OK I need a sales pitch on why to update (and if Acronis works with password protected USB WD Passport drives)

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I've been a happy Acronis user for years with XP. It has worked there and I also used to use Norton Ghost. Back in those days I actually had a separate "D" drive just for backups, internal. That IMO is the best way, but now I have Windows 7 on a modern ThinkPad laptop (Core 2 uP) and a WD Passport USB external drive for the HD image file. I think that's the problem, the WD drive, getting ahead of myself. To unlock the WD drive you need to provide a password.

So after backup with Acronis True Image Home 2011, Build 5519 (ancient?), I of course was shocked to see it could not restore (failed to read HD). Luckily it did not write to my HD or I'd not be posting now, but instead spending a day doing a dreaded clean reinstall.

My question: this problem is as old as the hills I'm sure, or at least a couple of years old, which in the internet is about the same. I don't mind spending money to fix it. So how?

Some suggestions I can think of:

1) buy the latest version of Acronis--maybe they have worked with WD to solve this "password problem"?

2) buy a plain old USB drive, one preferably not made by WD, that does not automatically lock the HD (or somehow you can override it).

3) somehow unlock the WD USB external hard drive--how? Maybe somebody knows how. Then presumably it will be read on bootup. Maybe.

4) make sure your BIOS is set up to allow reads from the USB HD--I don't think that's the problem but I can double check. This is also a gotcha I believe--you old pros know more than me. ThinkPads I think are set up default not to read ext HD on reboot...I'll have to check...what key do you hit to check BIOS, F2? I'll Google that...

5) perhaps Windows Security Essentials is set up to not allow HD modifications (boot sector)? That's the only antivirus program I use, except for the Windows default software firewall and a DSL hardware firewall.

Any advice appreciated. Like I say, I am happy at least I don't have to do a clean reinstall...the reason I was doing a restore was to get rid of a program that does not uninstall easily.

This is not time critical--I thank the volunteers for reading--and I'll check this forum in the next few days for answers. As I say, I need a rock solid protocol so that if and when I really need to do a restore I'll not be shocked out of my gourd if it does not restore, as I was today.

GG

ven 14/09/2012 - 21:42
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Acronis True Image does work with WD Passport drives. I use several WD Passport drives.

You can run backups from the Windows version of Acronis True Image to a WD Passport drive, after first mounting and logging into the WD Passport drive (assuming that you have it password protected).

if using the Acronis True Image bootable Recovery Media, booted either from CD or USB flash drive, you won't be able to login to your WD Passport drive. That is not the fault of Acronis, but is because Western Digital has not provided a Linux-compatible version of WD SmartWare (Western Digital's software/firmware that enables password protection and other features). I, and others, have asked Western Digital to produce a Linux-compatible version, but it hasn't happened.

When the time comes that you need to do a recovery/restore from a backup, you would have to first connect the WD drive to a Windows PC, unlock the drive, and set it not to use a password for subsequent connections. Then you could connect the now unprotected drive, boot from the Recovery Media and perform your recovery/restore. Afterwards, you could of course then restore the password protection.

As for versions, it's up to you if you want to get True Image 2013. If 2011 does what you need, you could stick with it. There are some additional features in the newer version, and the new version is compatible with Windows 8 if that is an issue for you. You can check the web site for other differences. If you do decide to get 2013, do a full disk backup first, then fully uninstall 2011 before installing 2013.

ven 14/09/2012 - 21:55
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