TI Home 2010 Build 6053 - Corrupted Archives: The saga continues...
First, the title of this thread says it all, but I'll get to that in a second.
Second, my system specs as a formality:
Gateway laptop (model irrelevant, but recent)
Windows 7 Pro 64bit, NTFS, 4GB RAM
I've been a long time user of TrueImage, when-it-works, but the issue of my image archives being seen as corrupted on validation still frustratingly remains. Note that I am seeing this with the LATEST 6053 build which was just released Nov 23. I also saw this issue with the previous 5055 build as well as the previous TI11 version.
Yes, I have searched the forum for this issue but the only thing I've found are generic troubleshooting steps (check memory, run chkdsk, etc.) that reek of basic first level tech support that's read from a pre-scripted dialogue. I have yet to see a bonafide explanation or solution to what's going on. It seems like every explanation or excuse under the sun has been used (i.e. hardware issue, memory problem, gnomes, etc).
Last night I updated to the latest build (6053) and ran validation against the TIBs that were showing up as corrupted. Surprisingly they validated without issue. I then created a new full backup around midnight and it ran AND validated without issue. Fast forward a few hours to the morning and for giggles I try to run validation on the full backup archive I created only hours earlier only to be met with TrueImage's insistence that the archive is now corrupted. Really? Seriously? The backup I created mere hours ago before I went to sleep?
There's nothing wrong with my system. My memory runs fine and my harddisk has no issues. Inevitably I expect someone to pipe up about these as possible issues anyway. Maybe it's my flux capacitor?
Am I expected to believe that somehow in the span of a few hours my hardware had somehow changed or failed? Maybe someone sneaked into my room in the middle of the night and installed another program that corrupted the archive? Maybe the archive just lost the will to live and corrupted itself? Or maybe it's an evil conspiracy between Gateway and Microsoft to corrupt my archive?
Who knows. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm at a tipping point with Acronis. I have lost a lot of confidence with TrueImage as a whole. When I can't reliably create a backup image and expect it to work right the first time, then I can't trust my system and data to this application.
I hope the true cause, and hopefully fix, wil be found for this but I'm pessimistic. I know for sure I'm not the only person experiencing this and Acronis is precariously on thin ice for this issue with me.
How's that for "computing with confidence".
I tell you, its aliens who mess with your computer during the middle of the night!Seriously though, I assume that you are backing up to an external hard drive? What kind of drive is it -- a store bought external drive complete with its own case, or a drive which you have installed into a generic external hard drive enclosure? Also, what model Gateway laptop?
I know these questions are valid to a point, but shouldn't backup software work with ALL external hard drives? If Acronis can't work around a SATA-USB-PATA bridge, they have no business protecting data!
actually, if the .tib file(s) are on an external we have some diagnostic options.
Can we plug that external to another PC
install the IDENTICAL build numbef TI on this 2nd pc
and do a validate from different hardware but the identical HD that failed validation just moments ago?
If the validate fails the 2nd pc then clearly we have a corrupt .tib as two independat mahines have declared it corrupt. The issue might be a hardware, might be acronis itself but its clearly a corrupt .tib
however if the validate succeeds on the 2nd pc (and I suspect it will) the we have a situation where a specific acronis build both CREATED the tib and validated the tib successfully (twice now) but the validation of the tib has failed once original hardware.
One then gets back to the whats so dang special about the original hardware that a validation fails there.
actually, if the .tib file(s) are on an external we have some diagnostic options.Can we plug that external to another PC
install the IDENTICAL build numbef TI on this 2nd pc
and do a validate from different hardware but the identical HD that failed validation just moments ago?If the validate fails the 2nd pc then clearly we have a corrupt .tib as two independat mahines have declared it corrupt. The issue might be a hardware, might be acronis itself but its clearly a corrupt .tib
however if the validate succeeds on the 2nd pc (and I suspect it will) the we have a situation where a specific acronis build both CREATED the tib and validated the tib successfully (twice now) but the validation of the tib has failed once original hardware.
One then gets back to the whats so dang special about the original hardware that a validation fails there.
Good point. After all that effort, should Roger trust TrueImage? I know I wouldn't.
I didn't think it mattered, but I did try it both ways. I tried backing up to both an external AND to just another partition on my laptop hard drive. Validation from the TI instance on my laptop fails for the same TIBs on both the laptop partition and the external. I don't have any intensive processes churning in the background either. Everything that can be disabled or shutdown while the validation is running has been done so.
Will have to try and verify by validating those TIBS again from another TI instance on another machine but I suspect it will be a futile effort.
Roger,
Well, it seems that you definitely have ruled out the external USB connection as being a possible cause of the validation issue. If things work well when testing on a separate computer, then perhaps it could be that the laptop needs updated motherboard chipset drivers? But lets first see what happens on the second computer.
:-)
Do the files validate when using the rescue CD?
One of the biggest problems with Acronis error messages is that they are so generic that often the message bears little relation to the actual problem and as they don't publish what the error codes mean everyone is left floundering.
Have you tried seeing if an image that validates, will still validate if you eject the USB drive from Windows and then some time later re-enumerate it without switching the PC off?
What happens if you make an image, eject the drive and then power off the PC and then reboot?
Has Windows power saving kicked in at all between validations and rebooting? I've had network related problems with W7 standby and hibernation and it has also confused TI on one occasion (build 5055).
Farentino - If a 2nd pc running the same build proves the .tib files are valid then this points us toward a driver or hardware issue with the original PC. If this is true we should be grateful acronis generated an error. If anything the fact we got a validation error on the original PC increases the trust one can put into acronis as it was telling us a problem outside of its control.
If however the 2nd pc says the .tib files are bogus then we have a much different issue with a very different set of questions with whom and what to trust very much being in the dark.
Good point, oracledba. I believe TIH is having problems recognizing many external usb drives when being run on modern computer builds running windows 7 x64. If one were to try installing on a different rig running XP or Vista x32 that might be a good way of confirming this. I do suspect though, that the issue is a software incompatibility on Acronis' end and not a problem with the drive or even the .TIB file.
I have a similar problem with True Image Enterprise Server - it creates TIB's that *are* valid - this was proven by the necessity to restore a complete backup to a Gateway MX8738 notebook from an external USB drive booted from an Acronis-created Recovery Boot CD. The restore operation was flawless.
However, if I ask the same installation of TI Enterprise Server, in Windows, to validate or add an incremental backup to the same TIB file, it says it's not an Acronis backup or it's corrupted. Clearly it's something wrong with the Acronis software, since it "validates" by virtue of its successful recovery in WinPE (or whatever shell the recovery CD creates) and it FAILS validation in Windows. My computers read *everything* else OK, so it's highly unlikely some gremlin is corrupting only Acronis disk reads. And it has nothing to do with hardware.
As Roger Sim says, it hardly qualifies as "computing with confidence". I don't want to "guess" that my backups are truly restorable. That's the whole point of backup software. I hate Ghost, and Acronis is running a close "next to last place" to it - I'll be searching for alternative backup software.
Same here. I was happily backing drives up until my system actually crashed and I had to restore. Too bad all my backups were corrupted... NOT.
Damn TI. Is there any good backup software?