'Error Writing File' message Acronis TI home 2011 / WinXP

Verify that your disk is powered (if it is an external disk), that the cable is correctly plugged, and that the drive letter shown in windows is the same as the one ATI expects. It is better to assign a fixed drive letter to the backup disk.

If none of this, try to run the backup manually. If it fails, make sure the windows security settings of the backup root and folders are set to full control for the main user and administrators.

I'm getting this same error since updating 2011 with latest upgrade. Disk is external. Via USB. Buffalo. Have set power options to ensure itstays alive. I can write to it via explorer. Have disabled the USB port power off (cant recall the correct name) ... have tried 3 different USB ports. Backup runs to about 25% of a 70Gig Partition backup and then fails ... as per message above. over 200Gig free on target drive.
Fresh new backup file.
Will keep on trying..
any ideas ?

Windows 7. 64 bit. 4Gig Ram.

Internal Backup to a second HDD on my laptop works.
External Backup , which used to work fine, no longer work AND the existing backups on the External Drive are now deemed invalid.
The ONLY thing this external HDD is ever used for is these full partition backups.
I've tried Single and Version options.
New Backups and updates to old..
With NEW it runsto between 25 and 50% before the 'write error'
With exisitng, it fails after about 30 seconds or so....
Suggestions ?
I'd like to have a valid external backup.
Since internal works.. maybe its the external Drive, but its always been fine and chkdsk is fine..

Get a large file, a TI tib file will do but it should be large (a GB or more) in size.

Find and run a free checksum calculator on the file and record the result.

Copy the file with Windows Explorer to the external.

Run the checksum calculator again on the external drive's file. You must get the same result, if not the file didn't copy correctly.

Copy the file back to a different folder on the PC, and run the calculator again. You must get the same checksum result.

Kev,

Can you run and validate the backup succesfully from the recovery CD?

Did you run chkdsk /r (the /r option is important) on the USB disk?

So... before I read the last 2 posts.......
I decided to format the external HDD.. and start again. Pointless.
An apparent clean HDD. Many hours later, the clean Disk Partition Backup ran for 2 hours then crapped out unfinished with same useless and uninformative error as per this thread..

I've not tried the Boot CD to validate a TIB file.. Thx for the info.... but what will it prove exactly ?
I have coped large files with Windows to and from the HDD. But not verified with checksum.

I concede the external HDD is the likely problem. But I also believe that since Acronis is the only software that ever writes to this drive, that the issue is still Acronis driven. All was fine until the last Acronis upgrade was applied.

As for CHKDSK/R . Just tried that.. after the failure on the external HDD...
It tells me the disk is a RAW format and chkdsk unable to run. This is interesting since I formatted it as NTFS.
Properties etc show it as NTFS....
The drive now shows itself as empty aside from the backupfolder I created and a another folder where i placed the original Buffalo HDD files (manual etc).

I appreciate your comments and attempts to help... very much so.. (both of you) ...but ..... my point here is that ... I shouldnt have to go through all this shenanigans...
I've wasted a weekend on this system.... as I've done in the past for other crap errors caused by Acronis.
It is intermittent at best. When it fails (regardless of the reason) the info / error message etc is unimformative.

I bought software that advertises itself as an easy to use Backup system. The external HDD I've been using has been fine for over a year . The only thing it is used for is these backups... I've even recovered from it in the past... long time back and even then there were 'corrupt' backups on a uncoorrup disk.

The bottom line is simple.....
Backups are about confidence and trust.
I no longer have any confidence or trust in any of the backups Acronis makes. Regardless of what is causing the failure.
The forum is littered with users with the same views.
I've wasted my money., my time and, having had first hand direct experience of Acronis customer support and what I considered as complete incompetence regarding their upgrade policies last year , I also have no confidence in the management or approach to its cutstomers.
That said, there are no doubt many well meaning dedicated people there... they arent the issue.
So..
I may test on a separate external HDD but if that shows any indications at all of failing , then Acronis is history.
I'll find something else.

Cheers folks.
Kev
I will update you once I get round to working out the next steps.

Kev,

Validating the backup proves that the backup has not lost any integrity. When ATI creates the backup, it inserts regular checksums in the image (this is why an image is bigger than the original data if you don't use compression at all). When ATI validates, it recalculates the checkums and compares with the ones in the archive. If they differ, the backup is deemed corrupted.

Creating the TIB file or validating from the recovery CD takes Windows out of the process and can help you confirm the problem is with the disk, not with the software you upgraded in Windows.

If chkdsk /r cannot run, there is a problem with your disk. Check "disk management" to see what is says about your USB disk. Make sure it lists it as a basic (not dynamic) disk, and that all partitions are healthy. Chkdsk r/ should run

Chkdsk expects to see a formatted disk. If you have recently formatted the disk, then disk errors should not be an issue.

You mention the newest update, is that the 6857 which has a new option to help keep the laptop from sleeping?

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/14139?page=3#comment-66787

As you look at the above link, also look at the preceding post of mine on the same post. The preceding post discusses the use of Win 7 power options to control the power settings during a backup which would include the externals.

If you try an different external, try using a different cable and do not use a USB-hub. Try using a different connector. I perform backups to several different usb enclosures and docking stations and have not an any issues with writing to disk. I do not have any exposure to a Buffalo unit.

OK... so.. an update.
Chkdsk/r running on the external HDD (Ive connected it to a desktop - so I can continue with the laptop with no adverse effects) ...
Stage 1 and 2 no errors. Stage 3 has it replacing some invalid security id's (256 of em)
Stage 4 replaced a few bad clusters.... in file $tfxlog.blf
and is now at stage 5 , and at 16% where its been for the last few hours... it was 15% about 3 hours ago....
The drive still appears to be whirring but task mgr shows no cpu activity against chkdsk process.
gettign suspicious.. but will leave alone...

GroverH -- cheers for the heads up on sleep andpower options.

oh.. PatL .. Yes disk is BASIC not dynamic. It seems after backup failing, the HDD appears as a RAW format but if I reboot etc.. it is seen as NTFS again. So Chkdsk can run.

oh.. PatL .. Yes disk is BASIC not dynamic. It seems after backup failing, the HDD appears as a RAW format but if I reboot etc.. it is seen as NTFS again. So Chkdsk can run.

Also - Validated the internal HDD backups from boot disk.. they are all OK.
Chkdsk still at 16% 4.5 hours on.. but the byte count has progressed slightly so something is happening !!

OK. Once the chkdsk /r has completed, try to do the same disk and partition backup from the recovery CD. If this succeeds, this will tell us that the USB is fine but there is a problem with backing up within windows in some cases. If this doesn't succeed, we will know that the USB or connection disk is faulty.

Understood.......

However, Chkdsk /r been running for 8+ hours now... still at 16% and the number have moved from "8073777 of 122053152" to "8487777 of 122053152"
Surely this is not normal ? Stage 5 is 'free space' scanning...

chkdsk /r can take a very very long time as it verifies each sector. Hang tight! If it doesn't go through, it tells you have a disk problem.

Thx..... but only have another 8 or so hours until morning then I will have to give the PC back to my better half :-) :-)

The amount of time that has passed is way more than should be required to do a chkdsk /r on the drive. OTOH, there always something to be said for letting it go longer.

It could be that the errors have confused chkdsk so it might be beneficial to stop it and re-run it.

Since the drive is running through a USB to (IDE or SATA) converter it might be useful to take the USB part out of the picture and mount the drive as an internal. The chkdsk /r would go a lot faster as well by at least 3X.

I had already decided to stop the process , since this mornign it was still on only 16%. The only way I could stop it was to interrupt the CMD process by killing that. Then shut down the PC. Not ideal.
But since then ... No PC or Laptop will see the drive as a 'disk'. They will all see it as a 'Device connected' (in task bar bottom right. It is even seen as the correct device (Buffalo BHDPE500U2). But will not appear in Explorer as a disk. It is in "Devices" but NOT in "Disk Manager"... so I cannot allocate a drive or access it for chkdsk.
I tried XP machines, Vista Desktops (took it to work and gave our IT dept a shot - i didnt expect much... ) - so brought it home again...
Clearly it is '*******' . My laptop just got very close to seeing it. ie. Disk Manager shows a 21Gb disk and states it is NOT INTIAILISED but initialisation fails...with I/O error. So THANKS to ALL for the assistance.
Even if ti gets fixed, I will never trust this HDD for backups regardless, so new one on order. Will try that.

I still think Acronis screwed the drive in the frst place.. its the only thing that ever writes to it.
But I'm sure there are a million other reasons equally feasible.
Cheers all.

Hi again...
So I took the USB external HDD out of the casing and have put it onto the 2nd HDD Bay on Motherboard....
Laptop not happy.. took time to boot. Eventually did so.
ATA Driver automatically intstalled .... but disk not visible.
In Disk Management, I can see it as Uninitialised.. but the intiialisation fails ..... any suggestions .
Be good to be able to get to it and format or chkdsk/r etc..

Any ideas anyone ?

I would say this indicates the disk is likely faulty. Go to the manufacuter's site and download a diagnostic program for the drive and test it.