Boot Acronis True Image without a CD-Rom, is it possible?
I'm looking for some help and guidance, I'm working in the field and need to do some major rework to the registry of a workstation and I have a new copy of Acronis True Image 2011 here with me I brought for this exact reason, trouble is this isn't a regular computer and there is no CDrom and you can't install one. There are USB ports, but I don't have with me a USB CDrom and the closest store that may have one is a 10 hour round trip.
Is there a way I can create a image of this workstation without a CDrom to boot from? Can I install some part of the program to a USB thumbdrive or external HD which would allow me to boot and create the image? Or maybe the networking guys can chime in, I have other computers on the network with CDroms is there a way I can share/boot off their CDrom??
I'm looking for options so any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Tom
So would I install the TI on another machine, create this bootable USB thumbdrive, then when I goto the workstation I boot off of the thumbdrive I created at another machine and it'll allow me to create an image of that workstation?? I don't know if I can even install TI on the workstation I need the image of without a CDrom so it'd have to be done elsewhere.
Okay, there's another option.
1. Download the bootable recovery media ISO from your Acronis account.
2. Use Xboot (free software) to create a bootable USB flash drive containing the Acronis True Image bootable recovery media.
3. Boot from that Xboot flash drive.
That's what I do. I boot from an Xboot flash drive, at which point I can select from several bootable ISOs that I've chosen to include, including Windows 7 repair disk, Acronis True Image, Partition Manager, etc.
Tuttle has offered an excellent alternative.
Another way to the same solution but with a different program using Grub4Dos rather than X boot would be to use the link below and you only need to do section 1 and 3.
This creates a bootable flash drive and then you can copy the bootable media iso file and other iso files from other programs to the usb flash/thumb drive. I do NOT recommend that you install Acronis on a machine for the sole purpose of makeing a bootable device.
Thanks Turtle, that's how I was hoping to get this accomplished but wasn't having much success getting it to work. I had googled the same question and found reference to the Grub4Dos but hadn't tried it out yet. I'll try out the Xboot and hopefully get it running!
Grover, I too wasn't thrilled about installing my only Acronis copy on one of the plants servers in order to simply make a boot USB stick, that doesn't seem right on at least a couple levels! :) So hopefully between the Xboot and that link for Grub4Dos I can get something going.
XBOOT works great but you need a PC with .NET installed to get it to work iirc. Another easy way in your case would be to install EasyBCD and then assert a boot option that looks for the acronis.iso (somewhere, anywhere) and boots from it. It will then offer Acronis as an option when you restart the PC along with W7 (indeed, now that I think of it I don't think it works with XP so depends on your workstation).
XBOOT works great but you need a PC with .NET installed to get it to work iirc.
I think that's right, but that's not a problem as most PCs have .net installed. If they don't, it's quick to install from MS.
To clarify, Xboot would need .net just when creating the bootable flash drive. .net is not required on the computer that would boot from the flash drive.
XBOOT works great but you need a PC with .NET installed to get it to work iirc.
I think that's right, but that's not a problem as most PCs have .net installed. If they don't, it's quick to install from MS.
To clarify, Xboot would need .net just when creating the bootable flash drive. .net is not required on the computer that would boot from the flash drive.
That's right, you only need (or want) one PC that has XBOOT on it to make your USB stick and keep it up-to-date.
I've been delighted at how easy it is to make & maintain a USB stick with it--including the ability to easily edit the menu(s) it makes. I think I have almost a dozen different programs (besides different versions of Acronis) on it and it works great (uses Grub4DOS just like Grover's method).
I need to edit my Xboot menus. The timeout duration before it automatically boots to Windows is too short. Plus, there are two such timeouts: first is at Xboot's main menu; second is after booting into Acronis True Image ISO, My guess is that I can easily edit the first one, to make Xboot wait on its own menu longer, but probably the one on ATI's screen is embedded in the ATI ISO and won't be editable.
Don't know about Xboot. If you have TI installed, you can use the Create Bootable media option and create an iso file and as part of creation, you can edit the times and set a custom time rather than use the default time. I usually change the boot order to boot into TI and set the time to 2 or 3 minutes (or more) so I can manually control what is the boot choice of the TI Menu.
Good information, thanks Grover. I haven't yet installed the ATI 2012 Windows app, as I was waiting until they had fixed the USB issues. I may install it now in order to set a custom wait time.
Hopefully, you will use the bootable media to create a backup of your system before the install. Should you decide you do not want to keep it installed, you can undo your install via a restore to the prior state.
Absolutely. I do a full image prior to any new software installations.