TI 8 (826) cannot image to LAN share (XP SP2)

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by mark7, May 28, 2005.

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  1. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    I am unable to create an image on a shared network drive with TI 8.0 build 826. Both computers are XP SP2, and logged in with admin privileges. Shared folders working fine otherwise. Both systems only have 1 hard drive, so I would like to perform a complete image of system #1 onto the a shared folder on system #2 drive.

    Maybe I should just backup system #1 MBR and important system #1 partitions, instead of trying to do a full disk image? My concern is if I have a complete drive failure on system #1. With no MBR or full TI disk backup, from what I've read on the forum, I will not be able to recover. Any thoughts on what my full backup/recovery strategy for success should be ??

    Here is what happens when I try to perform a full disk image to a LAN share. I am unable to browse to the share in TI, getting an error that the network is unavailable (see jpg). However, if I type in the full network share name for the image filename (\\computername\sharedfoldername\imagefilename), TI finds the share and will proceed to about 20%, then fail with error E0007004 "poor media quality" ??

    I have tried this regedit on both computers (and reboot): [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters]
    "IRPStackSize"=dword:00000018
    ...but get same behavior and error.

    I read on a previous thread that TI 8 has an issue with backing up over a LAN and the solution for one user was to revert to TI 7. Is there a solution for TI 8 I can implement ??
     

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    Last edited: May 28, 2005
  2. dld

    dld Registered Member

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    I have a network set up for my desktop and my laptop. I have just experimented with trying replicate what you are trying to do. Normally I create a desktop TI image on a slave drive on my desktop computer. I tried creating a TI image to folder ATI Desktop Backup created on my laptop. My desktop C drive is 10.8 GB. I have 30 GB free space on my laptop. I don't get any error message but then the "Next" button is grayed out, indicating No-Go. Both computers have WinXP HE SP2.
    http://img224.echo.cx/img224/6871/screenhunter0085xp.jpg
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2005
  3. beenthereb4

    beenthereb4 Registered Member

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  4. dld

    dld Registered Member

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  5. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the tip. I had "Computer Browser" service disabled (XP Pro here). I can now see my network shares drop down in TI. But still getting same error (70004) after image creation has been running for about 2 to 3 minutes.
     
  6. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    I've also restored all XP Pro SP2 services to their installation default values (auto/manual/disabled as appropriate) on both machines. Network Neighborhood is fixed now, but TI Image is still failing about 2 minutes 20 seconds into the task.

    dld .. if you have the disk space, could I interest you in performing an image backup to another computer to see if you can get past my 2 - 3 minute "wall" ?? you could make a partial backup, or just cancel the task after about 4 minutes and this might tell me that you do not have the same issue? TIA
     
  7. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    I was able to create/verify/restore a 110 MB image to a shared folder on my other system.

    The BIG question is why is TI failing with error 70004 after about 2min 20sec with larger image files??
     
  8. dld

    dld Registered Member

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    My pleasure. It took 20 minutes. This is the result:
    http://img278.echo.cx/img278/2015/screenhunter0105zf.jpg

    The only thing I haven't yet attempted is to restore the image. I'll wait for a disaster to happen. Good luck!
     
  9. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    dld, Thanks for the report!

    I'm still perplexed... I can copy large files (> 1 GB) with win explorer across my network no problem. It is TI that is having a problem with creating large images across the network. I have not determined the size at which TI will error on me... I'm sure that Computer Browser service being off before was not a factor. Without that service, I had to specify the network path, but now that it is on and I can browse the network (in windows or in TI), the TI error symptom has not changed. :p

    edit--> 525MB image failed with 4 seconds left. 390 MB image was successful.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2005
  10. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello mark7,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    Could you please try to create the image and store it to your internal disk and then copy to the network share? Also please do the following:

    1. Perform the imaging once again and reporduce the problem;
    2. In Acronis True Image main screen open "Tools" -> "Show Log";
    3. Highlight the log file corresponding to the backup that failed;
    4. Click on the picture of diskette above to save the log file;
    5. Send the log file to support@acronis.com along with the link to this thread.

    Also please create Acronis Report in the way described at Acronis Help Post at the computer where the shared folder is placed and send to us as well.

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  11. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    Ilya,
    Thank you for your response.

    I have sent report.txt and TI log as requested, with a link to this thread.

    I am able to create a TI image of partitions C:,D:,E:,F:,G:,H: to local partition I:. With a 700MB split, this results in two files with a total size about 1.2GB. I can then successfully copy these two files using Windows drag/drop to my shared folder across the network. I do not have any problem copying or moving very large files (several GB) across my network shares using Windows Explorer. The problem is only in creating a large image (anything over about 500MB) with TI across network shares. TI error (event code = "4", message = "Failed to write data to the image archive file. A possible reason might be poor media quality") is consistently reported about 2 minutes 30 seconds into the image creation across the network.

    QUESTION: I infer from what I have read on the forum that if I were able to create this full disk image to a shared folder on my network, this image would include my notebook drive MBR. Creating a local image of my notebook partitions C: through H: to my notebook drive partition I: will NOT include my notebook MBR. Is this a correct assumption?
     
  12. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello mark7,

    Thank you for taking time to contact Acronis Support Team. If you don't get any response in 48 hours please let me know your Acronis request # which was sent to you in autoreply to the letter. I will find out the reason for the delay.

    Your assumption is correct, MBR is included only if you create the image of the whole disk (Acronis Secure Zone is the only exception, since you may not include it into the image and the MBR will still be backed up). We will certainly fix the problem with the writing to the shared drive. Please check the settings of the antivirus software you have on the remote computer (where the folder is located). It may prevent file creation.

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  13. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    UPDATE: Acronis Support has provided me with a "special build" of TI 8, which DOES work over my network (build 826 did not).

    Thank you, Acronis !!! *puppy*

    Out of curiosity, I have tried the latest release build (859) and it works well over my network (I created a 3.2 GB image on remote share with NO media write errors) ...with one exception: When the image creation on the remote share has completed, the remote machine will pop-up the following error when any subsequent process is initiated (windows explorer, desktop properties, My Computer, shutdown, ...anything). A hard reboot using the on/off switch is then required to recover.

    "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service"

    Could this be due to my "dated" remote system configuration (P3-450 CPU, ASUS P2B motherboard, 512 MB RAM). Can I use this excuse with the wife to buy the parts to build my dream machine? ;)

    Note that I can browse my network shares and can copy/move, drag/drop very large files over my network without any problem, so I do not think I have a network problem. I can also initiate other tasks on the remote machine during the image creation process, although it DOES take a while for simple tasks to initiate, and I dare not initiate anything too CPU intensive.

    I think I've mentioned both systems are running XP Pro SP2.
     
  14. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello mark7,

    I am glad to hear you have solved the problem with the network. As for the other problem, could you please open Taks Manager (pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc buttons) when the image is almost created and wathc the CPU load and memory usage? Also please try to set the priority of image creation from Normal to Low by right clicking on the Acronis True Image icon in the System Tray and choosing "Priority" -> "Low".

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  15. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    I watched WinXP system performance monitor on the target computer while creating an image over the LAN using TI 8 build 859 set to low priority.

    Everything chugged along fine for a couple of minutes. CPU useage on the target computer averaged about 25% with peaks to about 45%. I was able to start other processes on the target computer without errors (I used opening windows explorer as my "test process").

    Then about 2-1/2 to 3 minutes into the image creation, memory pages/sec on the target computer (which had been running quite low on the performance chart during the image creation) suddenly jumped to almost full scale and hovered near full scale.

    With the image creation process still running, I then tried to open windows explorer on the target computer. I got the "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service" error.

    Note: target computer has 512 MB RAM, P3-450 MHz CPU. Target system pagefile is set to system managed size on its own partition, using about 40% of that partition.
     
  16. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello mark7,

    Could you please watch the "Processes" tab and sort the process according to memory usage? This may be antivirus program that checks the file created after the creation is almost over.

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  17. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    I disabled my anti-virus on both machines and did not see anything unusual regarding process memory usage. Also, I get the "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service" error without the spike in memory pages/sec, as before.

    Total memory commit charge was fairly constant at 112M/1249M which seems OK to me for a machine with 512MB RAM and 2GB pagefile partition. Perhaps the error is not be related to system memory usage after all?

    Although I suspect my system may be "underpowered" for the task, it is interesting to note that the special build of TI 8 Acronis support provided me does work over the network, whereas builds 826 and 859 do not.

    I'm off to d/l build 800 and try that... --> Build 800 yields error E0007004 "poor media quality", same as build 826.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2005
  18. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello mark7,

    Could you please let me know your Acronis request # so that I could find out what was the special build sent to you earlier? Could you please tell whether it was Acronis True Image that took 100% of CPU usage on the remote computer (where the image is stored)?

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  19. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    [Acronis #278076] File name is TrueImage8.0_spec_s_e.exe, file properties says it is product version/file version 8.0.0.796?

    I would hope that what makes this "special" build work over my network might be incorporated into a future build of True Image?

    Note that CPU use did not hit 100%, it ranged from 20% to 50%. "Memory pages/sec" hit 100% when one time I received the "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service" error on the remote machine when opening windows explorer (or any other task) during the image creation. I was not able to duplicate this.

    A second test also got the insufficient system resources error on the remote machine, however, CPU use on the remote was about 50% and memory pages/sec was quite low when this occurred. No spike in memory pages/sec occurred as in the the first time I tested the error. Also, I have not seen any unusual memory or CPU use by any process during image creation on the remote machine.
     
  20. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello mark7,

    I have read your correspondence with Maria and I will try to help you with the fix. The problem may be resulted not only from Acronis software but from some network issues as well. Anyway, I will contact you via e-mail soon.

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  21. oneklakes

    oneklakes Registered Member

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    Hello mark7 & Ilya:

    I wanted to let you know that I am experiencing the exact same problem as mark7. This evening I sent an e-mail to Acronis Support with 2 log files for Build 826 (which failed to create the image and locked up the destination computer) and Build 859 which created the image but locked up the destination computer) along with a .nfo file for the destination computer.

    The last image I was able to create without problems was using Build 796.

    mark7, you and I have very similar setups for both the image pc and the destination pc and hopefully this will make it easier for Ilya to troubleshoot the problem. I work at a software development company and many times the biggest problem is being able to replicate the problem consistently across a given set of specific hardware and software variables.

    The purpose of this post is hopefully to help speed up finding a fix for this problem and to let you know that you are not the only one experiencing it.
     
  22. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello oneklakes,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    If you do not receive any response from Acronis Support Team within 48 hours please let me know your Acronis Request # which will be sent to you in autoreply.

    Thank you.
    --
    Irina Shirokova
     
  23. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    onelakes,

    Nice to know that I am not an island ;)

    I would like to share the latest from Acronis/Ilya with you and the forum. I trust it is appropriate to do so...

    "Hello Mark,

    I have contacted our Development Team and forwarded them your report and description of the situation. According to this information there may be a problem with the network connection, i.e. sometimes connection is lost and immidiately after that is restored again. This results in the error message you described. The special version of Acronis True Image uses another algorythm of writing to network share.

    We are updating the special version as well, however, if everything works normally now you may keep on working with the special version.

    Thank you for the cooperation.
    --
    Best regards,
    Ilya Toytman

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    I am happy to use the special build for now, however, I am left with several concerns:

    1) "Special build" 796 does take a very long time to boot (about a minute or so), either from the CD or from windows reboot to the interface when the system partition is selected for restore (remember this boot delay issue with regular builds a few versions back?). Could this be investigated and resolved for the next release of the "special build"?

    2) I am not convinced that there is a problem with my network. I am able to drag/drop/copy/move/delete large (>1GB) files over my network using windows explorer without any problems at all. I also substituted another network card in the remote system and demonstrated the same issue with TI creating an image to the network share. I should mention that this substitute card is also a 3com, but a much later version (I substituted a 2 year old 3C905C-TX-M versus the original 8 year old plain 3C905, the newer card has a much smaller footprint and fewer onboard chips). Both cards are using the WinXP Pro default drivers (I did not attempt to change drivers, I just let WinXP install the cards automagically). I'd love to try other than a 3com card (if I had one) to see if it this an issue with Acronis' algorithm and 3com cards, at least with my system configuration.

    3) On the other hand, I _am_ convinced that the different algorithm used to write to the network share is the source of the issue. It would appear that Acronis changed the network algorithm after build 796, and it no longer works as universally as it did before.

    4) For whatever reason, it seems that the Acronis development team would prefer to stay with the current algorithm (that does NOT work on my network) for official product releases, and relegate me to the world of "special builds". I would like to know from Acronis what their reasoning is in this vein, specifically:

    Was there an outstanding issue for a majority of systems that necessitated changing the network algorithm? Or, was it only changed in the interest of optimizing/updating code?

    If the latter, I am all for updating code, but I would suggest to Acronis that unless there is a very good reason to do otherwise, the "new" network algorithm needs to incorporate whatever made the "old" algorithm work for some networks.

    Anti-Murphy's Law Software Development Rule #1:

    If It Ain't Broke - Don't "Fix" It!

    Corollary #1A: If It Works - Don't Break It!
     
  24. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello mark7,

    Special build of Acronis True Image stores the image on the network share using Windows. That is why it can override some network errors (for example, perform retry in case of connection loss). What usual build was the latest one that worked if there was one?

    Thank you.
    --
    Ilya Toytman
     
  25. mark7

    mark7 Registered Member

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    Hello Ilya,

    I have tried builds 800, 826 and 859, all demonstrate a network problem on my system. Unfortunately, I did not retain any builds before 800, so I cannot try them. At one time, I had builds 786, 791, and 796 (released, not special build 796), but I do not have those builds archived any longer.

    If builds prior to 800 were available, I would be happy to try them and investigate further.
     
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