missing usb hdd's for partition sources
I cannot find my external usb hard drives when I try to select them as a source. I'm on windows 7 using ati 2017. This has worked previously, but now has stopped working. If I disconnect the drive and reconnect it, then ati can see the drive as a source. Unfortunately, it doesn't retain this state for very long.


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In reply to Derrick, do your external… by truwrikodrorow…

Yes, I can see all of my usb hdd's in window explorer and disk management.
Yes, I disabled the usb selective suspend setting in power options.
Yes, I am using windows ati 2017 not the boot disk.
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Thanks for confirming those points Derrick. I am not aware of any other reports of a similar problem being raised in these forums, and have never seen this myself, especially if this has been working previously without any issue?
Have you tried creating a new backup task with one of the external HDD's as the source?
You could try doing a Repair Install of ATI 2017 but not confident that this is a problem that doing so would resolve as ATI gets all its disk & partition information from the Windows OS, so would be a strange problem if that level of integration has developed a problem.
The only other thought here is whether the drives are present but not being shown in the place where you are looking for them in the ATI GUI?
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I have had my photos on an external usb drive for a few years now, and have successfully backed them up with ati.
I did try setting up a new backup task. This is when I cannot select the external drives as a source. I can still select them as a destination.
I tried uninstalling ati and making a fresh installation with the latest 2017 version. I'm thinking of upgrading to 2018, then I can get a problem submitted to their tech folks.
Yes, the drives are present. They are only missing on the source gui. I made sure that I could create a file on the drives even when they are missing.
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Derrick, one last question, how are your external HDD drives formatted? There are limitations if you are using a non-standard drive format.
See the ATI 2017 User Guide: Supported file systems and Supported storage media for more information.
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Thank you Steve. All of the drives are formatted NTFS. One has MBR and the other two are GPT.
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Derrick, sorry I am stumped by this one. I would normally suggest opening a Support Case directly with Acronis but unfortunately support for ATI 2017 expired last October so you would need to either have ATI 2018 or take out a Pay Per Incident service for them to look at this.
Do you see the same behaviour on any other computers with the same combination of ATI 2017 and the USB drives?
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Steve, thank you for trying. After removing and reattaching the usb hdd last evening, ati now sees them as possible sources. I don't get it. I am seriously thinking of upgrading. They have a sale on $30 for 3 computers.
I don't know if my daughter's computer has the same problem, since she doesn't let me look at it.
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Derrick, if you can get ATI 2018 at $30 for 3 computers, that sounds good value for me, plus you will get support until 2 months after they release ATI 2019.
Personally, I prefer the changes introduced with ATI 2018 over what was there in 2017 and earlier versions, though you will definitely see different opinions in these forums. Acronis Active Protection is included with all versions of 2018 whereas this was a premium feature for 2017.
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After a day or so, some of my hard drives have dropped off from being available as a source. This is after updating to ati 2018. The drives that were dropped are connected to my computer via a Fresco Logic xHCI Controller FL1100 Series. This may have something to do with the issue. I'll update the driver for this usb controller and open a issue with support.
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Derrick, sorry to hear the problem with the USB drives has returned. I never had very much luck with using add on USB controllers in the past when I used them, though that is many years back, so hope the updated driver will help here!
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If I recall correctly there was a recent update to Windows 10 to correct issues with mounting USB devices, it is possible that this may have something to do with the problem you are having (assuming you are running Windows 10).
Ian
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Thank you Ian; unfortunately, I'm running windows 7. Here is an update on my issue.
I upgraded to ATI 2018, and still had the missing usb hard drive problem. I have opened a ticket with acronis and they are working with me on this issue. They suggested disabling my anti-virus, but that didn't help either.
I did find that disabling the "Acronis Managed Machine Service Mini" and "Acronis Nonstop Backup Service" fixes the missing usb hard drive issue.
These two services appear to interfere with Acronis True Image accessing the usb drives that are connected through a Fresco Logic xHCI (USB3) Controller FL1100 Series.
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Derrick, thanks for sharing your update from your support ticket, seems strange that the 2 Acronis services would stop your USB HDD from being shown, but I have learnt not to be surprised by strange computer problems!
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Another update.
I changed both services to a delayed automatic start.
This has resolved my usb hard drive access issue. Even after a restart, I still get the following display.
Acronis support thinks that these services cannot interfere with the usb access; however, by empirical evidence they must be interfering.
I'm guessing that the driver for my Fresco USB card needs time to start prior to these other services starting.
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"I'm guessing that the driver for my Fresco USB card needs time to start prior to these other services starting." Yes that is a possibility particularly with PCIe USB cards. My 4-drive USB external case takes a long time to 'initialise' after booting, although it is attached to a USB 3 port on the back of the PC rather than an add-in card.
Ian
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