Acronis vs EasyBCD

Pontus54

Member
I have recently bough a new computer. It is still not my main one as I want to experiment with disk cloning backup solutions before I start using it regularly. So I have only installed Windows 7, Kaspersky Internet Security, Acronis TrueImage Home and EasyBCD so far. Haven't really used EasyBSD and Acronis on the new computer yet, just installed them.

Having done that I started reading the EasyBCD Guide and came upon this section.

Picking a Bootloader

This section of the EasyBCD Bootloader Management page allows the user to choose which bootloader resides in the MBR. Two options available are:

Windows Vista/7 “BCD” Bootloader
Legacy Windows NTLDR Bootloader

Please note: Using this page will overwrite any existing MBR! If you are using a 3rd party MBR like Grub or Darwin, don’t worry, EasyBCD can be used instead. However, if you are using any software that customizes the MBR, such as Roxio GoBack, Acronis TrueImage, or TrueCrypt, the post-boot interface for these applications will no longer be available. You’ll need to reinstall their boot-time helpers after configuring EasyBCD​

There are so many thing I don't understand about this.

Does it mean I can not or should not use EasyBCD together with Acronis?

If I can use them together do I have to reinstall Acronis boot-time helper everytime I have changed something in EasyBCD?

What is Acronis boot-time helper anyway? I guess its a generic name you use but what is it called in Acronis?
 
Basically, you probably won't have to worry about anything. EasyBCD will work just fine with your setup.

Acronis, Roxio, TrueCrypt, et. al. all have a custom bootloader integration option which replaces the first bootloader with their own, allowing you to access their tools. I think the latest versions of Acronis might have done away with this entirely because it was a broken/poor implementation.

You're good to go.
 
Thank you for your reply.

I did follow your advice and this how it has gone so far.

First a breif desciption of my disk set up:

Disk 0 - 256GB SSD - This is where I installed Windows 7.
Disk 1 - 256GB SSD - Not used or even allocated.
Disk 2 - 256GB HDD - Target disk for clone of Disk 0
Disk 3 - 256GB HDD - Not used or even allocated.
Disk 4 - 3TB HDD - Not used or even allocated.

I did the cloning with Acronis. When done I expected to get a boot menu after POST but I didn't. (I might have done something wrong when doing the cloning.)

I tried with EasyBCD but no luck there either.

So I entered BIOS instead and booted the clone from there:

Skarmklipp09.jpg~original


And that worked. I was booted into the clone.

In the clone I changed desktop background to be able to quickly distinguish between original and clone.

Here's a screen dumps of how the original and clone looks in both explorer and disk manager. As you can see they simply change place.

Skarmklipp2-4.jpg~original

Skarmklipp1-3.jpg~original


So if I don't enter BIOS I will land in the boot menu. If I chose Windows 7 (default) I will be booted in to the original but if I choose Windows 7 clone:

Skarmklipp10.jpg~original


I will get the the windows start manager error screen:

Skarmklipp11.jpg~original


This is what my EasyBCD setting looks like:

Skarmklipp08.jpg~original


Any ideas? :smile:
 
Was my previous post to messy?
oops.gif


I'll give it a new try, with a hopefully clearer description, and hope for a response.
yes.gif


This is what my setting look like:

There are a total of 2 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Windows 7
Timeout: 30 seconds
EasyBCD Boot Device: E:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows 7
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #2
Name: Windows 7 clone
BCD ID: {372cf48d-ccc0-11e4-aa84-fbcd155228c8}
Drive: F:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe



Both can be booted from inside the UEFI BIOS but only Entry #1 from EasyBCD.

Three drive letters (apart from the DVD-reader) are visible in Windows Explorer:

c: Windows 7 (SSD)
e: Reseved by the system 100 mb
f: clone of c: (HDD)
 
Have you tried deleting the BCD entry for the cloned OS and adding it afresh ?
It shouldn't be necessary, but there are many reported cases where problems have miraculously disappeared by such a simple expedient.
 
Have you tried deleting the BCD entry for the cloned OS and adding it afresh ?

Problem is, I can't boot into the cloned OS since it the BCD entry will point to the source disk.

Anyway. I reinstalled Windows 7, but not EasyBCD, and do the booting from inside BIOS when needed. As I only need to boot to the clone disk to get confirmation that the cloning has been successful it's nothing I will have to do on a daily basis.
 
The BCD on your original W7 contains the entry for the cloned OS.
Delete that entry and add it again.
It doesn't require access to the cloned OS.
 
The BCD on your original W7 contains the entry for the cloned OS.
Delete that entry and add it again.
It doesn't require access to the cloned OS.

Thank you, but as I said I have already deleted it and I think you need to be technically more proficient than I am to deal with boot loaders. I use the BIOS boot options now and while not the most elegant it's at least one that I understand.
 
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