Backup To Network Drive Fails

Did you test your network connection? See here:

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATIH2014/index.html#…

1st, thanks for the reply. I do appreciate it.

While in the "Browse" popup, I selected "Edit Credentials". The credentials were still there, from my setup yesterday, and when I click "Test" I receive "Connection Established". (Note that the network drive/destination is an HDD connected to my Netgear R7000 router, and that when I setup this folder within the router's configuration interface, I did not add any access credentials; however, in trying to resolve this issue yesterday I went ahead and Administrator credentials to make sure this was not the issue.); however, when I run the backup I still receive the same error after a prolonged "calculating" period.

Please advise on what my next step(s) should be.

Thanks again

I am going to take a shot here and say that your network is being timed out by Windows. I have seen this issue posted in the past and have since confirmed that Windows does indeed automatically timeout connections during periods of inactivity over connections. If your connection is established and then subsequently has no activity for the all knowing Windows pre-determined time allotment (usually 15 minutes) the connection is dropped by Windows and thus backup fails. To correct this behavior it is possible using an administrator command prompt to set network timeout sessions.  Follow the steps below to change the KeepConn timeout parameters:

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Use Registry Editor to increase the default time-out period. To do this, follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor:

NOTE: You cannot use this method to turn off the autodisconnect feature of the Server service. You can only use this method to change the default time-out period for the autodisconnect feature.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit (Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003) or type regedt32 (Windows NT 4.0), and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters
3. In the right pane, click the autodisconnect value, and then on the Edit menu, click Modify. If the autodisconnect value does not exist, follow these steps:
   1. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click REG_DWORD.
   2. Type autodisconnect, and then press ENTER.
4. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
5. Click Hexadecimal.
6. In the Value data box, type ffffffff, and then click OK.

NOTE: The client-side session is automatically disconnected when the idling time lasts more than the duration that is set in KeepConn. Therefore, the session is disconnected according to the shorter set duration value between AutoDisConnect and KeepConn. To change the time-out duration in the client-side during a UNC connection, specify the arbitrary time in KeepConn.
Locate and then click the following key in the registry:

Value: KeepConn
Data type : REG_DWORD
Range : 1 to 65535 (sec)
Default value: 600 sec = 10 mins

Command Line

NOTE: If you use this method, you may turn off the autotuning feature for the Server service.

To change the default time-out period for the autodisconnect feature of the Server service, open a command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER

where number is the number of minutes that you want the server to wait before it disconnects a mapped network drive. The maximum value for this command is 65,535.

NOTE: If you set the autodisconnect value to 0 (zero), the autodisconnect feature is not turned off, and the Server service disconnects mapped network drives after only a few seconds of idle time.

To turn off the autodisconnect feature, open a command prompt, type the following line, and then press ENTER:

Hello Enchantech,

I tried those registry edits, and several other things, but it is still failing. Following is the pertinent part of the popup error message: "The specified file does not exist:\\?\UNC\READYSHARE\Office-DT_Backups\Office-DT_SSD-Backups-DifOFFICE-DT_MEDIA2014-09-040200_full_b1_s1_v1.tib" Aside from needing to modify the save file name, the "\\?\" part is throwing me. Stranger still is that when I do a connection test in the backup job configuration, it always passes. Is there something whonky w/ the comms between Acronis and the HDD that is connected to the Netgear?

Thanks

Let's try this. Shutdown ATI. Delete the archives.xml file under c:\programdata\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Database folder
Restart ATI and try to do the backup again.

Does it work now?

"Flat broke & busted"
I am 100% convinced that the issue is not w/ Acronis. The backups run when I point to a local destination. I have received a reply from a Netgear "expert. Here is the key part of that reply: "Hello James, With the information that you have provided, I would suggest the following web article(s): The Acronis is a third party software which the readyshare could not recognize. There is a application intended for the readyshare which is the readyshare vault. Follow this Kb article link for instruction for the readyshare vault and the link for the application.

How to setup ReadySHARE Vault (Free Backup Software)?
http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/23861

I have attached the 2 screen shots. By what he is saying, it would appear that the OS in the router (Netgear's R7000) is allowing Acronis to "ping" it, via the "Test Connection" but then denies Acronis the access required when the backup executes.

My thinking for now is to disconnect the HDD from the router, attach it to this computer, run the backups to it for now, map folders for the individual network users (wife & kids) which will then be using Windows security credentials, and source an external HDD enclosure w/ an Ethernet connection (thereby going around the Netgear OS's limitations.

That is unless you have any other ideas. I ask because I would prefer to not get into allowing this computer to wake on LAN activity so that the locally attaches HDD can receive the backups from the other computers on the network.

Thanks again.

BTW: What do you make of the syntax in the Acronis popup window's error, "The specified file does not exist:\\?\UNC..."?

What you theorize makes perfect sense. I had no idea that netgear was using part of its ReadySHARE NAS software on the router although I should have gotten the clue in reading your first post. I can tell you that the RadySHARE NAS uses a Linux based operating software. As such its file system is in all likelihood not supported by the Windows based ATI. ATI can backup a Linux partition and can even restore one but it cannot use a Linux partition to backup to. So I believe this fact is the underlying problem with your setup.

I do not have any other ideas about using your external drive for backup purposes aside from your idea. Not to sure what you objection to a WOL of the primary PC is but no matter I understand you would rather not do that. At least you have figured out the problem so that is a plus.

Having said that there is one solution that may work in this situation and that is the installation of Bonjour for Windows on your PC's. I have never tried this but it is known that some NAS devices will not work unless this software is installed on the PC. It is a free download. You can find it on CNET or the Apple Support site.

Hey Enchantech,

In all honesty, I'm not appossed to WOL, I have just never set it up. I know it is in the UEFI setup and likely in a Windows setting (which I can lookup). But if you can, I have a few questions on that route.

1) While my Office desktop can be setup to WOL, what if a computer on the network that needs to run a backup job is asleep? I have been using Window's CSC since the Win2k days (Client Side Cacheing aka Offline Files), but that setup's traffic initiation occures only when the CSC requester logs on to the network. This question may be simply in the backup job setup on what to do if a job a scheduled job is missed.

2) My intention all along has been to have at least the other 2 PC's on my network backup to a Mapped Network Drive, in this case they would be looking to a folder on my desktop; however, I somehow managed to have a chat session w/ Acronis customer support last night w/o having to pay (I bought ATI & ADD back in March but an accident prevented me from setting up until here lately, which put me outside of the 30 day support window.), and he was telling me that not only was Acronis' "preference" that each computer that is running ATI have its own USB attached HDD to serve as the destination. While he did agree that computers runnig ATI can have a Mapped Network Drive as a destination, he stated that it was "strongly recommended" that the backups not be done via a wireless connection due to the "potential for lost data packets that could result in either a backup job failing or that a backup job might complete successfully but that the lost data packets would cause a Restore to fail (due to corruption)". Wouldn't using the Verify option in a backup job's configuration resolve that potential corrution, or at least detect it?

Thanks again.

Unfortunately I would have to say no. At least not 100%. True, validation is designed to detect corruption however, validation often times fails as well. See this KB article and read True Image Validation Fails for some insight on this with regards to networked drives/devices.

https://kb.acronis.com/content/46325

In addition, you might, after you look at the article above, type in the search box "validation" hit search then, on the left side of the page look for True Image, True Image Home, or True Image 2014. Next to these entries you will see a number which relate to how many articles on the subject the search has found. If you click on these entries this will narrow down a wide search such as you have performed to those most relevant. Read through some of the results and I think you will see that validation is a nice tool but cannot be relied on 100%.

Another way to verify a backup is to mount that backup in the explorer window and test if it can be recovered. If so this is a very good indication that the backup is sound. Now I know that is not a great option but is still a good way to test a backup.

I think a good way to look at this is that using a networked drive is adding another layer of complexity to the backup process and thus the reason for the Customer Support Representative saying what he did. None the less, many users do backup to mapped drives, NAS boxes, externally attached drives in various arrangements and so on. I would say most have success in doing so. Others not. If I was going to recommend anything I would say that it would be best to perform a trail and error on your setup and see how it does. In this way you can weed out the faults and either discover if what you envision is a workable solution or not.

In your purposed arrangement I think that only your machine with attached drive would need to be setup for WOL. The application installed on each client PC should wake that machine to perform a scheduled backup.

As for missed scheduled jobs these jobs should run automatically if say for example a machine fails to start, once the machine is once again started. Here s a link to some common issues with the scheduling service that should be of interest and answer at least some of your questions.

https://kb.acronis.com/content/46205

Hello Enchantech,

I want to thank you for the time you have put into this scenario with me. While it may turn out that backups to a Mapped Network Drive will work, I would rather know the pitfalls upfront and test accordingly. Thanks to all of the info you have generously given, I now have a much better action plan.

Thanks,

James Lightfoot