# Solved: Acronis True Image Corrupted Operating System



## Silvers (Jan 8, 2004)

While attempting to create Acronis True Image 'SecureZone' on my IBM Aptiva desktop running W/98se, the operating system, actually the C: drive, are missing. From what I have since read on the various forums, using the 'Secure Zone' feature was a mistake because it is known for creating problems. After several days of back and forth with the Acronis support people and a referral to their product development group I was advised that my operating system is corrupted and to re-install it. However, it looks to me like I have to reformat the hard drive and loose all data. I am prepared to do that but thought I would check here with the experts to see if it is possible to somehow retrieve my data.

When I boot from the 'Product Recovery & Diagnostics' CD, three options are available: 1. Full Recovery - reformat. 2.Custom recovery - select files to restore without refomatting... 3. System Utilities - run diagnostics or display system information.

When I choose #2. Custom Recovery, the instruction is to specify the file or directory you want to restore - wildcards (*) are valid. So I tried C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\*.* I get the message: 'No files were found. - The file or directory you specified was not found in the original preinstalled software' 

Is my only option to reformat the HD and start over? Tks, Bob


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Did you succeed in creating an image? What do you see on any partitions when you boot from the Acronis recovery CD?


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## Silvers (Jan 8, 2004)

The Acronis program appeared to successfully complete to create the 'secure zone' - got the 'congratulations' message and need to reboot. Clicked OK or Yes or whatever and ended up with a blinking cursor in the upper left corner of the blank screen. I did not create a Acronis recovery CD. 
While working with the Acronis help folks I downloaded a file to a Floppy, and sent them the report file it created.


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## Silvers (Jan 8, 2004)

Also, when I boot from a W/98 startup disk and try to run a directory on C: I get a 'Invalid media type reading drive C:' message.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Possibly the drive letters got changed. Try different letters.

It may prove worth your while to create the Acronis Recovery media on another machine. If you do in fact have a successful image in the Secure Zone, you may be able to recover the image from the Secure Zone and restore it to your C: partition. If you purchased Acronis on CD, you could try booting from that. I don't remember the degree of control over the Secure Zone that you have from the bootable CD, but you may be able to inactivate that, too, after restoring your partition if the machine still won't boot.

Did you have multiple partitions on that drive or just one when you started to create the Secure Zone?


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## Silvers (Jan 8, 2004)

I purchased the SW over the net & downloaded it so I have no CD. Only one partition on the hard drive .. just a plain vanilla setup as it came from IBM. I will pursue your suggestion to create the recovery media on another machine. Thanks, Bob


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

It will probably require installing Acronis on another machine (and then uninstalling, if not wanted), but the recovery media has great potential and I would try that approach. Nearly anything that can be done from Windows with the program can be done from the media. In fact, many people uninstall Acronis and just create images with the CD from time to time.


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## Silvers (Jan 8, 2004)

OK, good input! I will give it a try and report back later. Bob


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## Silvers (Jan 8, 2004)

I created the True Image bootable rescue CD on this PC and tried to boot the problem machine but no luck. Get a message 'starting Acronis Loader', then a blue background full screen with Acronis logo 'Compute with confidence' in the upper right corner, Acronis True Image in large letters across the bottom of screen but it just hangs there. Perhaps it doesn't work because it was created on a machine running XP?? OR, as I suspected all along, The operating system is trashed and re-formatting is the only thing left to do... Bob


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Funny that's as far as it gets. It appears to be loading, but seems to stop at the point where it is probably detecting the partitions. The Acronis CD is created from an ISO image, so it should make no difference where it is made.

Possibly something else went wrong with the machine. You might try a couple simple things to be sure that we are not dealing with another problem that just occerred coincidently. A memory test is easy to perform:

www.memtest86.com

You might also see what the demo of Partition Table Doctor shows you:

http://www.ptdd.com/

If it finds any partition problems, you could purchase the program, but this app is free and may work just as well:

http://users.adelphia.net/~abraxas/dl/partfix.exe

If there are partition table problems, they could be preventing both Acronis and Windows from working properly.

Acronis is an excellent imager that I have had few problems with, so I hope that you don't come to regret getting it because in the long run it will hopefully serve you well.


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## Silvers (Jan 8, 2004)

Additional Info: After letting the Acronis bootable rescue disk screen just sit there for 13 minutes (I timed it), the message 'Unnable to load initial ramdisk. Press <enter> to proceed...' comes up. Pressing enter does nothing. At one point cntrl/alt/del resulted in the message: 'Unable to load Linux Kernel. Press enter to reboot.' When I press enter it attempts to reboot but comes up with the missing operating system message.

Also, since I can get it to boot on the system recovery and diagnostic CD I already have run diagnostics and everything checks out fine. Sorry to say the problem does seem to be with the Acronis True Image SW. From what I have read on their forum, others have also had problems with the 'Secure Zone' feature.


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## Silvers (Jan 8, 2004)

Downloaded and ran the partfix program with these results:
Disk 80 - CHS 1582 255 63 - 12409 MB
Check current partition structure

test_FAT32 :
Boot sector doesn't have the endmark 0xAA55
1 * FAT32 0 1 1 932 254 63 14988582
1 * FAT32 0 1 1 932 254 63 14988582
2 E extended 933 0 1 1581 254 63 10426185
Bad sector count

Time to re-format and start over? Tks, Bob


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Does it give you any option to repair that error? You can also scan the drive for partition tables and possibly find an undamaged copy.

Whether you reformat is up to you. If you have data that you don't want to lose on that drive, you could still try to access the Secure Zone from another machine running Acronis with your drive installed as secondary. If you can access it, you can copy the .tib file or files to the other machine's hard drive, format your drive, and then restore the image to the newly reformatted drive.

If you decide to reformat, you might consider creating a specialized partition just for the Secure Zone that will not affect your other system partition. But generally, the Acronis image should be stored on a second drive or external media. If the drive fails and the image is on that drive, you lose the image at the same time.

If you are at the point of reformatting, you may as well try some of the testdisk options since they can't make anything worse, right?


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## Silvers (Jan 8, 2004)

There were no options to repair the error. To clarify, I never got to create an image so there is no .tib file to access. The failure occurred when the Secure Zone was being created... apparently on top of the operating system. 
Since the Acronis recovery CD didn't work, I created the same recovery files on floppies (7) to run on another W98 machine I have with no CD drive. It ran fine so I loaded them into the problem machine and it loaded okay. (go figure!) One of the options is to Manage Secure Zone so I chose it and removed the secure zone. However, when rebooting, the Missing operating system message is still there. It sure seems like the Secure Zone partition was created over the operating system. I am willing to try running some of the 'testdisk options' you mention but I don't know what tests you are referring to. Sorry to be taking so much time. Bob


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

No problem. I had no specific testdisk options in mind since I don't remember the program that well. There may be none.

I misunderstood and thought that you had created a successful image. At this point, since there is no image to restore, repairing the partition, if possible, appears to be the last option. You could still try Partition Table Doctor to see what it tells you about its ability to repair. But if you are right and the data was overwritten, a format looks like the end of all this.


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## buf (Nov 4, 2001)

I first started with Acronis 6.0, updated from time to time, and am currently running 7.0.0.611--the best build that has worked wonders many times with my machine running Win98SE. I never saw any purpose in upgrading to 8.
I am not sure that what I am about to propose will be of help to you or not. If you still have your registration emails and proof of purchase; etc you should be able to download a copy of your original purchased on line download. I have done it several times. Takes some time to do it but it does work.
I am assuming that you have never successfully made a backup image of your hard drive and if that is true, I would consider doing what I have suggested above. You will have to go on line to your "signup page" to do this. If you are able to download a new copy of the software(I bought mine on line also), and you are satisfied that you have a good complete download(check the size in MBs) then I would remove the version you have presently installed and then install the version you just downloaded. If that works for you, then I would proceed to to get that all important backup image. My backups have saved me numerous times. Until my lowly version 7.0.0.611 starts failing me, then I will consider upgrading.
You have a "pro" in Elvandil working with you but I wish you total and happy success.


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## Silvers (Jan 8, 2004)

Buf, Thanks for your suggestion but I don't think the problem is a faulty download. Others have also had a problem when using the Secure Zone feature of True Image. If only I had read the some of the forums re. Acronis True Image before trying to create SZ, I would have known better. 

Elvandil, As you suggested I tried Partition Table Doctor - downloaded the Demo version. There is a red X in front of partition 1 (C so I tried the fixboot option as outlined in their manual. No luck - message = Cannot fix boot sector of the partition. 

I expect I will spend the week-end re-formatting and re-loading software. Thanks for the help. Bob


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Too bad. Good luck with the fix. If you plan on creating an image on the same drive, you may want to set aside a partition just for that purpose when you install. A second drive or CD's would be better, though.


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## buf (Nov 4, 2001)

You are welcome Bob. Just hope you get things setup the way you want them. You 'might' want to consider keeping the post I made about re-downloading True Image.
And thanks for posting back. Good luck to a big job to be done.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Thanks for the note and congratulations on the recovery of your files. Those partition recovery programs work miracles sometimes, though the docs aren't too clear. They are more capable than they appear at first.


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