Andys Blog

Did you ever try to access the backup files in the "SecureZone" of Acronis Trueimage, e.g. to save them to a backup harddrive? Windows software can't because the "SecureZone" is a hidden partition. Maybe there is a way to unhide this partition with Windows tools but I haven't found any.

Here's how it works pretty easily:

Boot a KNOPPIX from CD and you can access the hidden partition normally just like any other (FAT) partition.

If you've got a DVD burner in your computer you can use whatever KNOPPIX tool to burn the files to DVD. Done!

But how do you get them to a different drive, e.g. an USB backup drive?

Unfortunately KNOPPIX cannot write to NTFS partitions. (Microsoft doesn't provide enough information to be able to write driver for Linux). So, I connected the USB backup drive to another computer in the local network and created a shared directory on it. KNOPPIX can see and write to this network directory. If you don't have a DHCP server in your local network you probably have to set up the network options first. Use the appropriate item in the KNOPPIX menu or type "netcardconfig".

So all you have to do now is drag the Acronis backup files with the mouse from the SecureZone partition to the shared directory of the other computer.

Took me a while to find that out (after trying various tools without success). So I thought I'll share this mini-HowTo with you.

Have fun! Andy.