Beware of Acronis Hanging Up Your Computer

[Crispy Critter]

It happened to me so many times, I am giving up using the
Startup Manager and the OS Selector. Both can hang up your computer
disallowing you from loading Windows. This is a very ridiculous and
inexcusable situation. The Startup Manager does not allow you to load
your Windows if you have removed the drive that contains the Acronis
Zone.
The OS Selector can lose its configuration file and comes and tells
you just "Press RETURN to Reboot". When you press "RETURN" nothing
happens. When you reboot, you get back to the same message.
Actually, the OS Selector precedes just about anything that you use
to start your Windows. An extremely ridiculous situation.
There are more real funny things that still exist in the Acronis
products. When you try to create the Acronis Secure Zone, you
get a choice of drives where you would like to install it. I just
chose one of my external drives with 78.77GB free on it. Then I
get a totally incompehensible and ridiculous window that says:

"Please specify the Acronis Secure Zone size. Acronis Secure Zone must
be large enough to contain the backup file you are going to create."

After this phrase it has a gadget from "Minimum Partition Size
39.22MB" to "Maximum Partition Size: 75.17 GB".
Then it shows another gadget for your choice of sizes.

Well, Acronis must thing it is talking to Aliens! What in the name of
God does tha bove phrase mean? Acronis Secure Zone must be large
enough to contain the backup file you are going to create?
This is really a stupid statement. Am I supposed to know the total
size of all the backups I am going to create in the future? If not,
then what?

Now, we come to the crown stupidity of the Acronis products. When you
continue with your creation of the Secure Zone, you get the following
message:

"The hard disk you have selected is not available when booting your
computer and you will be able to restore data from Acronis Secure Zone
located on this drive only after booting of operating system."

Who programmed this? Ang why is Acronis not correcting this garbage
after all these versions?

maria

Windows XP, 1GB Ram

Well, sounds a bit dodgy but obviously the solution is to create a secure
zone on you main HDD and then you will never get these issues.

 

[Anna]

Well, sounds a bit dodgy but obviously the solution is to create a secure
zone on you main HDD and then you will never get these issues.

Crispy Critter:
Without commenting directly re Maria's specific comment concerning sizing
the Acronis Secure Zone, let me address my remarks to your suggestion re
creating that "secure zone" on one's main HDD.

In my view this is not a good idea for the following reason...

It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of ATI users have as their
objective - to create a failsafe (or at least, near failsafe) backup system
of their day-to-day working HDD. Is that not so?

Using the ATI program, a user has two basic approaches in achieving this
objective...
1. Creating a direct disk-to-disk clone, and/or,
2. Creating a disk image of an individual partition or the entire contents
of the HDD.

Presumably, the Acronis Secure Zone is designed to contain a disk image on a
partition that's more or less "off limits" to non-Acronis programs &
applications attempting to access its contents. So it theoretically serves a
purpose by safely ensconcing the disk image that the user created. But if
that Secure Zone is created on one's main HDD, i. e., the drive that the
user wants back up, what happens when that drive fails and for one reason or
another is not bootable? Adios to the "secured" disk image, no?

It seems to me that if one desires to create this Secure Zone it should be
created on either another internal HDD or perhaps, more preferably a USB or
Firewire or SATA external HDD.

And by the way - even if Maria was to create the ASZ on her main HDD she
would still have to "size" it, would she not?
Anna

 

[Rod Speed]

Crispy Critter:
Without commenting directly re Maria's specific comment concerning
sizing the Acronis Secure Zone, let me address my remarks to your
suggestion re creating that "secure zone" on one's main HDD.

In my view this is not a good idea for the following reason...

It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of ATI users have as their objective - to create a
failsafe (or at least, near failsafe)
backup system of their day-to-day working HDD. Is that not so?

Yes. But you are confusing the use of the secure zone with
the use of an external drive as the destination for images.

TI allows you to use an external drive for the images,
its JUST saying that there is a significant downside
with using a SECURE ZONE on that external drive, you
cant actually boot from it if say the internal hard drive dies.

So recovery isnt as effortless as it would be if you
had the secure zone on an extra internal drive instead.

Using the ATI program, a user has two basic approaches in achieving this objective...
1. Creating a direct disk-to-disk clone, and/or,

That isnt going to help with an external drive with most systems.

2. Creating a disk image of an individual partition or the entire contents of the HDD.

Wrong, the other obvious alternative it to continue to use
the secure zone on the external drive or continue to use
the external drive for the images, and dont use a secure
zone on it. Both mean that recovery from a failure of the main
internal hard drive that is usually booted from wont be as easy.

Presumably, the Acronis Secure Zone is designed to contain a disk
image on a partition that's more or less "off limits" to non-Acronis
programs & applications attempting to access its contents.

Its partly that, but also doesnt require the user to manually create
a separate partition for the images on the drive being imaged.
That isnt necessary when the images are written to an external
drive, there isnt the same need for the secure zone in that situation.

So it theoretically serves a purpose by safely ensconcing the disk image that the user created.
But if that Secure Zone is created on one's main HDD, i. e., the drive that the user wants back
up, what happens when that drive fails and for one reason or another is not bootable? Adios to the
"secured" disk image, no?

Yes, but that isnt the only reason for creating images. You are still
protected against viruses, doing something stupid to the OS install etc.

It seems to me that if one desires to create this Secure Zone it should be created on either
another internal HDD or perhaps, more preferably a USB or Firewire or SATA external HDD.

Or just use the external drive as a destination for the images, with
or without a secure zone on that, and accept that you wont be able
to do the most effortless recovery if the OS partition gets screwed.

And by the way - even if Maria was to create the ASZ on her main HDD she would still have to
"size" it, would she not?

Yeah, she's completely off with the fairys on that aspect.

 

[maria]

It happened to me so many times, I am giving up using the
Startup Manager and the OS Selector. Both can hang up your computer
disallowing you from loading Windows. This is a very ridiculous and
inexcusable situation. The Startup Manager does not allow you to load
your Windows if you have removed the drive that contains the Acronis
Zone.
The OS Selector can lose its configuration file and comes and tells
you just "Press RETURN to Reboot". When you press "RETURN" nothing
happens. When you reboot, you get back to the same message.
Actually, the OS Selector precedes just about anything that you use
to start your Windows. An extremely ridiculous situation.
There are more real funny things that still exist in the Acronis
products. When you try to create the Acronis Secure Zone, you
get a choice of drives where you would like to install it. I just
chose one of my external drives with 78.77GB free on it. Then I
get a totally incompehensible and ridiculous window that says:

"Please specify the Acronis Secure Zone size. Acronis Secure Zone must
be large enough to contain the backup file you are going to create."

After this phrase it has a gadget from "Minimum Partition Size
39.22MB" to "Maximum Partition Size: 75.17 GB".
Then it shows another gadget for your choice of sizes.

Well, Acronis must thing it is talking to Aliens! What in the name of
God does tha bove phrase mean? Acronis Secure Zone must be large
enough to contain the backup file you are going to create?
This is really a stupid statement. Am I supposed to know the total
size of all the backups I am going to create in the future? If not,
then what?

Now, we come to the crown stupidity of the Acronis products. When you
continue with your creation of the Secure Zone, you get the following
message:

"The hard disk you have selected is not available when booting your
computer and you will be able to restore data from Acronis Secure Zone
located on this drive only after booting of operating system."

Who programmed this? Ang why is Acronis not correcting this garbage
after all these versions?

maria

Windows XP, 1GB Ram