2011 returning to sleep during backup
I have 2 systems running ATI 2011 on Windows 7. Both are set to wake up to perform backups. These backups are substantial in size and take some time to complete.
When the backup is being written to a secondary drive on the same system as the source the PC will return to sleep according to its power management settings before the backup is complete.
It seems that ATI does not make the required power management "process request" to prevent sleep during the backup operation. If I remember correctly this was a problem initially with 2010, but was resolved with an update.
The problem does not seem to affect backups to network drives, as W7 automatically suspends sleep when there is file activity involving a remote drive. However, W7's aggressive power saving methodology will suspend the system regardless of local disc activity unless a process or driver specifically requests sleep be prevented.
Please can ATI 2011 be modified to prevent sleep for the entire duration of a backup operation, including validation and consolidation, otherwise it is almost impossible to sensibly make large backups on systems utilising Windows Power Management. the system needs to be awoken manually several times before the backup is completed.
Yeah, sorry. I should have said, as I did in my other post, I have already raised a support ticket.
Just thought I'd post it here too in case others were affected, or if others are interested pre-upgrade.
Too bad Acronis doesn't use the windows 7 task scheduler or you could work around this. If you there is a way to run a backup from the command line, then you can use the Windows 7 task scheduler to run it and I could show you a workaround that prevents it from going to sleep.
Gene
Yes, the Windows task scheduler can initiate an Acronis backup. Version 2011 has made that much easier. Under the operations tab, is the ability to create a shortcut. After shortacut creation, you can then edit the shortcut and obtain its properies (command detail). You can then post that into the Windows scheduler.
Look at this link for more informtion. This is XP Pro but the same principle applies in Win7.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/14935#comment-45074
The you can have it run a bat file with content:
powercfg -SETACTIVE 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c
contents of acronis shortcut here
powercfg -SETACTIVE 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e
The first line sets the power configuration to "high performance" on my system. The last sets it back to" balanced".
The GUID argument for the "powercfg -SETACTIVE " may be different on your system. To make sure issue
the following command at the CMD command promp:
powercfg -L
That will list the guid for the various power schemes which you can cut and paste
If the actual acronis executables are spawned off to do the backup, then the last command which sets the power scheme back to balanced will get executed before the backup completes. If that is the case, I have a visual basic script that will wait for the spawned executable to complete. Let me know and I will post that here. I had to do this to schedule Microsoft security essential scan as their MpCmdRun.exe executable is spawned as a separate process.
- Gene
Thanks for your help.
As this worked in 2010, hopefully Acronis will quickly address it with 2011.
Good luck on that Jon. There seems to be quite a few issues for them to address.
Gene
If your motherboard is a 'green energy ' type, in other words there is a hardware powerdown, the workaround above might not work.
Strangely somethings do work during hardware sleep, such as Microsoft downloader, but other software doesn't respond.
Here's a possible workaround for the computer falling asleep before the backup is finished, if you don't mind having the computer shut down afterward. I've run a few tests this afternoon that look promising.
Set up whatever backup parameters in TI you wish, including scheduling. Mine is to do daily backups at 3:00 AM. Under Disk Backup Options>Advanced tab>Computer Shutdown, make sure the "Shutdown the computer after backup is complete" box is checked.
Search for and download "Insomnia.exe" off the net. It's a very small freeware tool that prevents Windows from going to sleep while it's running. Set up the Windows Task Scheduler to run Insomnia.exe at the same time and on the same schedule you have for your backups.
When backup time rolls around, both programs fire up at the same time, the computer wakes up, TI does its thing while Insomnia keeps the computer awake, and when the backup is finishes, TI shuts the computer down.
This is obviously not a perfect solution for more complicated situations, but until Acronis gets this problem solved, it just might work for some.