More version 10 reccovery problems
Hello, I posted a problem several weeks ago and received a suggestion regarding a recovery failure we were having with a recent Acronis 10 customer install. The difficulty was with the MBR at recovery time on a Dell PowerEdge Windows Server 2003 due to the EISA file. We ended up cleaning the HD and eliminating the EISA file and dealing with the MBR & C: drive only. We made a new backup/image and restored successfully to an identical backup machine not on the network. We restored several more times successfully and then took the backup/image and placed it in a folder on another drive for a later CYA. Scheduled backup/image jobs have been running for about ten days with no problems. This afternoon we went to the customer site to do a test restore on the backup server so the recovery steps could be documented for a manual for the customer. We selected last nights (1/4/2010) back/image but could not boot after the restore. We tried several different images and finally the one that had successfully restored a couple of weeks back. All restores produced the same error. We tried different ways, MBL first then C:. C: first then MBL. All again produced the same error.
Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\System32\ntoskrnl.exe
What could all of a sudden be wrong with the restore and especially with an image that was restored successfully a couple of weeks ago. The backup machine has been powered down since the last test two weeks ago. We have a fair amount of successful experience with version 9 but the 10 install is our first. Are we missing something? Thanks for any help you may be able to give us.
Removing the EISA partition has changed your partition numbering. You can probably fix the issue by editing the boot.ini file.
Your current default boot entry is probably:
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
you need to change it to:
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
and also change the corresponding entry in the list below.
an easy way to test this is to create a bootable media containing following boot files:
NTDETECT.COM
ntldr
boot.ini
Boot.ini with following contents:
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=30
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(2)\WINDOWS="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(2)\WINDOWS"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(4)partition(1)\WINDOWS="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(4)partition(1)\WINDOWS CRASHDEBUG"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(4)partition(2)\WINDOWS="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(4)partition(2)\WINDOWS CRASHDEBUG"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS CRASHDEBUG" /basevideo /sos /CRASHDEBUG
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS CRASHDEBUG" /basevideo /sos /CRASHDEBUG
This will allow you to test different boot otions
Thanks Johann for the response. You’re right about the boot.ini file and we had, we thought, addresses that issue but realized today we were mistaken. With two identical machines, one for production and one for backup and mirrored drives we got a little confused. Also, one of the drives I was testing with was still in dynamic mode. I just did not realize it needed to be set back to basic. Anyway, the bottom line is, once we started with a plain clean hard drive everything worked fine and I won’t ever forget the Dell EISA issue. I just hope there is not a limit on Acronis restores, I lost count on how many times we successfully tested the restore this afternoon.J