Constant freezes since updating to ATI 2017
Since updating from the 2016 version on 3 PCs I have experienced frequent freezes and crashes. I remember this same problem when I upgraded to last year's version of Acronis.
This is very annoying and required me to uninstall Acronis so I could get some work done. When can we expect a fix? Also, I know I am not the only one who has been affected. Why then is there no mention of the problem on your forums?
You may be interested that while uninstalling Acronis on my second PC the procedure was halted by one of these crashes. The result was an incomplete uninstall which left the PC inoperable. Well done Acronis!
Bruno, I would say this behavior is not normal and probably isolated to your unique system or OS setup. You, equating that your system is unstable or crashed because of Acronis (especially during an uninstall of an application), is like blaming an autodealership selling a faulty car because someone else collided into it while you were driving.
You may want to consider a clean uninstall using the cleanup tool to start "fresh" and see if that helps (if related to an upgrade gone bad). Seeing as how it sounds like you upgraded before and had similar issues, there was probably already an issue brought forward. If you upgraded Windows as well (Windows 10, perhaps a few of these and many people are having issues with Windows 10 anniversary update in general), all of these can be compounding your system stability issue.
I've never experienced this behavior with Acronis and I work in an IT department where it is used often and on a number of different types of hardware with different OS configurations and setups. I myself upgraded 2 of my own physical systems, and have been testing the beta for several months and the final version on several VM's. No issues like this on any of them after upgrading and/or clean installs.
PC's need mainteance and upkeep and we have no background into your system and really can't offer help in all aspects of a PC that could cause it to crash and become unbootable as the restult of a crash. I would suspect either a memory, CPU or hard drive error here - a crash duing uninstall is a red flag, and the PC not being bootable as a result of a crash, is yet another one that are both indicitive of a deeper system issue.
-Have you checked your Windows logs for details - feel free to post your System even logs here and I'll take a look.
-What was the crashdump error as well - grab bluescreenviewer to take a look at the error code and research it and feel free to post it here and I'll take a look.
-Are you overcloking memory or CPU at all?
-Have you run a memory test?
-Have you run an OS check with SFC /Scannow and what are the results?
-Have you run a hard drive integrity check using chkdsk /f /r and what are the results?
-Have you run a hard drive diagnostic like the free versions of Speccy and/or Hard drive Sentinel to see what the remaining life is showing and the SMART status?
-How old is your hardware?
-When, if ever, was the last time you blew the dust out of it to make sure it wasn't overheating if this is an older machine?
As Bobbo_3C0X1 says, this is very unusual behaviour and, given the absence of other reports on the forum, is unlikely to be caused by Acronis 2017, although it could be caused by Acronis 2017 conflicting with another application installed on your computers.
Another possibility is that there is some sort of malware that has found its way onto your computers. Malware can be picked up from USB stick, while bowsing the internet or from email attachements.
Ian
It might be impossible to prove what caused Bruno's problems, but I can only add my own experience, which does sound rather like his ...
The thing is .... your software may well do as it is intended. All I know is that my system was running smoothly for months and the crash occurred only after I upgraded from 2016 to 2017 version of your software. I did nothing else to my setup in the days (weeks even) prior to this. I installed the 2017 upgrade after receiving the email from Acronis & thinking it a good idea to upgrade from 2016. I then left the 2017 software running overnight to make a full image backup of my system & in the morning all looked ok & I could see the large backup file on my external drive, so I rebooted and that's when everything fell apart ...and I spent a whole week (worth over £1000 of my time) getting things started from scratch. My concern is that not only the suspicion that upgrading to 2017 might have been part of the cause of my crash, but even more crucially, that just when I actually needed the backup file that the software had made (with no error messages at all during the process) I could not use it, and so it doubled my frustration!
I may (just may) give the software another chance, but I shall go back to the 2016 version, as that seemed to be stable and not causing me problems. If I feel ok with that and see no further complaints on the web about your 2017 version, then I may upgrade again.
As for seeing any logs of the crash problem ... of course they do not exist, because I had to wipe everything and start from zero with Windows 10 and then all my software & backups. I do know that no matter how I tried to utilise any part of the backup I made using your 2017 software, it just took ages to do some parts and then stopped with an error message. I went round in circles trying things and every time it was half a day and the same end result. I did get into my computer using boot mode and command prompt access using your recovery app, but I could never get anything working despite that & I really spent ages hunting for ways in. ... I'm sure you can imagine what I thought of your software after those few days until I just gave in and started again from scratch.
I am sure you mean well with your software, but I can't risk this happening again and it failed me in 2 critical ways .... 1) it made a full backup that seemed perfect & showed up no error messages and 2) when I needed that backup to restore my system (even if the software might not have been the cause of the crash) ... it was useless! .... Those 2 points are hard to get past and I can't see how I might be able to feel safe using the 2017 version again .... but I did like the idea of what it claimed to do.
One other point ... I did find that your online help system appeared to be somewhat lacking in helping with the kind of problem I had (apart from seeing complaints of similar issues arising). I saw more complaints than help on the web ... and that gave me less confidence. I think you might consider an online chat system to help people who are "desperate" for help at those crucial moments like I suffered. ... perhaps that does exist, but I didn't find it during my troubles.
I plan to buy a large external hard drive and perhaps leave the 2016 version making backups and some day I might be brave enough to test it for a full restore .... but I shall more rely on my other backing up systems for my crucial data.
Thanks to your support staff who responded to my comments and offered a refund and I hope that I might one day get past my "block" about using your software ... which as I said, does seem to be a good idea in principle. I just was scared by what happened after installing the 2017 version and I do not yet feel brave enough to rely on Acronis 2017 .... maybe I'll wait to see if a 2018 version is released ... and if I see any news on anything similar to my problems that your engineers discover. I therefore hope that any discoveries are clearly reported on your website.
Antmills I feel your pain. While IanL-S and Bobbo_3C0X1 may have meant well, they were little or no help and clearly did not accept that the software could behave as it did.
I figured out what the problem was, no thanks to them. Two things contributed to my troubles :-
1. I installed the 2017 vesion over the top of the previous one. Bad mistake. Uninstalling the old one first and then doing a clean install of the new one worked much better.
2. I did not invoke the "mobile device backup" function as I had no need for it. Luckily a friend who had also purchased the 2017 version had the same problems as I did and he found that the constant freezes stopped when he started using the Acronis mobile backups apps on his mobile phone and tablet. This gave me a hint. I looked at Task Manager and found two items were taking up 99% of computer resources. These were "Acronis Mobile Backup Server" and "Acronis Mobile Backup Status Server". I simply changed the status of the two services in Windows 10 to Manual instead of Automatic. Since then I have had no problems and have got my resources back.
I don't know for sure, but it appears that my PC kept trying to connect to external devices and using almost all my resources in doing so.
I don't know if your problems are similar to mine, but I hope my experience can be of some help.
Antmills I feel your pain. While IanL-S and Bobbo_3C0X1 may have meant well, they were little or no help and clearly did not accept that the software could behave as it did.
I wish to point out that neither of us said the problem was not related to ATI 2017; we merely said that we were not aware of this happening and suggesting that there may be some other cause.
It can be difficult to pin down what causes problems, particulalry when you add constant updates to the OS (as happens with Windows 10). Also problems can arise with each new build of ATI. This issue may have been introduce in the latest ATI build. Difficult to say for certain as I have been using Mobile backup with ATI 2016. I suspect the problem is with mobile backup to PC rather than the cloud. I used backup to PC during beta testing but have not done so since.
As noted in your post it is always best to unistall the existing version of ATI before installing a new version of ATI. While I do not recall having issues upgrading to ATI 2017 over ATI 2016, I did so when going from ATI 2015 to ATI 2016.
Ian
Hi guys... no ill-will here at all.
First, and this is just FYI, but we're in a user community forum - even those of us with MVP badges are users like you and we are not paid by Acronis (we get some licenses for our help and testing, but I do this for fun and to help). Any direct feedback about the app (suggestions, complaints, etc) are best sent to Acronis through a support ticket or reported through the in-app "feedback" tool which is also available from your account login as well.
Antmill, there is an online chat system, chat is the fastest and easiest way to get support. You just log in, select "technical support" and it's right there. If you have a backup .tib file you want to send me, I'd be willing to try and recover it to validate if the backup is bad or not. If the hard drive itself was not corrupted and you have .tib files, pretty sure they can be recovered and I'd give it a try just to prove (or not prove) the point. Send me a PM if you're interested.
Bruno, I can understand that stopping these services has alleviated system use, but I don't see how that resolves the original crashing of your system during the uninstall which is what I was focusing on as it sounded like the system crashed and could not be trouble shot anymore. There really wasn't any information about the crash, what was happening afterwards, if there was a BSOD message, what happened after that.
We (computer users) install software and updates all the time, many that run in the background and get pushed by Microsoft (patch Tuesday). I can install software and then have my power supply flake out, or a hard drive crash, or a memory module fail, or a loose cable cause an issue, or who knows what. Ultimately, we have no idea what really happened, but there's always the possiblity it was Acronis, but there is absolutely no information, details or troubleshooting to support this. I'm just not a fan of calling blame without fact. I can't begin to tell how many times my customers blame their computers for issues, when it turns out to be user error (not saying it was in this case), a physical defect, or just uncertaintly how things work in some cases. Troubleshooting and validation are needed and unless all of those other suggestions were completed and ruled out, we can only guess. Who's to say there wasn't a pending update in the background that is the culprit, or some waiting malware, or who knows what, any more than this issue happened to occur after Acronis was installed (and the PC remained working) until the system was rebooted?
Do issues occur when upgrading over the top of previous versions - yes, that is a possibility and often a recommendation to start clean at times. None of us know how any others computer "health" really is - physcially or in the OS. For those that have upgraded OS over OS and/or application over application , and/or moved one OS to another, issues will come at some point. Add in other unknowns like the age of the hardware and whatever was in the logs that might have provided some details, etc, we can only really guess at this point.
Could you not restore a recent backup either to get up and running again after the crash or did you build from scratch?
Greetings,
I am experiencing very similar issues as Bruno with some variations. Brief description is as follows:
Install History (partial)
Acronis True Image 2014 (ATI2014), upgraded to ATI2015 (on top of 2014), upgraded to ATI2016 (on top of ATI2015), upgraded to ATI2017 (on top of ATI2016). At some point, I uninstalled ATI 2016 using Microsoft’s “Program and Feature” uninstall tool and then reinstalled.
Problems Started
With ATI2016 installed and numerous successful backups of my physical secondary “D” drive, out of the blue, I noticed that the backup was not ever finishing. They were ending with an error message that unfortunately I did not keep. I performed an uninstall using Windows 10 uninstall program and reinstalled. This may or may not have been after the cumulative Windows 10 update, but I would say after.
ATI2017
Thinking this would cure the problem but no. With 2017 installed, I can start the backup (probably 85Gb) and after the backup has been running, it will hang or freeze at various locations, usually 5 – 7Gb into the backup. When I try to run a system report, nothing. When I try to cancel the program, nothing. I end up having to shut things down manually and usually, do a hard power-off and back on to unfreeze the system. I have installed and used the Cleanup Tool and that has helped with the uninstalls and reinstalls but still have the same freezing results. I have performed all the chkdsk and sfc tests and everything comes out clean. I have installed the program as the “Administrator” and run the program as the “Administrator”, all with the same results.
I am totally at a loss. Any new ideas? Perhaps roll back the Microsoft Update and see how things run?
Thanks,
Steve
Intallation of one new version of ATI over an older version, particularly when you have gone from ATI 2014, ATI 2015, ATI 2016 and finally ATI 2017 can lead to reliability issues. While Acronis claim that you can install a new edition over an older edition it is possible to have things go badly wrong (I have had it happen several times). On the other hand, I have done it many times without anything going wrong.
Drastic action is called for. Uninstall ATI 2017 using window program and features. Then use the ATI Cleanup Tool to make sure eveything has been removed. For instuctions on how to do this and dowlnoad linke see following Knowedge Base entry:
https://kb.acronis.com/content/48668
The only hair-raising bit is editing the registry - you should create a backup before doing so. That said last time I ran the utility there was nothing in the registry that I had to delete.
Once you hace completed the cleanup and rebooted, install ATI 2017. It should find all your backups. You will probably have to reconfigure one that are still active as the configuation data is not included in the *.tib file (a feature that we have asked for).
Hope this helps
Ian
Ian, followed all procedures and still having troubles, now getting an error message that reads:
"Failed to backup file or folder '\\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy6\Files, Work and Other\.....'
The ... is just the rest of the name of my file that it failed to copy on.
It also takes forever for the error to finally show up.
I would copy and past but not having much luck doing this in the forum.
S
The failure to backup one or more files as suggested by the error message could suggest there is a problem with the HDD; either physical damage or file system error. I would suggest running the drive manufacturers disk utility which may find and fix the problem. I have found using such utilities can be more successful in resolving issue than running Windows chkdsk. Cannot at the moment remeber the chkdsk switches that should be used, but I'm sure someone will post them.
The extended time for the error message to appear is consistent with there being HDD issues.
Ian
The chkdsk switches are /f and /r with /r implying /f
I have run chkdsk D: /f /r twice with no error. Did memory check as well.
To me, it sounds like a VSS issue on the local system OS - may not be related to Acronis specifically, or could be the result of some leftovers from previous versions and/or in addition to some over-the-top Windows upgrades overtime... here is a refernce link with a similar error message
Normally, VSS should be set to "manual" and kick on when it's called upon. However, if the service has an issue, it may not be able to. You can try setting the VSS service to start as "automatic" and also manually "start" it before attempting a backup to see if it does start correctly.
In some cases, VSS can get out of whack due to problems that transpire with "system protection". I've seen systems that have multiple C: drives listed in "system protection" when there should only be one, and other weird issues. Often times, just disabling system protection and enabling again can fix VSS trouble. The downside is you lose restore points, but can immediately create a new one manually after you turn it on again and then new ones will get created along the way. http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4533-system-protection-turn-off-drives-windows-10-a.html
Alternatively, you can try disabling VSS for your backup task and let Acronis fall back to the proprietary SNAPAPI backup method which was the default in 2014 and earlier and see if that allows the backups to run without the need for VSS. https://forum.acronis.com/forum/45832#comment-346558
And last, but not least, you can attempt to repair the Windows VSS service. I don't normally like to reference competing products, but this has the exact steps listed to do this and also offers .bat scripts to automate the repair process so it is handy for any OS and not related to any particular backup product as far as repairing VSS goes. I just don't want anyone to think that I'm stealing from their work and trying to pawn it off as my own, so here is the reference:
http://kb.macrium.com/knowledgebasearticle50010.aspx
VSSfix 32bit - download
VSSfix 64bit - download
Is the VSSfix download installation predicated on your operating system, which mine is a 64bit system?
I don't understand the question - are you asking if your OS is 64-bit? If you're not sure, you can check it a number of ways.
Open Command Prompt (cmd <enter>)
SET Processor <enter>
Or, right click on "computer" or "my computer" and click on properties. There is a section "System" that has the "System type" which will say 64-bit Operating System if it's 64-bit.
I have not had to run the VSS repair myself. It's only a suggestion if all else fails as it may fix it for your. The script is nothing special. It basically just does the same thing suggested in this Microsoft KB article: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/940184 which also has an automated "fix it tool" or describes how you can manually repair things as well.
Rob, I think that the question here may be whether the vssfix exes from the Macrium site are related to a specific version of Windows OS, i.e. the original article seems to be dealing with Vista, so perhaps the question is 'will these fixes still work with 7, 8.1 or 10 versions of Windows?
I suspect that it should given that it is just reregistering the VSS components but again this is not something I have had any need to test for myself.
Is the VSSfix download installation predicated on your operating system, which mine is a 64bit system?
Should have said, my system is a 64 bit OS so I would run the vssfix64, correct?
I am going to presume I should run the vssfix64.
Anyway, tried all this and I am still getting a Freeze on backups.
Steve Smith: I have not tried either. I believe it would be compatible from Vista to Win 10 as the files referenced are all the same and exist on my Win7 and Win10 system. I'd recommend a backup before trying though to be on the safe side. Otherwise, one could re-register the VSS componenents each one-by-one and check the services manually or follow the Microsoft KB article instead which has a fixit tool as well.
SteveT: Yes, x64 for 64-bit. Sounds like it didn't help. You said you tried all o this, so you also tried:
- you also cleared system protection and restarted it and tried again? http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4533-system-protection-turn-off-drives-windows-10-a.html
- disabling VSS for your backup task and seeing if the propriertary Acronis SNAPAPI backup method (default method in 2014 and earlier) fairs any better? https://forum.acronis.com/forum/45832#comment-346558
If so, I would attempt an offline backup using your recovery media and see if it has any luck too.
If that can't get through it, here is a possiblity that you have corruption on your disk and may want to try a third party disk checker tool. There are 3rd party ones like WD Data Lifeguard (free) and hard disk sentinenl (free 30 day trial) and some others recommended here that I have not tried: https://www.technize.net/5-free-tools-to-check-hard-disk-for-errors-chk…
With the particular error you're getting, either it sounds like the disk is in some trouble, or something is wrong with VSS in Windows. The offline backup with Acronis recovery media should help identify if it's VSS or the disk. If it's successful, chances are it's VSS. If it's not successful, chances are it's something on the disk itself.
Steve T, check the ownership and permissions of the Folder which gives the error you must have admin rights as the logged on user or VSS will fail in the manner in which you describe.
Gentlemen,
This is a painful lesson-learned and I should have done this in the first place.
First, since chkdsk and multiple other tests on this drive came out squeaky clean, I was hell-bent on finding out what in the world was wrong with the Acronis software and/or what settings did I have wrong causing the backups to fail.
I have a Western Digital My Book connected to my laptop with a USB 2 connection. I successfully copied all the files (one primary folder at a time) from my D drive to the external drive and started a complete file backup with Acronis and bingo, no problems.
I don’t know if I am being premature on this but by my calculation, I must have a D drive that is faulty even though chkdsk said she was fine.
Last thoughts on the before I pull the trigger on a replacement D drive?
Thanks for all your help and suggestions. I learned a lot about troubleshooting!
Steve
Glad to hear you are making some progress.
It is possible that there is a problem with the HDD that checkdsk cannot find - for example a failing controller pcb. Or it could even be an iffy SATA cable or power cable. I have had both happen to me. I have aslo has issues that ultimately were due to a faulty USB 3 cable.
Ian
+1 to IanL-S thoughts on a bad cable (or enclosure). If you have a different enclosure for your external drive, try that with the same cable. Then try with a different cable and if need be, try with a different USB port (like front port instead of rear port or vice-versa). USB performance varies all over the place. Even on my main desktop, my front ports are faster than the rear ones, but the rear ones have a higher power rating so work better with spinning drives. My front ports work fine with SSD's and a non-powered SATA to USB 3 cable, but when I put a 2.5" 7200RPM drive on it, it will randomly cut out at random times. I can take the same drive and cable and plug it on the back ports without issue.
There was a recent post of someone trying to clone and it kept failing for no apparent reason and they swapped the external case (different type/brand) and it worked the 1st try after that.
With cables sometmes reseating them can fix issues as well. I have gotten into the habit of doing that with my machines about once a year during my regular cleaning routines and that has helped me to not ahve experiences with flaky issues like that here.
Well gents, I guess I spoke too soon. Even with a replacement drive, sitll getting the deep freeze. I even tried to back up to a different NAS unit and same thing. Guess it's not a bad NAS or cable.
Event Viewer shows errors, one of them on the VSS process. Here is the error message:
"Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error DeviceIoControl(\\?\Volume{cd279975-56de-4fe5-bf67-787cc3295b5d} - 0000000000000224,0x0053c008,0000022B9C50A430,0,0000022B9C50B460,4096,[0]). hr = 0x80070570, The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable. .
Operation:
Processing EndPrepareSnapshots
Context:
Execution Context: System Provider"
Is it possible there is something else going on hardware wise, disk controller or something like that?
Steve, have you tried disabling VSS for this specific task to see if the old Acronis snapshot function hits the same issue?
See post: https://forum.acronis.com/forum/45832#comment-346558 for details of how to do this.
For your error message:
Event Viewer shows errors, one of them on the VSS process. Here is the error message:
"Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Unexpected error DeviceIoControl(\\?\Volume{cd279975-56de-4fe5-bf67-787cc3295b5d} - 0000000000000224,0x0053c008,0000022B9C50A430,0,0000022B9C50B460,4096,[0]). hr = 0x80070570, The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable. .
Open a Windows Command prompt then issue the mountvol.exe command, this will produce a list of all the volume identifiers for your system and show the actual drive letter for each of these, so that you can identify which specific volume the above error applies to.
See webpage: DISPLAYING THE VOLUME GUID OF A VOLUME
Hey Steve, the error applies to my "D" drive, the drive I'm trying to do a complete backup on.
I have tried changing the VSS user_???? = "false" int the script but will try again and get back to you.
Stange thing is that when it gets into the frozen mode, there is nothing I can do to clear the progam other than do a hard stop - power off the system then unisntall acronis and reinstall.
Do do this, I will create the backup and select run later. Then go in and modify the script, save the file, then run the backup.
Steve -
I have updated the Script as outlined with "false". restarted Acronis TI and exicuted the backup. It gets to about the 4GB processed of back up and Freezes. That is where I am at at this moment.
Steve, have replied to your PM.
I have the same problem as Bruno originally described in the OP - ATI locks my machine up, even if it is not actively performing a backup.
I upgraded from ATI 2016 last Friday, and Saturday and Sunday I had to cold boot my system a number of times. I finally suspended the ATI process and no lockups since then.
'm trying to get backups for 3 internal drives (1 Crucial 512G SSD, 1T WD Black, and a 3T HGST) onto 2 external WD MyBooks at 4TB ea. This configuration worked "fine" under ATI 2016 (I say "fine" in quotes as the incremental backups seem to be full backups, and the instructions to limit the number of kept backups seems not to work, but that's for another thread). Since I cannot get past the locking-up-the-computer thing, I have no clue if it actually will back up correctly or not.
I get no error messages, and the Windows dump log has the last dump invoked last September.
Thoughts or suggestions?
Pathfinder, welcome to these user forums.
Did you read Bruno's update in post #5 where he concluded that the issues he was seeing came from a mix of upgrading over previous versions plus being caused by the Acronis Mobile backup service running.
I would recommend trying a clean install of ATIH 2017, especially if you had previously upgraded to 2016 from one or more earlier versions.
You can save your current backup tasks by saving the C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts folder contents before taking the next steps.
Uninstall the 2017 version normally via the Control Panel, then download the Acronis Cleanup Tool (link below in my signature).
Run the Cleanup Tool as Administrator then restart the computer to complete the cleanup action.
Install 2017 again (as Administrator) - download a new copy if needed from your Acronis Account. Note: if this was an upgrade license then you will need two license keys to enter, one for 2017 and one for 2016 (or other earlier version).
Restore the task Scripts files if saved above before running ATIH 2017. You will still need to check each task and reset your schedules for these.
WARNING!!!
Guys it looks like Acronis has moved to yearly subscription model and any software that is not upgraded to 2017 is toast. Just upgraded to 2016 on June 28 of 2016 and now being told to upgrade to 2017. I need a reliable cloning or backup software! Can anybody supply a proven recommendation?
Thanks
WARNING!!!
Guys it looks like Acronis has moved to yearly subscription model and any software that is not upgraded to 2017 is toast. Just upgraded to 2016 on June 28 of 2016 and now being told to upgrade to 2017. I need a reliable cloning or backup software! Can anybody supply a proven recommendation?
Did you mean to post in this thread? It seems off topic.
And I've missed something if your post is accurate. According to http://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/upgrade-backup/ there is still a one-time purchase option. I don't think Acronis is forcing anybody to upgrade to 2017. There are operating system compatability concerns with back-level versions (always has been; always will be). And there are "green code" concerns about upgrading to the latest versions. Stay with 2016 or upgrade to 2017. Your choice. As far as I know, both are " reliable cloning or backup software". Both have strong points; both have problems. Sort of like all software.
Patrick, I just got off the phone with Acronis who can't/won't fix the 'known' issue I am having and is telling me to upgrade to 2017. It's in writing.
The software I had purchased June 28 of 2016 is now toast. Don't know how this happened but I can no longer do the cloning that I was doing as of Dec 30 2017. They admit to knowing the problem. I don't really care. I can't do a clone now(my backup solution) and am moving on. Acronis has been a good piece of software for me but I paid for a year and got six months out of it, what's next?
You are obviously not reading what I am writing; My recently purchased 2016 Acronis no longer works and they know about it!
Looking for a cloning alternative ASAP. Some interesting options out there.
Patrick, I just got off the phone with Acronis who can't/won't fix the 'known' issue I am having and is telling me to upgrade to 2017. It's in writing.
The software I had purchased June 28 of 2016 is now toast. Don't know how this happened but I can no longer do the cloning that I was doing as of Dec 30 2017. They admit to knowing the problem. I don't really care. I can't do a clone now(my backup solution) and am moving on. Acronis has been a good piece of software for me but I paid for a year and got six months out of it, what's next?
You are obviously not reading what I am writing; My recently purchased 2016 Acronis no longer works and they know about it!
Looking for a cloning alternative ASAP. Some interesting options out there.
Quick question, how can it be in writing if you were talking to them on the phone?
Putting aside for the moment the risks of using cloning rather than backup and restore to new disk (see discussion here), it is not clear from your post what the nature of the problem you are having with 'cloning' is. Have you always had this problem with ATI 2016, or has it only just appeared?
Off topic: Before buying any software it is a good idea to work out the product cycle - in the case True Image new versions tend to be released late August/early Septermber, with a free upgrade if you purchased within a month of the release date. Not all verdors with annual cycle are as generous with free upgrade (Cyberlink for example).
Ian
Sorry Ian, I should have said chat ie on the computer, not the phone. Their choice not mine. Seems like a phone conversation just v e r y slow.
Forgot to mention that I use, been using True Image Home since 2010 and upgraded as new options were offered or desired. Never had any real problems. There has never been a subscription or expiry until now, the 2017 offering. Maybe we are talking differences in home use and corporate. I used Ghost corporately.
Surely you've got to see the injustice in charging for a piece of software that stops working after six months.
And while the why isn't really important, I would love to know the how (possibly through a sleeper update). Fact is they are aware of the problem but have directed me to upgrade to 2017.
I dismiss companies that use such sleazy practices.
I too installed over the 2016 version. My mistake!
My PC has been unusable for 3 days (completely frozen after what appears to be normal bootup). Very few programs would open. After 3 frustrating days I realised that the most recent change had been the installation of ATI 2017 New Generation. It took many attempts before I was able to uninstall the program through Control Panel, and my PC is now running normally. It took about 12 attempts to get Control Panel to open, and an attempt to uninstall in safe mode failed.
I am wary of reinstalling this version of ATI.
Dianne I,ve obviously got history with Acronis, been using various Home versions since 2010. The product had a few problems during that time but when I upgraded to 2016 six months ago and it did not say it was for a prescribed length of time or would expire, now that it fails I am being told to upgrade to the new 'yearly subscription' based 2017. It's a simple piece of backup software, why should it expire? Age or become out dated , yes but expire.
Second time this week a software provider has abandoned me with thier fix being a suggested upgrade. This sales technique doesn't work for me.
The others may be referencing a corporate version which is a whole different playing field. My post was intended for the Home User.
Good luck
Just a little pissed!
Dianne, Peter, if you have paid Acronis to upgrade to ATIH 2017 and have been switched to New Generation as a Subscription product, then please contact Acronis and request a refund and tell them that you want to stay with the perpetual license product version of ATIH 2016 (or 2017 as per your preference).
To revert back from 2017 NG you should be prepared to do a clean install of your older 2016 product and this may resolve many of the issues you have been seeing with that version too.
To do a clean install, simply uninstall any Acronis software normally via the Control Panel.
Next download the Acronis Cleanup Tool (link below) and run this as Administrator to clean all further residue before then restarting the computer to complete the actions.
Finally download (if needed) the latest ATIH 2016(or 2017) installer from your Acronis account and install this and create new backup tasks. If installing 2017 ensure you have the build 5554 installer (not 6116 which is New Generation).
Thanks Steve, but I have been touting the benefits of Acronis to family and friends and was to demo the product to two individuals today. That won't happen as the software has failed, an engineered failure I suspect. So I must now appear hat in hand and attempt to explain that the software I've been pushing has failed, permanently.
I'm over it and moving on. I'm a big fan of after market support and that's not Acronis.
Testing new software that has greater security than Acronis, should I lose or misplace the drive.
Peter,
Although not a replacement for a backup product, nor an excuse for any backup product deficiencies listed here in this thread or elsehwere in the forum, you may want to consider using a cloning dock for your unique cloning strategy.
The downlsides for these are they currently only support standard 2.5 and/or 3.5 SATA drives (most common), but there are adapaters out there for m.2. SATA as well. They don't address newer PCIE NVME drives though. You need to physcially remove the source drive to dock it - perhaps not ideal for all systems, but hard drive access is pretty easy to get to on PC's and many newer laptops.
The upsides are that they work completely independently of any OS and/or software (complete bit for bit cloning directly in the dock with nothing more than AC power needed). They work with both 2.5" and/or 3.5" SATA drives. They also double as a dual (or single) USB external drive enclosure when connected to a PC. They can clone encrypted disks of the exact same size while they are encrypted too.
Although I don't clone often, when I do, using these docks is my preferred method. And I still use backup products like Acronis for automated backup to multiple sources for data retention and recovery points in time (1 to a local drive, 1 to a network NAS and 1 to the Cloud for 3-2-1 protection). The dock is just another tool in the arsenal that can make cloning very simple and diversify your backup/cloning strategy.
There are many out there, but I use this Inatek one at home and in the office and it has served me well - especially when needing to clone a fully encrypted disk.
Thanks Bob but I don't want to be removing my internal drive everytime I wish to clone. Over the years I've had many corrupted drives and the clone saved me from the hours it takes to do a system rebuild. Backups don't help in a situation like that.
I am probably going be forced to deal with these crooks and purchase the software again
I'm over being pissed off. Now I just want to find a work around and fast.
Thanks for your input.
Thanks Bob but I don't want to be removing my internal drive everytime I wish to clone. Over the years I've had many corrupted drives and the clone saved me from the hours it takes to do a system rebuild. Backups don't help in a situation like that.
I am probably going be forced to deal with these crooks and purchase the software again
I'm over being pissed off. Now I just want to find a work around and fast.
Thanks for your input.
How so? That's exactly what a backup is for.
I only do full disk backup and restore (I personally don't clone unless I have no other option) and I can take any such backup and restore it to another SSD in less than 10 minutes and have a fully operational system again. You just need to ensure you're backing up the entire disk, to include all paritions. This can be done in Windows, or with the rescue media as well (I prefer rescue media to have an idle disk that is imaged completely outside of the OS and doing this in your routine would really be no different than the process you do now).
Backup/restore and clone will have a similar outcome. However, a backup has the advantage as that you can use it over and over again, or retain them as different recovery options. A a clone is a one-off process and if it fails in the process, can actually leave you with 2 inoperable drives in some cases.
My sincere thanks for your detailed advice. I am relieved to have a functioning PC again!
I omitted to metnion in my original post that I am running Windows 7 64 bit.
I suspect that ATI 2017 NG was in conflict with one or more previously installed programs- perhaps antiransomware?
Peter, also - maybe not what you're looking for, but they make internal docks for hotswapping drives. ICYDock is just one manufacturer, but there are several out there. These come in very handy for those who also like to dual boot without having to fuss with paritioning and worrying about logical paritions or bootloaders on a single disk.
If you need to swape 2.5" and/or 3.5" drives (bootable OS drives) this one works well, but a little bit ugly if you're into PC looks: https://www.amazon.com/DuoSwap-MB971SP-B-Drive-Caddy-Docking/dp/B007Q4EZEA
If you deal in only 2.5" drives for your OS, they have some other options that look cooler too:
2-bay in a single 5.25" opening: https://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Drive-Device-ExpressCage-MB322SP-B/dp/B00X5HAKXC/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1486510885&sr=1-1&keywords=MB322SP-B
4-bay in a single 5.25" opening: https://www.amazon.com/Backplane-Mobile-Comparable-Tray-less-Design/dp/B00V5JHOXQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1486510798&sr=1-1&keywords=MB324SP-B
Backups don't help in a situation like that.
What? That's news to many of us who have performed "bare metal" restores of full ATI backups to brand new replacement drives. As Bobbo, says, ATI backups absolutely are a solution in a case like that.
I've experienced total drive failure, unrecoverable hardware damage. I removed the drive, installed a replacement drive, booted from the ATI Rescue Media and restored a full disk backup. When the restore completed, I booted the new drive and everything was exactly as I had left my system at the time of the last backup.