Volume Letters in Linux Boot Environment

Summary

In a Linux boot environment for Windows backup and recovery, temporary drive letters are assigned to Windows volumes. These letters may differ from those shown in the Dashboard for backup sources or recovery targets. 

Causes

This occurs because the Dashboard and AIP’s RFE (AIP's proprietary Explorer) assign drive letters differently. The issue is more common when a USB hard drive is used as the backup destination. It does not affect backup or recovery operations.

Example: In a Linux boot environment created with Boot Environment Builder, the first volume becomes the boot area, and the second volume is formatted as an NTFS data volume.

Assume AIP backup images are saved in the second volume.

1) When booting into the environment, the first volume is assigned C: and the second volume D: on Disk 0.

3) In the AIP console, go to [Utilities] > [Mount Local Volume]. Backup images are stored on the D: drive, but when unmounted, select /dev/sdb2 to view its contents.

After mounting "/sdb/sdb2"

4) In [Select Recovery Point], if the local volume isn’t shown, click the blue arrow in [Backup Destination] to refresh. Expand C: and D: with the + icon, and you’ll see their contents differ from the drive letters in the Dashboard. 

This issue does not affect recovery, you can still restore by selecting the image file on the actual C: drive. 

A batch fix is being considered.

Target Products

- ActiveImage Protector 2022 Linux

- Boot Environment Builder

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