Anyone successfully created a USB bootable recovery image with Acronis?

[Russ]

How much room do you need on a USB drive for the Acronis Boot Image?
Does it have to be the ONLY thing on the USB drive?

Willie --

As Cowboy indicated above, a bootable WinPE USB takes only about 325 MB. I made one on a 500MB stick, but the device itself was slow, so I abandoned it. I have one now on an 8GB drive, plus about 25 apps and utilities (AntiVirus, file manager, etc.) that are handy in an "emergency" situation. The whole package uses only about 1.5 GB. I could have used a smaller device, but didn't have anything else smaller.

There is an excellent collection of portable apps and utilities at PortableApps.com, plus a PortableApps environment to manage them all. It's all free stuff -- no "Try and Buy," just free. If you're planning to build a rescue drive, I definitely recommend a visit to PortableApps.

Take care,
Russ

 

[Cowboy]

A few days ago Acronis released an update to Backup and Recovery 11.5 that now supports creation of recovery media using WinPE version 4.0 (Windows 8). I created a 64 bit UEFI recovery disk and copied it to the first partition of a USB drive and booted from it successfully. Since the second partition contains all my backup images all I have to do is plug in the USB drive, boot and recover. I tested it and it works great. About time!!!

 

[Nuspieds]

What type of USB drive were you able to partition and use one part for WinPE and the other for backup images? That's exactly what I also want to do, but Windows only recognizes the first partition on removable storage, so I was never able to access the second partition to store my image backups.

So, please, do tell you accomplished this...an enquiring mind wants to know!

 

[machistmo]

Edit - Edit - Edit.

 

[mlknez]

Now, boot from the usb and try to do a restore... If you backed up to a network drive, it will not show up and you will not be able to use the touch or type keyboard. You will need to plug in a usb hub and use a usb keyboard/mouse.

 

[Cowboy]

What type of USB drive were you able to partition and use one part for WinPE and the other for backup images? That's exactly what I also want to do, but Windows only recognizes the first partition on removable storage, so I was never able to access the second partition to store my image backups.

So, please, do tell you accomplished this...an enquiring mind wants to know!

OK, I used a Western Digital 1 TB USB 3.0 external hard disk drive. WD Elements SE 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive WDBPCK0010BBK-NESN - Newegg.com The problem with a lot of USB flash drives is that the firmware on the stick will not allow you to flip the bit that makes the stick look like a disk drive in Windows. It is always detected as removable storage. This keeps you from creating multiple partitions, making one active and booting from it. However, If you want to try a flash drive I have had a lot of success with flipping the removable | on-line bit on Lexar drives. Anyhow I made the first partition on the WD drive 1 GB and formatted it Fat32. Then I copied the contents of the Acronis recovery CD to that partition and made it active using DISKPART. In the remaining space I created a second partition and formatted it NTFS so it will hold large backup images. When plugged into the surface using just the single cable to the drive the 2 partitions show up as D: and E:. I run Acronis on the surface and backup to the E: drive. When I need to recover I shut down the Surface, depress the down (lower) rocker on the sound volume control and press power on. Then I release power on and continue to depress the sound rocker switch until I see the Surface logo. Then I release the sound switch and the computer boots into Windows PE 4.0 and then starts Acronis. Bob's your uncle!

This arrangement is much better than using the Linux CD. First of all Win PE 4.0 is Windows 8 and has all the native Windows 8 hardware support. The Linux based recovery media from Acronis is famous for not supporting relatively new, and some not so new, hardware devices. Further, with this configuration you can press Alt+Tab while in Acronis and switch to the WinPE command prompt. From there you can run Diskpart, format, and many other utilities that are standard with the Windows Pre-installation Environment. Just remember, when your create the Acronis recovery media it has to be 64 bit to support UEFI boot

Incidentally, using the external USB 3.0 disk drive it takes between 3 and 4 minutes to back up the Surface disk drive.

 

[Nuspieds]

OK, I used a Western Digital 1 TB USB 3.0 external hard disk drive. However, If you want to try a flash drive I have had a lot of success with flipping the removable | on-line bit on Lexar drives. Anyhow I made the first partition on the WD drive 1 GB and formatted it Fat32. Then I copied the contents of the Acronis recovery CD to that partition and made it active using DISKPART.

Yes, I know about the bit flipping and the only one on which I was successful was an old Lexar drive. I had experienced problems with several flash drives and I recently purchased a new Sandisk flash drive and, much to my surprise, it is NOT flagged as removable; therefore, I can create partitions on it.

So tell me about copying the contents of the recovery CD. I use TrueImage and had to follow [URL="http://forum.acronis.com/forum/35238?page=1#comment-129245"]this procedure to create my ISO. Even when I burned the ISO image to a regular USB, my Surface Pro won't boot from it. Since my new Sandisk is not flagged as removable, I cannot use my UltraISO utility to burn the image to it, so I literally tried what you said: Copy the contents of the ISO to the Sandisk, then I used MiniTool to make it Active, but it still wouldn't boot.

Let me know exactly what you did to create the recovery CD/ISO and then how did you transfer that to your primary, active partition on the WD.

Thanks for your help!

 

[machistmo]

I only bought Acronis because it was so cheap and I figured I would investigate its uses. It sounds like for what you want to do Ghost would be the easier utility to use. I have used Ghost for years and still prefer it to anything including Acronis. The software does appear to function as advertised but requires a little more effort than Ghost or even WAIK(Well Maybe not this one).

 

[Nuspieds]

So tell me about copying the contents of the recovery CD. I use TrueImage and had to follow this procedure to create my ISO. Even when I burned the ISO image to a regular USB, my Surface Pro won't boot from it. Since my new Sandisk is not flagged as removable, I cannot use my UltraISO utility to burn the image to it, so I literally tried what you said: Copy the contents of the ISO to the Sandisk, then I used MiniTool to make it Active, but it still wouldn't boot.

Let me know exactly what you did to create the recovery CD/ISO and then how did you transfer that to your primary, active partition on the WD.

So I downloaded Backup and Recover 11.5 and I saw the Bootable Media Builder app; that's definitely different from the instructions I had to follow for TrueImage. Per your helpful info, I made sure I selected 64-bit and I got my USB flash drive with WinPE 4.0 to boot on my Surface.

Okay, so that part works...but only if I use UltraISO to burn to a USB flash drive (i.e., removable medium). Now I need to know you were able to "burn" the ISO image created by Bootable Media Builder to your WD partition.

Thanks!

 

[Nuspieds]

I only bought Acronis because it was so cheap and I figured I would investigate its uses. It sounds like for what you want to do Ghost would be the easier utility to use. I have used Ghost for years and still prefer it to anything including Acronis. The software does appear to function as advertised but requires a little more effort than Ghost or even WAIK(Well Maybe not this one).

Oh, heavens, no!

Back in the DOS and Norton days I used to use Ghost, but I much prefer Acronis' products. I find they provide the better functionality I'm looking for when taking system/volume image backups and restores.

I guess you know by now they are discontinuing "Norton Ghost" and replacing it with "Symantec System Recovery?"

Symantec System Recovery 2013 60-Day Free Trial

 

[machistmo]

I still prefer Ghost. And last time I checked, if you know how, you can still get Ghost. At least we just purchased a copy recently at work and it was not immediately clear but we managed to get it. That product is a back-up related item and not actually Ghost. IIRC.

 

[vampyren]

I keep reading about people who feel secure that they have Acronis running and are doing backups, but I can't get any answer as to whether or not they have successfully booted from an Acronis USB device. As far as secure boot is concerned there is absolutely no problem disabling that and booting from a source that does not have a Microsoft signature on it. I have created WinPE 4.0 UEFI images on USB drives and booted the Surface from them successfully and not encountered any residual problems. Secure boot is just that; a security measure. I believe that you are correct in stating that the hotfix and Acronis 2013 Plus Pack are all 32 bit solutions and therefore not compatible with UEFI. If we could also turn UEFI off and boot in legacy mode then 32 bit would work, but sadly they have disabled that feature on the Surface. I have heard a lot of good things about Macrium and even reviewed their menu driven process for creating a USB recovery image and it looked pretty slick. Acronis has been promising to support UEFI for almost 2 years and they finally do using a Linux CD but they don't support a USB stick. If they don't get it in gear I think Macrium is going to eat their lunch and Macrium is a lot cheaper than Acronis for the server versions.

I am pleased to hear you got it going and thanks for the feedback.

I registered to just say THANK YOU for pointing me to Macrium, i have been using Acronis and payed for 4 years now and for each yearly release i feel more cheated, it was a good product at one point but now its just a badly design, bad user experience and offers little compared to other products. Sure i been trying many other alternatives like Paragon and EaseUs and a few others but none has really been any good for different reasons. So i was skeptic even using this Macrium but waoo its truely a great product. Just the simple fact that it makes me a bootable USB stick with WinPE and my drivers is a great achievement in itself. Acronis have pages of how this is done and its still not a good solution. I also like the nice windows menu option thing so i can boot from WinPE, it detects my external drives where as Acronis did not!
I ended up buying the 4 pack license. Time to say goodbye to Acronis!
Thanks again for mentioning this great program mate.