User`s guide

21 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2010
5 Getting started
After reading this section, you will know how to run and use Acronis Disk Director, what precautions
you should take, and how to perform the most common tasks you might need.
In this section
Precautions .............................................................................................. 21
User privileges .......................................................................................... 21
Running Acronis Disk Director ................................................................. 21
Using the management console .............................................................. 22
How to ...................................................................................................... 33
5.1 Precautions
To avoid any possible disk and volume structure damage or data loss, please take all necessary
precautions and follow these simple rules:
1. Back up the disk whose volumes will be created or managed. Having your most important data
backed up to another hard disk or CD will allow you to work on disk volumes being reassured
that your data is safe.
Acronis has an extremely effective comprehensive data backup and recovery solution — Acronis True
Image. It creates a data or disk backup copy stored in a compressed archive file that can be restored in case
of an accident.
2. Check volumes (p. 48) to make sure they are fully functional and do not contain any bad sectors
or file system errors.
3. Do not perform any disk/volume operations while running other software that has low-level disk
access. Acronis Disk Director must obtain exclusive access to the target disk/volume. This means
no other disk management utilities (such as the Windows Disk Management utility) can access it
at that time. If you receive a message stating that the disk/volume cannot be blocked, close the
disk management applications that use this disk/volume and start again. If you cannot determine
which applications use the disk/volume, close them all.
With these simple precautions, you will protect yourself against accidental data loss.
5.2 User privileges
In order to perform any operation using Acronis Disk Director, you must be logged on as a member of
the Administrators group.
5.3 Running Acronis Disk Director
Running Acronis Disk Director in Windows
1. Start the management console by selecting it from the Start menu.
2. Connect the management console to the machine where the agent is installed.
3. In the Disk management view, examine the current layout of disks and volumes.
4. Add one or more management operations on disks and volumes to the queue of pending
operations. These operations will take effect only after you commit them.