Build 20770 didn't solve the pre-command wrong delay
I have an issued open on support for the last ATI 2020 build. I tested with this new Build 20770 and nothing changed.
Here what's happening:
- I have a daily scheduled backup from my C partition to an external USB HDD.
- The external HDD is constantly turned OFF and it's turned on through an Autohotkey script, which is launched via Settings -> Pre-Command:
- When the backup starts at the scheduled time, the pre-command is started:
- The script is executed and the external HDD (h:) is turned on (automatically opens a windows explorer windows to prove this):
- But right after, ATI accuses this error (The backup cannot be started. Plug in the external drive):
- Once the drive is ON, this error has no sense, so I manually click on "Back up now" button and then it starts correctly:
Therefore, that's the current bug that should be solved.
Already did.
I wrote here because most of the time the forum members know much more about ATI than the support staff themselves...
espartano... I wonder if you added a bit more delay in the script if it would help (like, after explorer is launched, ping null for another 10 seconds before the script ends).
Otherwise, I am wondering if the task is starting before the drive is turned on, is causing this behavior since the task may be checking for the destination as soon as it's launched and before the script is actually run. Of course, that doesn't help fix it if it is, but might be part of the problem.
Just curious, but does your backup run at the same time on a schedule? If so, perhaps you could use a windows scheduled task to launch 1 minute before the Acronis scheduled task to turn on the drive before the Acronis backup is set to run? Might be an approachable test or work-a-round in the interim.
The script is the same used for ATI 2019 and there it was working perfectly.
So it's obvious this is a different behavior introduced on ATI 2020.
My AutoHotkey script does basically this:
DriveGet, s, Status, h:\
if (s <> "Ready") {
RunWait "C:\RestartSrDev.exe" -f USB\VID_04E8&PID_6123\00000000011E0A49
The 1st line is an AutoHotKey command to get the current status of my external HDD (h:).
If it's off, then it runs (and wait until finished) this .exe which basically turns the drive ON.
It's also the same script I run manually when I want to turn on my external HDD at any time.
So, it seems ATI 2020 is not "waiting" until the script is finished. And the screenshots above are proving this.
Just checking... click the Edit button next to the pre-command and be sure the option
Do not perform operations until the command's execution is complete
is checked.
It seems ATI 2020 doesn't like batch files.
Instead of running the Autohotkey Script inside the pre-command as shown in my first image of the original post above, I replaced it for just to run the ".exe" directly (also I had to surround the "&" due to DOS limitations):
RunWait "C:\RestartSrDev.exe" -f USB\VID_04E"8"&PID_6123\00000000011E0A49
And it worked.
So, ATI 2020 can run and `.exe` but can't run a `.ahk`
If the current external HDD (h:) is already turned ON, the .exe command will return an error, and for this, ATI 2020 stops the current backup scripts!
That is, if I run a .ahk script, it doesn't work, if I run an .exe and the external hard drive is already on, it doesn't work ...
I think it's time for the staff to improve it!
Try this,
Put your .ahk script call in a .bat file and return no error condition. If the .bat doesn't work, rename it a .cmd file and try again.
I created a .bat file containing this 2 commands:
C:\RestartSrDev.exe -f "USB\VID_04E8&PID_6123\00000000011E0A49"
exit /b 0
The last line forces the .bat to return a "no error" code, thus fooling ATI 2020.
Thanks, @BrunoC!
Glad it works now. Seems it always takes a few tries to figure out just how to get the pre-commands to perform as desired.