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ACRONIS DISK DIRECTOR SUITE 10.0 User Manual

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  • Page 1 Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 User’s guide www.acronis.com...
  • Page 2 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007. All rights reserved. Windows and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their respective owners. Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.
  • Page 3 G. Making telecommunication data transmission of the software. Acronis has the right to terminate this license if there is a violation of its terms or default by the original purchaser. Upon termination for any reason, all copies of the software must be immediately returned to Acronis, and the original purchaser shall be liable to Acronis for any and all damages suffered as a result of the violation or default.

  • Page 4: Table Of Contents

    MANUAL PARTITION OPERATIONS................ 38 ......................38 ARTITION PERATIONS ....................57 DDITIONAL ARTITION PERATIONS CHAPTER 5. WORKING WITH ACRONIS RECOVERY EXPERT ..........67 ........................68 UTOMATIC ECOVERY ......................... 71 ANUAL ECOVERY CHAPTER 6. WORKING WITH ACRONIS DISK EDITOR............. 74 ........................74 ENERAL INFORMATION ...............
  • Page 5 ....................115 YSTEM PECIFICATIONS APPENDIX B. PARTICULARITIES OF OPERATING SYSTEMS..........119 DOS- ....................119 TYPE PERATING YSTEMS 95/98/M ........................121 INDOWS NT/2000/XP........................122 INDOWS .............................. 124 INUX ......................124 THER PERATING YSTEMS APPENDIX C. GLOSSARY........................125 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 6: Introduction

    Introduction Introduction What is Acronis Disk Director Suite? Acronis Disk Director Suite is a complex program that includes partition and boot managers and hard disk data editing tools. With it, you can: Create hard disk partitions • Resize, move, split and merge partitions without data loss or destruction •...
  • Page 7 • Support of boot from CD/DVD in Acronis OS Selector If you insert a bootable CD/DVD, it will be detected and displayed in the Acronis OS Selector boot menu/main window along with available operating systems. The CD/DVD can contain any operating system or bootable program – no matter, you will see its icon in the boot menu.
  • Page 8 Acronis. If you have installation or working problems that you can’t solve by yourself using this manual and the readme.txt file, e-mail the technical support team. You will need to provide the serial number of your Acronis Disk Director Suite copy bundled with the program.

  • Page 9: Chapter 1. Installation And Use

    Installation and Use Chapter 1. Installation and Use System Requirements To take full advantage of Acronis Disk Director Suite you should have: A PC-compatible computer with a Pentium or similar CPU • 128 MB RAM • A floppy or a CD-RW/DVD-RW drive •...

  • Page 10: Upgrading Acronis Disk Director Suite

    During the installation of Acronis OS Selector, the hidden system folder BOOTWIZ will be created on your PC to keep the program loader. Acronis OS Selector will also copy OS system files found on your PC into this folder to avoid problems during bootup and to simplify adding new OS in the future.

  • Page 11: User Interface

    Installation and Use a dialog to confirm removal. Click Yes to confirm and Acronis Disk Director Suite will be completely removed along with Acronis OS Selector. To remove Acronis OS Selector only, select Start Programs Acronis Acronis DiskDirector Install Acronis OS Selector. Then select Uninstall Acronis OS Selector in the installation program window and follow the program instructions.

  • Page 12: Running Acronis Disk Director Suite

    Installation and Use You can invoke system hard disk checking tools directly from Acronis Disk Director Suite by selecting Disk Check or clicking Check the selected partition for errors toolbar button. 3. Do not perform any partition operations while running other software that has low- level disk access, such as antivirus or backup tools.

  • Page 13: Chapter 2. Beginning The Work

    2.1.2 Manual partition operations In this mode, experienced users have access to all Acronis Disk Director Suite features. Partition operations are performed by entering necessary parameters into dialog boxes. The main difference between the automatic and manual modes is that wizards perform operations series in the automatic mode and only single disk/partition operations in the manual mode.

  • Page 14: Acronis Disk Director Suite Main Window

    The main window appearance differs depending on the selected operation mode (see 2.1 «Acronis Disk Director Suite Logical Organization»). The difference applies to the available operation list in the main menu, partition context menus, sidebar and toolbar, and the amount of partition structure details represented.

  • Page 15: Calling Partition Operations

    Beginning The Work Acronis Disk Director Suite main window, Manual Mode 2.2.1 Disk and partition information The main window shows the partition’s disk number, assigned letter, label, type, status, size, free space size and file system. Disk and partition information is also provided in the partition and disk tree.

  • Page 16: Partition Operation Properties

    Recover — recover deleted or damaged partitions (see Chapter 5 «Working with Acronis • Recovery Expert»). Edit — edit hard disk data (see Chapter 6 «Working with Acronis Disk Editor»). • Advanced partition operations are called from the Advanced sidebar list, the same partition context menu item or toolbar button.
  • Page 17 These actions will only change the existing pending operation parameters. If you decide to change the label of a different, existing partition, Acronis Disk Director Suite will immediately create a new pending operation. Thus the same actions sometimes result in the creation of a new pending operation or modification of existing operations.
  • Page 18 User entries are necessary operation parameters on the wizard or dialog box pages. One user action in Acronis Disk Director Suite enables you to plan a list of partition operations, for example, calling a wizard for partition creation or resizing. (You can easily verify your actions by looking at the Pending Operations when the wizard finishes its work.)

  • Page 19: Protecting Acronis Disk Director Suite Witha Password

    Undo Last Action. Ctrl+Z Acronis Disk Director Suite shows the wizard and its results as a user action by creating the list of operations. Any pending actions can be fully undone by any of the mentioned methods, i.e. pressing Undo Last Action will undo a user action and all operations planned by the wizard.

  • Page 20: Viewing Logs

    Password and Confirm New Password fields in the Set Password window. Click OK to enable password protection. If you protect Acronis Disk Director Suite with a password and forget it, you will have to uninstall Disk Director Suite (see 1.5 Removing Software), and install it again.
  • Page 21 To sort messages by a particular parameter, click its header (click again to reverse order) or the Arrange Icons by button (the second from the right) and select the desired parameter. You can also change column width by dragging the borders with a mouse. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 22: Chapter 3. Automatic Partition Operations

    It will ask you to select how to create a new partition: using disk unallocated space. using existing partitions free space Unallocated space is the space not used by any existing partitions. In contrast, partition free space is the space free from any data. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 23 Create a new partition. You can do this in the «Manual partition operations» mode. On the Partition Size wizard page, set the partition size. New partition size window Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 24 EXT2, EXT3, ReiserFS, Swap — or to leave the partition Unformatted. More details about the properties of main file systems, the operating systems, and disks are provided in the A.9 «File System Main Specifications» appendix. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 25 At startup, an operating system assigns letters (C:, D:,…) to partitions. These letters are used by applications and the operating system to locate files on partitions. For example, C:\Program Files\Acronis\Disk Director\DiskDirector.exe. See also Appendix C «Glossary» — «Letter (of a drive, partition)».
  • Page 26 Assigning a partition a new letter or hiding it will prevent only its applications and files from running or opening. Other partitions will not be affected by these operations. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 27 Created partition in the disk partition structure Clicking Finish on this page will make Acronis Disk Director Suite create a pending operation for new partition creation, (your actions may only modify an existing operation. See 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition structure will be graphically represented in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window.
  • Page 28 This means that if these partitions have free space, their size can be reduced. As a result, the freed space will be automatically considered as unallocated (not used by any partitions). A new partition can be created in this space. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 29 The window of existing partition selection to create a new partition By creating a partition using the free space of other partitions, Acronis Disk Director Suite can collect it in such a way that the final partition size is not smaller than 110% of data-occupied space.
  • Page 30 Further actions for partition creation are the same as described in 3.1 «Creating A New Partition» section. Clicking Finish on the last wizard page allows Acronis Disk Director Suite to create a pending operation list for new partition creation (these actions may only modify an existing operation.

  • Page 31: Increasing Partition Free Space

    Automatic Partition Operations Click Finish on the last wizard page to allow Acronis Disk Director Suite to create a pending operation list for new partition creation (these actions may only modify an existing operation. See 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). Increasing Partition Free Space...
  • Page 32 Selecting a partition to use to increase free space On the next wizard page, you will see the maximum size available for the selected partition. You must select the size yourself. Entering the size to increase partition free space Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 33: Copying Partitions

    In the last Preview wizard window, you will see a graphical representation of the new partition structure, including the resized partition. Clicking Finish on the last wizard page will allow Acronis Disk Director Suite to create the pending operation list for partition resizing (your actions may only modify an existing operation.
  • Page 34 You will have to select a copy location on one of the disks, among existing partitions. To make your selection, click before or after a partition to mark where you want to locate the copy. In this example, the copy will be located before the PROGRAM(H:) partition in the figure below. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 35 The selected disk might lack space for a copy. Nevertheless, you can copy a partition by selecting another partition whose space will be partly used. This can be done in the Select Partitions window. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 36 If there is not enough space, the partition will not be copied! On the next Partition Size wizard page, you can provide a desired size. The wizard will automatically determine the minimum and maximum copy size. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 37 3.1 «Creating A New Partition». Clicking Finish on the last wizard page will allow Acronis Disk Director Suite to create the pending operation list for copying a partition (your actions may only modify an existing operation.

  • Page 38: Chapter 4. Manual Partition Operations

    If you need to create a disk partition: Select hard disk and unallocated space in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. The Create partition button will become available on the toolbar, and the Create Partition operation on the sidebar and in the context menu.
  • Page 39 Created partition parameters window By clicking OK, you'll add the pending operation of new partition creation. The new partition structure will be graphically represented in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. Creating a partition in unallocated disk space in Windows 98/Me can change the order of letters assigned to other partitions.
  • Page 40 Copy the selected partition to another free space on the toolbar. Acronis Disk Director Suite will automatically compare the size of a copied partition and disk free space as shown in the Copy Partition window. Free space available for copying Note that the unallocated space is smaller than copied partition size, but its data area is smaller than unallocated space.
  • Page 41 (your actions may only undo or modify already existing operation; see 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition structure will be graphically represented in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. Copying a partition in Windows 98/Me and assigning it a letter can change the order of letters assigned to other partitions.
  • Page 42 Move or a similar item in the Operations sidebar list or click Move the selected partition to another free space on the toolbar. Acronis Disk Director Suite will automatically compare moved partition size and available free space, indicating it in the Move Partition window. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 43 On the next wizard page, select the type of moved partition (Logical — Primary), size and location. Changing partition type is not as necessary here as with partition copying (see 4.1.2 «Copying a partition to unallocated disk space»). Nevertheless, Acronis Disk Director Suite gives you this added flexibility. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 44 You may find that there is not enough free space on a certain partition. For example, maybe it is almost filled with MP3 files. Acronis Disk Director Suite lets you enlarge a partition easily. Reasons for moving a partition were discussed above (see 4.1.3 «Moving a partition to unallocated disk space»).
  • Page 45 (your actions may only undo or modify an existing operation; see 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition structure will be graphically represented in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 46 Manual Partition Operations Acronis Disk Director Suite features a wizard for performing more complex partition resizing (see 3.2 «Increasing Partition»). Simple partition resizing lets you increase partition size only if there is free (unallocated) space before or after a partition. The wizard lets you perform more complex operations such as increasing partition free space at the expense of other partitions.
  • Page 47 Thus, if you divide free space in equal parts, it does not mean that the two resulting partitions will be equal in size. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 48 By clicking Proceed, you'll add a pending operation (your actions may only undo or modify already existing operation; see 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition structure will be graphically represented in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. 4.1.6 Merging partitions You can merge two partitions, even if their file systems are different.
  • Page 49 Edit. To illustrate why it may be necessary, imagine that your operating system failed to boot. You can run Acronis Disk Director Suite from Acronis OS Selector main window (if the program is not installed, start it from bootable disk), and change some critical files contents.
  • Page 50 4.1.9 Formatting a partition Acronis Disk Director Suite lets you logically format a partition. It includes organizing a file system that supports files and folder data storage. If you need to format an existing partition: Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 51 Enter the partition label in the Format Partition window. Format Partition window Select a file system to be created on a partition after formatting. Acronis Disk Director Suite supports the following file systems (see A.9 «File System Main Specifications»): FAT16/FAT32, NTFS — Windows file systems •...
  • Page 52 Wiping unallocated disk space means multiple writing of special data to hard disk sectors. Acronis Disk Director Suite features a rather simple wiping algorithm. During each pass, a symbol sequence or logical zeroes (0x00) or ones (0xFF) is written to unallocated space sectors.
  • Page 53 New Partition». 4.1.11 Checking hard disk partitions for errors Acronis Disk Director Suite enables you to check hard disk partitions for file system errors. Hard disk partitions should be checked before any partition operations (see 1.7 «Before You Run ».
  • Page 54 Windows NT 4.0 and earlier Windows operating systems, it is recommended that you install a third-party disk defragmenter tool. If you need to defragment a hard disk partition: Select a hard disk and partition to defragment in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. Select Disk Defragment or a similar item in the Operations sidebar list, or click Defragment the selected partition on the toolbar.
  • Page 55 Windows tools do not guarantee data destruction. Deleted files can be restored easily. Formatting and even deleting a partition leaves hard disk sector contents the same. Acronis Disk Director Suite offers a simple but reliable algorithm for wiping hard disk unallocated space.
  • Page 56 If you need to clear the entire hard disk: Select a hard disk on the Tree View panel of Acronis Disk Director Suite — Clear the current hard disk drive button becomes available on the toolbar (if there is no Tree View panel in the main window, show it by selecting View Tree View).

  • Page 57: Additional Partition Operations

    Therefore, if you need to destroy confidential information, set the switch to Delete partitions and destroy data! For information about the Acronis Disk Director Suite data wiping algorithm see the commentary for 4.1.10 «Deleting a partition».
  • Page 58 (your actions may only undo or modify already existing operation; see 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). The new partition structure will be graphically represented in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. Only Windows NT/2000/XP lets you change letters assigned to partitions. Windows 98/Me assigns letters to partitions automatically.
  • Page 59 If you replace a small-capacity hard disk with a high-capacity hard disk If you need to convert a FAT16 partition to FAT32: Select the disk and FAT16 partition to convert to FAT32 from the list in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window.
  • Page 60 Manual Partition Operations Select a disk and a partition to hide in the list in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. Execute operation of partition hiding by selecting Disk Hide or a Advanced similar item in the Advanced sidebar list, or by clicking...
  • Page 61 A disk can have only one active partition. If you need to set an active partition: Select a primary partition to set to active from the list in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window.
  • Page 62 Acronis Disk Director Suite lets you change the root size of existing partitions. If you need to resize a FAT16 partition root: Select a disk and FAT16 partition from the list in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. Select Disk...
  • Page 63 However, reducing FAT32 partition cluster size might increase the space occupied by the file allocation table (FAT) and slow down file access. If you need to change cluster size: Select a disk and partition from the list in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. Select Disk...
  • Page 64 OS, it must be assigned a corresponding type. If you need to change partition type: Select a disk and partition from the list in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. Select Disk...
  • Page 65 If you need to resize an i-node table of an existing Linux Ext2/Ext3 partition: Select a disk and Linux Ext2/Ext3 partition from the list in the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 66 By clicking OK in the Change bytes per i-node window, you'll add the pending operation of Linux Ext2/Ext3 partition i-node resizing (your actions may only undo or modify an existing operation, See 2.4.5 «Modifying pending operations»). Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 67: Chapter 5. Working With Acronis Recovery Expert

    It uses a wizard interface. You can run Acronis Recovery Expert in the following ways. While working with Acronis Disk Director Suite in the Automatic mode: Using Recover Partition item in the wizards section of the Acronis Disk Director • Suite main window sidebar Using the respective main menu item •...

  • Page 68: Automatic Recovery

    Working with Working with Acronis Recovery Expert Acronis Recovery Expert checks to see if your hard disks contain unallocated space. If you have none, then it makes no sense to search for deleted partitions. If you have unallocated space, it may have contained one or more partitions. Acronis Recovery Expert will search unallocated space thoroughly –...
  • Page 69 – called the partition table. This sector is called a boot sector or the master boot record (MBR). Acronis Recovery Expert not only checks the partition table for deleted partitions, but also scans the entire disk surface. Therefore the recovery process might take some time to complete.
  • Page 70 Working with Working with Acronis Recovery Expert A deleted partition found Note that you do not have to select partitions for recovery in the automatic mode. Acronis Recovery Expert will recover partitions found. The Recovered Partitions window shows a partition to recover as a part of hard disk partition structure, marking it with an icon in the upper right corner of its rectangle.

  • Page 71: Manual Recovery

    Working with Acronis Recovery Expert If you exit Acronis Disk Director Suite without confirming the partition recovery operation, it will be canceled. Manual Recovery Set the switch to Manual in the Recovery mode window to select the manual recovery mode.
  • Page 72 The Searching for Deleted Partitions window shows you parameters of a partition that existed on the selected unallocated space before it was deleted. A deleted hard disk partition found by Acronis Recovery Expert Unlike in the automatic recovery mode, you do not have to wait until the search for deleted hard disk partitions is finished in the manual mode.
  • Page 73 This finishes partition recovery preparations. To complete this operation, select Commit in the Operations section of the Main menu. If you exit Acronis Disk Director Suite without confirming a partition recovery operation, it will be canceled. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 74: Chapter 6. Working With Acronis Disk Editor

    Editor General information Acronis Disk Editor is a professional-grade program that performs a variety of actions on a hard disk: restore boot records and files and folder structure, find lost clusters, remove computer virus code from a disk and much more.

  • Page 75: Main Window Of The Program

    Working with Acronis Disk Editor Main Window of the Program The main window shows the numbers of disk and sector where the internal program cursor is positioned. It usually contains information about the work of various modes. Below the main window of the program is the view as partition table mode.

  • Page 76: Edit Hard Disks

    The current editing position is shown by the cursor that can be either in the left or right part of the window In this section of the guide, all examples of Acronis Disk Editor’s main window view modes are given for demonstration purposes.

  • Page 77: Write Block To A File And Read From A File

    Working with Acronis Disk Editor see that the Save sector item in Edit menu will become enabled as well as the appropriate toolbar button. If you do not save your changes, you effectively reject them. Save sector operation If you have made changes in a hard disk sector and decide to exit the editor without saving them, you will see a warning about saving your changes.

  • Page 78: View

    Read from a file View Information in the Acronis Disk Editor window can be viewed and edited in several different modes. You can select the appropriate view mode with the help of the View menu. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 79: Search

    Working with Acronis Disk Editor View menu The editor offers seven view modes: • partition table • FAT16 boot sector • FAT32 boot sector • FAT32 FS info sector • NTFS boot sector • FAT folder • Search The Search menu allows you to search a hard disk for some line and to go to a disk sector according to its absolute offset.
  • Page 80 Working with Acronis Disk Editor The Search dialog window A search line can be set both as char and numeric (hexadecimal) values. During a search, you can ignore letter case as well as search for a given line at a given offset inside the sector.

  • Page 81: Working With Different Encodings

    Working with Acronis Disk Editor Working with Different Encodings The main window of the program features a list of encodings available in Acronis Disk Editor. This list is shown closed and dropped down below. The closed and dropped-down list of encodings The list of encodings is intended for correct interpretation of hard disk sector contents.

  • Page 82: Chapter 7. Working With Acronis Os Selector

    The software will also automatically set the parameters and properties for every OS found (see section 7.7 «Setting operating system properties». You can run Acronis OS Selector by clicking the respective item in the tools section of the Acronis Disk Director Suite main window sidebar or in the main menu.
  • Page 83 PC bootup and in the Acronis OS Selector main window under Windows. If you insert a bootable CD/DVD, it will be detected and displayed in the boot menu/main window as well. The CD/DVD can contain an operating system or any bootable program –...

  • Page 84: Setting The Boot Menu

    You can avoid appearing the Acronis OS Selector boot menu at bootup even if OS Selector is active. To do so, press F6 immediately after turning on the computer, before the first messages will appear on the screen.

  • Page 85: Setting An Operating System As The Default

    7.4.1 Booting an OS using the boot menu Having turned on the PC, wait for the Acronis OS Selector boot menu to be invoked and select and double-click an operating system to boot. You can also boot a selected OS by: Clicking Boot in the Operations section of the boot menu sidebar •...

  • Page 86: Setting Operating System Properties

    Setting operating system properties Acronis OS Selector automatically determines properties of all operating systems installed on a PC. If needed, you can set them by manually clicking Properties in the Operations section of the main window sidebar, boot menu, the respective main menu, toolbar or context menu items.
  • Page 87 7.7.3 Partitions Acronis OS Selector allows you to hide hard disk partitions (except for the system). To hide a partition, select it and enable the Hidden option for it. This is not applicable to Windows 2000 partitions. You can perform this operation under that operating system using the Advanced section.
  • Page 88 Working with Acronis OS Selector Partitions properties window 7.7.4 Disks Generally, Windows can boot from HDD only if its boot files reside on the first (according to BIOS) hard disk (see details in 8.2.1 “General information”). If you connect a live...
  • Page 89 7.7.5 Folders Acronis OS Selector automatically determines system folders for all Windows operating systems. System folders contain files required for an operating system to work properly. Windows 98/Me/NT utilizes Windows and Program Files folders, while Windows 2000/XP uses the above plus Documents and Settings.
  • Page 90 Working with Acronis OS Selector already installed (see 8.2.3 “Installing another Windows on the same partition”). When you copy an operating system using Acronis OS Selector Copy feature, the recovery option enables automatically. Folders properties window Enable – enable folder contents recovery at bootup;...
  • Page 91 Files properties window Properties of system files will provide you with the following options: Automatic deletion of a selected file with Acronis OS Selector under the given OS. • Check Yes, delete when the operating system starts to enable the option. This might become necessary when two system files are in conflict, causing possible OS bootup problems.

  • Page 92: Hiding Operating Systems

    This will hide the selected OS from the list of available ones. To unhide an operating system: Select Show Hidden in the View section of Acronis OS Selector main menu to see • the list of all hidden operating systems in the lower part of the Operating systems...

  • Page 93: Using Shortcuts

    Working with Acronis OS Selector Using shortcuts Acronis OS Selector allows you to create shortcuts for any operating system in the boot menu. Shortcuts enable you to create several different configurations for the same operating system. Shortcut parameters are set in the same way as those of the operating system.
  • Page 94 Working with Acronis OS Selector Selecting where to search an OS If you selected the hard disk, select the partition where the OS (to be exact, its boot • part) is located. When detecting Linux, choose the partition containing Linux loader.

  • Page 95: Renaming Operating Systems

    7.14 Setting Acronis OS Selector options You can set Acronis OS Selector options by clicking Options in the Tools sidebar section or selecting a respective item on the Toolbar or main menu. 7.14.1...
  • Page 96 Startup Options In this section, you can set Acronis OS Selector bootup behavior: At once (ESC for menu) – if activated, Acronis OS Selector will boot the default • operating system and you will have to press Escape to enter the boot menu With timeout –...
  • Page 97 Working with Acronis OS Selector Startup options window 7.14.3 Display properties Acronis OS Selector can control monitor video modes before Windows is booted and the graphics card and monitor drivers are loaded: Display properties window The following properties are available in the Options Display properties section: Copyright ©...
  • Page 98 Passwords You can set, change or remove Acronis OS Selector global passwords, including: Boot menu password – asked for each time Acronis OS Selector starts, except for • cases when the boot menu is disabled to boot the default operating system immediately Administrator password –...
  • Page 99 Working with Acronis OS Selector 7.14.5 Input devices In this section of Acronis OS Selector options, you can provide extended support of input devices (mouse, etc.) in Acronis OS Selector boot menu. Using the Default parameter, the program automatically determines installed input devices.

  • Page 100: Chapter 8. Installing And Using Several Operating Systems On A Single Pc

    Introduction One of the key benefits offered by Acronis OS Selector is the ability to add almost any new operating system to a PC, even if it already has one or more operating systems installed. Using Acronis OS Selector, a user is able to install: Several different copies of the same OS (e.g.

  • Page 101: Installing Several Windows Copies To A Single Pc

    Installing and using several operating systems on a single PC If this happens, you won’t have to reinstall Acronis OS Selector, but you will have to restore it by reactivating from a backup bootable disk (for more details see Chapter 9 «Bootable Media Builder»).
  • Page 102 During installation, the Windows bootable part will automatically place itself on the primary partition you have previously set as active. When you boot either version of Windows using Acronis OS Selector later, each OS in the list will recognize the partition where its bootable part is located as active.
  • Page 103 New Operating System Wizard If you installed a new copy of Windows NT/2000/XP on your PC, the New Operating System Wizard will help you set up its properties when you run Boot menu of Acronis OS Selector for the first time.
  • Page 104 Leave your existing Windows copies as is, select No, add new operating system. • In this case, a new copy of Windows 2000/XP will be added to the list of available OSes in the Boot menu. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 105 OS to update by replacing it with a new copy of Windows 2000/XP. When a new OS is configured, click Proceed to confirm operations selected. If Acronis OS Selector can't automatically determine the location of system folders, you will have to provide the information manually. System folders might be located on:...

  • Page 106: Installing Linux And Windows On The Same Pc

    Acronis Disk Director Suite provides the easiest mechanism for preparing partitions for further use, containing everything necessary for Linux file systems and partitions (see 3.1 «Creating A New Partition»...
  • Page 107 After selecting the loader location, you will have to remember that once placed into the MBR, it will overwrite the Acronis OS Selector boot record, making it inoperable until reactivated from a bootable CD or diskette (see 8.1.1 “Reactivating the Acronis OS Selector boot menu.”)

  • Page 108: Chapter 9. Bootable Media Builder

    Acronis Disk Director Suite on a non-Windows system, for example, a • Linux-based PC if you do not often use Acronis Disk Director Suite and therefore do not want to install • it on the computer Acronis Disk Director Suite has a standalone bootable version that can run from CD or other removable media without booting an operating system.
  • Page 109 Acronis OS Selector Activator • In some situations, you will need to reactivate the Acronis OS Selector boot menu. For example, after installing the Windows operating system that overwrites the hard disk Master Boot Record and thus prevents invoking Acronis OS Selector at bootup. To solve this problem, just reactivate Acronis OS Selector using a bootable disk.
  • Page 110 PXE server, specify the server and provide the user name and password to access 5. Next, the program will calculate how many blank disks are required (in case you have not chosen ISO or PXE) and give you time to prepare them. When you are finished, click Proceed. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 111: Appendix A. Hard Disk And File Systems

    This design has a lot of technical implementation peculiarities, but those issues are not germane to this explanation. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 112: Hard Disk Partition

    The number of primary partitions on a disk is limited, because the partition table contains four records itself. Extended partitioning supports additional division into logical partitions. The amount of logical partitions is unlimited. Special programs perform partitioning; usually they can: Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 113: Primary Partitions

    You cannot, however, change partition structure by means of the Windows operating system. To do this, you will need software such as Acronis Disk Director Suite. It lets you resize, move, hide partitions, set them as active, copy and perform other operations without losing any data or causing any OS and application workability problems.

  • Page 114: Extended Partitions

    One or several copies of the file allocation table (FAT) are placed after the boot sector • A root folder is created • The data area is created • Each logical disk has to be formatted with the FORMAT command separately. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 115: File Systems

    A.9.1 File system specification summary Below is a summary of the most popular file systems. Each system is briefly discussed. This information can help you work with Acronis Disk Director Suite. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 116 In case you've forgotten your computer engineering units: 1 Kbyte = 1024 Bytes, 1 Mbyte = 1024 Kbytes, 1 Gbyte = 1024 Mbytes, 1 Tbyte = 2 Gbytes= 1024 Gbytes, 1 Pbyte = 2 Tbytes= 1024 Tbytes, 1 Ebyte = 2 Pbytes= 1024 Pbytes. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 117 Initially, FAT16 had limitations to file names that could only be eight characters long, plus a dot, plus three characters of name extension. However, long name support in Windows 95 and Windows NT bypasses this limitation. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 118 32- and 64-bit architectures. A.9.6 Linux ReiserFS ReiserFS was officially introduced to Linux in 2001. ReiserFS overcomes many Ext2 disadvantages. It is a 64-bit journaling file system that dynamically allocates space for data substructures. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 119: Appendix B. Particularities Of Operating Systems

    DR-DOS 7.x • Acronis Disk Director Suite will detect MS-DOS 7.x/8.0 as a separate operating system only if it is not a part of the installed Windows operating system, but was instead installed on your computer with help of the SYS command.
  • Page 120 IBMDOS.COM (mandatory for PC-DOS) • DBLSPACE.BIN (mandatory for MS-DOS 5.x–6.2) • DRVSPACE.BIN (mandatory for MS-DOS 6.22–8.0) • LOGO.SYS (optional for MS-DOS 7.x/8.0) • COMMAND.COM (optional for all DOS versions) • Configuration files list: MSDOS.SYS (for MS-DOS 7.x/8.0) • Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

  • Page 121: Windows 95/98/Me

    Under Windows 95/98/Me, booting always starts with MS-DOS, thus everything concerning MS-DOS 7.x/8.0 booting applies to Windows 95/98/Me as well. B.2.1 Supported Versions Acronis Disk Director Suite supports Windows 95 and Windows 95OSR2/98/Me and can detect their language version. B.2.2 Booting Details and Limitations Windows booting starts when MS-DOS executes the WIN.COM file.

  • Page 122: Windows Nt/2000/Xp

    «Recycle» folder. Windows NT/2000/XP B.3.1 Supported Versions Acronis Disk Director Suite supports Windows NT versions 3.51, 4.0, Windows 2000 and Windows XP; it can detect the most common language versions. B.3.2 Booting Peculiarities Operating systems based on Windows NT consist of two main parts: the boot part and the main part.
  • Page 123 Because the application folder name cannot be changed, the ability of several operating systems to have folders with the same names on a partition was added to Acronis Disk Director Suite. Such folders are called system folders. A system folder is moved to its place (root folder) only when the corresponding operating system is booted, otherwise it remains in the OS Selector system folder.

  • Page 124: Linux

    Acronis Disk Director Suite’s OS Selector, since they frequently make incorrect changes to the partition structure. If you need to create a separate partition to install a new operating system, it is best to use Acronis Disk Director Suite’s OS Selector Disk Administrator.

  • Page 125: Appendix C. Glossary

    Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 126 Head (magnetic head, read/write head). A hard disk consists of several magnetic platters; for each side of each platter, there is a head that is used to read and write information on Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 127 Partition structure. All the partitions on a hard disk make a tree with the root in the MBR partition table. Many operating systems and programs assume that any partition table but Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...
  • Page 128 User interface is a set of principles, concepts and means by which programs interact with the user. For example, in window interface all input and output is done in windows, and the mouse is utilized quite often. Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000–2007...

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