nonstop backup failing yet again with disk full; clean up does not resolve
With ATIH 2012 the nonstop backup would never actually complete. I ended up getting 2013 and that worked fine for a while. But now it claims to have run out of disk space (again), and even clean up of the entire backup set does not resolve the problem. In the hopes of a fix, here once again is my setup...
I have Win7 Prof x64 installed with C: on a 60 GB SSD and everything else on a 1 TB hdd (D:), including junctions for Users and ProgramData. On a second 1 TB hdd I've created an Acronis Secure Zone — ATIH 2013 uses this for nonstop backup of C: and D: (minus some temp files, etc.). Obviously the second hdd capacity is slightly less, but with file exclusions, compression, and the fact that neither C: or D: are (yet) full, this shouldn't be an issue for some time.
It was working fine, but I think the problem is caused by moving large video files around: the cumulative asz size grows beyond the hdd capacity because it is storing multiple copies of those files (multiple historical versions).
What I don't get is why this isn't simply handled by ATIH deleting the old set/files as needed. And *especially* why manually deleting the whole lot with clean up should still not fix the problem — continues to whinge about disk being full and restarting always fails again. Log file attached. Any suggestions?
Frankly I'm pretty jack of the number of problems Acronis gives me for relatively simple tasks.
Thanks for the suggestions, Pat. I'm running the NSB using an ASZ as the target. I ended up deleting and recreating it. Except of course that didn't work cuz NSB still complained about insufficient disk space! In the end I had to repeat that as well as delete the NSB job entirely (and along the way also discovered export of settings doesn't appear to actually include the backup jobs).
The real problem is this is all only a temporary fix no matter what, because sooner or later the exact same scenario will recur. It seems to be a fairly significant design flaw to me, that NSB cannot more aggressively manage its disk space. And of course we have no control over any of that.
I think the continuation of the 'out of space' messag after manually deleting the contents might b due to TI 2013 not updating its database.
I'm not sure that having the NSB direct to a Secure Zone might not be the cause of the problem. Do you actually have any other tasks using the SZ?
Hi Colin. Nope, nothing but this single NSB job uses the ASZ. I'm starting to think that may not be worth doing — maybe a hidden partition in Windows directly would be better? I seem to recall reading that the ASZ was the best choice though.
Acronis have been told about this on numerous occasions and I have even demonstrated via a TeamViewer session but nothing has been done about fixing it and from responses I have had I doubt they ever will.
I had this error once (XP). Finally tracked it down to this: there was plenty of space on the HD but strangely the trash bin had to be emptied. After doing so the op went ahead without error.
Hello all,
Thank you for your reports.
Probably, we have already identified the reason of the issue and created a fix. Please perform the below actions and see if the issue remains.
1) Download and extract the file attached.
2) Stop Acronis Nonstop Backup service (Start -> Type services.msc -> make right-click on Acronis Nonstop Backup service -> Stop)
3) Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\CDP and rename the old afcdpsrv.exe file to, for example, afcdpsrv_1.exe
4) Copy the new afcdpsrv.exe file to the same C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\CDP directory.
5) Launch True Image Home 2013 again.
The issue should be resolved. If not, please obtain Acronis system report and attach to your next message.
Thank you.
Well I have installed the new file and started a fresh NSB Setup.
Credit where its due - the process now does it's I/O as background which does make the system much more usable after startup and NSB is running. It also looks like there may also be a built in delay so NSB does not actually start doing things until a short while after startup.
However when the disk fills up:
There is still no automatic consolidation.
The options to remove data do not work, whilst you may be able to make a particular day's entry disappear from the recovery screen using right click/delete the space that should be freed up does not become available for the next NSB run to use.
Making a days data disappear is only possible after several tries on the recovery screen.
The clean option would appear to do nothing what soever no matter how many times you try.
More work required to make this do what is says on the tin. NON STOP means non stop not stop when the disk is fill.
Until it does this it is not fit for purpose and does not meet its trade description.
Hello Ray,
Thank yoг for your response.
Could you please obtain Acronis system report after the issue reproduction and send it to us?
Thank you.
Report generated from GUI is 38Mb in size.
Hello Ray,
I've sent a link to you via PMs.
Thank you.
How does this story end? Has Ray managed to get NSB working reliably and predictably?
I recently upgraded to ATI Home 2013. The non stop backup worked fine until yesterday. It then became non start backup, refusing to start and dropping out without any explanation. Despite repeated attempts to start the backup, it stubbornly refuses to do so, and drops out after a few minutes.
I deleted all the old data files under the Time Explorer Storage folder and reduced the size of my backup by deleting pictures. I replaced the afcdpsrv.exe file as described in the earlier post above, but all to no avail.
I am not an IT person and have spent many frustrating hours trying to make NSB work. I see from the posts that NSB stopping without warning or explanation has been a common problem for many years. It happened to me with ATI Home 2012 once before, but came good once I cleaned up the old backup files.
So, I wish to advise Acronis that I am fed up with NSB and have reverted to manual daily backups - it causes less frustration and wasted time, and my PC works faster! I just hope the Acronis disk backup/restoration facility works better, should the need arise.
Alan,
IMO you are much better off with the normal backups. More flexibility, more reliability it seems. What OS do you use? I have been playing with Windows 8 file history and I find it pretty good for content (not system backup).
Well, I'm back (OP). Surprise surprise, ATIH 2013 has again messed up NSB. Disk filled again, no auto-consolidation, manually deleting old versions will do some but the more recent ones (ie, where most of the data is) won't delete — afcdpsrv.exe hangs sitting on ~17% CPU indefinitely. Rebooted machine; killed and restarted Acronis services; no joy. To confirm, yes I am using the manually overridden afcdpsrv.exe provided above.
Is ATIH _really_ only going to work with an infinite storage target?
Full system report is some 232 MB. So for now I've just uploaded the two .evt logs.