TI 10 freezes during initial backup

[christopherpm]

I just purchased TI 10 a couple of days ago.

I have two internal HDs to be backed up - 250GB and 115GB.
I have two 320GB USB HDs to backup on to.

I wish to perform an initial FULL backup - but using DATA mode so that I can exclude certain directories that I don't need backing up.

I am trying to schedule a backup of my C: Drive (250GB - only 200GB used) to my Q: Drive (320GB External), and my K: Drive (115GB - only 80GB used) to my R: Drive (320GB External) - C: Drive and K: drive backups to happen on alternate days with an initial full backup followed by differential.

However, my PC freezes during the phase that TI 10 uses to read the data. The backup doesn't start. I have to use the reset button to restart my PC, and the TIB file is ALWAYS 0KB.

I have emailed support but had no response.

I am able to use my PC for hours and hours without it freezing, so I don't know why TI 10 should cause it to happen.

I have approx 50GB free on drive C: and I'm running on XP Pro SP2 (not on a domain) with 2GB RAM.

Could there be a solution or do I get a refund?

[Ralphie]

Make the bootable Rescue CD (it has all the Backup/Recover/Clone features) boot with it and do the Backup from it.

[DanR]

I recently installed the trial version and am having the exact same problem (computer completely freezes early in initial backup attempt). I don't understand Ralphie's suggested fix. Any help would be much appreciated. I am running Windows XP on a Dell desktop and am trying to back up my C drive to a Western Digital USB external hard drive. Thanks.

[jmk94903]

Originally Posted by DanR

I recently installed the trial version and am having the exact same problem (computer completely freezes early in initial backup attempt). I don't understand Ralphie's suggested fix. Any help would be much appreciated. I am running Windows XP on a Dell desktop and am trying to back up my C drive to a Western Digital USB external hard drive. Thanks.

Ralphie is suggesting booting from the TI Recovery CD which runs in a Linux environment. That should work even if you have some program running in Windows that conflicts with TrueImage.

[exeter_acres]

Running from the CD seems to defeat the whole idea of the program doesn't it

One of the sales mantras of ATI is that it runs in a Windows environment...

[DanR]

Thanks for the quick response John; however, I am still hoping that someone might be able to shed some light on how to get the program to run the way it is designed to. I am not a computer wizard, and even if I knew how to boot from the recovery CD or run in a Linux environment (which I don't), I'd rather not have to resort to such extraordinary measures to accomplish what ought to be the simple objective of backing up my C drive. Thus I'd be most grateful, as I'm sure would be the original poster, if someone would offer some advice as to what is causing the total freeze-up when attempting a backup, and how the problem might be fixed. (I should note that I was not running any other Windows programs simultaneously with TI.)

[Menorcaman]

Hello DanR,

If you have any system restore program running in the background, such as Norton (Symantec) Go-Back, disable it (ditto for any software that is monitoring disk activity and any background disk defraggers) and try again. Also worth dropping into the Windows Command Prompt and running chkdsk x: /r on each of the partitions that you are trying to create a backup image of (substitute x: with the partition letter being tested). Note however that this will take quite some time.

As far as the Acronis bootable rescue CD is concerned - yes, the "Full" rescue environment is Linux based but you need not worry about that. You will be presented with a graphical user interface for TI that's almost indistinguishable from the Windows based version in look and feel. In any case, you will have to use the Acronis rescue CD if you ever need to restore your system partition or recover from a hard disk crash.

Regards

[burnselk]

Originally Posted by DanR

Thus I'd be most grateful, as I'm sure would be the original poster, if someone would offer some advice as to what is causing the total freeze-up when attempting a backup, and how the problem might be fixed. (I should note that I was not running any other Windows programs simultaneously with TI.)

I have the same problem with ATI 9.0 (as well as the trial version 10.0). My computer freezes and I have to turn off the power at my power strip to get ATI to "let loose of it's grip on my computer". It also cranks my cpu to 100% during the freeze.

I have yet to get meaningful assistance from Acronis tech support via email. Every time I do what they tell me to do and attempt to use this software it still freezes and I never get it to do what it's supposed to. So, until I get Acronis to backup my HDD, I will consider my purchase of Acronis True Image 9.0 a complete waste of money.

I will say this, Acronis TI support has at least responded to my emails.... but everything they ask me to do never seems to help at all. After several months of trying, I still am unable to perform any backups.

Can someone help me figure out how to get Acronis TI 9.0 to work for me?

[thomasjk]

Originally Posted by burnselk

I have the same problem with ATI 9.0 (as well as the trial version 10.0). My computer freezes and I have to turn off the power at my power strip to get ATI to "let loose of it's grip on my computer". It also cranks my cpu to 100% during the freeze.

I have yet to get meaningful assistance from Acronis tech support via email. Every time I do what they tell me to do and attempt to use this software it still freezes and I never get it to do what it's supposed to. So, until I get Acronis to backup my HDD, I will consider my purchase of Acronis True Image 9.0 a complete waste of money.

I will say this, Acronis TI support has at least responded to my emails.... but everything they ask me to do never seems to help at all. After several months of trying, I still am unable to perform any backups.

Can someone help me figure out how to get Acronis TI 9.0 to work for me?

I would use Msconfig to shut off everything that is starting up on your computer. Some thing in your environment is causing the machine to hang. What OS are you using? What type of machine do you have?

[DanR]

Thanks for your suggestions Minorcaman. As best as I can tell I have no system restore programs running in the background other than that which is part of the Windows XP OS. Based on your suggestion I disabled the Windows restore utility on the external drive I had designated as the backup location, but to no avail (total freeze-up about 5% into the process). The only significant program I have running in the backround is McAfee virus scan; is anyone aware whether there are known compatibility issues between McAfee and TI? Though it is of some small consolation to know that there are others experiencing the same problem (which suggests that it it more likely to stem from some basic issue more widespread than individual hardware/software configurations), it is depressing to hear that Acronis seems to have been unable to provide any useful solutions thus far. Somehow, I suspect that there is a simple solution, (I really would prefer not to have to deal with Norton Ghost and its well documented deficiencies for backup management); so I'd just like thank those who have responded already and to reiterate my request for further assistance to get to the bottom of this seemingly fundamental problem.

[Menorcaman]

Originally Posted by jmk94903

Ralphie is suggesting booting from the TI Recovery CD which runs in a Linux environment. That should work even if you have some program running in Windows that conflicts with TrueImage.

I've just re-read DanR's post and realised that he's using the Trial Version. The boot rescue CD created with the trial version doesn't allow you to create images - it only restores them.

Regards

[Acronis Support]

Hello christopherpm and DanR,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Originally Posted by christopherpm

However, my PC freezes during the phase that TI 10 uses to read the data. The backup doesn't start. I have to use the reset button to restart my PC, and the TIB file is ALWAYS 0KB.

Originally Posted by DanR

I am running Windows XP on a Dell desktop and am trying to back up my C drive to a Western Digital USB external hard drive

Please download the latest version of Acronis drivers, unpack the archive, install unpacked MSI package and see if the problem persists.

If the issue persists, please do the following:

- Replace C:\WINDOWS\system32\snapapi.dll with the one from the downloaded SnapAPI archive;

- Reproduce the issue and collect the log file;

- Get 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 make a screen shot of the Device Tree application the way described in this previous post of mine.

Please create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post. Please keep your external USB hard drive connected while creating Acronis Report.

Please also try to create a backup archive and store it to the internal driver rather than to the external USB drive and let us know the results.

christopherpm, could you please also let me know your Acronis request # which was sent to you in autoreply to your letter? I will find out how the investigation of your issue is going.

Having collected all the information please submit a request for technical support. Attach 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.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

[Acronis Support]

Hello burnselk,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

If you have not done that already please download and install latest build (3854) of Acronis True Image 10.0 Home. To get access to updates you should first register your software. Also install the latest version of Acronis drivers the way I described in the above post.

Since you already have contacted Acronis Support Team, could you please let me know your Acronis request # which was sent to you in autoreply to your letter? I will find out how the investigation of your issue is going and try to provide you with further instructions.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

[FredricJLowe]

Originally Posted by burnselk

I have the same problem with ATI 9.0 (as well as the trial version 10.0). My computer freezes and I have to turn off the power at my power strip to get ATI to "let loose of it's grip on my computer". It also cranks my cpu to 100% during the freeze.

I have yet to get meaningful assistance from Acronis tech support via email. Every time I do what they tell me to do and attempt to use this software it still freezes and I never get it to do what it's supposed to. So, until I get Acronis to backup my HDD, I will consider my purchase of Acronis True Image 9.0 a complete waste of money.

I will say this, Acronis TI support has at least responded to my emails.... but everything they ask me to do never seems to help at all. After several months of trying, I still am unable to perform any backups.

Can someone help me figure out how to get Acronis TI 9.0 to work for me?

I also have Acronis True Image Version 9.0 and it causes my CPU to spike to 100% and it freezes my computer. It is impossible to do any other work as this is doing a full backup so I do it at night. However, today I decided to do a new full install and I watched the CPU. Finally after 2.5 hrs for an 80gb hard drive to back up about 50gb it began to verify the backup and the CPU would drop at times a bit, but the freezing was still evident. Afrer 4.5 hrs it was finished and the freeze was gone as the CPU dropped. I had the same problem with McAfee anti virus with a virus scan and was advised to get rid of that system resource hog which I did yesterday and installed a Free AVG Anti virus Free edition. That would also spike the CPU to 100% but not all the time like McAfee did. But something in Acronis is causing such a system resource grip on the CPU. I am running a 4 year old Compaq 55430US 1.7gHZ 2 gb RAM Windows XP SP2. The 80gb hard drive is half full. Can I anybody figure this out as to what to do?

[thomasjk]

Originally Posted by FredricJLowe

I also have Acronis True Image Version 9.0 and it causes my CPU to spike to 100% and it freezes my computer. It is impossible to do any other work as this is doing a full backup so I do it at night. However, today I decided to do a new full install and I watched the CPU. Finally after 2.5 hrs for an 80gb hard drive to back up about 50gb it began to verify the backup and the CPU would drop at times a bit, but the freezing was still evident. Afrer 4.5 hrs it was finished and the freeze was gone as the CPU dropped. I had the same problem with McAfee anti virus with a virus scan and was advised to get rid of that system resource hog which I did yesterday and installed a Free AVG Anti virus Free edition. That would also spike the CPU to 100% but not all the time like McAfee did. But something in Acronis is causing such a system resource grip on the CPU. I am running a 4 year old Compaq 55430US 1.7gHZ 2 gb RAM Windows XP SP2. The 80gb hard drive is half full. Can I anybody figure this out as to what to do?

FredricJLowe see my response here http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=178317.

[jonyjoe81]

The only problem I see is the huge size of the partitions that are being backup.
My advice is keep you c: drive partition small (under 20gb). If you can, start moving all your non-essential files movies/pictures folders, game program files etc to another partition (if it's a program etc, all you'll need to do is make new shortcuts for them. Get the c: drive actual use space to 10gb or smaller. Now you will have a smaller amount of information to backup (and compress).

I have windows xp pro sp2 semprom2800 512mb True image 9.0 , 300gb hard drive c: = 20gb (7gb use), e: = 280gb. I only back my c: partition (other partitions I just move those files to an external hard drive as needed no compression requiered), takes about 6-10 minutes to backup to internal drive and about 10 to 15 minutes to backup to external usb 2.0 drive with normal compression. And I only backup from the windows environment without shutting anything down and surfing the internet and listening to some mp3's at the same time.

I could do it the hard way and backup the entire hard drive , but I prefer doing my simple 10 minute backups of my c: drive. In an emergency I can have my computer back up in less than 20 minutes(restoring from an external drive).
I don't think the slow backup is a driver/software problem is just normal for backing up (and compressing) of huge hard drives. The only other thing you might try is bypassing the external drive and just connecting the backup hard drive directly to an internal ide/sata plug. Working with internal drives might save you a couple of hours (but it's an extra step that some people might not want to do). Sometimes usb 2.0 ports might transfer at 1.0 speeds for no apparent reason. If possible only use the rear usb ports that are hardwired to the motherboard.

[jmk94903]

Originally Posted by Menorcaman

I've just re-read DanR's post and realised that he's using the Trial Version. The boot rescue CD created with the trial version doesn't allow you to create images - it only restores them.

Regards

Christopherpm who started this thread bought TI 10, so he could try the Recovery CD to see if it works. If it does, that certainly suggests that something running in Windows is the source of his problem. Then he can try to determine what it is.

DanR is using the Trial version so he can't do that. Perhaps Christopherpm could loan him his Recovery CD.

[mfabien]

BTW and contrary to what has been posted in this thread, one can Restore the complete HDD using Windows. I did it days ago:

You select "Restore"

You accept to erase partitions on the destination drive

You select to restore partitions to the destination drive from the backup.

Once you book the "Restore", Acronis advises that the system will restart. You then get an Acronis splash (top left upper corner of the screen, just like the Rescue CD) and the Restore starts.

Took the same amount of time as doing a backup = 14 minutes for less than 12 GB.

Note: The Restore progress screen remains on step 2 out of 3 to complete the restore, while a Backup will use step 1-2-3. Looks like a minor glitch in the program.

Steps:
1. OEM Restore in a FAT file
2. track 0 (MBR)
3. O/S and programs, data. NTFS file

[Menorcaman]

Originally Posted by mfabien

BTW and contrary to what has been posted in this thread, one can Restore the complete HDD using Windows. I did it days ago:

Not sure whether you are referring to the Full Retail version or the Trial version but so we are clear, this will only work for the Trial version during the limited trial period. Also, whether commencing a restore of your system disk/partition from within Windows or via the Acronis bootable rescue CD the net result is the same, namely, the actual restore takes place within a Linux based rescue environment.

Regards

Menorcaman

[mfabien]

Thanks for the clarification...Linux.

My program is the full retail one purchased in January, this year.