ATIH 2009 - Added New HD, Can't Schedule Backups
I have just added a new external hard drive as a target for backup storage. I have verified that it is mounted properly and can be used successfully by my system (Windows Vista). I am trying to set up a full partition backup using TIH 2009 but am having problems scheduling the backup however. If I schedule it to run “Once Only”, “Daily”, “Weekly” or “Monthly”, I get a message saying: Resultant Schedule – ‘Error: Incorrect Repetition period “ and it will not let me start the backup.
The only scheduling options that don’t produce that error message are “Do Not Schedule”, “Upon Event” and “Periodically”. I had wanted to start the backup now and have it repeated every week at the same time.
The only way I was able to run it now however was to set “Do Not Schedule” and “Run Manually”. Even when doing that, I got a message saying “Operation Has Completed With Errors”.
Can someone tell me what could be going on here? Am I missing something? I verified that my Windows Vista clock time is set properly and I also verified that I have configured the proper drives to backup and the proper drive as a target. Thanks in advance for any help.
What is the size of the new backup drive? Is this one of those new 2TB or 3TB drives?
Yes, it is an IOSAFE Solo 2TB USB external drive.
Consider doing a re-install.
Start the instal program again and once the install begins, you will be offered a repair option. This will install a new copy overtop the existing installation.
Consider doing a re-install.
Start the instal program again and once the install begins, you will be offered a repair option. This will install a new copy overtop the existing installation.
Thanks for your responses. They have been helpful to me. I did the re-install using the “Repair” option as you suggested but unfortunately that didn’t have any effect on or resolve the problem. I did try a second re-install however with slightly different parameters and as a result, am now able to schedule backups normally. Unfortunately, within a few minutes after the backups start now my Vista system either crashes outright or freezes up to the point where the only recovery possible is through a power-on reset and re-boot. The problem has occurred on 4 consecutive attempts at backing up the system now so it seems to be clearly linked to ATIH. I have also tried the backups using a different target drive, i.e. an older 1.5 TB external HD but the problem occurred there as well.
On this second re-install that I tried, instead of using the “Repair” option, I waited until I was prompted to search online to select an updated version of ATIH. Once I received the prompt, I specified “YES” and the search finally eventually responded by indicating that it had located an updated version and asked if I wanted to download it. I took some risk at this point (in my opinion) by going ahead with the download even though ATIH hadn’t specified WHAT version it had located and that I was in fact downloading! I had no idea whether I was getting an updated ATIH 2009 or whether I was getting a trial version of ATIH 2012 which I would eventually have to either pay for or stop using.
I feel that ATIH is weak in this regard, (i.e. software level documentation). Not only did I not get that information about the new level to be downloaded when the installer located it, I have been unable to locate anywhere in my currently installed 2009 where the software specifies its current version level, build level, update level, etc. Normally, I can find that info in the “HELP” section, “ABOUT” in most software products but have been unable to find that info in ATIH. Perhaps you or someone else here can help me know where to find that information in ATIH.
After I did in fact download the “updated” version (whatever *it* was) that the installer found, I did indeed receive a message from the Acronis loader saying that the version I had downloaded would expire in 15 days and that I could either buy that new version outright, enter a license key at this time if I had one, or proceed with a 15 day trial. Even though the message provided those 3 options, I could find nowhere to *exercise* them and the result was that the only option I could find at that point was to let the Acronis loader do a boot to Windows Vista and assume that I could specify one of those 3 options once in Vista.
Once Vista had loaded again, I started ATIH once again and this time, to my amazement...instead of being asked whether I wanted to enter a license key, buy the product outright or enter a 15 day trial period as I had expected, I got a message saying that an *OLDER* version of ATIH had been detected (again, no information about WHAT older version it was referring to) and did I want to start THAT version. I said “yes” to that prompt and that has brought me to the point I am at now, i.e. being able to schedule backups once again but being unable to run them to completion without freezing or crashing Vista.
The only thing I can think to do at this point and which I will try next is to *completely* uninstall ATIH, remove all traces of it from the system, registry, etc. and do a totally *new* install just as I did originally when I first got the product. That’s about the only remaining option I can think of.
2009 is an older version, so it is possible you will have issues with more recent disks...
If you want to make sure you have the latest build of 2009 (not latest version of ATI), go to your Acronis.com account and donwload the version from the product download area.
To be sure, uninstall 2009, reboot and then install the latest build.
Scott,
Why not use one of your most current 2009 backups and restore your system back to just prior to your original problem. Is your new hard drive one of t he new "advanced format" drives?
Added:
version 2009 may be one of those versions which requires the user to hold down on the ALT key to see the help menu at top left under Header.
2009 is an older version, so it is possible you will have issues with more recent disks...
If you want to make sure you have the latest build of 2009 (not latest version of ATI), go to your Acronis.com account and donwload the version from the product download area.
To be sure, uninstall 2009, reboot and then install the latest build.
Thanks to you and Grover for your responses. Here's what I have found out since my previous post. When I compared the ATIH logs at the time of failures with my Vista Event Logs, I discovered that every time that ATIH started the backup process and reached the point where it was indicating:
"pending operation 138 started: created partition image"
then
"locking partition "partition name".
That sequence of commands works fine on all of the other partitions but once it reaches partition "c:", (i.e. "locking partition C:), it's at that exact moment that Vista either freezes or crashes. Partition C: of course is the partition on which all of my Vista system files reside.
I did in fact just replace my system hard drive (actually two identical mirrored hard drives) with 2 identical Western Digital 1TB Caviar HD's which are indeed, advanced format hard drives. They are configured as a Raid-1 mirrored single hard drive. Once you mentioned the advanced format drives, I remembered that WD provided support software for their advanced format drives (2 of which I have installed), i.e an alignment tool and a Western Digital Edition of True Image Home. Since my drives arrived already aligned, I didn't install any of the Western Digital software when in fact I should have gone ahead installed the WD ATIH edition.
Once I remembered that, I removed the my ATIH 2009 software completely from the system and attempted to install the WD ATIH edition. I feel fairly certain that this is the source of my problem and that the newer WD version of ATIH will probably resolve my issue.
Unfortunately, this has opened yet another new can of worms since the WD ATIH software will not install on my system. When attempting to install it (under "Administrator" mode), I get the following error messages:
“Installation restrictions:
'To install the product, at least one Western Digital device should be installed in your system.'
'You can purchase an upgrade to Acronis True Image Home edition by visiting http://www.acronis.com/buy/atih2011'.
Well, I have **TWO** western digital internal hard drives installed on my system but the software isn't finding either ONE of them. Furthermore, their serial numbers were BOTH registered with WD at the time of installation. I found another thread about this issue in this forum http://forum.acronis.com/forum/25731, however there was never any final resolution provided for the problem in that thread. I can't contact WD about the problem until next week because they are closed for the holiday. Not only that, I have a bad feeling that when I do contact them, they are just going to point me back to Acronis support as they did with the others in that thread. It does indeed look to me as if the problem is in the Acronis end of the WD ATIH edtion software and not within WD.
For information purposes, I am curious about what Acronis is actually doing when it issues the message “locking partition C:” (which is what it is doing each time Vista locks/crashes under my previous ATIH 2009). At first I thought it meant that it was locking the partition so that it was read only and no writing could occur. Then I realized that since the partition should be able to be used normally while the backup was taking place, that couldn't be what was happening.
You say that you have mirrored drives. Are you using Windows to set up this RAID1? If yes, you won't be able to use ATI 2009 : http://kb.acronis.com/content/11681
You say that you have mirrored drives. Are you using Windows to set up this RAID1? If yes, you won't be able to use ATI 2009 : http://kb.acronis.com/content/11681
Thanks for the response. No, the Raid is created by an Intel RST (Rapid Storage Technology) Hardware Raid Controller so the drive appears to Windows as a single drive. ATI 2009 has been working fine with this Raid configuration for several years. The only difference now is that the drives are a different brand/size and of course that they are advanced format. Also, I have verified that the drivers for all of my drives, Raid controller and other hardware are all at the most current level.
Yep. You are most likely right that this is on the Acronis WD edition side.
Do a system backup with the recovery CD, and then uninstall 2009, reboot and install a trial of 2012. See if that solves your issue.