Acronis 2013 Backup
Since I upgraded to 2013 Plus Pack I cannot back up to an external drive. I can back up to an internal hard drive though. I had no trouble with older versions of true Image. I have tried two external drives with no success although they are both recognized. All I get when starting backup is "calculating" and it eventually times out. I am very disappointed that having been a customer of acronis for many years i cannot get help without paying!
I only used the Windows. I just tried making a bootable disc and got some error report that I don't understand. This is beyond me. (Neither did the link know what the error meant!!!)
I have only just installed the latest update and this doesn't work either. I had no problem before the installation of 2013; 2012 worked with none of these problems.
I am not a computer expert and at 79 years of age I am not likely to become one.
I really don't feel like running clean up utility, whatever that is, as I am worried that it will mess up my computer which works perfectly for all my many other programs.
Unless Acronis can talk me through this I will have to find a backup program that works. Their claim of being very helpful with their support is not very apparent.
Thanks for your help but I will have to find another way out of my problem. I just hope that nobody steals my PC as this has my latest backup on it, because the external drive method doesn't work
Thanks again.
From what you have written Alex, a previous version or build has worked correctly, is that correct?
How are these drives attached - USB/Firerwire or Network?
What make are your external drives?
Do you have both drives plugged in at the same time?
Have you tried running chkdsk /r on all your drives? To do this, press the Windows button on your keyboard plus the R key at the same time. Type in the letters cmd a small black screen will pop up, type in here chkdsk c: /r (note the spaces ) for your main drive you will get a message telling you it will run on reboot, for your external drives replace the C: with whatever drive letter they report themselves as in Windows Explorer, these drives not having an operating system on them will run checkdisk immediately.
Running the Acronis cleaner will only affect your Acronis programs, but if you feel unhappy at running it, then uninstall 2013, uninstalling the Plus Pack first, then uninstall 2013, reboot your PC, install only 2013 itself and see if everything now works, if it does install the Plus Pack.
If you had either a previous version or an earlier build, as Shadowsports says, the upgrading or updating might not have fully completed for some reason.
If you have enabled the Acronsi Startup Manager or made an Acronis Secure Zone it is a good idea to disable these before uninstalling True Image. If you haven't done either, then just ignore that sentence.
1. Previous versions worked.
2. Drives attached USB.
3. External drives Freecom and Allcam. Can copy individual files to these via Windows explorer, so they are OK.
4. No, only one drive at a time.
5. Have removed all Acronis files and reinstalled true image 2013. Still doesn't copy to any of my drives except an internal one. have tried all three external with no success. Can't spend much more time on this unless you can think of something I haven't already tried. Very disappointed as i have used Acronis backups for several years with no previous problems.
Thanks for your help
Alex
Hi Alex,
What we know:
Back up to internal disk(s) working (2012-2013)
2012 Back up to USB disk worked in windows, then stopped after upgrading to 2013
Your USB drives appear in explorer and you can copy data to them
You've attempted a repair install, uninstall/reinstall
Based on your report, the problem appears to be software or OS related. Consider trying the Clean Up Utility if not already done. Then install 2013 latest build from your Acronis User Acct straight away.
We need more information about your environment:
a. Are your USB drives connected directly to the computer? No hubs, etc
b. If you are connecting to a USB 3.0 port, try connecting to a 2.0 port, results?
c. Please download or create an Acronis Boot CD and test using it. Can you back up to USB successfully in the recovery environment?
d. Create an Acronis System Report and post for us (easy to do from program interface)
e. Post the log file or entries from a log from a failed back up to USB attempt.
f. If possible, also look in the System Event Viewer for additional information/problems
g. What OS are you using? What build # of Acronis 2013
I know you're frustrated, but we need this information to try and help.
Thanks again. I think that the problem relates to the external drives. I tried a Windows Backup to an external drive (two different ones in fact) and it wouldn't copy to either of them. It knew the drives were there because it recognized them and reported on their pre-backup storage space. I just tried again to copy some word files to the external drive and no problem there. Seems like it is not an Acronis problem as the same thing happens as I said with the Windows back up.
To answer a few of your questions:
Windows 7 Home Premium OS.
Connected directly to the computer - at the back.
USB Ports are all 2.0
Acronis build is 16.0.5551
Any other suggestions or is this a Windows problem?
Alex
Alex,
Open the following registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71a27cdd-812a-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f}" and "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}" capture the screens and post back here.
Also open device manager and double click on one of your USB disk drives, and take a look at the device driver details page. Look for any drivers that match the following: snapman*, fltsrv, tdrpman*, vidsflt*, timounter. (The "*" is a variable decimal number - i.e. vidsflt63). Highlight the vidsflt* and/or fltsrv driver name (by clicking on it ) to display the version info, capture the screen(s), and post here.
Do not make any changes to the registry keys at this time.
Attached are the screen captures from a Windows 8 system using 2013 build 6514. Your fltsrv version will be different, but you should not find any vidsflt* drivers loaded.
I am requesting this to verify if the Acronis SnapAPI drivers (these are hard disk filter drivers Acronis uses to provide "live" OS backups) are installed as they should be.
Please note your version of Windows so that additional instructions can be made for your environment.
James
Thanks for your continued help.
I have run out of time for the present as I am away on holiday for a week from tomorrow so I shall have to hope that no one steals my PC in the meantime!
I will have a go at providing you with answers when I return in just over a week.
Thanks again.
Alex
Alex,
So you know where we are going with this. Acronis overwrites several of the filter drivers windows uses to identify connected devices. Sometimes these files and registry entries do not get updated properly when an upgrade occurs.
Sorry to be so long sending this but I was on holiday and then I sent this to the wrong place! I hope that this is want you want; my computer assist agent got it for me. see attachments.
I use Windows 7 Home Premium.
Alex
Open "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e967-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}".
Double click on LOWER FILTERS (to edit the value).
Remove ONLY the Vidsflt entry from the LOWER FILTERS. (Just clear Vidsflt from the value data entry box and then click okay)
Do not delete the LOWER FILTER key itself!
This is an immediate change.
The Vidsflt is left over from an earlier installed version.
Check for proper operation after the changes.
I did what you suggested and deleted the Vidsflt file. I then tried again. It went into "Calculating time" for a long time. I then tried to cancel the operation but it continued to calculate. I then had to close the operation using Task Manager. I then tried to backup my emails to the external drive. It got up to 44% and then stopped leaving the remaining time still clocking up. Again it would not cancel and I had to end the process again.
Having used True Image for a number of years I am now very dismayed that I cannot backup to an external drive. Should I go elsewhere for a backup program that works? I really don't know what to do.
Alex Bennett
I would suggest that you remove True Image 2013, and then run the Acronis Cleanup Up Utility for 2011-2013. Since you have manually removed the Vidsflt values, after running the Cleanup Utiility, there should be no Acronis (filter driver) entries in the keys listed in the previous posts.
After restarting your system, again attempt to use Windows 7 Backup and Recovery to create an image to your external drives.
If you are successful with Windows Backup, again install True Image 2013 and try Windows Backup again. If it fails after the 2013 version is installed, then the 2013 disk filter drivers would be to blame.
If the Windows Backup fails even when True Image is no longer installed, then you may have other hardware issues that need to be addressed.
I have uninstalled True Image 2013 and I have run the Acronis Clean up. I can copy files on to my external hard drives except when they are big files. I used to be able to do this but now I can't.
The Windows Backup stops at the point when it tries to write files to the External Drive, just as happened with True Image.
This has only happened it seems since I upgraded to True Image 2013. The Vidsflt has definitely been removed from the Lower Filters.
I am now at a loss. Any suggestions? I have already tried this on two External Hard Drives with the same result.
Alex
With the True Image filter drivers removed (Vidsflt and Fltsrv) this points to a Windows driver issue, or hardware problem.
If you have additional USB cables, try a different cable. Also try different ports.
If you are using a USB hub, the hub could also be a problem. Connect your USB external hard drive directly to the USB ports on the back of your system (if a desktop).
You can also remove the USB controllers in Windows Device Manager (Do this in Safe Mode) and allow Windows to re-install the devices.
Still no luck. I have reinstalled True Image. I now note that all my disk drives including my three hard drives contain vidsflt.sys and fltsrv.sys in their driver details.
I uninstalled my external drive and reinstalled it and these filters are still there.
Is this affecting my inability to write to the external drive? I can certainly backup to my hard drive.
Alex