Backup stalls

[jsm555]

I had been using ver 9 and had a system failure so I bought ver 11 and installed it when I re-installed Windows XP. Unfortunately, 11.0 is not working - I try to do a full backup on a folder, or a partition and the backup stalls at anywhere from 18% to 33% finished. When I tell the backup to abort, the program doesn't conclude, and I have to kill it through task manager. How do you troubleshoot this product? I don't see any logs except the one that says the job has begun and that's about all.

[shieber]

Just to narrow which of ATI 11's probsl this might be, have you tried doing a full disk backup? There are reported cases where ATI 11 hangs when doing large file by file backups but not when doing full disk backups.

If you can't make any kind of backups at all, the first things I would look at are:

1) will an uninstall reinstall help

2) is security software blocking one or more of ATI's operations. Has ATI and it's services and processes been "allowed" or "excluded" in the security software (ZA, Kaspersky, etc.)

Those might not address your prob but theiy're the first place I'd look.

[Higglebottom]

I am seeing the same issue, doing a first-time data backup. I am not interested in doing disk image backups, and need the file backup to work. I have probably 300GB worth of stuff to backup.

I am running TI Home 11 with Norton Internet Security 2008 on XP Pro SP2. The only TrueImage-specific entry in the NIS configuration is a firewall rule that permits TrueImage to send me an e-mail notification when the backup completes.

Uninstall/re-install results in no change. Please advise on troubleshooting steps to try other than uninstalling or trying an image backup - I need the data backup to work.

[shieber]

If you shut down Norton, does the prob persist? If so, you might need to consult symantec for what changes to set.

However, a number of us have discovered that, on some setups, ATI11 hangs when doing a file by file backup. ATI11 hangs and you have to kill the trueimagehomeservice to stop ATI.

Tech Support is aware of the prob but I don't know if they kow what causes it or if they are working on it.

[Higglebottom]

OK, my situation may very well be related to Norton Internet Security 2008. I disabled all the NIS services and startup apps and kicked off TI11H. It's already up to 42% complete, which is farther along than it ever got prior to disabling NIS 2008.

Does anyone now know what Norton parameters need to be changed in order to run TI11H? I could try to find them by trial and error, but that's likely to take more than a week to go through all the permutations.

For example, prior to disabling all the NIS services and apps, I tried using the NIS configuration UI to disable all of the features that provided an on/off control, but doing this didn't solve the TI11H problem. God knows where the magic few settings are that are interfering with TI11H, but I know I can't work with a configuration where I have to completely disable NIS in order to backup my system...

[Higglebottom]

Looks like I spoke too soon. After disabling NIS 2008, I made 2 attempts to do a full backup of about 300GB worth of data, and both times TI11H eventually hung.

Is there a workaround for this issue, like trying to set up a bunch of little backup plans? For those of you trying to make TI11H useful for you, what are you doing about this issue?

Right now, this product can't even perform a basic backup for me, and I can't afford to sit around for half a year until a fix is released, so if there's no workaround, this is an I-want-my-money-back situation.

[Acronis Support]

Hello Higglebottom,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

Please make sure you use the latest build (8053) (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/updates/) of Acronis True Image 11 Home (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/features.html). To get access to updates you should first register (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/registration/) your software.

If updating doesn't solve the problem, please download the latest version of Acronis drivers (http://download.acronis.com/support/SnapAPI.337_s_e.msi) and install it with disabled logging.

If the issue persists, please collect some information to let us investigate it thoroughly:

- Reinstall Acronis drivers with enabled logging;
- Reproduce the issue and collect the log file without closing any application windows (including the error message windows if there are any). The log file will be created at C:\ . The name of the log file will be snapapi [date-time].log

Please create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post (http://wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317).

Please also collect the application log of the operation:
- run the program;
- select Show log on the toolbar or from the Tools menu;
- select the corresponding log;
- click "Save the log entry to file" (the diskette icon).

Then submit a request for technical support (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/support/). Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

[awgneo]

If you have Vista SP1, this is purely causing the problem. For everyone else, no idea but Vista SP1 is definitely the problem for this issue.

[rugmankc]

I have Vista Home Premium, how do I tell if I have SP1. I don't think I do.

I have done 2 previous full backup images prior to today. One to my laptop's C: drive's SZ and one to an external usb drive. Both validated and I did a test restore.

Today I did a system state full backup and it stalled twice. Both times at the same spot. I assume that file is corrupted. I'll try installing the drivers as stated above. Picture of stalled screen is below. Anyone know what that file is and can it be replaced? Or, is this a TI11 bug?

Should I try a third Full Image and see if it still works. I would be happier to know it is a bug and not my system.

Ken

Stall point shown below.



197083

[KevinN206]

I tried to backup my laptop using the "System State" mode. ATI 11 apparently freezes at about 47% done. I can't cancel it either since the "Operation Progress" dialog just sits there doing nothing. Interestingly enough, it took ATI 11 a LONG time just to begin the process about 10 minutes. For that 10 minutes that it got stuck, the CPU usage jumps to 100% so my laptop fan was spinning at its maximum speed (too loud). When it does start to back up, the usage decreases to about 20%-50% instead. The freezing pic looks exactly as rugmankc above my reply except it has 47 minutes remaining.

Right now, it's stuck even though I pressed the "Cancel" button. The CPU usage is 20%-30% by TrueImageHomeService.exe. I had to "End process" the service after waiting for 10 minutes of nothing (except for CPU fan spinning). It managed to create 1.66GB of the .tib file, although it's corrupted (as expected).

Specifications:

ATI Home 11.0.8053
Laptop Dell XPS M1330, Windows Vista RTM (No Service Pack RC)
2GB RAM
C: Windows Vista (where ATI 11 is installed)
D: The partition to which the System State is backed up
More than enough free space on both partitions.

[rugmankc]

I'm not good at this, but sounds like a problem with TI or Vista, and my system is OK.

I haven't tried the suggestions above yet, that may not be till Monday.

Acronis--After I disable log in on the driver download, do I need to download and enable logging at some point in the future? What does it do?


Thanks,

Ken

[rugmankc]

Installed drivers with logging disabled, same stall point. Uninstalled and reinstalled drivers logging enabled. Since, this happened to several people around same time, could it be from a recent windows or antivirus update?


Ken

[kevinbuckley70]

I have exactly the same issue - bought ATI11 to backup image files from various places onto a pair of 500Gb removable caddy disks. Always hangs around 42% whilst processing a large TIF file (file is OK - I checked!). All the same symptoms - can't close the application etc. Running XP SP2 & Norton Internet Security 2008. So - for me, so far, has been a waste of money.

[rugmankc]

I use AVG Free. I doubt it is the security software, since we don't use the same one. Acronis problem, I would think. This problem just started to occur, based on the recent posts. It has only done it when I back up the system state. I need to try another full image back up to see if that still works. Did my email, apps, and data. It did not hang, but not sure if any data transferred. I have another thread on that problem. Might be my inexperience.


Ken

[goldcd]

I've got exactly the same problem on my system. Vistax64 SP1.
It was driving me up the wall trying to work out what the problem was..
I 'think' the full backup of my boot drive works OK, but not once have I managed to complete a backup of my data drive (not full disk).
From what I'm hearing there doesn't seem to be any solution to this problem, apart from waiting for Acronis to release a fix.
Had the same problem on 10 and coughed for the upgrade assuming it might be a 'bit more vista friendly'. Not a happy consumer >:(
I'm running Symantec AV and after a quick scan of the above, there doesn't seem to be any common factor other than 'partial drive backups don't work very well'

[kevinbuckley70]

Update: I ran the backup with compression off (216Gb in total). It worked OK (& was MUCH much faster!!). So seems like a problem with the compression software. FWIW I used to use EMC Retrospect - that works fine & is blisteringly fast, but the user interface sucks.

[shieber]

It's an ATI 11 prob and not related just to vista. happens with xp too.

[rugmankc]

OK Acronis, any enlightenment on this problem would be appreciated. I would really like to utilize all the features I paid for.


Ken

[lightray]

Having the same problem with backing up "Data." Stalls at 9%. Using Normal compression. I have to terminate the program.

I have not tried "no compression." Of course, there is no need for TI for a "no compression" backup, I can just copy the folders over to the backup location. This is data that I always do Full backups of.

Full disk drive backups run fine.

This is a serious bug. I am running XP SP2

[rugmankc]

Anyone have an update on this problem?



Ken

[rackin21]

-{ Quote: "Having the same problem with backing up "Data." Stalls at 9%. Using Normal compression. I have to terminate the program.

I have not tried "no compression." Of course, there is no need for TI for a "no compression" backup, I can just copy the folders over to the backup location. This is data that I always do Full backups of.

Full disk drive backups run fine.

This is a serious bug. I am running XP SP2" }-
The 9% is during the snap process, I have seen this as well on some of my servers, If it is a DB server use vss or do a start and stop of the DB services. I do think there still may be a bug in the current version as I still have occasional problems on some servers. Get the latest SNAP drivers and see if it goes away.

[netserver]

Hi its the product, I created bkup image of my System partition and of our projects dir(folder).

In another section in the forum someone else had a prob, wanted to test if it was so. So I deleted my job.

Re did backup through wizard of my projects folder, by the way my folder its only 545 MB (571,898,043 bytes).....

during execution---fitting term

it stalled out at 65%, no error in there log. Want to Vista event log
windows logs\system, there it was
( The default transaction resource manager on volume J: encountered a non-retryable error and could not start. The data contains the error code. )

It was my projects folder on J:

OK, remember I said I was able to bkup once the folder with no probs
I renamed data folder with hold. Restored the bkup. deleted the bkup location
in acronis unistalled, ran chkdsk G: /x/r/f rebooted, no errors on drive

Also want into bios and ran smart test of drive.... NO errors which I didn't think there would be

Reinstalled a paragon Image, where my projects folder was. lost a few days of work.

Reinstalled product same thing, quits at 60-69%, fitting acronis 69 me ha ha
OK enough of the humor, this is not funny when it comes to a product such as this.....One that is to protect... I am going to remove it as I can]t trust it to save my dara. I'll go back to using MS sync center, amd paragon's imaging


Thanks acronis for the work

Point&Click
DPM
Jerry Cohen

[AMenge]

The same problem exists on my machine (XP). Backing up partitions works fine but backing up data with compression results in the problem described in this thread. A few days ago I changed the job to use no compression and the backup runs fine.

[netserver]

Amenge, why buy this if no compression, just schedule VSS copy which does have compression built in and is part of Vista. One of reasons to buy such a product is to save space, protect data, flexibility and restore


Jerry

[rugmankc]

I also just did a System State full backup with no compression. About 5GB. Ran and validated OK. I can do My Data, Apps, and Email with normal compression and no problems. Of course I won't know if it works until I need to restore any of the backups. Hope this gets fixed. >:(


Ken

[AMenge]

-{ Quote: "Amenge, why buy this if no compression, just schedule VSS copy which does have compression built in and is part of Vista." }-
1. I'm not using Vista.
2. TI worked fine for a long time and it works fine on other backup jobs with compression. There is just one job (a very important job) that is working without comprsssion only.

[bytedisk]

Windows XP SP2 with two days wasted on TI 11 already. Tried fixes posted here except backup without compression. Flaky software. Uninstalled TI 11 and reinstalled TI 10 which works perfectly for Backup/Restore Incremental etc, If it aint broke........ I'll wait until I have another few days to waste and try the next build of T11...or ask for a refund. Compute with Confidence....yeah right.

[Gunpriest]

I have got ATI 11 on friday and after doing a fresh install of Vista 32bit, i could do a full disk backup of the fresh install. Now i am having the same problem. The Backup stalls around 48%, 11 minutes left, either at the file shown in rugmankc's screenshot or at winsxs.

Gonna try an uncompressed full backup of the systemstate.

[netserver]

AMenge I tried other compressions and so far normal wprks

Jerry

[AMenge]

-{ Quote: "AMenge I tried other compressions and so far normal wprks" }-
Can you explain what compression is working or not working on your system?

[mikesenior]

I am running XP Pro, and ATI 11, buiild 8053. I am having the same problem with backups hanging. I did notice one thing not mentioned (i think) yet. The size of the aborted backup file is always the same: 40,096 kb. This might be meaningful to someone more "programatical". I tried numerous backup locations (including secure zone) and two installs with the driver upgrade. No joy. Any ideas from Acronis?

I really want to use this product.

[StephanWeber]

Here's a summary of what I found with my pc (ASUS P5KR, INTEL E8400, 2x Samsung SATA2 500GB, Win XP prof):
- of course I checked memory & drives and have all sw & drivers at the latest available revision.

I want to make backups from one physical drive to the other. Data backup stalls easily reproducable. the process can only be killed with taskmanger. Pressing 'abort' in the Acronis-GUI doesn't help.

the time the process needs until it stalls depends on the following:
- no, normal, high, max compression: the higher the compression level the less the time it needs to freeze...
- even with no compression the data backup stalls if the selected source-data-folders are 'big' enough.

All the following didn't help:
- using TrueImage.exe from BartPE-pak instead of installed one.
- It makes no difference if I run my sata-controller in AHCI or IDE mode.
- It makes no difference if I choose a destination folder on the other or the same physical hard drive.
- I even added an older drive to the ide-port of my mb and used this as backup target.
- in windows safe mode ( F8 ) the backup (must use TrueImage.exe from BartPE-pak then) stalls.
- removed/completely uninstalled av-firewall-software (kaspersky) ..
- with av software uninstalled I disabled/shutdown/killed almost all unneccessary services and processes (down to at least 14?)
- installed snapapi-337, then the newest snapapi-345, set MaxSplitBlock to 100 as suggested from support, ran it with and without logging
- I first uninstalled snapapi-345 and then re-install snapapi-345 with logging enabled. I don't get a snapapi-log-file on my c-drive or elsewhere. What to do?
- seems like after installing snapapi (without logging as recommended by installer) I get more crashes.
- I didn't expect much from this but even tried setting lanman-parameters-IRPStackSize in registry to 25 as suggested somewhere else.

But:
- DataBackup works perfectly using AcronisBoot CD in safe mode when my sata-controller is set to IDE mode in BIOS
- DataBackup hangs in the 'choose backup source window' with AcronisBoot CD in full mode when my sata-controller is set to IDE mode
Well, AcronisBoot CD can't cope with AHCI.

- DataBackup with compression works perfectly using BartPEBoot CD having additional latest INTEL-AHCI-Driver both, when my sata-controller is set to AHCI mode or when it's set to IDE
- I don't have any problems with copying whole partitions - even compressed.
Guess this means I don't have a hardware problem

The task manager/process explorer shows that shortly before the stall happens the number of handles for the TrueImageHomeService.exe suddenly increases from an average of about 500 during 'normal' activity to 1600 within parts of a second and then CPU-percentage goes down to zero...
It's easy to study this as the time for a certain scenario (set of data-backup-source-dirs) is nearly always the same - 1:46min in one of my cases. process explorer shows that these many additional handles are synchronisation handles - seems to be some kind of deadlock situation ... caused by implementation not configuration? A multithread-safety problem? Maybe a problem which arises more often with multi-core CPUs? Just guessing.


regards, Stephan

here's process explorer's report 197540

[Acronis Support]

Hello StephanWeber,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

Could you please let us know your Acronis request number (e.g. [Acronis #123456]) which was sent to you in autoreply to your letter? We will find out how the investigation of your issue is going. If you have not received an autoreply then please send us a Private Message containing your e-mail address.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

[SmellyCat]

I have exactly the same problem.
I have been using full data backups with normal compression many times in 2007 without a problem.
I thought it was about time to do a new backup and tried to do it about 10 times this week. It keeps hanging at about 7% each time, but not exactly at the same location. I tried to copy those directories manually, and that worked fine. I did a complete harddisk check, but that did not resolve anything.

It is weird that the backups have been working for a long time, but since about 2008 stopped working. Perhaps some windows update that made it incompatible? I am using Windows Vista Ultimate (without SP). I use RAID0.

Please let me know if the cause has been found and when a fix or workaround can be expected. Or let me know how I can help to resolve the issue. I feel unsafe without any current backup now.

[pjos]

-{ Quote: "
Please let me know if the cause has been found and when a fix or workaround can be expected. Or let me know how I can help to resolve the issue. I feel unsafe without any current backup now." }-


The workaround seems to be to turn off "compression", it helped me at least.

Please, don't forget to report this problem to Acronis, since I haven't seen any official confirmation of this problem I assume they are not in a hurry.

[Acronis Support]

Hello SmellyCat and everyone interested,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

Please be aware that we are currently investigating the problem, but the exact cause is yet unclear.

Please make sure you use the latest build (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/updates/) of the respective version of Acronis True Image. To get access to updates you should first register (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/registration/) your software.

If the latest build doesn't solve the problem, please download the latest version of Acronis drivers (http://download.acronis.com/support/SnapAPI.337_s_e.msi) and install it with disabled logging.

If the issue persists, please collect some information to let us investigate it thoroughly:

- Reinstall Acronis drivers with enabled logging;
- Reproduce the issue and collect the log file without closing any application windows (including the error message windows if there are any). The log file will be created at C:\ . The name of the log file will be snapapi [date-time].log

Please create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post (http://wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317).

Then submit a request for technical support (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/support/). Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

[SmellyCat]

I submitted the issue to Acronis, and this is the reply

-{ Quote: "
Please note our Development Team has fixed the issue already and the fix will be available in the future builds of Acronis True Image 11.0 Home.
" }-

[shieber]

Can folks confirm

1) which versions this happens with
2) whther it happens with full disk/poartition backups or file by file
3) whether the no-compression work-around is permanent or temporary




-{ Quote: "The workaround seems to be to turn off "compression", it helped me at least. . ./QUOTE]

[SmellyCat]

-{ Quote: "Can folks confirm

1) which versions this happens with
2) whther it happens with full disk/poartition backups or file by file
3) whether the no-compression work-around is permanent or temporary

" }-

1) True Image Home version 11.0 (build 8,053)
2) Data Backup with a selection of files.
3) Permanent... so far.

[shieber]

It's a known bug that ATI11 hangs when attempting file by file backups on some hardware set ups. Interseting that prob only occurs with compression on. Or that might change from one machine to the next, depending on the reason for the prob. Turning compression off seemed to help with a prob where ATI 11 doesn't reliably run tasks, but wasn't a permanent fix.

[SmellyCat]

-{ Quote: "It's a known bug that ATI11 hangs when attempting file by file backups on some hardware set ups. Interseting that prob only occurs with compression on. Or that might change from one machine to the next, depending on the reason for the prob. Turning compression off seemed to help with a prob where ATI 11 doesn't reliably run tasks, but wasn't a permanent fix." }-

Well, let's hope that their new version comes soon, and the problem is fixed as they say.

[MKairys]

As has happened to me before, I just wasted an hour or two experimenting when I should have looked here first :)

Let me just echo that my data (aka. file/folder) backups consistently hang partway through unless I turn compression off. This is with TIH 11.8053 on Vista.

[Kimberlito]

WinXP-MC, SATA drive 300 GB, 1 disk, 15 partitions

It's a total disaster. Ver 9.0 has been working like a charm for almost two years and out of the blue started to freeze-up about a week ago. Upgrade to v11_8053 didn't help. Never mind playing around with compression settings, half of the time the TI won't even start properly, it hangs when it tries to scan all the drives, sometimes at drive M, sometimes right away at drive C (progress bar in the bottom left of the main window). During attempt to create SZ from scratch TI hangs three steps before finish, during backup attempt it hangs at the last step.

All this affects only the version installed on the hard drive, the bootable CD works just fine. Microsoft Windows update looks like a likely culprit here.

One possible suggestion for developers would be to add the option to run TI (full version with all relevant features) after booting out of Windows, in Linux. This would be ok with all those users who don't need to run backups in real time but do it once per day or so. F11 is not sufficient here because it has limited features and also won't work with third party boot mangers.

~~ edited to remove links and comments off topic to the Acronis True Image Support forum - snapdragin ~~

[thecreator]

Hi All,

Before blaming Acronis, do Disk Maintenance on the partition you are creating a Drive / Partition image for.

Run Disk Cleanup, then Schedule Chkdsk with both options being checked and reboot to run. Then run Disk Defragmenter.

Finally run Acronis and create a Partition Image.

Note: Do one partition at a time. Don't do multiple Partitions or entire Large Hard Drives at one time. And disable your Background Anti-Virus Scanning as well as any Active Spyware scanning.

[Kimberlito]

-{ Quote: "Do one partition at a time. Don't do multiple Partitions or entire Large Hard Drives at one time. And disable your Background Anti-Virus Scanning as well as any Active Spyware scanning." }-

Disabling anti-v didn't help, I don't have anti-spy running in real time. Reducing number of partitions per one backup run sounds like a good idea, but you don't need to bother with this if you run TI from the bootable CD under Linux.

-{ Quote: "do Disk Maintenance on the partition you are creating a Drive / Partition image for. Run Disk Cleanup, then Schedule Chkdsk with both options being checked and reboot to run. Then run Disk Defragmenter." }-

I never do Chkdsk because it can get you in trouble but I do everything else regularly. I defrag all partitions sometimes a few times per day with Windows Defrag /f (from a batch file) and run MS Disk Cleanup every day.

I partitioned my HD two years ago using Partition Commander, it boots out of Windows and does all the work in its own "DOS" environment. I wouldn't touch my partitions with any Microsoft product.

After wasting hours on installing, uninstalling, reinstalling, formatting SZ from Partition Commander, checking partitions integrity, etc. all with no results, I'm just giving up on using TI from Windows and will try to set it up outside of it in its Linux environment.

PS: thecreator, I noticed that you still use TI-10-Home, don't rush to upgrade to v11, some users report serious problems with this version:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=200937

[IndyBart]

I have experienced the same issues trying the data backup of selected folders, etc. (WinXP SP2) Total disk imaging has not been an issue. My backup would always stall at 26% complete, which was 6.25GB. I had used the default compression settings. After changing the compression setting to HIGH, however, the backup proceeded smoothly and I have been able to do some test restores of selected files to test the integrity of the save. By the way, this was after installing the most recent SNAP drivers. This now works for me, but clearly there is something wrong with the software and ACRONIS had better correct the issue or run the risk of losing all of the goodwill and product loyalty with their customers (I've used ATI since 9.0). It really irks me when you send in a description of the issue and you repeated get the "form response" (it is even posted in this string!!!). Surely they must be getting the message that this is a problem with their software and not settings or other issues with individual computers.

[Rippy]

Prior to this past weekend, I installed had the latest Win XP updates. I went away for the weekend, and when I came back ATI 11 was hanging and stalling whenever I tried doing a max compression data backup. Found this thread, and downloaded and installed the Snap drivers linked to in this tread (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1182526&postcount=36), and now everything seems to be working fine.

Not sure if the Win update had anything to do with it or not, but the Snap drivers worked for me. I was able to explore the backup contents, and I tried restoring a couple of files my most recent data backup. Everything appears to be kosher.

Knock on wood.

[tomasin]

Just to add, ATI11 on my XP Pro system also has the same issues. I was not able to run a complete backup until I re-installed and turned compression off. I had previously tried compression off but it did not work until I re-installed. Now I find however, that although it was set to create file splits of 4.3gb it now created one large 102Gb file! I was able to test this using ATI10 and everything worked just fine. I am beginning to think that ATI11 is not worth the download let alone the $$$. I am so uncomfortable with Acronis 11 backups that I have been making straight file copies just in case. What a waste of time this product is. I have logged these issues with tech support and waiting on a reply with a fix or I will be asking for a refund on the upgrade.

198011

[Rippy]

-{ Quote: "Everything appears to be kosher. Knock on wood." }-I guess I didn't knock hard enough. @#$%*ing thing is stalling again on a new full data backup!>:( >:(

Any chance of Acronis fixing this thing in my lifetime?

[jsm555]

I started this thread back at the end of 2007 and I see that it still isn't resolved. After about a week of back-and-forth with Acronis ("try this, try that", "try this again") I gave up and requested a refund for ver 11. I'm back to ver 9, which doesn't stall. I just didn't have the time - or the patience - to debug the product.

[RamHawk]

Thanks for starting this thread. I've been having these same problems off and on and I couldn't figure it out until today. I was using the built-in windows backup program in the interum. Anyway, I'm using ATI-Home v11. I used v9 without any problems for quite a while. Upgraded to v10 but then upgraded to v11 shortly afterwards. My last successful backup (monthly backup) was on 02-04-2008 and it was using compression. My daily backup started to fail soon afterwards but it was using high or max compression. Now that I turned compression off, it seems to work fine - but my backups are large. I'm backing up about 600~750 GB total so any compression sure does save the space. I deleted my original jobs and settings thinking they were corrupt. Heck of a time trying to figure out how to get out of the hung up situation but it is easy (but annoying) now.

I just thought I would put in my $0.02 worth of knowledge.

-{ Quote: "Can folks confirm
1) which versions this happens with
2) whther it happens with full disk/poartition backups or file by file
3) whether the no-compression work-around is permanent or temporary" }-

I should include this info too....
1. Running WinXP Pro SP2, ATI-Home v11.0.8053
2. Partial backup or selected data folders with any compression selected other than NONE. I don't think the disc / partition image stalls w/ compression.
3. No compression seems to be the workaround but that is pretty useless since I can use Windows Backup w/ compression and get a MUCH smaller backup file.

[Rippy]

All I know is this:

That full backup I was doing yesterday (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1192374&postcount=49) kept stalling, so I experimented, seeing what combination of folders kept in and kept out of that backup would allow the backup to complete. Finally, I found two folders which I eliminated from the full backup, and it did complete. Why this is I cannot say. As far as I know, none of the files in either of the left out folders are corrupt. After the full backup, I did an incremental backup of those remaining two folders, and that backup completed as well. OK, it worked, but not the way I wanted it too. Why those two particular folders would not allow a full backup to complete, but did allow an incremental backup to complete leaves me scratching my head.

[RamHawk]

Were they just standard data folders/files or system folders/files? I too experimented with all sorts of compression and other settings and a variety of folders and files. I thought there was a corrupt folder somewhere that was causing it to hang up. I even did a disk check on all drives.

[Rippy]

-{ Quote: "Were they just standard data folders/files or system folders/files?" }-Data backup of document folders from My Documents. No system or application files or folders.

[scruffylooking]

I'm having the same issues on a new Dell running XP. True Image hangs from time to time each month. I do a nightly incremental backup of various folders and a weekly full backup of the same.

Going through the thread, a few weeks ago Acronis posted that they had fixed the problem and that the updates were forthcoming. Well, where are they?

In the meantime, just deal with it? For goodness sakes... I do backups of my data because it is VERY important to me. I purchased backup software because of the importance of my data. Now, Acronis is telling us to wait for a fix that is, supposedly already coded???

Hello Acronis!!! This is your customers wanting the software to work like its advertised to work. We did not purchase it to become a bunch of beta testers for buggy software!

[blaine]

Acronis! hurry! my trial is running out and I am not purchasing this software when I can't backup to dvds using compression. Mine stalls at 0%

[pbelcl]

Hi Folks,

i have also this problem that TI V 11 Build 8.064 hangs during a backup of my data harddisk!
tried to install the "new" SnapAPI.337_s_e.msi does not help to solve the problem!

deinstall TI ans reinstall also did not solve the problem.

since i bought this software i had to contact support 4 times for some problems with it!
support is very endeavored to help but , i wasted more time for "repair" than the software brings back!!!

if this does not stop i'll ask for "money back" because this program ist not very useful for me!!!

[Allen42]

This same problem started for me about a week or so ago too. (Win XP, latest Acronis) Funny thing is, it always stalls in exactly the same place, which are some static files that haven't changed in years. I also can't get "cancel" to cancel, and have to manually quit the service from task manager.

My first thought was some sort of file corruption, so I've ran all of the file and disk fixing utilities, and even made new copies of all the files.

I will turn off compression as suggested, but I am very disappointed with the Acronis line, as I've had nothing but problems with it since I first started down this road years ago. C'mon guys, quit adding new and uneeded marketing features, and get a core system that is stable and actually qorks. This is "peace of mind" software that doesn't provide any.

If anyone knows a good alternative, I'm all ears.

[SHP]

Same problem here. My Specs:

Dell XPS 420 running Vista Premium
Trend Micro Internet Security (AV/Firewall etc)

ATI 11 does a great job cloning disks, but every time I've tried to perform a backup of my "users" folder it stalls (hangs) at about 32%. I have not tried to turn compression off. I'll do that tonight. Last night I was able to do an image of the partition (which only contains the "users" folder) and an hour later an incremental image.

Acronis really needs to fix this problem. I switched from NTI's programs because of the stellar reputation of ATI. In addition to this problem, I just read yesterday on this forum that ATI may not be able to image properly my "c" partition which contains my OS and program files but has junction pointers to the "users" partition.

I've never tried to return software before. If it's defective like this, can it be done?

UPDATE: Like others I am able to backup when I turn off compression. At normal or high compression it stalls. With no compression it works. Obviously this is a suboptimal solution. Let's get with it Acronis.

[pbelcl]

Hi Folks,

got some email from acronis suppport.

had to try to run chkdsk on all drives but there where no bad sectors ore something else to find!
also got a hint that a new version is out:
"Build 8078" could be downloadet at: https://www.acronis.de/homecomputing/my/updates/

deinstalled the old one and tried new version -> SAME PROBLEM!!!!!

maybe i should reinstall "cobian backup" i used bevore, this runs very more stable!!

[scruffylooking]

I'm beyond frustrated with this software. It is buggy beyond belief and Acronis doesn't seem at all interested in fixing it in an expedient fashion.

For a backup solution... it has failed me completely!

[SHP]

I totally agree. I'm at my wits end. First this problem, then I discovery that I can't schedule a backup to run when the computer is in sleep mode even with Vista's task manager. Then the email after backup won't work.

The shame of it is that the underlying functionality (at least imaging and cloning) are quite good.

[pbelcl]

-{ Quote: "
.... (at least imaging and cloning) are quite good." }-

Thats right, but for filebackup it is unusable at this time.
I found another solution for that until acronis does his job well :-) (http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm)

[hhonisch]

I've tried TI 11.0.8078 (German), and the backup still stalls when doing a file backup (My Data) of certain folders. It's kind of strange. So far I've noticed the following:


The backup stalls when backing up files from my local HD to my external USB HD, but it works OK when backing up to a different partition my local HD.
When backing up a certain set of folders, the backup always stalls in the same subfolder (let's call it folder1). But when I choose a different set of folders (also containing folder1), the backup either stalls at a completely different folder or works out OK (depending on the set of folders I select for backup).



Does anyone know whether Acronis has been able to reproduce the stalling backup problem? If they can't reproduce it, they can't fix it.

I could try to build a virtual machine that reproduces the problem, and upload that to Acronis, if that would help.

[pbelcl]

i have the "stall" problem also on 2 built in SATA Harddisks!
both connected to onboard SATA controller.

so the problem is not connected to USB harddisk!

my problem also is not every time on the same directory. when i define different backup folders the "stall point" is also on a different place...

[hhonisch]

So what are you using as backup target? Are you doing a file backup from one built-in HD to the other one?

Maybe you can check sometime whether using a network folder as backup destination fixes the stall problem - it worked on my machine.

[pbelcl]

-{ Quote: "So what are you using as backup target? Are you doing a file backup from one built-in HD to the other one?." }-
Yes, this machine is my "Home Server" running XP Pro and has 4 huge harddisk in!
every 1st of the month i copy 1 Backup to an external harddisk...

-{ Quote: "
Maybe you can check sometime whether using a network folder as backup destination fixes the stall problem - it worked on my machine." }-
good idea!
but normally THIS "Home Server" makes my network drives so i cant really test this hint ;-)
but i'll try with another machine just for testing if i find some time ....

[Acronis Support]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

We were able to reproduce the problem, but it is still unclear what causes it to happen. If you are experiencing the same problem (stalling in the middle of a process when trying to back up files compressed with Windows compression), could you please collect some information to assist us with investigating the problem on a wider configurations selection?

Please create Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post (http://wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317).

Please download the latest version of Acronis drivers (http://download.acronis.com/support/SnapAPI.337_s_e.msi) and install it with enabled logging. Then reproduce the issue and collect the log file without closing any application windows (including the error message windows if there are any). The log file will be created at C:\ . The name of the log file will be snapapi [date-time].log

Then submit a request to out Support Team (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/support/) with a note that the information relates to test case #1322014. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

hhonisch, the virtual machine would help greatly. If you're still willing to do that, please mention that in your request.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

[hhonisch]

Further information:

I've transferred my laptop harddisk into a virtual machine using VMWare, but unfortunately, the stalling backup doesn't happen inside the VM.

BTW, I can only reproduce the problem on my DELL laptop. I've got two other PCs running also Win XP (all updates), and the "My Data" backup works fine there.

On my DELL laptop, I've just done a clean install of Windows XP SP2 (German) on an empty partition of my harddrive, using an original Microsoft Windows XP CR-ROM.
I've installed TI 11.0.8078 German on that clean system, without even enabling Windows updates, without installing any additional drivers or any other software. And the "My Data" backup stalls anyway (when backup up from the built-in S-ATA HD to my external USB drive).
As I said in earlier posts, the stall only seems to occur when I do a "My Data" backup from the build-in SATA HD to an external USB drive.

It works fine when I backup to a network folder, or to a different partition on the same S-ATA harddisk instead. It also works fine when I backup from one USB drive to another.

I'll let you know when I find out more.

[hhonisch]

Now that's interesting: When I disable "support for multi-core CPUs" in the BIOS (my laptop has a Core 2 Duo T7200), the backup works.

What also works is to set the CPU affinity of "schedul2.exe" to CPU 0.
You can either change the CPU affinity temporarily (Windows task manager only gives me "Access denied", but Process Explorer works fine), or you can use "imagecfg.exe" from Microsoft to set the CPU affinity permanently.

Apparently, the processes "TrueImageHomeNotify.exe" and "TrueImageHomeService.exe" inherit the CPU affinity settings from schedul2.exe. When I check their CPU affinity, it's always identical to schedul2.exe

[hhonisch]

OK, the workaround with setting the CPU affinity definitely works on my machine. It turns out that it's sufficient to apply the CPU affinity setting only to TrueImageHomeService.exe.

If you want to test the workaround for yourself, do the following:
1. You need imagecfg.exe, which is a tool from Microsoft. It's normally part of some resource kit, but you can also download it from here (http://www.reality-xp.com/support/knowledgebase/nr/rsc/imagecfg.zip). Or just google for "imagecfg.exe download".
2. Make a backup of TrueImageHomeService.exe (Folder: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome)
3. Open a command prompt, cd to the folder of TrueImageHomeService.exe, and run:
imagecfg.exe -u TrueImageHomeService.exe
This should modify the executable in a way that tells Windows XP to executeTrueImageHomeService.exe in uni-processor mode, i.e. on one CPU only.

To undo the changes, restore the backup of TrueImageHomeService.exe that you made in step 2.

Another option that worked for me was to use Process Explorer from Microsoft to set the CPU affinity of schedul2.exe (the Acronis scheduler service) to one CPU only, for example CPU 1 (using Windows taskmanager didn't work, "Access denied"). TrueImageHomeService.exe then inherits the CPU affinity settings from schedul2.exe when it's launched.
If you set the CPU affinity like this, you have to repeat the steps after each reboot, but it's a nice and easy way to test the workaround.


If anyone can find the time to test one of those workarounds, please leave some feedback here.

[PMJ]

I installed the new drivers, as I'm also having the same stall problem and wanted to provide additional data.
The drivers installed with logging on. I then proceeded to reproduce the problem, which I had no problem in doing. But there was no log on c: to send to support.
I thought maybe I had not checked the right checkbox, so I uninstalled the drivers and then installed again, this time being extra careful to select Enable Logging.
Ran through the scenario again and still no log...
I would like to help and provide my log, but generating a log does not seem to want to work for me.
Running Windows Vista 64 bit Business, all latest updates from MS installed, no SP1.
Please let me know if I can help at all, and most importantly let us all know when a build with the fix for this problem will be made available to us paying customers.

Thanks a lot

[pbelcl]

-{ Quote: " imagecfg.exe -u TrueImageHomeService.exe" }-
i tried it on my machine and it worked for my first test!

but on my geman machine the file was found in:

c:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImageHomeService.exe

i activated all my backup jobs again and will see if it workes longer than one time ...

so "paying customers" found another bug in acronis "banana software" ;-)
Thanks hhonisch for this hint!!

[hhonisch]

-{ Quote: "
I would like to help and provide my log, but generating a log does not seem to want to work for me.
" }-

Same problem here - I couldn't get the log working either, and I've tested it on two different machines (both running Windows XP SP2 + all updates).

[AMenge]

-{ Quote: "imagecfg.exe -u TrueImageHomeService.exe" }-
I tried this way but without success.:( The backup stalls at the same point.

[hhonisch]

-{ Quote: "I tried this way but without success.:( The backup stalls at the same point." }-

What version / build of True Image do you use?
Are you trying to do the "My Data" backup?
Did you get any error messages when running "imagecfg"?

Try the following command in addition to "imagecfg -u ...":

imagecfg -a 0x1 TrueImageHomeService.exe

And when you're running True Image, use Process Explorer (or Task Manager) to double-check that the TrueImageHomeService.exe process only uses one processor (launch Process Explorer, right-click on the process, "Set affinity", and make sure only one checkbox is checked.

[pbelcl]

-{ Quote: "I would like to help and provide my log, but generating a log does not seem to want to work for me." }-
Did not work on my machine also!

my daily backup today worked ...
so i think hhonisch has found a solution -> acronis do your homework ;-)

[AMenge]

-{ Quote: "What version / build of True Image do you use?" }-
TrueImage 11, german version, build 8.087 (latest release)
-{ Quote: "Are you trying to do the "My Data" backup?" }-
Yes.
-{ Quote: "Did you get any error messages when running "imagecfg"?" }-
No.
-{ Quote: "imagecfg -a 0x1 TrueImageHomeService.exe" }-
I did this too, but without any positive effect.
-{ Quote: "double-check that the TrueImageHomeService.exe process only uses one processor" }-
I checked it and it seems to be ok. Your idea was great and you should be happy if it's working on your machine. Poorly it's not working on my one...:(

[radman2020]

I have the same problem (vista home premium... tI version 11 latest build) Stalls at 65%. Can't reset unless I reboot.

Looks like acronis support dropped out of this discussion a while back. That is a bad sign. I think it sucks that we paid for this and they aren't fixing it!!

Hey acronis, give us an update!

[mranybody]

Yes, very frustrating. I'm a new user. Backup sometimes hangs at 39% sometimes at 45% and sometimes at 0%!! But everytime it hangs! My product is registered, but nothing is being offered as a patch/fix.

I'm using the latest build on Vista.

I thought I was buying quality, obviously - judging from the posts here - this is a real issue and it's disappointing to see Support not participating. At it is, I'm regretting my purchase because the most basic function (backup!!) is inoperative.

I look forward to a speedy resolution.

[scruffylooking]

-{ Quote: "Hello everyone,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

We were able to reproduce the problem, but it is still unclear what causes it to happen. If you are experiencing the same problem (stalling in the middle of a process when trying to back up files compressed with Windows compression), could you please collect some information to assist us with investigating the problem on a wider configurations selection?

Please create Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post (http://wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317).

Please download the latest version of Acronis drivers (http://download.acronis.com/support/SnapAPI.337_s_e.msi) and install it with enabled logging. Then reproduce the issue and collect the log file without closing any application windows (including the error message windows if there are any). The log file will be created at C:\ . The name of the log file will be snapapi [date-time].log

Then submit a request to out Support Team (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/support/) with a note that the information relates to test case #1322014. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

hhonisch, the virtual machine would help greatly. If you're still willing to do that, please mention that in your request.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov" }-

When I purchased this software, I was not looking to become a beta tester. I already have a job and do not have the time to beta test for incomplete and buggy software.

It is unfortunate that this problem has existed for several months now without any solution whatsoever. Everytime somebody posts this complaint... Acronis response is to download the latest version. Do they honestly think that this was not the very first thing 99% of people would do anyway... download the latest version?

I am seriously disappointed in this software. As a backup solution, it is a complete failure.

[mranybody]

With regard to my post above this:

I'm using build #8053, 2007-11-07

The hang occurs during file level backups.

I'm using Vista Business on a Dell laptop. Security Suite is Kaspersky IS v7.

Downloading latest Snap drivers as this does not seem to be a solution, so i haven't done it yet.

I'll try no compression and come back to post .... but that doesn't seem to be a true fix anyway.

[mranybody]

Nope! 'No Compression' left me hanging at 0%!!

[mranybody]

Ooo, Update:

A hang on ANY type of backup. I'm now getting a Vista dialogue box telling me that TI has stopped working and will have to be close down. Very useful!

Installing new drivers is not a fix according to posts. No compression is not a fix. Reinstall is not a fix. I'm grateful others have done this work for me because I think I'd very very unkind with my words, to be honest.

This has been an issue for months now. As it is TI is taking up HD space and serves no purpose for me.

Thankfully, I am finding TI11/Vista users on this forum who say TI11 "works flawlessly"! Hum.

[tomasin]

>:( Well I've rolled back to ATI 10 and its been working fine for over a month now and just sick to death of waiting on Acronis to fix this crappy ATI 11. Someone should be shot! As many have said its just beyond frustration how buggy Acronis 11 is. Funny how I never heard back from Acronis when I asked for my money back! I'm going to stick to ATI10 for now and when it comes to upgrading my software here at home or that of our servers at the office, Acronis will be nowhere on the list of applications to consider. :thumbd:

[PMJ]

I would suggest that in addition to posting here, you open a problem ticket from the Acronis website. At least that will cause "some" action on their part.

I did it and submitted a bunch of trace files they requested. I still haven't heard back, it's been about a week since I sent the stuff.

I would also hope that someone in Acronis allows users with this problem to "downgrade" to TI10 until they fix this problem. They can do so by providing us with a download location and a product installation key.

...Peter

[SHP]

I agree that Acronis needs to do right by those of us who purchased TI 11. I like the idea of providing us a way to use version 10 until they can fix the bugs.

I really want to like this program. It's an integral part of my overall data security plan. Although I've found "work-arounds" for some of the various problems, that is not an acceptable long-term solution.

[Haeckli]

Hi folks,

after following this thread for some time I have to accept that Acronis will not provide a fix in the near future. Anyway since I have purchased this software I finally want to use it and I finally want to feel comfortable on my data security.

So I started digging into the problem by myself .... and here are my findings:

The "stall"-problem seems to be connected to MultiCore processors (I have a DualCore). TrueImage uses both of my CPUs but I have no exact idea how it shares them. Using a number of different tools I get the impression that one CPU is doing read/write (disk-I/O) and the other is doing compression/decomprerssion. Obviously under uncertain conditions both processes or threads loose their synchronization which results in one of the two processes to hang. And this is what we all see.... :thumbd:

The same Version of TrueImage runs well on SingleCore processors. Just out of curiosity I disabled one of my CPUs - et voila: everything is fine! A little slower - but the backup is just working. :thumb:

Knowing all this the question is how to keep both CPUs enabled and just run TrueImage in a SingleCPU-mode ??? After some more hours of research I found the following solution:

The backup task itself is the program TrueImageHomeService.exe Whenever a backup is started (either manually or scheduled) this program is run as a child-process of the windows service Acronis Scheduler2 Service. This service is automatically launched on every system boot.

The following is a description on how to automatically launch the service in a SingleCPU mode. This fix is tested on Windows XP Home but I would assume that it also works on other Windows versions:


Make sure that the latest version of TrueImage Home (TI) is properly installed. The following changes are permanent as long as you don't reinstall TI
Make a system backup. Yes, I know your backup is not working but I recommend it anyway.
Make sure that you are familiar with REGEDIT and that you exactly know what you will be doing next...
Download this little free program: RunFirst (http://www.activeplus.com/us/freeware/runfirst/)
Open the ZIP-file and extract RunFirst.Exe to C:\
Open RegEdit (C:\Windows\Regedit.Exe) and locate the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AcrSch2Svc\ImagePath
This key will read like "C:\...xxx...\Acronis\Schedule2\schedul2.exe" .
...xxx... varies on the language of your Windows version; just leave it unchanged (In my German version ...xxx... stands for "Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien" in english versions it will be "Programs\Common Files".
Change ImagePath to "C:\RunFirst.Exe" "C:\...xxx...\Acronis\Schedule2\schedul2.exe"
Be careful to include all the quotes (") and spaces as highlighted.
Close Regedit
Reboot
Make a backup and enjoy... :)

Ooof - lot of stuff. But at the end I hope its worth it. I would love to have your feedback if the solution works for you as well. So far I have only verified on my own system. So: NO WARRANTY :dry:

Regards and good luck to all of you
Haeckli

[acim]

That superb hint works well for me. I am using XP Pro... Had a lot of 'talk between' with Acronis and finally they did say an update was on its way. Still waiting for that after nearly two months? Why are they doing nothing?:doubt: Thanks a lot for this clever solution Haeckli! ;D
Regards

[osoposo]

I've sent 2 reports on this problem and have not had a response in over a week.

I have the problem and I'm not using a dual core proc.

[radman2020]

I am using the dual core.. I got around the problem by not using compression. They wrote to me and told me it is fixed in version 12 which will be coming out soon and they will give me that version....

[acim]

I was told there is an update on its way, NOT a new version. What kind of policy would that be? Forced buying a new version to 'solve' problems with a previous one? I was definitely not told I should get version 12 instead.... Using no compression is NO solution to the problem, it is just some stunt, a trick. Haeckly's solution is the only one at this moment to get full use of TI11.
Regards

[shieber]

Updates might be frequent or as has been the case with ATI11, rare. Acronis usually comes ut with a new version about once per year. New builds issued between new versions are always free to registered users.

-{ Quote: "I was told there is an update on its way, NOT a new version. What kind of policy would that be? Forced buying a new version to 'solve' problems with a previous one? I was definitely not told I should get version 12 instead.... Using no compression is NO solution to the problem, it is just some stunt, a trick. Haeckly's solution is the only one at this moment to get full use of TI11.
Regards" }-

[bubbatex]

Gez, what a bonehead move on my part - I bought TI 11 today at Frys because it was on sale and has a rebate. Now I know why. They should just give it away. I get stuck at 38%. And no, I don't really think I should have to disable one of my processors to run this program!

[bytedisk]

I have been watching this thread and waiting for Acronis to respond appropriately to this problem. I do not understand how third parties can develop fixes while Acronis sits on its hands. Why not engender some goodwill and refund our hard earned dollars. Is it any wonder that people pirate software. In this case they would at least get what they paid for. Wake up Acronis.

[BarryR]

Thanks Haeckli! This took about 2 minutes to do and worked perfectly. Too bad I can't take advantage of my Dual Core (AMD) system. I don't understand why you were able to accomplish whereas Acronis support failed. Perhaps it's hard for them to implement a fix in a polished way, but couldn't they have added a preference option to run the program single core until a more thorough fix is available?

Would love to hear from customer / tech support as to their plan because, as it is I have a brand new TI11 product and am deciding whether to return it to Newegg since it basically doesn't work without the above modification.

-{ Quote: "Hi folks,

after following this thread for some time I have to accept that Acronis will not provide a fix in the near future. Anyway since I have purchased this software I finally want to use it and I finally want to feel comfortable on my data security.

So I started digging into the problem by myself .... and here are my findings:

The "stall"-problem seems to be connected to MultiCore processors (I have a DualCore). TrueImage uses both of my CPUs but I have no exact idea how it shares them. Using a number of different tools I get the impression that one CPU is doing read/write (disk-I/O) and the other is doing compression/decomprerssion. Obviously under uncertain conditions both processes or threads loose their synchronization which results in one of the two processes to hang. And this is what we all see.... :thumbd:

The same Version of TrueImage runs well on SingleCore processors. Just out of curiosity I disabled one of my CPUs - et voila: everything is fine! A little slower - but the backup is just working. :thumb:

Knowing all this the question is how to keep both CPUs enabled and just run TrueImage in a SingleCPU-mode ??? After some more hours of research I found the following solution:

The backup task itself is the program TrueImageHomeService.exe Whenever a backup is started (either manually or scheduled) this program is run as a child-process of the windows service Acronis Scheduler2 Service. This service is automatically launched on every system boot.

The following is a description on how to automatically launch the service in a SingleCPU mode. This fix is tested on Windows XP Home but I would assume that it also works on other Windows versions:


Make sure that the latest version of TrueImage Home (TI) is properly installed. The following changes are permanent as long as you don't reinstall TI
Make a system backup. Yes, I know your backup is not working but I recommend it anyway.
Make sure that you are familiar with REGEDIT and that you exactly know what you will be doing next...
Download this little free program: RunFirst (http://www.activeplus.com/us/freeware/runfirst/)
Open the ZIP-file and extract RunFirst.Exe to C:\
Open RegEdit (C:\Windows\Regedit.Exe) and locate the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AcrSch2Svc\ImagePath
This key will read like "C:\...xxx...\Acronis\Schedule2\schedul2.exe" .
...xxx... varies on the language of your Windows version; just leave it unchanged (In my German version ...xxx... stands for "Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien" in english versions it will be "Programs\Common Files".
Change ImagePath to "C:\RunFirst.Exe" "C:\...xxx...\Acronis\Schedule2\schedul2.exe"
Be careful to include all the quotes (") and spaces as highlighted.
Close Regedit
Reboot
Make a backup and enjoy... :)

Ooof - lot of stuff. But at the end I hope its worth it. I would love to have your feedback if the solution works for you as well. So far I have only verified on my own system. So: NO WARRANTY :dry:

Regards and good luck to all of you
Haeckli" }-

[feistyfetus]

Experiencing the same problem as those above. It was working well until about 2 weeks ago. ATI Echo Enterprise (8076, Backup Server, Remote Agent, ) on Server 2003 x64. I get stalls or ridiculous time estimates (5 days??). It is less than 100GB going to a directly attached 1394 hard drive.
I've tried installing the latest Acronis driver.
I've tried setting schedul2.exe to 1 processor affinity.
I've tried recreating jobs.
I've tried with and without compression.
I've tried with and without VSS.
I've tried reinstalling Acronis softwares.
What else can I try?

BTW, I have 2 other server that have remote agents installed. They backup over the network (one is 100mbit, the other 1000mbit) to the 1394 external drive attached to the 2003 x64 server without any problems.

[Haeckli]

Hi folks,

just to make clear: the desribed procedure ONLY limits Acronis TI to use Single-Core. All other applications, drivers, services and the system itself remain using any core.

Especially using max. compression the backup-time is significantly increased, but since I run automated tasks overnight - I don't care...

Regards
Haeckli

-{ Quote: "This took about 2 minutes to do and worked perfectly. Too bad I can't take advantage of my Dual Core (AMD) system. I don't understand why you were able to accomplish whereas Acronis support failed. Perhaps it's hard for them to implement a fix in a polished way, but couldn't they have added a preference option to run the program single core until a more thorough fix is available?" }-

[SmellyCat]

It has been months now that I have been waiting for an update so I can backup with compression on.

But I see there is still no update!!!!
I think it is unacceptable that I purchase a product where I can not use the most basic functionality.
When will this be fixed?


-{ Quote: "I have exactly the same problem.
I have been using full data backups with normal compression many times in 2007 without a problem.
I thought it was about time to do a new backup and tried to do it about 10 times this week. It keeps hanging at about 7% each time, but not exactly at the same location. I tried to copy those directories manually, and that worked fine. I did a complete harddisk check, but that did not resolve anything.

It is weird that the backups have been working for a long time, but since about 2008 stopped working. Perhaps some windows update that made it incompatible? I am using Windows Vista Ultimate (without SP). I use RAID0.

Please let me know if the cause has been found and when a fix or workaround can be expected. Or let me know how I can help to resolve the issue. I feel unsafe without any current backup now." }-

[BeachNut]

So does all this mean that the problem is because TI 11 doesn't support quad-core processors ? I'm on the latest build with a quad and have the same problem.

[feistyfetus]

My problem is fixed and it had nothing to do with Acronis software.
The external drive was connected through firewire (which SHOULD work fine) but the transfer rates were abysmal. I did a simple large file copy test and timed how long it took to transfer 1GB of data. I swapped in a USB2.0 drive and the backup took less than 2 hours (the other backup took 3 or 4 DAYS!).
I'm not sure if it is the firewire or a failed drive causing a problem but all is well now. Maybe it was a combination of factors and doing all of the Acronis fixes helped as well.

[dhrona]

Thanks, Haeckli, for your suggestion!

I am running Windows XP on a Dual Core and applied exactly the changes through Regedit that you suggested. When I opened TI.11 after the change and began to edit my old backup tasks, I was stopped at the "Credentials" page and was told that my "login information is not correct." I had never entered login information when running TI previously--it had filled in the user name automatically--and I had never used a password. As a result, I am now unable to schedule any tasks.

Would this issue arise as a result of the change to the registry? Before reversing the registry change, I wondered if anyone else had had this problem (??).

Thanks for your help.

--Dhrona



-{ Quote: "Hi folks,

after following this thread for some time I have to accept that Acronis will not provide a fix in the near future. Anyway since I have purchased this software I finally want to use it and I finally want to feel comfortable on my data security.

So I started digging into the problem by myself .... and here are my findings:

The "stall"-problem seems to be connected to MultiCore processors (I have a DualCore). TrueImage uses both of my CPUs but I have no exact idea how it shares them. Using a number of different tools I get the impression that one CPU is doing read/write (disk-I/O) and the other is doing compression/decomprerssion. Obviously under uncertain conditions both processes or threads loose their synchronization which results in one of the two processes to hang. And this is what we all see.... :thumbd:

The same Version of TrueImage runs well on SingleCore processors. Just out of curiosity I disabled one of my CPUs - et voila: everything is fine! A little slower - but the backup is just working. :thumb:

Knowing all this the question is how to keep both CPUs enabled and just run TrueImage in a SingleCPU-mode ??? After some more hours of research I found the following solution:

The backup task itself is the program TrueImageHomeService.exe Whenever a backup is started (either manually or scheduled) this program is run as a child-process of the windows service Acronis Scheduler2 Service. This service is automatically launched on every system boot.

The following is a description on how to automatically launch the service in a SingleCPU mode. This fix is tested on Windows XP Home but I would assume that it also works on other Windows versions:


Make sure that the latest version of TrueImage Home (TI) is properly installed. The following changes are permanent as long as you don't reinstall TI
Make a system backup. Yes, I know your backup is not working but I recommend it anyway.
Make sure that you are familiar with REGEDIT and that you exactly know what you will be doing next...
Download this little free program: RunFirst (http://www.activeplus.com/us/freeware/runfirst/)
Open the ZIP-file and extract RunFirst.Exe to C:\
Open RegEdit (C:\Windows\Regedit.Exe) and locate the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AcrSch2Svc\ImagePath
This key will read like "C:\...xxx...\Acronis\Schedule2\schedul2.exe" .
...xxx... varies on the language of your Windows version; just leave it unchanged (In my German version ...xxx... stands for "Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien" in english versions it will be "Programs\Common Files".
Change ImagePath to "C:\RunFirst.Exe" "C:\...xxx...\Acronis\Schedule2\schedul2.exe"
Be careful to include all the quotes (") and spaces as highlighted.
Close Regedit
Reboot
Make a backup and enjoy... :)

Ooof - lot of stuff. But at the end I hope its worth it. I would love to have your feedback if the solution works for you as well. So far I have only verified on my own system. So: NO WARRANTY :dry:

Regards and good luck to all of you
Haeckli" }-

[Haeckli]

Hi dhrona,

the proposed change definitely does not affect any login information. But I was able to simulate your problem by completely disabling the Acronis Scheduler2 Service. Therefore I would assume that there is a misspelling in the ImagePath key and therefore the service cannot start on a system boot.

Please go to the services screen and check if the Acronis Scheduler2 Service is currently running. If it is not (that's what I would expect) please verify the ImagePath in the registry. Again as in my previous post: Be careful to include all the quotes (") and spaces as highlighted!!!

Found a mistake? OK.
Found no mistake: What exactely is the content of ImagePath?

Good luck
Haeckli

-{ Quote: "Thanks, Haeckli, for your suggestion!

I am running Windows XP on a Dual Core and applied exactly the changes through Regedit that you suggested. When I opened TI.11 after the change and began to edit my old backup tasks, I was stopped at the "Credentials" page and was told that my "login information is not correct." I had never entered login information when running TI previously--it had filled in the user name automatically--and I had never used a password. As a result, I am now unable to schedule any tasks.

Would this issue arise as a result of the change to the registry? Before reversing the registry change, I wondered if anyone else had had this problem (??).

Thanks for your help.

--Dhrona" }-

[dhrona]

Thanks, Haeckli, for your prompt reply.

As you guessed, the Acronis Scheduler2 Service was not running after I changed the ImagePath registry, but I had indeed typed the correct, new registry entry--all the correct quotes and spaces. I then reread your instructions carefully and discovered that I had not extracted RunFirst simply to the C drive. In other words, I had extracted RunFirst within a folder on C, rather than simply to C:\. As a result, the Acronis Scheduler2 Service could not start.

For others interested in this fix, please note Haeckli’s original instructions:

• Open the ZIP-file and extract RunFirst.Exe to C:\

Notice that RunFirst should be extracted simply to C:\. I have now run two separate backups (on two different drives) successfully--no stalls!!

Thank you so much for all your help.

--Dhrona

[bytedisk]

After referring Acronis support to this thread and suggesting they do something I received the following enlightening reply:

"We are really sorry for the inconvenience.

Could you please apply the sector-by-sector approach option when selecting partitions to be backed up in the Crate(sic) Backup Wizard; this is needed for the issue localization purposes?

We are looking forward to hearing back from you at your earliest convenience."

I'm so happy now.

[Haeckli]

Hi all,

received an email from (Germany's) Acronis support today. They announce that the stall-problem is finally being solved in a new build which will be released shortly. :thumb:

Unfortunately no specific time for the release was given.

But anyhow: let's watch out who's first to get it...

Greetz
Haeckli

[shieber]

Well, we heard a new build was going to be released some time in March -- silly me; I assumed they meant March 2008.

[PMJ]

I had problems with Vista Business 64 bit, submitted logs to Acronis, never got an answer that fixed or helped the problem.

Last week I installed Vista SP1 and now I can do backups with compression at any level, everything works fine. I never changed any of the previously failing Acronis setup. It just started to work.

Now, I think this is a fluke and that something in the service pack tweaked something that allowed the backup to work. I am pretty sure that sometime in the near future, when MS releases another update Acronis will stop working again. But in the meantime, I'm able to backup with compression.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else with this problem on Vista still has the stalling backup problem after applying SP1.

... Peter

[DwnNdrty]

SP1 has definitely improved Vista. I had tried some of the RC versions and would get intermittent lockups when browsing with IE and with FFox. Since I installed SP1 the system has been free of lockups.

[Nordiam]

I am having this problem on Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 and ATI 11 (8053). It happens backing up to a network attached storage drive over gigabit ethernet, and it also happens on an eSATA drive connected directly to the system. Both methods fail/stall between 45%-50%.

Also, it only happens when I've checked boxes to backup select sets of data, it does not happen when I select an entire drive to backup. I have tried to turn file compression off, but that does not solve the problem.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Nord

[Evmerritt]

Thanks to Hacckli, my Data Backup "stalls" are also history! RunFirst to limit execution environment to 1 CPU fixed the problem (at least on first few tries of a failing job). It's amazing how much can be accomplished by someone dedicated to finding the answer!

I've been a TI user for quite a while, and count on it to never fail (at least on restoring!). Now, my confidence is shaken due to lack of support from Acronis (very unusual, in my experience!).

At least they should acknowledge the fix by Hacckli and incorporate it somehow into an immediate release to keep us long-term users of TI in the fold.

- Ev Merritt

[Nordiam]

Evmerritt,

Thanks for the possible fix. I'm trying the 'RunFirst' method, but now instead of my backup stalling, TI just crashes around the same point. This happens even with compression off.

Could it be that RunFirst is not compatible with Windows Vista? Did this workaround work for anyone else running Vista?

Thanks.
Nord

Event Log...

Faulting application TrueImageHomeService.exe, version 11.0.0.6007, time stamp 0x47272df8, faulting module TrueImageHomeService.exe, version 11.0.0.6007, time stamp 0x47272df8, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x0042d5e2, process id 0xabc, application start time 0x01c8d663e9d221ff.

Faulting application TrueImage.exe, version 11.0.0.8053, time stamp 0x47282d03, faulting module unknown, version 0.0.0.0, time stamp 0x00000000, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x4d8b0002, process id 0xb5c, application start time 0x01c8d663cc23fcff.

[Evmerritt]

Hi, when I successfully used Haeckli's fix with RunFirst, I was using Win XP Professional, an Intel DG33TL motherboard, an Intel E6600 Quad Core CPU, and was backing up data from a RAID 1 array.

TI 11.0 had looped repeatably at an early point in the process, but with the "fix" it ran perfectly (at least it completed and I "validated" the backup produced with TI).

I wonder if the problem Acronis is having is that it's not really a "bug" in their S/W, but some anomaly in the compiler (C?) they are using in that the object code produced by the compiler does not handle multi-core CPU's correctly in all cases.

Even if it is the compiler, that does not excuse Acronis from not releasing a work-around or fix based on Hacckli's fix.

Ev Merritt