Acronis True Image media will not boot

[jhansman]

Downloaded TI trial, got a legit 30-day serial, did a backup of C: and created bootable rescue media on a CD-R. When I restart my system, upon access to either of my optical drives with the rescue CD inserted, I get the message "Acronis loader fatal error: boot drive not found. Press Enter to try to boot to your OS." I normally boot from an SSD, so I'm wondering if the Acronis CD doesn't recognize the drive? In any case, why would that eveb matter, if the media created should just boot the system into TI's recovery interface? Any help here is most appreciated, as I cannot raise any help from the company. Thanks.

 

[Auric]

Yeah, it must be starting to load from disc and failing otherwise it has put crap on your drive that it is looking for. Did you search their forum?

 

[C1]

Ya, it's not likely a trial version is going to allow you to make an unfettered bootable rescue CD.

 

[jhansman]

So, how exactly, do they expect you to find out if their "trial" is worth the $$ if it's crippled? Nothing on their site or in the program to indicate this feature is disabled in the trial. I tried to connect with their TS via chat, but no one ever came online. I'm thinking it has to do with my C: drive being an SSD, but cannot say for sure. If I learn anything, I'll post it here. Right now I'm using Norton Ghost, which came with my Sammy 830, and it's bootable media works fine (even finds my external SATA drive), so I may end up just sticking with it.

 

[hennessy1]

What you can try is make an acronis account. Register your license key(not sure if it will allow you never tried on a trial). If it did work it will show you your registered products. One of the tabs on your product will said bootable media. Download that it is an iso file and burn it and then try booting.

I do not believe it has to do with an ssd as I have used it myself on boot ssd's and has worked fine.

 

[jhansman]

I did register the key and emailed their tech support. Hope to hear back from them; good to know it works on with your SSD, but I might drop an old spinner in just to see if it matters. Can't imagine what else would stop it from booting. I can boot from other CDs and DVDs, so I'm stumped.

 

[hennessy1]

Did you only try the cd you made through windows or did you also try the iso file they provide for you as well?

 

[corkyg]

Bootable Rescue Media can only be created by registered/paid for TrueImage. Otherwise, they would be out of business in short order. Once you have created valid bootable media, it will work on any machine and TrueImage doesn't need to be installed.

Been using Acronis TI since version 4 - now on 2013. Never had Rescue Media fail in any format.

 

[jhansman]

Bootable Rescue Media can only be created by registered/paid for TrueImage. Otherwise, they would be out of business in short order. Once you have created valid bootable media, it will work on any machine and TrueImage doesn't need to be installed.

Been using Acronis TI since version 4 - now on 2013. Never had Rescue Media fail in any format.

This makes sense, but again, how is one to know the trial is worth paying for if it is only half baked? I can make a backup image of C:, but I can't actually tell if that image can be accessed via bootable media? Also, with only a trial key, the program would time out after 30 days, and then the boot CD would be worthless. BTW, the ability to make a rescue CD is enabled in the trial, while "Clone Disk" is not, so whatever limitations are imposed on the trial, bootable media is not one. No, this makes no sense to me. I will, however, see about downloading the ISO file and if that brings any satisfaction.

 

[corkyg]

Until fairly recently, the abolity to create Rescue Media was always grayed out. The purpose of the trial is not whether or not good Rescue Media can be created. And, when the trial period is over, valid Rescue Media would still be good because it is totally indenpendent of the installed program.

You can try the ISO route, but unless it is created by a fully owned prograsm, my prediction is, it will not work.

Have you tried checking FAQs, etc. on the Acronis FZorum?

http://forum.acronis.com/

See Section 5 here: (ISO File not available to Trial Version)

http://kb.acronis.com/content/4828

 

[jhansman]

Went online with their TS chat, and he had me d/l that ISO, which I burned (this time to a DVD), and it too failed. The tech I was on with said that it should work just as it would were it fully purchased, so now I'm at a complete loss. Very strange. The fact that the error message is saying "boot drive not found" still leads me to think it's choking on my SSD as the primary, bootable partition in the system. Why is beyond me.

 

[corkyg]

Try using the ISO to create a bootable thumb drive. Then boot with it - that is, provided you can control the boot source. I created my 2 SSDs with an Acronis bootble thumb drive.

I don't see how your SSD has any bearing. When booting from an optical disk, the OS drive is not involved at all if you have your BIOS set right.

 

[hennessy1]

You shouldn't have to but are there any BIOS updates for your motherboard/computer?

I do not think it is the ssd. I have used acronis on several types of ssd's and even raid 0 ssd arrays no message about that it can not find the boot drive. Acronis does not care whether there is a bootable hdd/ssd in the system because if it did how else would you restore an image to a blank drive. Could also be your optical drive.

Different versions of acronis have different built in drivers in the premade iso from them. For example the 2011 edition had a driver for an hp 410i raid card but the 2012 edition did not I know this because when I tried to restore an image to a drive on the card from a 2012 it did not see any drives. Popped in the 2011 disc and all was well.

 

[jhansman]

Try using the ISO to create a bootable thumb drive. Then boot with it - that is, provided you can control the boot source. I created my 2 SSDs with an Acronis bootble thumb drive.

I don't see how your SSD has any bearing. When booting from an optical disk, the OS drive is not involved at all if you have your BIOS set right.

Hmmm, didn't think of that. Will give it a go, thanks. Something weird is going on here...

 

[jhansman]

You shouldn't have to but are there any BIOS updates for your motherboard/computer?

Yes, I am about four iterations behind, but have always not fixed what wasn't broken. Perhaps it is time to update. I actually need to tear my system down, as the front USB ports in my Antec case no longer work and I have a new vidcard on the way, so this could be part of a general overhaul.

 

[corkyg]

The main thing is that your BIOs should force optical boot first before any other choice. That way, your OS does not get involved.

 

[jhansman]

Right, and I set it up twice so both optical drives were the first boot device, and it choked each time. Burned each disc on each drive, too. I can choose the boot device during the POST as well, and that didn't work either. Perhaps its in the burn? I dunno...

 

[Aikouka]

One thing that I find odd is that I can't use the Acronis USB boot image in my desktop. I have to use the DVD as I get some Linux boot error. Unfortunately, it's been awhile, so I can't remember the error off the top of my head. Although, I was able to use the USB boot image on my laptop without a problem.

 

[jhansman]

Interesting you should mention Linux, as I got this email from a tech at Acronis:

" I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience cuased to you due to our software. You mentioned that computer does not boot with Acronis Bootable Media, I will definitely assist you with this.

I request you to send us the screen shots of the issue, taken with a digital camera, so that we may analyse the issue in a better way. If it stucks at a point that says 'Acronis Loading Please Wait', you may follow the steps to troubleshoot the issue mentioned in the steps below:

Boot the computer from Acronis bootable rescue CD
Hit F11 key either on the selection screen which some of Acronis products provide or when Starting Acronis Loader... message appears
Modify the Kernel Settings and click OK to proceed

To know how to put Kernel settings, please follow the link below:

http://kb.acronis.com/content/1891"

I replied that I'd send a screenshot (photo, actually), but none of that 'kernel' reference made any sense to me, til now. Onward and forward....

 

[jhansman]

Well, I installed the trial on my laptop, burned a recovery CD, and sure enough....it worked like a charm. So, I can only assume there is something about my desktop the CD chokes on at boot; my guess is it's either a BIOS setting or the SSD drive. This weekend I'm upgrading my graphics card, so while I'm in there, I'll pop in a spinner as a boot drive and see what gives.

 

[corkyg]

Yea! I was almost ready to PM you to snail a bootable CDR.

 

[Aikouka]

This weekend I'm upgrading my graphics card, so while I'm in there, I'll pop in a spinner as a boot drive and see what gives.

You could just disconnect the SSD and give it a try. No need to have any bootable (or "system") drives there since you just care to see if it loads.

 

[jhansman]

You could just disconnect the SSD and give it a try. No need to have any bootable (or "system") drives there since you just care to see if it loads.

Didn't try that, but did put in a spinner with the Win8 preview on it (which is growing on me), and same same; I suspect even if, as you say, no drive were installed, I'd still get this error. So, it must be a BIOS setting; my Asrock 890FX uses a UEFI BIOS, if that matters. I can't imagine what else would cause the disc to choke like that. I've been in touch with a tech from Acronis, and he has no more idea what it could be than do I.

BTW, I appreciate those who have hung in there with me on this. Most would read and move one. Thanks.