Acronis Startup Recovery Manager

How it works

The Acronis Startup Recovery Manager lets you start Acronis True Image 2014 without loading the operating system. With this feature, you can use Acronis True Image 2014 by itself to recover damaged partitions, even if the operating system won't boot. Unlike booting from Acronis removable media, you will not need a separate media or network connection to start Acronis True Image 2014.

How to activate

To activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager:

  1. Start Acronis True Image 2014.
  2. On the Tools and utilities tab, click Acronis Startup Recovery Manager.
  3. In the opened window, click Activate.

How to use

If a failure occurs, turn on the computer and press F11 when you see the "Press F11 for Acronis Startup Recovery Manager" message. This will start a standalone version of Acronis True Image 2014 that differs only slightly from the complete version.

Additional information

Disk letters in standalone Acronis True Image 2014 might sometimes differ from the way Windows identifies drives. For example, the D: disk identified in the standalone Acronis True Image 2014 might correspond to the E: disk in Windows. The disk labels and information on partition sizes, file systems, drive capacities, their manufacturers, and model numbers can help in correctly identifying the disks and partitions.

You won't be able to use the previously activated Acronis Startup Recovery Manager if the Try&Decide is turned on. Rebooting the computer in the Try mode will allow you to use Acronis Startup Recovery Manager again.

Does Acronis Startup Recovery Manager affect other loaders?

When Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is activated, it overwrites the master boot record (MBR) with its own boot code. If you have any third-party boot managers installed, you will need to reactivate them after the Startup Recovery Manager has been activated. For Linux loaders (e.g. LiLo and GRUB), you might consider installing them to a Linux root (or boot) partition boot record instead of MBR before activating Acronis Startup Recovery Manager.

UEFI boot mechanism is different from the BIOS one. Any OS loader or other boot program has its own boot variable that defines a path to the corresponding loader. All loaders are stored on a special partition called EFI System Partition. When you activate Acronis Startup Recovery Manager in UEFI-booted system, it changes the boot sequence by writing its own boot variable. This variable is added to the list of variables and does not change them. Since all loaders are independent and do not affect each other, there is no need to change anything before or after activating Acronis Startup Recovery Manager.