Review to Dual Boot Using Acronis Disk
Director 10
For the purpose of this tutorial or reviewof dual booting with the Acronis Disk Director Suite, I want to run Windows XP and Windows Vista on the same computer to do some testing on the Vista operating system. I still want to keep XP running just in case Microsoft Vista does not work with all of the software that I need to test and review. The Disk Director Suite claims that it can do this job. I will put it to the test. You can download a free trial of the Disk Director Suite so you can follow along with the tutorial. Here is a review of the Acronis Disk Director Suite process of dual booting a computer.
The first thing that needs to be done after the suite is installed is to install the Acronis OS Selector. It is a very simple installation with a reboot.
The next thing that will need to be done is to create a primary partition. This will be the same operation as the previous tutorial that showed how easy it was to create a logical partition using the Acronis Disk Director Suite. The only difference will be to choose to make the partition a primary partition and make it active. I will create a 50 Gigabyte active primary partition. The following screens show the differences from the previous tutotial.
After the partition is created, it has to be set as active to be able to install another operating system. The Disk Director makes setting an active partition easy. Just highlight the partition to be set active then click on the Set Active option.
Then you see the self explanatory warning about the implications of setting a partition active.
Then commit to the pending operations to create the new partition.
Then I get the usual warning telling what the Disk Director is about to do. I smacked the Proceed button.
Very quickly, the following screen pops up telling me the operation was a success.
Now with the newly created partition set as active, I should be able to reboot with my Windows Vista DVD and install the Microsoft Vista on the new partition.
Windows Vista loaded on the new primary partition and booted with no problems.
The dual booted Windows Vista can see all of the partitions created with the Acronis Disk Director with the Windows XP installation.
It seems that Windows Vista disables the Acronis OS Selector. So how do I get back into my XP installation? There are two ways to do this. The Disk Director boot CD will allow you to reactivate the Acronis OS selector by booting with the CD. I have heard, but not experienced, that some people have had problems with the Acronis Disk Director not being able to see any hard drives at this point. The work around is to simply install the Acronis program on the newly created partition. When the install is started it will come up with the following screen allowing you to reactivate the Acronis OS Selector.
Then reboot the computer to the Acronis OS Selector to choose which dual boot Operating System to boot into.
Another nice feature the Acronis OS Selector gives you is the option to disable or timeout the OS Selector. That is a good feature to have if you are only using one operating system as a test computer and you want to instantly boot into your main computer operating system instead of actually having to choose at every startup.
As with any Acronis product that I have reviewed and tested so far, the Acronis Disk Director worked flawlessly doing everything that it claims and is intended to do. Setting up a dual boot system with Windows XP and Vista was a very easy process to perform using the Acronis Disk Director Suite. For that reason, the Disk Director gets an honorable Brontobyte on a scale of bytes to Brontobytes! The Acronis Disk Director is a highly recommended product to have in your toolbox.
Acronis Disk Director Suite
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The Acronis Disk Director Suite helps you manage your gigabytes of data fast and efficiently. Whether you need to upgrade your hard drive or dual boot your computer with different operating systems, the Disk Director is the tool to make any byte management task faster and easier than ever before. Get 15% off Acronis Disk Director Suite by entering the following coupon code when you order: Coupon Code: FMADD15
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Post your Questions or Comments about Acronis Disk Director
By Randy |
2008-09-25 08:42:35 |
Acronis supports imaging and backup for FAT 16/32 file systems. The structure of the Linux file system compression is different (superior?) than NTFS as it is already compressed making it harder for Acronis to make the image smaller. |
By cyrus |
2008-09-25 06:17:24 |
And also why is it imaging a linux file system (ext3)takes too much space(almost half of the total hdd capacity) than imaging a ntfs file system hdd? |
By cyrus |
2008-09-25 06:13:09 |
i've already tried acronis in cloning a hard drive nd found out its perfect!!! i just want to ask if, is there a way of cloning a fatx hdd using acronis? |
By Randy |
2008-08-31 10:04:22 |
Marilyn, The Acronis Disk Director usually takes care of the dual boot menu automatically. If for some reason it doesn’t work, you simply boot up with the Disk Director boot CD to activate the OS Selector. |
By Marilyn V |
2008-08-31 09:29:17 |
Am looking at Acronis Disk Director and was really glad to find this page. I already have Vista installed on C and have a separate partition F already set up to install xp pro. I've heard that once I do this it requires a lot to get vista to boot up again. Does Acronis Disk Director take care of this automatically? Or will I have to figure out how to re-write my MBR? Thanks for a great article here. |
By terry |
2008-08-27 16:45:02 |
in dual boot case. what partition should i choose( primary, logical, active) when i wanted to recovery one of the partition |
By Randy |
2008-08-19 08:18:08 |
JP - Actually, the Acronis Disk Director does work exactly as described. It is called dual booting which means that the utility will boot one Operating System or the other – Not both at the same time. There are other utilities that will allow you to boot both OS’s at the same time but Disk Director does not claim to be able to accomplish this task. Sorry you were misguided. |
By JP |
2008-08-18 17:40:57 |
This DOES NOT work as described. Acronis has a VERY difficult time recognizing/booting both XP and Vista. I have tried just about every method I can find on the internet including this one, and either it boots XP or Vista ONLY, even when showing two icons in Acronis. I have the latest version of Acronis too. I have tried older versions too, but no success. |
By johnn |
2008-07-29 16:35:03 |
I already use the Acronis Backup, so I know it's good. Can I install another Windows version & then uninstall the Windows XP I've got now? Rather than do a clean install. |
By Randy |
2008-07-08 08:28:05 |
Gary, I believe that the Acronis Disk Director will recognize your three separate partitions. I can’t be 100% sure because I have no way to test your configuration. The best way to find out would be to download a free trial of disk director and try it. It won’t cost you anything and it is highly doubtful that it would damage your current configuration. There are a couple links on this page to bring you directly to the download page of the Acronis Disk Director. Let us know how it works – thanks. |
By Gary Plano |
2008-07-07 13:29:52 |
I already have three separate partitions with vista64, Vista32, and XP Pro; will your dual boot utility see these or will I have to start over. |
By mssat |
2008-02-12 05:40:58 |
Acronis Disk Director Suite+ tutorial |
By Booter |
2008-01-22 21:43:59 |
Excellent! This is just what I was looking for to dual boot Vista and XP. Thanks |
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