Strange Verfiy behavior with the progress bar.
Been testing out True Image 2011. Discovered some odd behavior with the progress bar during the Verify/Validation of a backup. The progress bar gets to about half way there to the middle then when the actual backup itself completes, the progress bar jumps all the way to the right and stays there while the actual Verify progresses. It also says it will take between 32,000 and 44,000 some odd days to complete the Verify part. :)
Hi David,
It is a known issue that will I believe be fixed in the next update.
When that is I do not know.
Looks like you had the same double posting problem I had had earlier on the board. :)
Actually, I see it wasn't really a double post but a correction in a spelling mistake.
It's good to know it's a known issue and that it will be worked on. Thanks!
Actually, I think TI has always had an "issue" as far the progress bars/time remaining goes. Granted, those values are estimates, so it's always an iffy thing. I remember in TI 11, it would say something like 1 day remaining on a backup when it would be completed in like 30 minutes. :)
It looks something like this and was reported during the beta but I do not have a case number see attachments which were taken over the space of about 3 minutes.
The progress bar has been a persistent but relatively benign wonk in ATI going back to at least version 8 or so (5 or 6 versions back). It works a bit better in some versions than others and works better on some equipment than others. AFter you run atask, you can see how long it took; that's your best gauge. It does not update often enough to be accurate and useful for many folks. This is scariest to the uninitiated at the beginning of a task because, like all file-task timers under Win, they are not very accurate at the very start of the task, they get more accurate, generally, as the task proceeds. However, if the progress bar isn't updated often, the original oaverestimate of time remaining can scare the pants off of the unexpecting.
On one of my laptops, the bar doesn't move at all until the task is completed. But I know the task on this machine will progress to completion in about 50 minutes, progress on the progress bar or not.
On another machine, it moves two or three times during an hour long backup, so you know, most of the time it is not reporting the actual progress or time remaining. on yet another machine, it keeps up pretty accurately. I don't know what method ATI uses for its progress bar; it would be interesting to know the diff between it and the ones some other programs use that are reasonably accurate.
I have also noticed that on occasions the tool tip percentage is way different to that of the task displayed in the main window. So I concur it is rather haphazard. Right now I have seen 140% complete in the tool tip but the only way to get that is to do what must be very simple arithmetic incorrectly - sigh...
My guess is that it's an issue of getting time-slices to update the fucntion parameters and then process the arithmetic. Win and NTFS are kind of like drive semis on the golf course when it comes to handling processing time slices. so it's not an arithmetic issue but a deeper coding issue.
I'm no programmer for sure, but it would seem to me they could surely code a relatively simple routine to estimate the remaining backup time just based on a sampling of the actual data throughput which is being read and reported by the Windows Resource Monitor. Acronis should already know the total amount of data to be backed up which can then be adjusted accordingly for the selected compression factor chosen by the user. After that, it should just be a matter of adjusting the remainder based on the actual throughput sampling. The exact same process could be utilized by the validation operation. Again, I'm no programmer, so there very well may be "deeper coding issues" involved, but with respect, this surely DOES sound like simple arithmetic to me.
I've watched the entire backup and validation process during several testing runs on my machine using HD Tune software and it gives second by second readouts of the read/write data being processed by Acronis...the same thing goes for the Windows Resource Monitor. With either of these tools, it is easy to see the real-time activities of Acronis in graphical form. When my machine was having hard disk/data corruption issues, Acronis would have pauses and hiccups which would certainly wreak havoc on any type of remaining time to complete estimates. However, when things are running correctly with Acronis, the function of estimating remaining time for backup/validation should not result in such odd-ball out-of-the-ballpark figures like THOUSANDS of DAYS. Those authorities within the Acronis company who may have concluded that devoting efforts to solve this issue is superfluous should reconsider making this a TOP priority and here's why... You need to consider that the reporting of information from Acronis to the end user (read: CUSTOMER!) has a GREAT effect on how that user perceives your product...particularly whether or not the person will or will NOT develop a sense of "confidence" in Acronis' ability to do what it claims to do. I mean really, if Acronis can't get the math right (or even reasonably CLOSE!) to make a simple time estimate for completing the tasks it was purchased to complete...then why should I believe when my hard disk fails that my ACRONIS BACKUP will be trustworthy and reliable enough to RESCUE me?? Think about that Acronis...
Overall, I've been very happy with Acronis products and have had very few issues with very good results generally in the past. But this particular problem has really nagged me about Acronis the entire time through several major versions at least back to ATI8. It is reasonable for people to expect that at SOME POINT along the last several years that Acronis would SOLVE this issue decisively. I'm sorry, but I refuse to believe that Acronis developers "CAN'T" solve this issue due to "deeper codiing" problems. It has more likely just been pushed aside due to a PERCEIVED lack of urgency on the part of those in charge of prioritizing such things within Acronis. I hope that someone within Acronis will read this and perhaps reconsider that position. No, a progress indicator isn't "critical" to program operation...but it plays a huge part in building (or destroying!) the end user's (customer's!) confidence in your product. 'nuff said...
Actually, it's not just a simple routine if you are working with the newer win OSs-- time slices, file system prioroities and a fe other complications all have to be taken into acount. Not saying it can't be done, but it's not as simple as one might at first suspect.
As complicated as it may be, Acronis has a responsibility to get it working properly. They take money for the product so it should work.