Testing bootable rescue media
To maximize the chances of your computer’s recovery if need arises, you must test that your computer can boot from the rescue media. In addition, you must make sure that the recovery media contains all drivers required for operation of your mass storage devices and network adapter.
If you purchased a boxed version of the product that has a bootable CD, please test this CD.
To test the rescue media:
1) Configure your computer so as to enable booting from the rescue media and make your rescue media device (CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive or USB stick) the first boot device. See Arranging boot order in BIOS.
If you have a rescue CD, press a key to start booting from the CD, as soon as you see the prompt “Press any key to boot from CD”. If you fail to press a key within five seconds, you will need to restart the computer. When using other rescue media, the procedure will be similar.
2) After the computer boots into the recovery environment, choose Acronis True Image Home 2011 (full version) in the boot menu.
3) When the program starts, make sure that it detects all the hard drives you have in your system. Also, check external drives if you use them for storing backups. You must attach the external drive(s) before booting from the rescue media. Otherwise, the recovery environment might not detect the drive(s).
To check the drives, start Backup Wizard by clicking My Disks below Back Up on the Welcome screen. Select a disk to back up at the What to back up step and click Next. Click the Browse button to the right of the Backup location field. When the Browse for location window opens, check that all your drives are shown under My Computer. Having checked the drives, click Cancel to close Backup Wizard.
4) If you store your backups on the network, you should also check that you can access the network in the recovery environment. This is necessary because when booted from the rescue media, Acronis True Image Home 2011 might not detect the network.
If no computers are visible on the network, but the Computers Near Me icon is found under My Computer (see the screen shot), ensure that a DHCP server is running on your network. If you don’t use a DHCP server, specify network settings manually in the window available at Tools & Utilities ® Options ® Network adapters.
If the Computers Near Me icon is not available under My Computer, there may be problems either with your network card or with the card driver provided with Acronis True Image Home 2011.