True Image 2016 Hangs retrieving Information
Have used True Image 2013 with Win 7 Ultimate for years - Great software.
Simply always working without any hiccups.
Today I have upgraded to Win 10 Pro on the very same and totally unchanged machine - and have also bought and installed the very newest Acronis True Image updates.
When trying to make the first new backup of the C:-disk (a 250 GB OCZ Vertex) to a normal HDD then Acronis 2016 just hangs doing nothing according to the Task Manager while displaying "Retrieving information..."
The True Image 2013 has done fine backups of this disk for at least 2 years now - why does the newest True Image 2016 just hang this way without any warnings, error messages or anything - not even a hint?
Of course I have tried what I so could find on the Internet - but after a couple of hours searching, restarting etc etc etc searching blindfolded I will try this forum hoping for good advice - although I really do wonder why Acronis 2016 can not backup from-and-to the 2 very same disks that Acronis 2013 has used without any problems for several years now :- ))
Since you have upgraded the OS and had prevoius versions of Acronis installed at one time or another, you may have some "leftovers" somewhere, or an issue as a result of the OS upgrade.
In many cases, if it is stuck calculating, it is a sign of a Windows VSS issue. You can try disabling VSS in your backup job and let it fall back to the same Acronis Snapapi backup method from 2014 and earlier and see if that helps.
https://forum.acronis.com/forum/116164#comment-346710
recommend trying the following (you may have to disable the Acronis services in computer management >>> servcices before you can change the script if it is curently in use.
1) open the folder where your backups settings are saved: C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts
2) each file there stores settings for particular backup job. Open files one-by-one in Notepad, or open latest modified file (if you have just modified your task), until you find the one that has backup name on 5th line, e.g. MyBackups
3) click Edit - Replace and replace use_vss="true" with use_vss="false"
4) save changes and close the file
Well, followed your instructions and here are the results:
- Changed script and saved
- Rebooted system
- Initiated Startup Recovery Manager
- Made no changes to back-up profile
- Pressed "Backup Now" button.
Almost immediately, the process ended and it claimed to have completed the backup. Yet, there was no aditional data, files, or anything else on the target disk. So, what now?
Well, followed your instructions and here are the results:
- Changed script and saved
- Rebooted system
- Initiated Startup Recovery Manager
- Made no changes to back-up profile
- Pressed "Backup Now" button.
Almost immediately, the process ended and it claimed to have completed the backup. Yet, there was no aditional data, files, or anything else on the target disk. So, what now?
The Fish, sorry but from what I have read in this post, the instructions regarding changing the task script to disable VSS was intended for the original poster of this thread.
In your case, as you are using the ASRM, then the task scripts are not used and there is also no need for the change as there is no Microsoft VSS or Snapshot requirement in the ASRM Linux boot environment.
I would recommend starting a new post in your own right for this ASRM issue as I doubt that you have the same issue as the OP of this thread.
Just one recommendation to you. In the Windows version of ATIH 2016, or from the Start > Programs > Acronis menu options. Disable your current ASRM environment, then take the option to Activate it again - this is to ensure that the version of the ASRM that you are using is from ATIH 2016 and not from a previous version of the product that you may have had installed.
Please note that I, too, have upgraded from Win 7 Pro to Win10 Pro. My system crashed because of Windows repair issues related to the original main Winchester being MBR as opposed to GPT. Had to reinstall Win 10 Pro from scratch and installed WD version of True Image prior to buying/installing True Image 2016. Had not used WD version for any backup; only used Disk Director 12 functions on a couple of disks. Do you still want me to re-post to another thread?
The Fish, thank you for clarifying your problem environment but you have introduced some more factors that were not aparent previously.
Did you activate the ASRM for your previous WD version of Acronis True Image or did you activate it only after installing ATIH 2016?
The other question here is do you have a problem as described by the OP of this thread when running ATIH 2016 within Windows with the task hanging as described with 'retrieving information...'?
The hanging task situation would seem to indicate a Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) issue, hence the advice from Bobbo.
The situation with the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is a totally different issue and should be dealt with in a separate post if only to prevent confusing this thread further by mixing the advice being given for completely different issues.
It may be that the best advise to both posters in this thread would be to perform a clean install of the ATIH 2016 software, this to remove any potential issues that have their roots in older / OEM versions of previous Acronis products, i.e. ATIH 2013 or WD branded OEM version of Acronis.
Perform a clean install of ATIH 2016
First uninstall the program via the Control Panel (or use an uninstaller such as Revo).
Run the Acronis Cleanup Tool (link in my signature below), then restart the computer.
Note: The KB document for the Cleanup Tool refers to checking for entries in the Windows registry - I have ignored this step on the occasions I have used it with no detriment, though if making changes to the registry, I strongly advise either exporting the registry before the change(s), or create a System Restore point, or image the drive for protection.
Reinstall the ATIH software (download a fresh copy from your Acronis Account if needed or if you don't have the latest build version installer). Run the install as an Administrator (right-click on the installer to take this option).
It is also recommended to suspend your security programs (antivirus, anti-malware etc) during the install as these programs can cause Access Denied errors for the Acronis installer program.
Note 1: If you have purchased an Upgrade version of ATIH 2016 you will be asked for two serial numbers during the install - one for 2016 and one for the previous version that the upgrade is based on, i.e. 2015.
Note 2: The cleanup tool will remove all your backup tasks and task history.
I have to agree with others here. Previous versions of Acronis worked without issue, time and again. First backup full, the next incremental. I could backup 1.5 Tb on a 2 Tb drive wihtout issue in a reasonable amount of time.
Now, version 2016 is just S-L-O-W. After the inderterminable "Calculating Time Remaining," I am told that the backup will take 1 day, 12 hours. The performance for a critical application is not accecptable.
Can I revert to the older version of Acronis?
I feel your pain, I've had Acronis 2009, 2012 which are both highly configurable and stable products, then this crap in 2016. I have installed and have not been able to get a single successful backup. And what have they done to the UI? THey've stripped out all the configuration tools and put two boxes in their place! Speachless.
Have used True Image 2013 with Win 7 Ultimate for years - Great software.
Simply always working without any hiccups.
Today I have upgraded to Win 10 Pro on the very same and totally unchanged machine - and have also bought and installed the very newest Acronis True Image updates.
When trying to make the first new backup of the C:-disk (a 250 GB OCZ Vertex) to a normal HDD then Acronis 2016 just hangs doing nothing according to the Task Manager while displaying "Retrieving information..."
The True Image 2013 has done fine backups of this disk for at least 2 years now - why does the newest True Image 2016 just hang this way without any warnings, error messages or anything - not even a hint?
Of course I have tried what I so could find on the Internet - but after a couple of hours searching, restarting etc etc etc searching blindfolded I will try this forum hoping for good advice - although I really do wonder why Acronis 2016 can not backup from-and-to the 2 very same disks that Acronis 2013 has used without any problems for several years now :- ))
Elinar;
I took 11 hours to backup 1.3 Tb on a gigabit network, and that is for a 125,730 kb file, which is an incremental job. God knows how long it will take for the full disk job the next time.
I'm asking for my money back, plain and simple.
Steve Smith, even though you recommended starting a new thread, this one has gotten out of hand and I believe I must continue here unless a moderator moves my posts.
To my knowledge, the WD version doesn't have SRM. It's limited because Acronis wants users to buy full product. And if you read my first post, you'd note that I did say I was having the same problem of a hang at "Retrieving information..." That went on for well over a day without moving to another phase or even showing an error.
I will do the clean install following the complete uninstall, as you stated, and report back.
Program hangs or stalls are usually be the result of corrupt disk drives. It is recommended that you run chkdsk from an elevated comand prompt on all partitions on each disk you are using to check for errors. Manufacturer disk diagnostic tools can also be helpful in correcting disk health issues.
Great. I'M the manufacturer!
I'll run chkdsk and report back.
The Fish,
So I take it you own a hard drive manufacturing plant? The tools I mention are those from the drive makers, Seagate, WD, Toshiba, etc. Most of these offer diagnostic tools that can be helpful in diagosis and repair of their drives.
My mistake; I interpreted your word as meaning that of the entire system.
For the record: the machine has a combination of WD and Seagate Winchesters. Prior to buying ATIH 2016 and installing other apps, I had installed & run the latest diagnostic tools for each. The results showed all drives without errors. I'm not entirely devoid of knowledge & experience.
Ran chkdsk; no errors. Did a clean uninstall of all Acronis products, rebooted, then reinstallation of ATIH 2016. The backup now works without a hitch. No definitive proof what brought it about, but my money's on the uninstall/reinstall.
Case closed as far as I'm concerned. Thanks.
For what it is worth sometimes installs get bricked for unknown reasons and often a full uninstall using the cleanup tools available and then reinstall of the product fixes the issues.
Glad you got it sorted.
As the OP of this post I now can add that, after downloading and running the Acronis Clean-up tool and reinstalling the 2016-version, now the backup is running perfectly.
A warm thank you to all helping in this post above.
...And a couple of you were saying the original post had nothing to do with my problem?
... and how did the story go on?
Well - I have bought a new USB3 HDD for making Cloned Disk with Acronis 2016.
Trying to make the cloning I get an Acronis error message:
"Failed to activate Acronis Bootable agent" and a link to Acronis support.
Now clicking this link I get:
+++
Acronis Support Center
There is no information about this error available now.
You can use the links below to search for any additional information that might be available.
+++
Well, well, well - so sorry - but I do not have time to act as an early Beta tester for the Acronis 2016 -
so I just quit here searching for more mature products.
Acronis 2013 has served me perfectly for years - but the 2016-version seems to be quite another thing.
Kind regards
Elnar,
Your frustration is understood. For the record if you were attempting to use the Clone tool from within the Windows installed application and recieved this error then it means that the application was unable to reboot your machine into the Recovery environment (Linox based) to perform the clone task.
It is recommended that in perofrming Clone or Restore operations that PC should be booted to the Recovery Media first and performing those operations from from that source when attempting these operations on an entire Windows System disk.
I wanted to add something here. I had the same issue, in fact I've had it on 2014 and 2016 after upgrading. For me I used REVO Uninstaller and did a full uninstall, application, registry entries and directories on the system. After that I reinstalled. This happened to me infrequently on about 1 out of 4 machines but it's still an annoyance.