ATI 2010 - 64 Bit and Wake from Sleep?

Hello Bob,

Thank you for using Acronis Products

Acronis True Image Home 2010 fully supports all editions of Windows 7, you can safely install it and create Acronis bootable disc.

Acronis scheduler won't wake the computer from standby but the Windows embedded scheduler will. Therefore you can use the below instructions in order to execute tasks on schedule on a computer that you need to wake up from standby to run the task.

Please create a task with Windows Scheduler and call Acronis True Image Service using a command line like below where you fill in the path and filename of appropriate Acronis True Image Script file in place of the [bracketed portion]:

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImage\TrueImageService.exe" /script:"[drive:path\scriptname.tis]"

Acronis True Image Script files for scheduled backups are stored in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Applicaton Data\Acronis\TrueImage\Scripts and have the extension "tis". To make sure that the necessary script will be selected you can edit it with Acronis True Image  Home 2010 and then identify it by modification date and time stamp.

Thank you for the explaination of the workaround on scheduling.
Is there any intention to enhance the True Image task planner to manage this out of the product?
After some trying and reading the forum I have two questions regarding your workaround:
1) I think that the path names you are mentioning are no more valid for Windows 7.
However, what is not clear to me, will I have to write a script to get my backup run or can I just call a backup I created with the GUI? I only found some scripts with very cryptic names on my PC, e.g. "6AA8C8E2-3E9C-4C3A-8E33-E0A18C940176.tib.tis". How do I match those names to the names in the GUI.
2) I have seen other threads that said no incrementals are possible via the command line, what this seems to be. Is that true? If so, this is simply not an acceptable workaround and the question is again, when will you patch the product to scheudle properly?

I haven't tried this myself, but I do have Windows 7 64-bit and ATI 2010. The path you probably want for the script is "C:\Users\All Users\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts". I see an equally cryptic file in there, but if I edit it, it looks like the script for my scheduled backup.

As for your other comment, I completely agree that the application should be fixed such that scheduled backups will wake the system. I realized yesterday that neither of the backups I had set up ever kicked off, since Win 7 defaults to power settings that put it to sleep after 30 minutes. Since users typically schedule backups for off-hours, this is a major glitch in ATI 2010 that needs to be corrected without a OS level hack.

Hi, I notice the latest build of ATI 2010 ( build 6029) is meant to fix the problem of a the PC going to sleep during a backup.Now I'd like to use the Windows 7 task scheduler to wake my computer overnight and run the backup.

However, none of the above comments seem applicable to my Windows 7 install

The *.tib.tis script files are in "C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\scripts" not as stated above. I do not have a program named TrueImageService.exe.

The closest I can find is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImageHomeService.exe" which I presume is the correct file? However, when I run the script I get an error log file created. The tis file is my normal acronis scheduled incremental backup and is the only tis file that exists on my system.

I run the following:-

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome>TrueImageHomeService.exe /script:"C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts\9173C84D-C83F-4946-8FEF -EDCF678BD1ED.tib.tis"

and get a logfile with an error in it thus:-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<log uuid="65084E2D-8856-4259-9040-1C43F5CDA8CC" product="Acronis True Image Home" version="13.0" build="5055" task="C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts\9173C84D-C83F-4946-8FEF-EDCF678BD1ED.tib.tis" >

<event id="1" level="2" module="100" code="2" time="1257752409" message="Operation Daily_Backup_System___Vol started." />

<event id="2" level="2" module="100" code="11" time="1257752409" message="Priority changed to Low." />

<event id="3" level="4" module="11" code="1004" time="1257752409" message="Cannot find a partition with path '\local\hd_sign(F2527AA3)'." />

<event id="4" level="4" module="100" code="5" time="1257752409" message="Operation has completed with errors." />

Why am I getting the error 'Cannot find a partition with path '\local\hd_sign(F2527AA3)'? My script does contain the reference but the ATI GUI editor must have put it there and it works when normally scheduled.

My script is as follows:-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<batch>

<version>

2.0

</version>

<uuid>

9173C84D-C83F-4946-8FEF-EDCF678BD1ED

</uuid>

<display>

Daily_Backup_System___Vol

</display>

<description>

Daily_Backup_System___Vol

</description>

<priority>

low

</priority>

<stage>

<description>

My Disk Drives Backup

</description>

<user_command>

<command enabled="false" />

</user_command>

<operations>

<backup check_after="false">

<reserve_backup_copy format="tib" need_reserve_backup_copy="false">

<volume_location uri="" volume_id="0" />

</reserve_backup_copy>

<archive_options check_network_timeout="true" id="16383527114228647547" network_timeout="0" password="001F5tJuOD5w4vaJJXDkP6g76yyF9A3o96EN72IDLk7K&amp;72w52U2QLFK4D&amp;2A!p6LU2OsF4@FEYA5452255kH6UFY13ML">

<volumes_locations>

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__27_10_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="3045477563" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__28_10_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="1946111393" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__29_10_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="1673687049" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__30_10_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="1383865196" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__01_11_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="3863408366" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__01_11_2009_Vol6.tib" volume_id="427626122" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__02_11_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="373812210" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__03_11_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="3456454642" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__04_11_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="4143134847" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__05_11_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="1147902739" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__06_11_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="1196098857" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__07_11_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="279677631" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__08_11_2009_Vol.tib" volume_id="1571091205" />

<volume_location uri="D:\My Backups\Daily_Backup_System__@date@_Vol.tib" volume_id="0" />

</volumes_locations>

</archive_options>

<common_options allow_multi_volume_snapshot="false" allow_reset_archive_bit="false" app_settings_backup="false" description="Full backup of desktop/tower PC system drive C:" exclude_by_mask="false" exclude_hidden="false" exclude_system="false" execution_count="14" fast_incremental="true" ignore_encryption="false" increment_type="incremental" ocb="false" rotation_count="1" rotation_scheme="0" skip_security="true" smart_backup="false" use_vss="false">

<file_mask pattern="*.~" />

<file_mask pattern="*.tmp" />

<file_mask pattern="*.tib" />

<stream_options allow_silent_media="false" cache_network_write="false" compression_level="normal" encryption_algorithm="aes128" format="tib" freespace="5368709120" ignore_bad_sectors="false" silent_asz_cleanup="true" silent_mode="false" type="disk" ver="1">

<net_speed_limit speed_limit_mode="percent" value="100" />

<disk_speed_limit speed_limit_mode="percent" value="100" />

<quota count="21" type="4" />

</stream_options>

</common_options>

<disk_source has_asz_backup="false" sector_by_sector_backup="false" sector_by_sector_backup_unallocated="false">

<holder strid="\local\hd_sign(F2527AA3)" />

</disk_source>

</backup>

</operations>

<user_command>

<command enabled="false" />

</user_command>

</stage>

<common_options>

<silent_mode enabled="0" />

<notify>

<email address="" enabled="1" encryption-type="none" from="" long_format="1" pop-before-smtp="false" pop-server="" pop-server-port="110" server="" server-port="25" subject="" user="">

<notify_mode full_log="true" operation_complete="true" operation_fail="true" operation_message="true" />

</email>

<winpopup enabled="1" long_format="1" server="">

<notify_mode full_log="false" operation_complete="true" operation_fail="true" operation_message="true" />

</winpopup>

</notify>

<show_only_own_task enabled="103" />

<shutdown_after do="0" />

</common_options>

</batch>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

Graham: How are you testing the script execution? When running from the TI GUI, scripts run as the user "System". In your Windows scheduled task, try changing the user to "System" as in the following example (from a different task that I wrote):

Mark

I haven't even got as far as adding a script to the task manager yet. The error I get is running

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome>TrueImageHomeService.exe /script:"C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts\9173C84D-C83F-4946-8FEF -EDCF678BD1ED.tib.tis"

from a cmd prompt. Doing this it just returns straight away but it generates a log file with the error line:-

Graham

Graham:

Then the script is probably running with the wrong user context. It will either execute with your standard user token or with the elevated user token, if you start the task from an elevated command prompt. I don't think either of those methods will produce the intended result.

Try creating a scheduled task and run it manually as a test:

1. In the Win 7 START search menu, type "Task" and click on Task Scheduler
2. In the pane on the right side of Task Scheduler, click on "Create Task..."
3. On the "General" tab, give the task a name, under "Security Options" click on "Change User or Group and type in the user name "System" and then check the box "Run with highest privileges"
4. Leave the "Triggers" tab empty
5. On the "Actions" tab click "New", choose the default action "Start a program", and enter your command in the box "Program/script". Make sure that the entry ends up looking like this:

Program/script box:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImageHomeService.exe"

Arguments box:
/script:"C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts\9173C84D-C83F-4946-8FEF-EDCF678BD1ED.tib.tis"

6. Leave the default settings on the "Conditions" and "Settings" tabs
7. Click OK

Now that the task is created, you will see it in the list under "Task Scheduler Library". Test it by clicking on "Run", listed under "Actions" in the right pane. Does this execute correctly?

Graham:

Please check your command carefully; there are a couple of errors:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome>TrueImageHomeService.exe /script:"C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts\9173C84D-C83F-4946-8FEF -EDCF678BD1ED.tib.tis"

Should be:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImageHomeService.exe" /script:"C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts\9173C84D-C83F-4946-8FEF-EDCF678BD1ED.tib.tis"

Quotes are needed around the command because there are spaces in the path to the TrueImageHomeService.exe file. Also, one of your backslashes (\) was entered as a (>) and there is an extra space in the name of the script file (preceeding the last hyphen).

Mark,

I tried running cmd as my user elevated to Administrator and running from the command line and it worked. I really should have tried that.

I will now use the task scheduler and add this command. However, build 6029 which fixes the sleep during a backup issue doesn't work ( http://forum.acronis.com/forum/5475 ), so until they fix that it's not a lot of point.

Thanks for your assistance.

Mark

Thanks for that. Actually, I didn't do what I said in my post ( naughty :-) ) I actually cd'd to the TrueImageHomeService directory and ran

TrueImageHomeService.exe /script:"C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts\9173C84D-C83F-4946-8FEF-EDCF678BD1ED.tib.tis"

Otherwise I wouldn't have seen the error log file.

When I cut and paste from the cmd windows to add to this post, I selected the whole command line, including the windows prompt. Hence the missing quotes around the path!

V.Sorry

Anyway, elevating cmd to run as Admin cured the problem

Thx

Graham:

Glad to hear that you figured this out. In the mean time, if you want to work around the sleep issue you can download a small program that will force the PC to stay awake while running a program. It was developed as a workaround for a problem with Vista, but I'm sure it will also fix this issue with TI on Windows 7.

The article is here (pdf file), and contains a link to a command-line "Stay Awake" program here (zip download) that you could incorporate into your scheduled task.

I have just installed ATI 2010 a week or so back on Win7. Now that I am trying to schedule backups I have immediatly run into this problem - ATI not waking the computer from sleep. It seems completely unsatisfactory to me! Why on earth is Acronis trying to use its own inferior scheduler when Windows has had a scheduler service for years?

If I set up the Windows scheduler to run the backups as described above, will the Acronis scheduler also be trying to run the same backups if the machine is not asleep? Also will the backup success/failure and logs show up in the main ATI GUI "Tasks & Log" tab?

David Pairman wrote:

...If I set up the Windows scheduler to run the backups as described above, will the Acronis scheduler also be trying to run the same backups if the machine is not asleep?

Not if you configure the backup task to run manually (don't set it to run at any particular date and time). The Windows scheduled task will run whether the machine is asleep or awake, but Task Scheduler has other settings available so that you can tell it to wait until the PC is idle before starting the backup.

David Pairman wrote:

...Also will the backup success/failure and logs show up in the main ATI GUI "Tasks & Log" tab?

Yes, the backup is run in Windows and logging will take place during the backup.

Thanks KOLO, I will set that up method of scheduling starting with tonight's incremental.

I note that Windows also has options to not start while the machine is busy.

Cheers
David.

I agree completely with previous posters that it is unacceptable to sell a product that doesn't work as it is represented. I purchased ATI Home 2010 just a couple of weeks ago (in March 2010) and the problem has evidently still not been corrected. I very much appreciate the work that posters have done to work out a solution, but with all the failed attempts, it is hard to work through the posts to figure out what actually works right. It should not be up to customers to do this work. I see that Dmitry, who is evidently the Acronis person in charge, has not addressed this issue for 6 months. How about it, Dmitry? Please post the final, correct solution, tested and known to work (and I will reply if it does or does not work on my Windows 7). Thanks.

You might find this approach easy to implement.
1). Create your backup task normally in ATI Home 2010. Schedule the task to be run automatically, let's say daily @ 2 am for this example.
2). Run the task in ATI.
3). Create a file named C:\Temp\WakeUp.bat. Edit the file with NotePad and add a line that contains
Echo WakeUp %Date% %Time% >> C:\Temp\WakeUp.txt
4). Save the .bat file.
5). Create a task in Windows' Task Scheduler. Run the task under the "SYSTEM" userid. The Trigger for the task should run the task daily @ 1:55 am. (a few minutes before your ATI task). The Action for the task should be to run program C:\Temp\WakeUp.bat. Make sure "Wake the computer to run this task." is checked on the Conditions tab.

Jim:

Your solution will work fine with Windows XP. Windows 7 and Vista monitor user activity (keystrokes or mouse movement) after waking from sleep. If none is detected within 2 minutes the PC will go back to sleep even if a program is executing.

In your example with Windows 7 or Vista the PC will wake at 1:55 AM, run the batch file, and then will go back to sleep 2 minutes later at 1:57 AM when the user inactivity timer expires. Therefore the PC will be asleep when the TI backup task is scheduled to run at 2:00 AM.

The workaround for Windows 7 is to have the scheduled task directly kick off the TI backup task as described in the next paragraph. Windows 7 scheduled tasks run to completion even if there is no user activity. Vista users also need to download and install the following patch: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/KB957473 (the problem addressed by the patch was fixed in Windows 7).

 Scheduling backups that wake the PC (Vista and Windows 7):

1. In the START search menu, type "Task" and click on Task Scheduler
2. In the pane on the right side of Task Scheduler, click on "Create Task..."
3. On the "General" tab, give the task a name, under "Security Options" click on "Change User or Group and type in the user name "System"
4. On the "Triggers" tab set a desired schedule; for example, Begin the Task on a Schedule, Daily at 2:00 AM
5. On the "Actions" tab click "New", choose the default action "Start a program", and enter the following command in the box "Program/script":

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImageHomeService.exe"

enter the following in the Arguments box:

/script:"C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts\9173C84D-C83F-4946-8FEF-EDCF678BD1ED.tib.tis"

but change the file name in red to match the file name of your TI backup script, which you create in TI and without a scheduled execution time; i.e. set it to "Do not start automatically". You can find the task's file name by looking in the folder C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts\

6. Leave the default settings on the "Conditions" and "Settings" tabs except check "Wake the computer to run this task" on the Conditions tab.
7. Click OK

I have been sucessfully been running an implementation of Mark's solution on Windows 7 since my last post (months ago). However, it really begs the question, why don't Acronis just make use of the inbuilt Windows Task Scheduler rather than trying to implement their own inferior version?

Hi Mark:

The approach I suggested worked well last night on my Win7 64bit system which is configured to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity.

I have 3 Acronis backup tasks set up. Accoring to the ATI logs last night the backps began as scheduled @ 12:01 a.m. and finished @ 12:55 a.m. The third task started @ 12:44 a.m., which was more than 30 minutes after the computer woke up. According to the Event Viewer the system went back to sleep @ 12:57 a.m.

I initially tried to use your approach and it worked well for local backups but it failed when attempting to backup to a network share. The network backup ran successfully when started from within ATI but failed when run as a Windows scheduled task. Depending on which userid was used for authentication and which was used to run the Windows task (SYSTEM or an administrator ID) I received either "access denied" errors on the network share or some odd error message relating to accessing one of the local drives. The issue has been submitted to Acronis support, but no response from them yet.

Given the simplicity of this approach and the elimination of some of the other minor issues (e.g. task name does not appear in the heading in the ATI log) I believe I’ll stick with my approach as long as it works properly for me.

Mark:

I think its safe to assume that Acronis hasn't resolved this issue due to resource limitations. I would expect that development has a priortized listing of all the outstanding issues and this issue hasn't made it to the top of the list. But I don't think its fair to catagorize Acronis' scheduler as inferior as each of the schedulers has functionality that the other does not have.

I am experiencing the same problem With Mark Wharton's solution that Jim Hardy reported when trying to perform the backup to a network device. I have a 64 bit Windows 7 system with the latest ATI Home 2010 build 7046. I also have a Centos 5.5 based Samba public share that this W7 system can read and write. My XP, W7 laptop, Linux and MAC can also read/write to this public share with no authentication. I can manually run Acronis to backup the W7 system to the Samba share with no difficulty, and I can use Acronis' scheduling menu to automate a backup to the same samba share as long as the W7 is fully awake.

Using Mark Wharton's guide described above I can get the W7 system to wake and successfully run the backup but only if the backup location is another hard drive within the same W7 system running Acronis. However, when I specify the network based Samba share as the backup location (which is what I really need) the W7 PC will wake but Acronis fails with an I/O error.

What I'm trying to do is a very common requirement for a multi PC household. Wakeup one's PC's at about 2am, backup to a shared network drive that runs 24/7 and go back to sleep.

Has Acronis provided a fix for this I didn't see?

We are all eagerly awaiting a solution from Acronis in the form of a patch or batch file that solves this problem officially. It should not be the responsibility of the customer to fix problems that should have been anticipated by the supplier. What possible value is a scheduled backup if the backup cannot run as scheduled? Sleep mode has been a standard part of Windows for many years, and runs by default in both Windows Vista and Windows 7. How, in good conscience, can a software supplier provide a product to perform scheduled backups when it does not provide a mechanism for waking up the computer to do the backup? Shame!!

Jim Berry (W9GPE)
Former Director of Engineering and Quality Assurance for a major computer manufacturer

James Berry wrote:

Sleep mode has been a standard part of Windows for many years, and runs by default in both Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Jim Berry (W9GPE)

A little context, Microsoft have made alterations to the sleep function in W7 in that they've made it 'more ferocious' tm, having said that I thought build 7046 had addressed that problem as did an update from MS.

It is true though that ABR10 (and I assume TI 2010) aren't able to always keep the PC awake when running a task - I have one of the newer Gigabyte green MB's that decides when it should power down without being told to by W7. Most tasks do run, but occasionally the BIOS ignores it and shuts the PC down during a schedule. I'm not sure I'd expect Acronis to be able to fix that particular novelty.

Hi Everyone,

I have been trying to setup windows 7 to wake from sleep as per Mark's process above but am facing some challenges. I have spent all day on this and am getting really frustrated.

Here is what I have done:

1) Set up an incremental backup task in Acronis Tue Image Home 2010 (folder level backup). I have set it to run manually.

2) Created a new task in Windows task scheduler as per Mark's guide above.

3) I changed the user to SYSTEM, and checked "Run with the highest privileges"

4) I did not schedule the task in the Triggers Tab.

5) In the Actions Tab, there were a couple of differences in my system to Marks approach. The first is that True image is located is a different path - C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImage.exe. The second is that in my scripts folder, located in C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts, my scripts end in .tib, not .tis. I don't understand how the .tis extensions listed in this thread come into play.

So in the Actions tab I had:

Under Program/script

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImage.exe"

and under Add Arguments:

"C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts\CA986CC0-5FAA-44D3-8B69-5E9771B725F5.tib"

I noticed in one of Mark's posts in this thread, he had a script with a ".tib.tis" extension. I also tried this but it didn't work also.

6) On the Conditions tab I checked "Wake the computer to run this task"

7) I left the Settings tab alone.

So then I right clicked the task and selected Run. The task runs and completes successfully in a minute or 2. I have attached a screenshot of the logs within Task Scheduler.

However the Acronis task is never executed. When I open True Image Home 2010, the task has not run, there is no entry in the log etc.

Any assistance would be gratefully appreciate as I am pulling my hair out with this.

Matthew:

I have two suggestions to try:

1. You do not want to start the TrueImage executable file to run a script, but rather the TrueImage service. This should be located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImageHomeService.exe on a 64-bit Windows installation.

2. If you don't see the .tis extension on your scripts, have you un-checked "Hide extensions for known file types" in Windows Explorer under Folder Options? Type "folder options" in the START/Search box, click on the "View" tab, and set as shown below.

Hopefully this will help.

Hi Mark,

A massive THANK YOU to you - this has resolved my problem.

One minor quibble I have though is that after the backup has run, the "Last run time" field in the Acronis GUI is not updated. This makes it difficult to know whether the backup run or not. There is an entry in the log, but it would be great if it updated the backup under "Unscheduled tasks".

Have you managed to crack this nut also?

thankyou again - much appreciated.

Matthew:

I suspect that the Acronis GUI is only aware of backups that were started from the GUI. It's probably not aware of those that you start from the command prompt.

Glad that you're up and running.

Hi Guys,

Not sure this thread is still active, but I will give it a shot. I am running TIH2010, on Win7 pro x64, set up the back up as above, it worked great, for a month or so, and has now stopped waking the computer. Back up runs fine if I open Task Scheduler and start it manually. I havent changed anything recently AFAIK. The task looks just like it should, and still runs if I start it manually. Any ideas please??

Thanks

GQ

Never did work for me (wake up. do job, send email, return to sleep) on Win 7 Home Premier; can set it to run thru Win 7 scheduler, but then can't auto-verify nor send "job completed" email. ATIH seems very competent at doing the basic jobs (which many free programs do), but cannot consistently perform more complex tasks as advertised. I continue to fail to see what people are paying for with the current ATIH (2010 & 2011) products - they seem to be coasting on their reputation from years past, while promising significant new technology they can't deliver on. Nonstop Backup is a nonstarter, the update chains don't clean up after themselves, etc. Smoke & mirrors.

Griffith:

To troubleshoot, I would try an experiment to see if ANY task will wake the PC correctly. Set up a dummy task in Windows 7 Task Scheduler that does something simple like run the command "ping localhost". Schedule the task for a few minutes in the future and then put the PC into sleep mode. See if it wakes up to run the task.

Mark,

Thanks for replying, that was a great thought! I edited one of Win 7's tasks (backup notification), which, according to history, had been running every day. I set it to wake the computer, which it did not do, however it ran as soon as I awakened the system to check. Hmmm, must be something I have to change in the BIOS??

Griffith:

Check your power management settings for the Power Plan that is in use. Make sure that this option is set:

Here is a thread with some additional suggestions for troubleshooting sleep issues. Although it is for Vista, the power management in Windows 7 is almost identical. http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistaprograms/thread/fd9a631e-0fad-4740-80ce-7f80bc6919e3

Hope this helps...

Mark,

Thanks so much. That setting was disabled, I am not sure how it got that way, I dont remember changing power management settings. I will let you know if it works. This is a life saver, I would NEVER have found that issue.

Thanks again

GEQ

Mark,

I was looking at the 2011 version, saw a review in PCWorld which mentioned that the scheduler would awaken a computer from sleep, and the support sections on the forum also show the scheduling options that include a check box to awaken the computer. Looking at the forums, I have seen some posts questioning whether this scheduler actually works. I realize that people never post issues and opinions when things are working, but have you noted any consensus as to whether this feature actually works in 2011 version?? I would be very willing to upgrade if it does work. I am a bit concerned that very few to none of the postings in these forums seem to be from Acronis, it's only folks like yourself, who seem to know the program who are helping us noobs. On behalf of all readers, we thank you. :-)

Griffith:

The concensus on the forums is that the Acronis scheduler does not wake the PC from sleep, and further, that a backup in progress does not keep the PC awake (it can go into sleep mode when the idle timer expires, even if in the middle of a backup). The developers have been unsuccessful in fixing sleep and power management issues in many attempts over the past several versions of TI. Hopefully they will get it right someday soon.

In the meantime, using Windows Task Scheduler is your best option.

I really wonder why it is so difficult for Acronis to prevent Windows 7 to enter its sleeping mode while backing up.
A simple video player like VLC doesnt have this problem : you can watch a full movie of 2 hours then Windows whont go to spleed mode until the video has finished.
And Im pretty sure other applications doesnt have this bug. (ex : PerfectDisk....)
So Acronis developpers : there are solutions!

Mark Wharton wrote:

Griffith:

The concensus on the forums is that the Acronis scheduler does not wake the PC from sleep, and further, that a backup in progress does not keep the PC awake (it can go into sleep mode when the idle timer expires, even if in the middle of a backup). The developers have been unsuccessful in fixing sleep and power management issues in many attempts over the past several versions of TI. Hopefully they will get it right someday soon.

In the meantime, using Windows Task Scheduler is your best option.

The other long lingering problem, and the most inconvenient to me, is the failure to sent email notifications when run under windows task scheduler (at least up thru ati2010). I haven't found any confirmation in the forum that it works in 2011, therefore I haven't moved to 2011 yet. I am able to work-around using .bat files before and after the acronis task to send emails say "started at @date@, @time@" and "finished at @date@, @time@", but can't get log info that way.

I know that the normal thing now would be testing with a trial version of 2011, but haven't done so due to the requirement to uninstall 2010, test install 2011, then possibly uninstall the trial 2011, reinstall my 2010, etc. Am I paranoid about that?? YES, due to all the posts I read here concerning installation troubles! I still hope some current 2011 user has comments on that issue, then I can go ahead with 2011 if that function has been confirmed to works.

Thanks much..... Bob Vaughan

Robert,
We don't all have the same hardware so there is no way you know whether it will work until you actually try it.

Should you then want to uninstall 2011, I would not uninstall but would choose the other option which would be to restore a 2010 backup of your system partition.

Email notification works for me but only to certain email providers. Perhaps you have different email providers and sending notification may vary depending upon which provider you use.

I have notification sent to my prime email account but I use different outgoing cliients and using port 25.

This is the type notification I receive from TrueImage
1 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:03 PM Operation I-6579DD_3pm- started.
2 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:23 PM Analyzing partition '0-0'...
3 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:24 PM Analyzing partition 'C:'...
4 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:25 PM Analyzing partition 'D:'...
5 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:25 PM Analyzing partition 'E:'...
6 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:26 PM Analyzing partition '0-0'...
7 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:27 PM Analyzing partition 'F:'...
8 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:27 PM Analyzing partition 'G:'...
9 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:27 PM Analyzing partition 'H:'...
10 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:27 PM Analyzing partition '0-0'...
11 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:28 PM Analyzing partition 'L:'...
12 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:30 PM Analyzing partition 'M:'...
13 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:31 PM Analyzing partition 'N:'...
14 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:31 PM Analyzing partition 'O:'...
15 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:31 PM Analyzing partition '0-0'...
16 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:32 PM Analyzing partition 'I:'...
17 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:32 PM Analyzing partition 'J:'...
18 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:32 PM Analyzing partition 'K:'...
19 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:32 PM Analyzing partition '0-0'...
20 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:33 PM Analyzing partition 'U:'...
21 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:33 PM Analyzing partition 'V:'...
22 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:34 PM Priority changed to Low.
23 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:34 PM Create Differential Backup Archive Password Protected From: Disk 1 To file: "I:\I-DD6579\I-6579DD_3pm-(1)7.tib" Compression: Normal
24 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:34 PM Pending operation 147 started: 'Creating partition image'.
25 Information 12/24/2010 3:10:34 PM Locking partition C:...
26 Information 12/24/2010 3:41:59 PM Pending operation 147 started: 'Creating partition image'.
27 Information 12/24/2010 3:41:59 PM Locking partition D:...
28 Information 12/24/2010 3:55:31 PM Pending operation 147 started: 'Creating partition image'.
29 Information 12/24/2010 3:55:31 PM Locking partition E:...
30 Information 12/24/2010 3:57:39 PM Pending operation 144 started: 'Saving partition structure'.
31 Information 12/24/2010 3:57:39 PM Validate Backup Archive Location: "I:\I-DD6579\I-6579DD_3pm-(2).tib"
32 Information 12/24/2010 3:57:54 PM Pending operation 3 started: 'Validate Backup Archive'.
33 Information 12/24/2010 4:11:13 PM Operation has succeeded.

Robert:

I agree with Grover - the best way to test TI 2011 is to save an image of your system partition with TI 2010, then proceed with the test. At the conclusion of the test, restore the system partition image.

On Windows 7 the logs are at C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Logs. I'm not sure if the True Image Service, started from a command prompt from a scheduled task, saves a log or if the full Windows version of the program must be running to save a log, but you could look in the logs folder to see. If logs are being saved you could modify your batch file to include the latest log in the email notification.

Greetings, GroverH and Mark...
I fear that I didn't describe my concern in enough detail in post 36 above.

Using ati2010, the email notification works perfectly, as does the backup, verification and email sent. And, the log contains all the information entries, including a line item about the email notification sent.

BUT, that is ONLY if the acronis task is run from the acronis GUI ! If the same acronis task is run by way of the windows task scheduler, the backup and verification work nicely, but no email is sent. And displaying the resulting log (from the GUI), there is NO line item about email sent!

This is reported in a number of posts -- thread #5456 and others. I made a post in that thread earlier in the year. I have heard no resolution, and it still fails with the latest build of ati2010. Hence, my query above about a possible fix in ati2011.

I may have misunderstood your responses, but it seemed you thought my email notice was not working at all. I hope I didn't misread.
Thanks much for the benefit of your experience and expertise.
Bob Vaughan

Bob:

You are correct about email not being sent if a task is not started from the Acronis GUI - this has been true for at least the past 5 versions of True Image. I cannot confirm if the problem has been fixed in TI 2011 since I haven't experimented with the feature yet but perhaps someone else can.

I was only suggesting a workaround until Acronis fixes this. If you can find the log generated when you run your Acronis task from the Windows Task Scheduler then perhaps you can figure out how to send it to yourself in an email. I know it's a workaround but who knows how long it may take Acronis to fix this; perhaps it's very low on their priority list.

What I was saying about my e-mail is that it works using my DSL provider;but does not work using another e-mail provider. So it seems to depend upon the requirements of the e-mail provider being used.

The new 2011 version uses a totally different program launcher when the TI task is being run from a shortcut or Windows Task Scheduler. I believe you will get the same e-mail results from the Windows Task SCheduler as you get from the TI created scheduled but I have not tested such an issue.

This is a sample of the contents of what a Windows Task schedule (or desktop shortcut) would use to run a TI task using Windows XP Pro, sp3
"C:\Program Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImageLauncher.exe" /script:59B54EB4-9D3B-4DBB-9DB2-0F40A3827452

In my testing of using the Windows Task Scheduler or desktop shortcut, I found that the only successful results of consolidation was to use the TrueImageLauncher.exe. If I used any of the other programs successful in the past to run shortcuts, I found the program did not properly handle the creation of incremental or differential backups and their removal. So what I am recommending is that if you use the Windows Task Scheduler or desktop shortcut, use the TrueImageLauncher.exe as the program to launch the script.

I don't know of any way to prove whether you can or cannot but by installing and performing an actual test.

addendum added:
I ran a test having Windows scheduler initiate a current task via the shortcut method described above. The backup completed and a confirmation email was sent and received. The email contents same as post #37 above except the time changed to the time that the test was run by the Windows Scheduler.

Thanks, Mark and Grover..

Both bits of info sound promising!
I will get back to this as soon as possible. Currently the house is full of kids, grandkids, etc. here for Christmas, and my computer room/office is in use as a bed room!!. May be after new year!
....Bob