Knowledge Base

Decrypt the partition before backing up or back it up from Acronis Bootable Media

This article applies to:

• Acronis True Image Home 2009
• Acronis True Image 11 Home
• Acronis Snap Deploy 3
• Acronis True Image 9.1 Server for Windows
• Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation
• Acronis True Image 9.1 Enterprise Server
• Acronis True Image Echo Server for Windows
• Acronis True Image Echo Workstation
• Acronis True Image Echo Enterprise Server
• Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server
• Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Server for Windows (Standalone)
• Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server - Small Business Server Edition
• Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Workstation
• Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Workstation (Standalone)
• Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server - Virtual Edition

Symptoms

1. When backing up a partition or hard disk encrypted with PGP software, the Acronis product shows numerous error messages:
   

   Failed to read data from disk

2. Ignoring the error messages will let you finish the backup, but trying to restore it will result in an unbootable machine:

   

Cause

Acronis backup software is not compatible with PGP products.

Solution

There are two possible workarounds:

• Decrypt the partition or hard disk before backing it up. You can encrypt again after the restore;
• Back up the encrypted partition or hard disk from Acronis Bootable Media in sector-by-sector mode. See Creating a Sector-By-Sector Backup with Acronis Products.

More information

See also Compatibility of Acronis True Image with Encryption Software.