Bluescreen with True Image and TrueCrypt
Hi there,
I have a problem concerning the use of Acronis True Image 2010 and TrueCrypt. I have a TrueCrypt container file, mounted as drive Z:. Whenever i start Acronis True Image while a TrueCrypt volume is mounted, my system stops with a bluescreen (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, with stop code 0x0000000A). It happens at the time where True Image usually says "analyzing c:, d: etc.". The bluescreen neither depends on the drive letter of the mounted truecrypt volume, nor the volume itself, nor the truecrypt version. Everything else concerning the encrypted volume is working fine.
I don't know how to solve that problem at all, and would appreciate any help.
Sorry for Dubble Posting, but I just found this and it worked for me:
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/6353#comment-16914
Post #10
Hello all,
Let me shed some more light on the issue.
Indeed, the most probable reason of the issue is SnapAPI driver.
But there are some more restrictions when working with the encryption software.
Acronis True Image may fail to back up or restore partitions or files encrypted by specialized software.
The following situations can occur:
- Acronis True Image may fail to access an encrypted partition from Windows and thus will not back it up.
- Acronis True Image may back up an encrypted partition from Windows, but restoring such a partition will make it unencrypted. If an encrypted system partition is backed up and then restored, then the machine will become unbootable after the restore. This is only true when working in Windows.
- Some files may be missing in the backup.
Acronis True Image can always create a raw (sector-by-sector) backup of an encrypted partition when booted from Acronis Bootable Rescue Media.
If the encryption key is based on the hard drive or some hardware serial numbers, a sector-by-sector copy may not work as expected. The best solution will then be to create the backup in Windows. Then, when restoring it, do it as you would do it normally. The only difference is that after the restore you will need to rebuild the MBR.
Please reply to this thread if you have any further questions.
Thank you.
Hi,
thanks for your reply.
To your point 1) and 3):
Does Acronis show an error message in such cases? Especially point 3) would be a horror scenario when it suddenly turned out, that thre are important files missing in the backup!
To 2):
I have done backups of an encrypted system from within Windows and restored them. The backups were unencrypted. The only weird thing was that I was asked for a password although the system was (due to the unencrypted backup) not encrypted. But TrueCrypt accepted anything as a password and I could still enter Windows. I only had to re-encrypt the system then.
To 3)
Are these certain files or could it be any random file (e.g. a document)?
Hello JA!
Thank you for your comment and questions, I will be glad to answer!
Unfortunately there are no error messages shown in such cases. I completely share your concern regarding the entire situation, and be sure that Development team will be notified about it.
Unfortunately we cannot tell what files will be missing as well - it depends on many factors, which makes foreteling impossible.
I would suggest you to take a look at this KB article for more details: it is related to the Acronis and encryption software compatibility.
Should you need anything else or have any further questions - feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience, we will be happy to help you!
Does the "missing files problem" only occur in context of TrueCrypt containers or also at backups from within the encrypted system?
When I start a backup from within the booted system it should just work like there was no encryption or does the problem also occur in this cases?
Dear JA!
Thank you for your question and sorry for I didn't specify it from the start.
This problem occurs in context of encrypted system as well. Also please note that we can backup the encrypted drives only in sector-by-sector mode, which enlarges the size of the backup greatly:
for instance, imagine that you have 100Gb drive with 20 GB of used space. In case you create an image in normal mode, your backup will be about 20Gb large, since only used space if backed up. In sector-by-sector the entire drive is imaged, thus you will have a 100 Gb backup.
Hope this helps. Anyway let me know in case you have any further question - I'll be glad to clarify!
Thank you!
Also please note that we can backup the encrypted drives only in sector-by-sector mode, which enlarges the size of the backup greatly
Well, this point does not cover with my experience. I have done lots of non sector-by-sector backups from within the booted system (even incremental). I also had no problems in restoring them up to now. This means except I should realise there are missing files if I want to open them one day in the future...
The fact that I am doing the backups from within the booted system is why I don't understand why True Image should leave out any files! As TrueCrypt decrypts the needed parts of the system "on-the-fly" True Image shouldn't even "realize" that the system is encrypted. Or am I wrong?
That might be true if TI uses the Windows file system without any special access methods. Imaging bypasses a lot of the normal file system protocol. however, I didn't write the program so this is just an opinion.