Validation time (True Image Home 2011)
I did a full disk image backup of my only HDD (3 partitions) to an empty external eSATA drive. Source drive is filled with about 500 GB, image size is about 350 GB. Took less then an hour and worked as expected.
Unfortunately I encountered problems with its validation: That process takes more or less forever. I stopped and restarted it several times, rebooted my system etc., allways with the same result: Endless hours of validation with very little progress. Right now a validation of that 350 GB image is running for nearly 6 hours and did not even reach 50% completion. I have no other apps running. Sometimes 30 minutes pass by without the progress bar adding another percent.
Is that task working as expected or do I have a serious problem here?
Oh, btw: I'm on build 5519.
Any help appreciated.
BH
PS: I just used Acronis TIH 2011 for the first time, so I'm a complete beginner. Have mercy ;-)
Is the drive activity showing solid or is it very low?
How long does it take Windows to copy a 1GB file from the eSATA drive to the internal drive?
Do you get the same slow validation from a USB drive or a network share?
Does it validate normally from the TI CD?
Thanks for you help, MudCrab.
I will do more tests tomorrow according to your questions and post the answers here.
BH
Here are my test results:
How long does it take Windows to copy a 1GB file from the eSATA drive to the internal drive?
I copied the 385 GB image file. That took 90 minutes, so the average transfer rate was about 70 MB/s (peak was 95 MB/s).
Do you get the same slow validation from a USB drive or a network share?
As I have no network shares, I validated the file I just copied to the internal drive. That took only 105 minutes.
Does it validate normally from the TI CD?
Surprisingly, yes it does. That took only 90 minutes.
Now I'm puzzled. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
BH
I'm validating my original setup again:
Windows 7's resource monitor tells me that process "TrueImageHomeService.exe" is reading from my .tib at the spead of 100 KB/s to 1 MB/s (constantly going up and down, mostly around 500 KB/s). That's the problem, isn't it? Thats way too little imho.
Any help?
Thank you in advance
What other background utilities are running?
Is your video card driver up to date - strange I know, but this can make a difference.
I updated the video card driver as recommended - well, actually everything ATI related. But without result.
The most important background utility is GData Antivirus, but I deactivated it temporarily. Besides that there are a couple of autoupdate processes.
Any more ideas? Your help is very appreciated.
I've run out of thoughts for the moment, we know at least that it is a Windows based problem.
I'm trying to think of what could be causing such a slow validation. Validation will often take longer than the actual imaging, but your seems to be excessive.
What type of RAM do you have?
Whilst RAM problems normally show up when trying to make an image, I suppose it is possible for TI to make an image OK, but play up on validation.
What processor and speed do you have?
Ram can be tested easily enough with MemTestx86 run for at least 12 hours.
Are you still within the 30 day period for raising a support request?
Smacks head, thumps table
Just recalled you are using eSata, are you able to plug the drive in as USB or copy the image file to an internal drive and run validation? If it runs quicker either way, then it is the eSata driver or hardware bridge that is the problem. eSata can be flaky, though again it would normally show up when making the image.
Thank you so much for thinking about a solution to my problem.
I just realized that my issue is reproducible: Validation runs smoothly until a specific point (completion 38%, time left 1:13h) and then slows down dramatically (2 hours until it reaches 39%). May it be a problem with a specific element of my image?
What type of RAM do you have?
4GB of DDR3
What processor and speed do you have?
Core i5 750
Are you still within the 30 day period for raising a support request?
I'm using the trial version. I wanted to check whether everything I need is working as expected. Seems to be a good idea by now ;-)
Just recalled you are using eSata, are you able to plug the drive in as USB or copy the image file to an internal drive and run validation? If it runs quicker either way, then it is the eSata driver or hardware bridge that is the problem. eSata can be flaky, though again it would normally show up when making the image.
Hm. As I wrote earlier I copied the .tib file to an internal drive and validation finished without problems. But I also tried validating the original image on my eSATA drive from the TrueImage Rescue CD and that finished without problems as well. And creating the image was also no problem. So I don't think it's a general eSATA problem, rather a specific Windows-eSATA or TrueImage-eSATA problem.
This whole thing is really driving me crazy. Do you mind me joining you smacking heads? :-)
I've seen problems like this when validating over a network. I suppose this may be the same type of problem, but I never pinned it down.
Have you run chkdsk on the eSATA drive?
Is the backup you're validating the only TIB file in that backup task? There are no Incrementals or Differentials?
If you create a smaller (much smaller) backup image and save it to the eSATA drive, does it also validate slowly?
Have you checked that the eSATA controller drivers are current?
What mode is the eSATA controller running in (this setting would be in the BIOS)?
Is the eSATA port a real port (connected to the board) or is it a fake one that's attached to an internal SATA port?
I have a similar problem - The backup usually takes about 30 minutes and it this is combinrd with validation in onr operation it will take a little less than one hour - this is with True Image home 2010.
If I set Trie Image Home 2011 to backup alone this too takes about 30 minutes and the validation takes about the same time if set as a seperate operation. If however in True Omage Home 2011 they are set to back up and validate as one operation, the backup takes abot 30 minutes BUT the validadion starts at THREE DAYs and increases as time goes on.
Its about time Acronis got did something about it!!!!
Did you let run the validation until the end? Does it take effectively more than three days?
The time estimates of ATI cannot be trusted.