Acronis disk Director

[dreemwarrior]

:sa:Ok folks. On the subject of hard drive partitioning/resizing: I recently did a clean install of Vista on my primary HD, but not thinking ahead, I didnt set up partitions first. Now I'm left with the task of resizing primary disk/primary partition, and setting second HD as a logical. There are probably much better conf.(please share).
Here is the issue. After resizing with ADD, verifying drive type and settings, acronis restarted the machine-ran confirmations during boot:
Analizing drives...100%
Locking drives:.....100%
Checking partitions....100%

assigning partitions....100%
Assign Drive letters....100%
*Reboot*
Now that windows has started, here is what I see:

Absolutely no change. Other than EVERY drive is assigned as Master Boot!
I ran it a second time: no change. If youll note the msg in acronis log, there are error codes there. When I go to the website...there is no such codes I can find.
The software if very user friendly, if you take the time to study it.
So....Q&A Time. Anyone encountered this issue before?

 

[dreemwarrior]

Well, as far as the issues with Acronis Disk Director, that still applies. HOWEVER, I thought I'd share how I managed to get the job done,( with a few hiccups), and what I learned along the way in hopes I can save someone a nights sleep, and possibly a hard drive.
First, a few must have utilities:
1.Good imaging software
2.GOOD backup image of HD( either on CD, alt. HD, network...)
3.A tested boot cd (gets you back in the door,just in case)
4.Vista OS DVD
5.Several hours, lots of patience.
First off, Acronis did absolutely nothing that it claimed. Partitioning failed. Repeatedly. But it did seem to have one good feature...a bootable cd imaging feature, adn a multiple OS install/booter. So I created boot disks, as well as a flash booter. Tested fine. I then using Macrium, I made a complete image of primary HD, and stored it on #2, as well as an ISO on cd for good measure, a bootable Cd
as well. I then created partitions, rebooted the system(mistake #1) and entered bios reset raid controllers. The factory Dell bios setting is raid-on for some reason; I then changed the setting to autodetect-sata.I then got a message stating changing the raid settings could possibly result in loss of data or corrupt OS. No worries, i was prepared with disks, images, .... Restarted system,and.... unable to load OS.
The first Cd i grabbed was the bootable rescue disk i made with Acronis. It had a PE installed on HD...supposedly. Just as it was loading Acronis msg; no hard drives found! GRR Inserted Macrium rescue and it was able to at least see the drives, but couldnt install OS. I finally had to remove #2 HD, and reset bios to RAID. Restarted system, and with Macrium was able to rebuild image perfectly. Still amazed. Because not only did Acronis NOT boot, nor did it partition, it erased most of all data from both drives.
The image I made with macrium and stored on HD was there, dismounted it, and rebuilt MBR with it. Then reinstalled second HD, and proceeded to format/partition as planned. From the start of Macrium loading boot files/img to verifying files and image-25 min.
Well, I hope we all learned a valuable lesson here. I know I did.

1. Just because you pay for software dosent make it better.
2. Always keep a good snapshot or image of your drive on hand.
3. Verify your "bootable" Cd is in fact bootable.
4. If your unsure of what your doing-dont... unless you have lots of time to spend cursing at your system.
5. And above all, make sure you have a trusted support system like vistax64 to bail you out!
Til next time...