Failed to read data from disk (even after replacing drives!)
I have been getting this error on every full backup (but not incremental backups) for a couple of weeks. I initially thought it was my SSD drive (Drive 0 with Windows 10 OS). I ran all the diagnostics I could on both my drives (including Loooong Checkdisk and Seagate tools tests) - ALL came out as healthy drive, no problems. I replaced the SSD drive - still got error from Acronis. So I replaced the only other drive - a 2TB hard drive - this morning. Just tried running a full backup and GOT THE SAME ERROR AGAIN. I'm finding it hard to believe that these brand new drives (not to mention the original drives that tested totally clean) actually have a problem. Any ideas or should I just change to a different backup program that doesn't have bugs like this?
Pamela, the error shown in your screen image does relate to your disk 0 and not to the destination Synology NAS. Acronis numbers disk drives starting at 1 instead of following the Windows numbering which starts at 0.
The core issue here is that the error is in an area of the disk being used for snapshot purposes, i.e. to capture data from the active Windows 10 OS for the backup.
Please download the Acronis VSS Doctor tool (link below) and run this as Administrator to see what that shows, and accept any offers to repair any issues found.
It is still likely that there is a hardware root cause for this problem but it could be something other than the SSD drive such as either memory or due to the system being over-clocked.
One method that can be used to help test here is to create the Acronis Rescue Media then boot from this to perform a backup and see if any further errors are given. The offline application from the boot media does not use VSS or snapshot as Windows is not active.
Support for ATI versions is given for a period of up to 1 year from the product release to public date plus 30 days after the next new version is released, so the current ATI 2020 version will be available till mid September 2020 or thereabouts. Older versions of ATI only were given 30 days support from date of purchase or activation, so the new support is a world better!
VSS Doctor didn't find anything - all tests passed
The CPU is not overclocked.
I ran both HP Hardware Diagnostics (it is a 2 year old HP Omen desktop) and the Windows Memory Diagnostics - all tests passed, no problems.
I'll try using the Acronis Rescue Media later today - I can't have the PC out all day doing a backup and it is only happening on a FULL backup so I'll have to do that to test it. (I already have lost a couple hours of work to running all the diagnostics.) If that backup ends up being successful, then what does that tell us? There are no other known problems with this computer and all the diagnostic tests keep coming up clean.
Pamela, what exactly are you including in the Source for your backup if you expect it to take all day to complete?
If this is an Entire PC backup, then consider changing to using Disks & Partitions by clicking through the Source panel when it shows Entire PC to show more options, then after selecting Disks & Partitions, select just one physical disk drive for any backup task, i.e. just your OS C: SSD disk & all its partitions. Make a separate backup task for your second HDD drive.
Doing the above will reduce the time needed to create backup images, plus will also help keep things simple when / if you need to do any disk recovery. It will also eliminate any involvement of the second drive in any issues arising like this one.
I take this approach for my own HP Omen laptop which has a 128GB NVMe M.2 SSD for the OS & applications only, and a 1TB HDD drive where I keep all user data. The OS backup takes just minutes to complete even to my Synology DS215j NAS using wireless.
If doing the above still shows the read data error, then the next suggestion would be to consider installing a 30-day trial copy of ATI 2020 to see if the same error is given, as then you have the trial period in which to open a support ticket direct with Acronis for investigation of the issue.
Note: Acronis have just started their Black Friday promotion discounts for ATI 2020.
I didn't really expect it to take all day - just 3 hours or so which I just didn't have time for in the middle of the work day.
Yes, I was doing an "Entire PC" backup since that is what I have had set up since I first started using the program a few years ago. I took your advice about splitting up the backup and created 2 separate jobs - one for the SSD and one for the HDD. The SSD has around 115GB on it and the HDD has around 600GB.
I ran the SSD backup right after I created it and it completed without problem (under 30 minutes - not sure exactly how long since I walked away during it and it was finished when I got back.) I am now running the backup for the HDD. It has been going for about 45 minutes and says it has 1 hr 43 min remaining.
I'm not sure why splitting it up would make the problem go away (I just thought it might make it easier to diagnose/test). Isn't the Entire PC backup just an automated way of doing all disks and partitions?
The backup of the HDD disk just completed - also without problems. I guess this is a "Fix", but I find it very strange.
Thank you for your help
Pamela, good to read that both new backups have been successful when run separately.
As to the reason why this is so and why doing 'Entire PC' gives the error is going to be speculative at best. I would guess that it may have to do with the size of snapshot data that ATI is creating in that case when both disks are included, which is reduced when backing up disks separately. It may also be that the second disk does not require to lock OS or application data within the snapshot when backed up independently as that data is on the OS drive.