. Please clarify what you mean by downloading a ISO from my account. How do I download it from my account, what does it contain...meaning, how does it work in this instance to restore my backup??

If I download and install Acronis 2011 trial, are you saying I could try to use it to restore the image, instead of the current version (10)?

Thank you so much for your quick response. It is greatly appreciated.

Chick

Yes, if you dowload the trial of 2011 you can:
- create a new bootable CD or flashdrive,
- restore the image done by the v10 (without changing it).

I figured it out after I posted. I found the ISO file on version 10, but will download 2011 before trying to restore again.

I will make the bootable CD from 2011 in case I need it, if I mess up the windows installation (as has happened about 6 times during my trial and error experiences today).

I also am assuming I can restore the image using TI 2011 in Windows (without resorting to the cd). Is this Right?

I'll let you know how things go. Again...I am very grateful for your help.

Chick

CHick,

I recommend you do the restore from the CD.