User Guide

248 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
Services (RIS). These servers with uploaded bootable components can be thought of as a kind of
bootable media too. You can create bootable media or configure the PXE server or WDS/RIS using
the same wizard.
Linux-based bootable media
Linux-based media contains Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Bootable Agent based on Linux kernel.
The agent can boot and perform operations on any PC-compatible hardware, including bare metal
and machines with corrupted or non-supported file systems. The operations can be configured and
controlled either locally or remotely using the management console.
PE-based bootable media
PE-based bootable media contains a minimal Windows system called Windows Preinstallation
Environment (WinPE) and Acronis Plug-in for WinPE, that is, a modification of Acronis Backup &
Recovery 10 Agent that can run in the preinstallation environment.
WinPE proved to be the most convenient bootable solution in large environments with
heterogeneous hardware.
Advantages:
 Using Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 in Windows Preinstallation Environment provides more
functionality than using Linux-based bootable media. Having booted PC-compatible hardware
into WinPE, you can use not only Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent, but also PE commands
and scripts and other plug-ins you've added to the PE.
 PE-based bootable media helps overcome some Linux-related bootable media issues such as
support for certain RAID controllers or certain levels of RAID arrays only. Media based on PE 2.x,
that is, Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 kernel, allows for dynamic loading of the
necessary device drivers.
6.10.1 How to create bootable media
To enable creating physical media, the machine must have a CD/DVD recording drive or allow a flash
drive to be attached. To enable PXE or WDS/RIS configuration, the machine must have a network
connection. Bootable Media Builder can also create an ISO image of a bootable disk to burn it later
on a blank disk.
Linux-based bootable media
Start the Bootable Media Builder either from the management console, by selecting Tools > Create
Bootable Media or, as a separate component.
Select the way volumes and network resources will be handled—called the media style:
 A media with Linux-style volume handling displays the volumes as, for example, hda1 and sdb2. It
tries to reconstruct MD devices and logical (LVM) volumes before starting a recovery.
 A media with Windows-style volume handling displays the volumes as, for example, C: and D:. It
provides access to dynamic (LDM) volumes.
The wizard will guide you through the necessary operations. Please refer to Linux-based bootable
media (p. 249) for details.
PE-based bootable media
Acronis Plug-in for WinPE can be added to WinPE distributions based on any of the following kernels: