Disc backup fails Not enough memory (0x70002)

Edited to delete for repeated message.

This is the link for the image of my screen. It seems you may have confused the size of my SSD drive with someone else's. I rechecked the figures in my previous message and they all seem to be the same as in the picture:

From reading your comments, I realize that my gut feeling was serving me well when I said I would refrain from manually reinstalling the hibernation partition, should I ever need to restore my system from one of these backups where the partition is being excluded. I still think it may be preferable to live without that unallocated space than risking a can of worms on my hands... :))

Unless, or course, that for some reason the need arises to replace my present drive, in which case I would probably engage the expertise of someone who could do the job professionally. That might be a fair price to pay for the sake of security and peace of mind, I believe.

On the other hand, who knows, someone from Acronis may still come here and release the good news we are all waiting for... The problem had been identified and a patch was being applied... That would certainly be very welcome news and it would make a number of people happy... :)

Thank you LinYu. The more pics you post, the easier it becomes to do so. Each pic is additve help.

Would you mind posting a new diskpart picture?
From a command Window
type Diskpart
From inside the Diskpart command window
type LIST DISK
type Select DISK 0
type LIST PARTITION
type LIST VOLUME
Do the snippet.

To round out the picture, a capture of Windows DiskManagement graphical tool would also pull all the information together.

You appear to have a 120-125gb size Disk with MBR partitioning. Your Device Mananger/Disk section will list more information about your specific Disk and model number.

As for its partitioning, Your diskpart capture sizes below shows that your disk characteristics basically match those of David in the original posting.

SYSTEM_Recovery.............................1500 MB
WINDOWS 7_OS (C:)............................97 GB
LENOVA_RECOVERY ..............................13 GB
unnamed 7GB Hibernation Partition.... 7168 MB

When restoring your disk or partitions, the preceding is the partition sequence in which they should be restored.

Questions--May have been asked and answered before.

1. Is The the 120-125GB current disk the original disk and original confiuration which came with the machine?
2. Have you attempted a single backup of the 7gb hibernation partition?
3. When performing the attempted backup, was it
a partition style backup with all partitions selected
or was the backup option "select disk mode" option selected so the backup was a disk image backup?

None of the above will provide a fix but might help us to understand what has occurred to date.

Hi Grover,

Here are the two pictures you requested. Hope they help.

Also, as for the questions,

1 - As I said before, this machine has NEVER been opened yet. Everything is as it left China...
2 - No, I did not. Think I should do it?
3 - I tried both. And both failed. Also tried from the Windows environment and from the Rescue Media. Same results.

Hi all,

I'll be out of town for the coming days and I'll be back Monday. I may or may not have access to a computer during these "sabbatical" days out, but please, your comments and/or questions will be always welcome, the purpose being to clarify, as much as possible, an issue that we now know is old with Acronis but one that Acronis did not (and still does not?) seemingly consider a big priority. They don't even show up here, with a word of help or concern. Basically, it has been you people doing their job, as testers of their product and as tutors for the less knowledgeable, such as myself. Gratuitously and graciously, helping for the sake of help!

Thank you for that.

Correction! We are not "testors of their product". We simply users trying to help others learn so they can accomplish their goals of backups & recovery on their own without our presence.

Yes, it would be interesting to attempt to make a backup of the hibernation partition.
I would attempt if when booted from the CD and would checkmark the "sector by sector" option.

Thank you for the pics. This way we can see the setup rather than try interpret from an explanation.

LinYu,

Would like to also thank you for the picture posts, they indeed do shed new light on the issue.  It is my observation that your Diskpart picture shows as Grover keenly indicated that you have an MBR disk as well, having 3 primary partitions and 1 OEM unallocated partition. In simple terms, a basic disk. 

I had been under the impression that your disk was a GPT disk which is dynamic in scheme.  I also was thinking that I had read somewhere that the Intel Rapid Start feature needed a GPT disk in order to function.  Well turns out I was right!  I had a look back at the instructional pdf file I linked to you earlier in this post.  In that instruction which is by the way for non GPT disk or simple disks as I discovered, one of the instructions is that when you are creating the hibernation partition that you must specify the following: set id=84 OVERRIDE.   Looking at the Diskpart command list reveals that this command specifies a new partition type.  So what this setid=84 does is change the partition type to a GPT disk partition.  The OVERRIDE part of the command allows Diskpart to unmount the volume if necessary when creating the set id=84 command which would be an absolute must on a basic MBR simple disk.  An excerpt from Diskpart on this appears below:

Change the partition type. Intended for Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) use only. A partition must be selected for this operation to succeed.

ID={<BYTE> | <GUID>}

Specifies the new partition type. For master boot record (MBR) disks, you can specify a partition type byte, in hexadecimal form, for the partition. Any partition type byte can be specified with this parameter except for type 42 (LDM partition).

For GUID partition table (GPT) disks you can specify a partition type GUID for the partition.

OVERRIDE

Enables DiskPart to force the volume to dismount first if necessary. All opened handles to the volume will become invalid.

So as a result I am convinced that when Acronis encounters this change in partition type while attempting to perform a backup it results in the error you describe.  I am not a programmer so I cannot say how much work it would be to write code to handle this situation but I would say that that would be necessary to resolve this issue/error.

I have also attached another link for enabling Intel Rapid Start Technology on a system with a GPT disk as well as on a system where the hibernation partition would be established on a separate non SSD disk for your convenience.

http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/rapid_start_t…

Hopefully this information will make some difference with respect to this issue! 

It might be of interest to review the BCD file to see what information Lenova is providing there--if different than others.

If interested, Obtaining the file and uploading instructons is here:

-------------------------
Revised Instructions--Oct 6:

This begins by opening a ELEVATED command line prompt .
Goto Start/Programs/Accessories
Right Click on "Command Prompt" and click on the "Run as Administrator" option.

At the resulting c:\windows\system32 > prompt, type or paste

BCDEDIT /ENUM ALL > %USERPROFILE%\DESKTOP\LinYubcd.txt

A quick screen flash (which you may not see) will occur.

Close the window.

Search your deskop for the text icon labelled LinYubcd.txt

While holding down on the left shift key, RIGHT CLICK the LinYubcd file icon.
From the listed right click options, Click the "copy as path" option which will copy your file path into your clipboard.

Next will be to upload this txt file into your existing posting #55 so this file is all together with the others attachments.

To do so
Go to your posting #55 and click the post 55 edit option
Click the file attachments option which you have used before
Click the file attachments Browse button
and perform a Control V to paste the existing clipboard path into the open file name windows
Click Open
Click Attach
Add any notes if you wish

Click Save to save the edit and save the picture upload.
Text Attachment will be listed for examination.

@Grover,

I did try to follow your instructions but I'm afraid I may have not been too successful, as far as I can see...

Thank you. Lets try something different.
You can delete the bad LinYu-bcd.txt from your desktop screen.
Return to post #55 and click the EDIT mode.
Click the "File attachments" listing.
In the left delete column, add a checkmark to the Linyu-bcd.txt listiing.
Click the Save option to remove LinYu.
--------------------------------------------
Return to my post #59 and perform the revised instructions.

I did. Not sure it worked, though... Sorry.

Thank you for trying. I get back to you later when there is more time.

In the meantime, would you use Windows Explorer and see if you do have a c:\boot folder.

This is what I found:
C:\Windows\Boot\...

New code added to post 55. Retry, please.

Hi Grover,
Think I finally got it... :))
Thanks for your persistence.

Hi all,

Your support has been terrific and I appreciate it very, very much. Only thing negative is Acronis never delivered on their promise to come to this forum and comment on the analysis of the System Report they requested and I sent them. If nothing else, to at least say "we are looking at it" or something of this sort. Trouble is, silence is seldom an answer... :((

Any suggestions on how to proceed from here?

Lin Yu.

have you checked in your Acronis account under the support tab to see if there is a support ticket listed there. You might find they have replied there, though normally you'd get an email as well.

Hi Grover,
Thanks for your reply. I tired to avoid going into all the details as I supposed they were much relevant for the main question at issue, but here is a brief summary: I exchanged a few emails with Madhu Chetan following my chat with him; he said he had read this thread himself and he wanted me to send a System Report; I mentioned I would not reinstall ATI2015 before seeing that most of the problems pointed out by many would be resolve; I then sent him a SR with ATI2014 installed; they never showed up here in the thread; I asked Madhu about the apparently failed promise but never got a reply to this question; instead, someone else replied saying that they really wanted me to reinstall 2015 and that I could try making a sector-by-sector backup as this would most likely resolve the issue; I was aware, from the beginning, about the experience of others who kept being asked for more and more information without any conclusions from Acronis until the process would fade away; so, mindful of the problems I had with 2015 and of the frustrated attempts of others to get any solution from Acronis for so many months about this exactly same issue, I decided not to follow this last request from them; and that's about all. Point is, for whatever reason, they did not seem to care much about their appearance here, probably afraid of the fallout from the customers who were justifiably feeling aggravated by their lack of solutions...

Sorry for this long harangue, that I had wished to save you from... :(

Answering your question, no, I only could find there a list of my two most recent cases discussed during as many chats, one marked Resolved/Closed and this one still blank on the status box. They may be waiting for me to tell them I'm satisfied and consider my case resolved. I am not satisfied and do not consider my case resolved as far as Acronis is concerned. So, we may actually be at a "technical impasse"... Unfortunately I know beforehand the losers will be both Acronis and I...

On another note, I followed up on a previous suggestion for doing a backup including only the Hibernate partition. It was very quick... :)) And the verdict was... "Backup failed"... :((

Do you think this precludes any memory size possibility? Or not necessarily?

And speaking of backups...

New issues arise that I had never experienced before with Acronis. Granted, I did not have much experience with ATI 2014, which I had kept inactive until after the problems I encountered with 2015. After a not too promising start with ATI 2014, back in the last trimester of 2013, I uninstalled it and went back to one of my previous versions, in this case, to ATI 2012. No problems that I can recall with this 2012 version (actually, with any other, including ATI 2013, that I'm using in a different machine.

So now with 2014 installed in my W530, I am facing some strange issues:

1 - I made one Custom Full backup of three of the four partitions on my C: drive (hibernate excluded) and the backup file, under normal compression mode, comes to a monster size of 105.65 GB!!! The last backup, with no major additions to disk in between, showed a size of 56 GB and this was already a huge increase from the regular previous backups, consistently about 42/43 GB. It also shows 3 versions (or version 3) !!! (See figure below)

2 - The name of the backup file... This was manually set by me as "D:\Acronis Backups\20141011-ATI2014-W530.tib. Strangely enough, the name of the file in the USB external drive reads "My_partitions_full_b2_s1_v1.tib. Look also at the file sizes... (See figure below)

I have 11 (eleven) registered Acronis products in my Acronis account. But with these recent, unexpected setbacks, I confess that after this whole mess (post installation of ATI 2015) the relative optimism I was starting to regain is fast vanishing, bringing me back to the point where I may end up, much against my own will, to say goodbye to Acronis and start looking for clearer waters...

Which is in no way guarantee (helas!) that I'll find greener pastures or clearer waters...

I can't even feel like considering a restore, afraid of what I may have to face just for daring...

LinYu,

For my 2 cents worth I don't believe that system memory has anything to do with the issue even though that is what the error message indicates when attempting a Disk Mode backup.

As I stated previously in this post when the TI app encounters the hibernation partition and that partition changes from an MBR type to a GPT type and additionally, that partition is setup by the Intel Rapid Start feature either via mount point or symbolic link to that feature, this process confuses the TI app and results in a failure.

In addition, another concern is strictly the fact that Lenovo chose not to create the partition per the Intel instructions might well be the cause of the issue. The instructions clearly state that the partition needs to be at a minimum equal to installed RAM. With your machine having 8GB of memory yet this problem partition is set at just 7GB might well be the cause of you issue.

It would be interesting to test for example if a disk drive where created entirely of GPT partitions one of which being a hybernate partition if the TI app could complete a full disk backup. If that were successful then some validity would be indicated the the change in partition type is a problem for TI. If failed then some validity would be given to the mount point or symbolic link possibility alternative, I think that unlikely.

It makes more sense to me that the underlying issue is the fact that the partition was created incorrectly and therefore is out of spec. I think that in the right circumstances waking your machine from a hybernate state with Intel Rapid Start active might result in a BSOD.

If I were you I would be asking Lenovo why your machine in not setup to spec with regard to the Rapid Start feature? This is not to suggest that Acronis should ignore your issue, they should not.

Just to play Devil's Advocate here Enchantech, if the system is set up to use 1GB of RAM for video, then the hibernate partition would only need to be 7GB (not that I know this is what is happening, but it is certainly a possibility)

LinYu,
In post 71. item 2, the issue with the name of tib file I believe to be self inflicted. The name assigned in your example would have been the default name and would need to be overridden while inside the target folder. The tib name can only be assigned in one place and that one place is inside the target folder during task creation. Perhaps your tib change did not take before leaving the storage folder. Click on my signature link 2-A and look at figure #7. Don't forget, the name of the task and the name of the tib file are independent and set in different locations. It might help to review all of 2-A so there is no confusion with any version other than 2014.

Hi Grove,
Thank you for your kind response. I noticed you said nothing about that huge discrepancy in the size of the backup files... It seems that each new backup keeps getting bigger!

I accessed your guide about "Using 2014" and all I can say is you did a very fine job. Honestly, though, it showed me how much more complex it is to use 2014 than any other previous version of Acronis I've ever tried, at least for the average users like me. Or, perhaps more accurately said, just for the most unsophisticated users like myself...

I do always try to improve my knowledge base, but I recognize and accept my own limitations and I need to live with them. In other words, 2014 presents so many variables (settings, names, sizes, chains, versions even in full backups...) and seems so complex a process for my teeth to grind... For some reason I had tried to use this same version of Acronis at the time I bought it (mid 2013 if I recall correctly) and I soon gave up. I decided to give it a second try now, after my less than promising experience with 2015. But after the issues I already encountered, as I mentioned before, and the realization of the 2014 complexities of which your guidance materials are a decent attempt at resolving, it's NOT your fault, of course (on the contrary, it's your well deserved credit) but I would rather go back to one of the prior versions that I'm not currently using. They are much simpler and, not the least important, I have never had a problem with them, either backing up or recovering. I didn't do it yet, but I'm seriously considering it. On a light note, it seems to me that as the softwares get more and more sophisticated, I keep liking them less and less... Why would that be?... :)

One thing is for sure, my experience with Acronis is now quite different from the one I had just a couple weeks ago, when I never had a single problem to point against the software that I have been using for so many years without a flaw!... At this point, though, I must temper my previous great experience with the recent blues I have been through...

Using 2012 in this machine since last January, I had NEVER seen any signs of issues with this hibernate partition. I wasn't even aware of its purpose, I just kept adding it to the backup tasks, were they for the whole disk or for all the partitions individually checked. Granted, I had never used any of these backups for a recover. And even ATI 2015, as I stated before, did not seem to encounter a problem during the 2 backups I did with it. A problem DID occur (and I cannot tell whether or not it was related to the same issue) when I tried to recover one of these 2 backups, to be sure everything was working normally. I do recall, however, that a similar "not enough memory" error showed up during the preparations for this recover.

In summary, unless you or the other friends who have so kindly helped me during this ordeal tell me that it would be ill advised to go back, I intend to uninstall 2014 and reinstall the version I was previously using in this same machine (ATI 2012). Additionally, I'm also curious about finding out how this version will behave in regards to the now famous "hibernate partition"... Will it now see the problem and refuse to complete the backup?

The one nagging problem that keeps haunting me at the back of my head is how am I ever going to find out, for sure, whether ANY of these backups will work BEFORE disaster strikes and I need a recovery?!?!?... This is the REAL problem!

As always, I'm open and willing to follow whatever guidance you can provide, on the only condition, of course, that I can comfortably follow it and securely execute it... :))

Thanks for everything.

For Daniel Snooks,

I would not consider your comment as playing devils advocate, often times it is a collaborative effort that solves issues such as the one here. I will point out though that the video RAM you refer to is shared system RAM and completely managed by Windows. It is not likely that such memory would be a determining factor in setting the size of an Intel Rapid Start partition.

I would also point out that the specification for Rapid Start clearly requires a partition size equal to or greater than installed system memory. See excerpt of user install documentation below:

If installing the operating system on a solid state drive (SSD), make sure there is enough unallocated space on the SSD to create a hibernation partition.  The size of the hibernation partition must be equal to or larger than the amount of system memory.

The above indicates to me that if partition size is set incorrectly, issues may occur.  In turn since this part of the specification was not followed by Lenovo when setting up LinYu's machine it should be investigated and corrected. 

Would this oversight cause TI2014 to error out?  I think that quite a good possibility.  Example, it is well known that TI2014 when encountering disk errors will error out.  I believe it possible that TI2014 sees this partition as a disk error and therefore errors out.  Of course the only way to know for certain is to test it out and see.  Unfortunately I do not have the means nor the time at present to do so and I suspect that LinYu's skill level might not be good enough for him to attempt correcting the partition size to test it out so unless yourself or someone else here can actually test it out I guess we will never know.

If you care to know more about Intel Rapid Start you may find the link below of interest:

http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/26022.html

LinYu,
What you are experiencing is the learning curve. 2013 had the same thing but 2014 switched things around but mostly save procedures but different places.
Learning 2014 is not beyond you. If I can, you can but it will take some time and effort on your part.

If you really want to put your restores to the test, buy another hard drive and put it into the computer in place of the current drive and do a restore to the empty disk. That is the only real way you will get an a true answer. It is better to learn on a trial run than when you have a failed disk on your hands.

As for the size of the backup, if your disk was a spin disk, I would say you had "bad sectors" and the backup is recording all the extra bad reads.
What model is your SSD? Have you checked it operations with the manufacturers disk utility? The mfg usually offers a utility to check it--especially if considering returning it. Also, Have you run "trim" or its equivelant lately?
Are you still getting errors with PC Doctor?

If you had memory errors, this would cause validation of the backup to fail. Have you tried a separate validation via the TI Recovery CD?

I sometimes run a program called "DiskFresh" which will read every sector on your drive and may also catch any read errors.
http://www.puransoftware.com/DiskFresh.html
http://www.fact-reviews.com/info/diskfresh.aspx

Later Edit:
You posted this link.
https://forum.acronis.com/system/files/acronis_backup_-_other_than_hibe…

Go to the storage folder shown (D:\Acronis Backups\ and see if you have 3 actual tib files totalling approximately the size of 135GB.
If you do, please post a screen capture.

However, if that folder does not show 3 tib files or not even close, then the backup size problem that you reference is
really a problem of the TI meta-history file being out of sync and the quickest and easiest way to fix that issue is to
stop using that backup task and create a new task and run a new backup with the new task which should show your normal backup size.

Grover

Hi All,
Let me try to answer the best way I can all the questions raised by Grover, in this continued search for a solution to the issue we have been discussing.

Yes, I am considering buying another hard drive and will try to do what you suggest. This however may have to wait for a month or so, when I expect to have some expert guidance available and close at hand... Just in case things turn south... So, for now let's keep this very strong possibility as another option in the back burner. Meanwhile, I still wish to keep pursuing a more immediate solution that could bring some peace of mind.

My current drive is a Samsung SSD model MZ7TD128HAFV-000L1, which came installed in my laptop, but no disk utility came with the machine. I can find same brand and same capacity (128 GB) SSD drives in the Net, but the model reference is slightly different, such as MZ7PD128BW, in one case. Would this be likely to cause any problems during restore?

As for "trim", I'm not at all familiar with it or any equivalent and I have no idea how it operates. I'm also somewhat reluctant going paths I'm not familiar with, afraid that something may get out of my control and spell disaster... Mainly because I cannot be sure, at this point in time, of the reliability of all the backups I have and the fact that I may not have anything to fallback on, so to speak...

I ran PC Doctor again and, yes, the exact same errors came out as before. However, similar tools provided by Lenovo, as well as the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool, also keep not finding any issues with my system. I add links to the PC Doctor's report and Lenovo's check results for your analysis (links 1 and 2).

On a related matter, the backups I have done (always excluding the hibernate partition) have come up without errors and validation has completed successfully. I didn't try a separate validation via the Recovery CD, but I may do it also. Meanwhile, it puzzles me a bit that the last two backups I thought I had successfully done appear in the Acronis list of backups with the note of "not backed up yet"!... But I ran the backups and they took the normal time to complete, everything looked fine. Even the Validation was completed and the proof is there: "The backup is valid"!... What happens? I also notice the size of the backup is not there, for whatever reason. (Links 3 and 4).

To do these backups (as all others before) I click "Disk and Partitions Backup", check the partitions to include, enter the destination, turn off the scheduler, enter backup name, choose backup scheme as "Custom/Full", and click "Backup now". The backup runs its course and I make a Validation after the backup completes. Why it's still saying "not backed up yet" and asking to "Back up now" it's beyond my comprehension...

The only ray of hope seems to be the recourse to an eventual return to "Recovering to factory state", but I never did this before, either, and I have not the foggiest idea of what may have to be done afterwards, such as if the Windows 7 that came installed will be set up during such recovery or how could I reinstall all other apps like Norton Internet Security and others, games, and so on. For data such as documents, pictures, and videos I can (and I do) always keep copies of them in external drives. Windows and apps is what concerns me most.

Many thanks, once again, for all your time and patience.

LinYu,

Your SSD drive is supplied to your PC manufacturer under a semi private label. In some instances a manufacturer may have some special add on or feature set included in the private label license. It is unlikely that any such add on or feature would cause problems during a restore.

The Trim function I would not worry about as it is enabled by Windows 7 and above by default and it's purpose is to clean up (reset) the memory cells of an SSD once data has been deleted by the user. I think Grover's concern here with Trim is that it might have the same effect as defrag does on an HDD with respect to backup size.

I am certain that Grover will check in on this again and since you directed this last post to him I will leave it at that and like you await further details.

I have a Lenovo T540p laptop with a 250GB SSD Intel drive that has a 7GB hibernation partition. I had the same error while trying to create a full backup image of the drive using Acronis TrueImage 2014. I resolved the error by first creating an Acronis Boot disk on a DVD. I used the DVD to boot a station (Win 7) I have dedicated to creating images. The interface on boot up showed all the options I needed to select to create a full backup image of my Lenovo SSD.

Hi TNQ,
Welcome to this forum!
If I understood you correctly, you no longer have a problem backing up with TI 2014, am I correct? I also ssume you already successfully executed a restore? And is that something that requires a level of expertise beyond my "first grade level"? :))
And would be open to explain step-by-step to people like myself?
(This would be like a "god send"...)
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Hello LinYu.
Please see attached.

TNQ, many thanks for your prompt reply. I read your instructions and it seems to me that I tried that before and failed.

So, you're creating a bootable CD and then booting from it and proceeding to do a backup, be it a complete disk image or the image of one partition (one or all of them for that matter) and then... What? Are you able to complete a backup by that process when the "7 GB" partition is included? If you do, then I have been missing something critically important, but I can't figure what it is. And if you actually do succeed, did you also try to restore from that backup?

You see, I may sound skeptical, but in reality all I'm doing is praying to all saints and gods that you actually found the path to heavens... :)) That would take a heavy load out of my shoulders... And also this nagging fear that if something suddenly comes up that requires a restore of my system I may be found miserably unprepared, with one foot (or both...) in the air...

So I anxiously look forward to read any further comments you may have. Thanks in advance for that.

LinYu,
Test restore the backup image you've created via the boot disk to a different disk drive, be it SSD or HD. Make sure the test disk is sata.

As I explained before, I'm not ready for that at the moment. I thought you might have done it already or be prepared to do it. Sorry for my unfounded assumption...

If you decide to do it soon, please let us know the results. I'm sure you'll make a few people happy, including myself... :))

Thanks.

LinYu, I no longer have a problem with creating and restoring images from Lenovo SSD drive.

Ok. But meanwhile, I encountered some information of interest in Lenovo Forums that we might wish to consider. Please check the following, if you please:

Link to the Lenovo site:

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/W-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/W530-SSD-has-an-H…

Or you may wish to go directly to the sites where the information is presented:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920730
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15140/what-is-hiberfil.sys-and-how-do-i-…

I am very curious to read what are Grover's and Enchantech's opinions about this. Or yours, of course... If plausble, I think I would be willing to try it...

EDITED: To add still one more important article on this subject:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/How-to-recover…

PS - These ideas have been touched before (namely by Enchantech) but somehow the were not pursued to the end. Would it now be the time to test them? Of course, that "nagging feeling" is always present... :)

Thanks in advance for all ideas and comments.

LinYu,

In amongst the replies given to you in the first link you referenced was the answer.

It is unfortunate that Intel have used the same name for their special partition for Intel Rapid Start SSD drives as Microsofts' Windows memory dump file (hyperfil.sys = MS Hibernation).

IF you have an SSD that uses the Intel Rapid Start feature (especially an Intel SSD), they require a special partition on your hard drive labeled Hybernation. This should not be confused with the special file that Microsoft Windows can create called hyperfil. Note Intel use a special partition and Microsoft use a file. The two are not the same.

Windows will always recreate the file if it is required and does not exist, the Intel SSD must have the special partition defined at all times in order for it to work properly.

Ref: Intel rapid Start guide

Hi Colin,

Thanks for prompt reply. I read again the Intel Rapid Start Guide and yes, we went through this before. Now, the answer you refer to "amongst the replies given to my query" in Lenovo's forums, is this the answer you had in mind:

"Your friend is right on, but hibernation does'nt need it's own partition. It will and does create a new hibernation file everytime it...well...goes into hibernation. The Hiberfil.sys is a hidden system located in the root folder of the drive where It will be created in the same directory as the bootloader for the OS. Deleting it won't corrupt anything. It's safe."

Or what about this one:

"It's slightly different from standard Hibernation in that it's a firmware-level RAM dump. Essentially, it's Intel's proprietary hibernation solution that is supposedly faster."

If I decided to eliminate that partition, what are the odds of running into serious problems of the kind that I would need to restore from a backup? A doubtful endeavor for me at the moment, as you may concur...

I also gather (perhaps incorrectly) that the process of eliminating that partition is easily reversible, am I right? Everything considered In my present situation, which you perfectly now, what would you recommend?

Thanks again.

Edited: Name correction - This message was meant to be addressed to Colin but Grover's name appeared instead. Not an excuse, at all, but this only reflects the extra long hours and the tension I have been through lately. My sincere apologies to both friends.

I really though it would be self evident from what I wrote which of the Intel forum replies I was referring to.

Besides, it is a moot point. The fact is the Intel SSD requires a hibernation partition which has nothing to do with the Microsoft hibernation file.

If you disable the Intel Rapid Start function you can delete the partition, if you use the Intel Rapid start Function you cannot delete the partition as otherwise the drive would not work correctly and you may get unexplained problems with your system.

Thanks, Colin. Sorry for my redundancy, I just wanted to be sure that I clearly understand what is involved BEFORE I do anything. I didn't mean to be a bug... :)) And, or course, I greatly appreciate all the help you have provided. All I ask is that you bear with me for a little longer... :)

If I'm not missing anything important from all you and others have said, Intel Rapid Start is not imprtant to me, if it all it does is bettering the hibernate process. In this case, I deem it safe to disable it and then proceed to eliminating the 8 GB partition. Would you agree that the risks, in this scenario, would be negligible?

Thanks for your continued help.

Edit 1: English is not my native language and I occasionally use words that do not translate what I mean to say. Someone called my attention to one of such cases in this post. The word is now corrected and I am sorry for any misunderstanding I may have caused inadvertently. No offense was ever meant (it would make no sense) and I hope no offense has been taken. My sincere apologies.

Edit 2: Name correction - This message, as message 89 above, was meant to be addressed to Colin but Grover's name appeared instead. Not an excuse, of course, but I can only think of the extra hours and the tension of recent times as the cause. No offense intended, I'm very sorry for the oversight.

One more question...

If it is deemed safe to erase the partition, I have read more than one way of doing it, including the recourse to dedicated software. Which process would you suggest, please?

Hi All,

I know your time is precious to each one of you, and I started to feel that I may be going in circles here, causing a waste of your time and effort. So I went back to recall and get a summary of what has been covered, conclusions at least conditionally reached, even if with varying degrees of probability, to get a better idea of where we stand, what can possibly be done now and what is better left for later.

From many important topics we approached so far and some steps we performed under your guidance, I selected these few lines from Enchantech’s post #45:

[…]

LinYu wrote: I did go check the settings on the Bios and, indeed, there it is the Intel Rapid Start Technology enabled... I didn't disable it but I guess I probably could, am I right? In which case, all I would lose is the "lower power state" capability brought in by the Rapid Start feature, right? In which case... I could probably get rid of the hibernate partition if I choose to. Please correct me if any or all of my assumptions are wrong.

Enchantech replied: Yes you are correct in your above assessment. Your machine would still have access to and be able to use Windows built in low power state functions as your machine bios supports that. What you would loose is the Intel Rapid start feature.

[…]

LinYu wrote: In other words, if I ever need to restore from one of the backups I am currently doing (w/o including the hibernate partition) I could probably live with the restored image (no hibernate partition) OR re-enable Intel Rapid Start in Bios. Only that in the latter case I would have to keep excluding the 7GB partition from the backup until (if and when) Acronis comes up with a patch. Hopefully, rather sooner that later...

Enchantech replied: Right again. Restore the Acronis TI backup to your disk then, follow the pdf to recreate the Hibernate partition and enable Intel Rapid Start.

With this in mind, I would like to propose my own little "plan of action" for your comment and your word of either approval or restrain… I will follow your suggestions, either way:

1 – I am growing ever more confused and more uncomfortable with the TI 2014 backups, so I would uninstall 2014 and reinstall 2012 (the version I used in this machine prior to installing 2015). At least I never encountered a problem with the 2012 version before.

2 – For redundancy, I would then follow up with a backup using a free or paid third-party software (any name suggestions will be much appreciated).

3 – If successful, I would then venture to delete the hibernation partition according to instructions.

4 – Then I would follow with two more full-disk backups, one by TI 2012 and the other with the third-party software, to see if they would complete successfully in the absence of the Hibernate partition.

5 – If all the above went smoothly, I could either decide to live permanently without the hibernate partition or recreate once again, knowing that I had a fallback solution…

Of course, I could also follow the “solution” recommended by our fellow poster TNQ (a few posts above) but I am not much inclined to do it, because I tried that before and the backup failed the exact same way as when I used Acronis in the windows environment.

What would you say, my friends?

LinYu2 wrote:

Of course, I could also follow the “solution” recommended by our fellow poster TNQ (a few posts above) but I am not much inclined to do it, because I tried that before and the backup failed the exact same way as when I used Acronis in the windows environment.

A quick update while waiting for comments to previous post:

@TNQ: I just repeated my previous attempt at a Disk Mode backup using Acronis Rescue Media and the result was the same as before: At just about 1 centimeter (of about a 16 total) of the green progress-bar to go, the process suddenly stops with no error message of any kind, at the same time the screen turns black and the system starts rebooting. Nothing else to report...

But you insist that you have completed more than one backup following this method, so you either have a different system or there must be something in the way you do it that is different from what I have been doing. Can you please be more specific or provide some more details about what exactly and how exactly you manage to complete your backups?

I have a ThinkPad W530 running on Windows 7 64-bit, Firefox 33.0, NIS 2013, nothing fancy, all plain vanilla... :)

Thanks.

Edited: I forgot to mention that I backup to a Fantom 2TB USB external drive, if this makes any difference.

LinYu,

The articles you linked to are accurate however, they primarily discuss. Hiberfil.sys and the Windows hibernation features. The articles do not provide much for Intel Rapid Start which handles hibernation and fast start on your system. The major difference between these two competing technologies is simply that Intel implements the feature using a dedicated disk partition which we know causes conflict on your system at least that's how it appears, and Microsoft implements the feature using hidden system files.

Which of these technologies is better? Hard to say, what I can tell you from my personal experience is that I own 2 Windows 8 portable PC's, an Asus Ultrabook, and a Lenovo Flex 14 laptop. Both are equipped with SSD's, have 8GB of RAM, and use Microsoft's hibernate and fast start technology. I am completely happy with the way both machines behave using these features and I do not find myself wanting anything more from them in these areas of performance. Your machine running Windows 7 would probably be slightly slower to awake however certainly nothing that you could not live with I would say. There are some differences in the way that Windows 7 and Windows 8 handle hibernation/sleep. Below is a link to an article which describes what's new to Windows 8 machines concerning hibernate/sleep:

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/hiberfil-pagefile-swapfile-sys-windows

You can take that recommendation as highly recommended because I am very particular with my machines performance in all aspects of operations. So what I am saying here to you is that you could remove the hibernation partition from your machine, disable Intel Rapid Start, enable Windows hibernation and probably be perfectly happy with the performance of your machine. Additionally, this should solve your backup problems so you would win on that front as well. You subsequently ask how should you go about removing the hibernation partition from your machine and asked for a third party backup tool name. Given your skill level here I would recommend a third party app mentioned here in this Forum quite often. This app, EaseUS, I believe you would find easy to use and does offer a free trial version. Here's a link:

http://www.partition-tool.com/landing/partition-manager.htm?gclid=Cj0KE…

I am providing a link here that explains Windows hibernation/sleep functions for your convenience. Hopefully it will help in your decision making process:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/sleep-and-hibernation-frequ…

The choice is ultimately yours, I would recommend that you take the time to research each competing technology, make note of their respective differences which are few, decide which one will fill your needs, and base your decision on that basis.

Hello Colin, Grover,
I already corrected my crass oversight in my posts #89 and 91, thanks to a friendly alert I received from one the fellow posters in the forum. Of course I didn't mean any offense to either one of you. Please accept my sincere apologies to both of you. Thanks for your expected understanding.

Hi Enchantech,

I read you detailed response, which contains great help and I'm working on your leads. I will come back and report when I make some way forward.

Thank you very much.

Hi All,

Just to report that I encountered some information in the BIOS that may or may not be of any interest for the discussion, please let me know. I found this:

Main:  

UEFI   Bios Version.................... G5ET95WW (2.55)

UEFI Bios Date ......................... 2013-09-13

UEFI Secure Boot...................... Off

Config / Power :

Intel Rapid Start Technology ........... Enabled

--- Enter after .................................. 3 hours

Security:

Secure Boot .................................... Disabled

Secure Boot Mode ........................... Standard Mode

Startup:

UEFI/Legacy Boot ............................ Both

--- UEFI/Legacy Boot Priority............  Legacy First

--- CSM Support ............................... Yes

Boot Mode ........................................ Quick

It seems that my machine boots using BIOS (Legacy First) as opposed to using UEFI boot. So when would it boot under UEFI? And what difference would it make? Would this have any implication with the subject we have been discussing?

Regards.

Hello, everyone!

In his evolving process I can see no one had a comment, so I infer that the information is probably quite irrelevant for the issue we have been discussing.

Meanwhile, I have been reading a lot of materials and getting gradually more comfortable with the path to an eventual solution. I have also completed a number of successful backups using the rescue media for different versions of Acronis. I have been able to complete successful backups (and I'm keeping all of them) with the rescue discs for ATI 2010, 2012 and 2013. I had already mentioned before that I cannot complete a backup using ATI 2014, either using this same rescue-disc method or directly from the Windows environment.

For those of you who are sophisticated both in computer knowledge and with the Acronis backup software, I ask you to kindly comment about the possible significance of these events and what new, if anything, do they bring in terms of shedding some more light on the problem we have been discussing. Why the different outcomes? And what assurances (or lack thereof) do they bring about the specific purpose of the eventual decision I may have to take, sooner or later, regarding a restore?

Better than anyone else, you all know that completing successful backups and having them validated is only one half of the equation. The other -- equally important -- is to be confident that such backups can actually be restored should disaster occur...

With this in mind, I am leaning towards the idea of keeping doing these backups regularly until I can buy and install an identical SSD drive in my system and then try to restore one of these backups to it. If successful, great, I will just end up having an extra drive in reserve for any future eventuality. If not... Well, if not, then, my dear friends, the thing becomes much, much more complicated for me... :(

What say you?

Thanks for all your kind help and for your Olympic patience all along... :)

Best regards.

One other thing I forgot to mention in my previous post:

I installed and used the free edition of Easeus backup software in an old machine I have and was not sucessful. Granted, the machine also runs on Windows 7 (32-bit) and uses the same Norton AV and the same Firefox version. But the hard drive is not an SSD.

The fact is, I could finish the backup of the machine and the restore also completed, seemingly with no issues. However, when I tried to start using it, all items in the Start Menu and most of the Shortcuts in my Desktop would not respond. After a while (30 seconds to a minute) a box would pop up with a message that was less than enlightening... (See image at link below)

The solution was to do another restore, this time from a previous backup with Acronis 2010, which was perfectly successful.

Coincidence or just sheer bad luck, I don't know. But my first experience with Easeus kind of cooled me off to the software.