Acronis True Image 10 Home

Mombodog,

On the version 11 trial I have now, the partition you create is hidden, and you choose which real partition on your hard drive you want to create it in.  Under computer, the total space of your hdd will then show as being less, depending on how big you made the partition.  It doesn't affect the other partitions or the number of partitions originally on your hdd.  It is just hiidden on the c drive and you can resize it in the Acronis program.  It is required now to create one to use the "Try and Decide" new feature.  When you start that, anything you do on your computer while it's on will supposedly only change the hidden partition, and will completely reverse if you restart your computer without selecting the option to make it permanent.

 

Everything seems fine with the new trial, like the F11 at startup works, and I made a new bootable restore disk like you're supposed to do after every update to the program.  The new disk reportedly has the options to wipe the hdd, good it you're disposing of the hdd or computer because you bought a new one.

"It doesn't affect the other partitions or the number of partitions originally on your hdd"

 

If it creates a partition, which it does, then it does affect the others, changing the partition structure on a Dell with XP will alter the MBR that contains the links for the Dell partitions, Yes Dell XP partitions are linked together in the MBR, adding or changing a partition can possibly damage the links, making Symantec restore inoperable and also the Media direct partition sometimes.

 

Most of the cases I have dealt with are modifications to the C partition, like using the XP CD to do a repair of XP, this definitely damages the Symantec partition link, making it unusable. They can be repaired but is a challenge. DCF forums are full of posts on this type of damage. And thanks to Dan Goodell we can repair them http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/index.htm

 

So I am hesitant to recommend any partition modifications on A Dell with XP until I know there are no consequences.

 

Vista is another story, not much has been written on the Dell partition structure with Vista, and what problems occur if any when modifying the MBR.

 

Not sure if the Acronis hidden partition does any link damage for sure, but would like first hand knowledge from others if it does in XP or Vista.

 

Here is a informative exchange I had with Dan Goodell about XP and the "linked" partitions.

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_harddrive&message.id=132550

Thank you for that informative correction.  Do you think I can still count on all the features of TI 11 to work smoothly, even if I may not be able to use the Dell factory image partition (which I don't want to use anymore anyway), or any other problems do you foresee now that I've altered the master boot record?

"Do you think I can still count on all the features of TI 11 to work smoothly, even if I may not be able to use the Dell factory image partition "

 

Yes

 

Altering the MBR was not really a big issue untill Dell started doing some non-standard things (hidden and linked partitions) with the MBR on their XP installations.

 

Like I said I am not sure that these XP issues even exist with Vista, but I shure would like to know. Unfortunately I do not have a Dell PC with Vista from the factory to mess with myself.

I agree with mombodog on this if you want to maintain the Dell restore function it is best to leave it alone. I myself always wipe everything and reinstall whenever I purchase a Dell. Or for persons that would like to create their own restore system the way they have it set...

 

pcgeek11

Hi to all, new Dell user here....

 

I own an Inspiron 1720 notebook. I decided to create image backup of the entirely Hard Drive (Partitions and MBR) with Acronis, first to install Windows XP and customizing HDD, in order to completely restore the notebook as shipped,  if i need it. For this goal I used Acronis True Image 11 Home; it worked (i saved image backup on two DVD) but something was going wrong. It has restored successfully Dell Utility, Recovery and Vista OS partitions, but when 1720 is turned off, and I press MediaDirect Key, the introductive screen appears but suddenly Vista is loading... I am not able to launch MediaDirect from MD key when Inspiron is turned off, it fails to initialize...

 

I have already tried to reinstall MediaDirect (I got error during installation, after that process hangs...) and to repair Media Direct trough the repair utility, but did not help...

 

 

Some Ideas? Is there someone that has reached this goal with the new Inspiron/Vostro Vista based laptops?

 

Thanks for listening

Here is the Dell Media Direct Repair Utility, reported to work on Vista, post back if you decide to try it.

 

http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R121517&formatcnt=1&libid=0&fileid=212557

-To mombodog and Agent001:

 

Thanks for reply. I already tried to recover MediaDirect trough the Driver and Utilities DVD (with the utility to repair inside) that Dell shipped with Inspiron...

 

-To mombodog:

 

About Drivers and Utilities DVD (where there is Dell MediaDirect Repair Utility inside) I can read on it after P/N....: Rev. A00 May 2007

 

On the Dell site, the revision of downloadable version is: Rev. A05 June 17 2007....

 

Do you think that new rev of recovery software can help me?

 

-To Agent001:

 

I have Dell MD 3.3 and my system is Vista based. I will try with new repair utility revision adn I will post back for results

 

P.S. Dell customized MBR, saved from another similar machine like Vostro, could help me in restoring Inspiron and MD partition as Dan Goodell describe here??

Do a startup repair using the Vista DVD.

I tried to repair trough MD Repair utility Rev A05...Now when I press MD button, notebook turn on, Dell MediaDirect screen introduction appears but the "NTLDR is missing... press any key to restart" message pop up....

 

OK, I a pressed enter and a new message appears:

 

Loading PBR for descriptor 1...done.

 

NTLDR is missing... press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart (I tried to restart but message still pop up..)

 

I turned off. Again, I tried to launch MD trough MD key, and now I get a new message:

All of Dan Goodell's work is based on XP, he is doing nothing for Vista and has no plans to in the future, so in short, I don't know if it will work or not.

Hi again, it is me...:smileytongue:

 

Leave behind Inspiron issues for the moment....

 

Now, I have a new Vostro 1700 in my hands; It is "sw sealed", it has still boot for the first time, so Vista was never loaded, as Dell Utility and MediaDirect also. It is still at the factory state...

 

 

How can I do to perfectly create image backup of entire disk (saving data, partitions, MBR....everything that must be saved for correct restore) in order to restore Vostro exactly as shipped and never turned on? Can I use Acronis for this purpose? Which version you suggest? Can someone drive me to reach the goal?

 

Thanks for listening