Aller au contenu principal

Fragmented C:\bootwiz\asrm.bin file after activating ATI 2010 Secure Zone

Thread needs solution

I have used Acronis True Image Home products since ATI Home 9 upgrading each year to meet compatibility requirements of new versions of Windows. I have just installed trial versions of 64-bit Windows 7 RTM and ATI 2010. After activating Acronis Secure Zone, I have encountered an issue that I have not seen before.

Activating the Secure Zone creates a hidden, protected file C:\bootwiz\asrm.bin. Running my defrag program -- PerfectDisk 10 Build 119 -- identifies 100-200 excess fragments within the asrm.bin file. Access to this file is denied, so the file cannot be defragmented even during a boot defrag of system files. While this does not seem to be causing any major problems yet, it is an issue I have not seen using any previous version of Windows with any previous version of Acronis True Image Home.

I defragmented and wiped the free space on my drive immediately prior to creating and activating the Secure Zone.

Has anyone else noticed this? If so, does the asrm.bin file become further fragmented with time and does it eventually result in any type of performance issue? Is there a work around to defrag these files? What is different about the ATI 2010 Secure Zone activation process that causes this .bin file to be highly fragmented immediatley after activation?

0 Users found this helpful

I can't really answer your questions about the reason for fragmentation, but I doubt that the file will change in the future. The file asrm.bin is the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager binary; the program that boots the PC to the Acronis recovery environment. If it's fragmented then, really, so what? It won't affect the operation of Windows in any way, shape, or form. It may only slow down the recovery environment's boot time by a few tens of milliseconds. Since the recovery environment is not used very often, the fact that the file is fragmented should not be a big concern.

Even if you figure out a way to defrag the file, I would not recommend doing so. If the new recovery environment in TI 2010 is implemented anything like the recovery environments were in the previous versions of TI, it is referenced at boot time by absolute sector. So if you somehow manage to move the file to a different location, the recovery environment will probably fail to boot. That could be why access permissions have been set up to deny access to the file.

I have made the same observation. It does not look clean.
This file should just be allocated in one block such as the hibernation file when you create it ...

Hello all,

No worries, I will clarify this query for you.

First of all, thanks to Mark, your recommendations are absolutely correct.

tarting from Acronis True Image Home 2009 Build 9788 or higher Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is independent from Acronis Secure Zone, it is stored on the system partition in the \bootwiz\asrm.bin file.

Kernel.dat and Ramdisk.dat are built-in. The folder is hidden and cannot be copied, moved, edited.

With the regular Acronis True Image Home 2009 (2010) uninstallation through Add/Remove programs Acronis Startup Manager is removed.

Acronis Startup Recovery Manager will not work after defragmentation on the first launch of the operating system:

Defragmentation will relocate the sectors with bootwiz. On the first launch of the operating system after the defragmentation, a special script will automatically reactivate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager. However, in this particular case Acronis Startup Recovery Manager will not be offered.

Activating the Secure Zone creates a hidden, protected file C:\bootwiz\asrm.bin. Running my defrag program -- PerfectDisk 10 Build 119 -- identifies 100-200 excess fragments within the asrm.bin file. Access to this file is denied, so the file cannot be defragmented even during a boot defrag of system files.

It looks like your defragmentation software has detected this file as fragmented because of its protection. Please leave the situation as is.

Please do not defragment this binary, it may affect Startup Recovery Manager booting and your system health.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Regards,

I have the same problem with C\bootwiz\asrm.bin, but using Diskeeper 2010 I cannot defrag from boot. Any comments or help please. I am using Acronis True Image Home 2010. And before windows boots I get the usual press F11 command.

Paul