corrupt image from 3 partitions to a 4th

Hi,

I have tried 4 times to make an image from 3 partitions on a disc to a 4th empty partition.

The last time I created an Acronis safe zone in this 4th partition but this didn’t help either.

Every time I’ve tried “check image” I got the message “corrupt” almost instantly.

Acronis 8
Windows XP service pack 2
Pent 4 – GH3.01
512 MB ram
ASUS – not sure of the board type
Samsung SP0802N – all partitions are NTFS
No raid but controller – 5.1.2600.300

BTW it might be helpful for Acronis to offer to “verify” the image after the image process has completed.

I saw “image completed successfully" and thought “wrongly” that the image had "completed successfully”.

Any help would be appreciated,

Michael

 

Hello Michael,

Thank you for choosing Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

Please try to boot from Acronis Bootable CD and create the image after that. Also please verify both images (created from CD and under Windows) after booting from Acronis Bootable CD and under Windows. Please try to create the image of a single partition (not all 3 at a time) and store it on different partitions.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

thanks after I've tried the above (all of them I'll let you know how it worked out,

Mike

 

Hello Mike,

I would also recommend that you test your RAM module because the problem you described may be caused by some failure in hardware, this failure not affecting usual applications.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

OK - I'm an English teacher and not a computer expert but am doing my best here to give the right feedback

Bench mark info ...

memory read

2749 MB/s
MSI pX8 Neo-V (MS-7043)
Memory PC 3200 DDR SDRAM

Write 562 MB/s Chipset P4x 533

Latency 117. ns

Everything was running on my computer during these tests - connected to the Internet etc. - don't know how much difference that would make ?

---

OK.

booted from the CD and checked the windows "image" and it was corrupt.

all of the following were low compression and in the "secure zone"

made a new image of all 3 sections (after CD boot) and image was corrupt.

made a copy of my C partition (operating system an ms products) and it was corrupt.

Other questions for you ..

I shall want to copy the images to DVD but after booting from CD the program doesn't offer the resizing of segments - what to do ?

If I copy each of my partitions onto a separate partition then I can't use the safe zone - use the safe zone for the C partition ?

If I copy each partition separately and then restore (hopefully never) after something horrible - will the system restore to the state that it's in now ?

After I buy the DVD burner (am waiting to see if I have a usable image to burn before I buy one) should I remake the rescue CD with the DVD (external) connected to the system ?

thanks

Mike

 

Mike - my advice is to concentrate on creating a valid image from a single partition. Forget about resizing, forget about the DVD, forget about the Secure Zone, because if you can not create a good image, then there is no point in getting the other stuff to work.


As for testing memory, I think Ilya wanted you to download, burn, boot and run MemTest86+ (http://www.memtest.org/) for 8-12 hours.

 

thanks,

I'll set it up before I go to bed tonight.

# Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.gz)
# Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)

# Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable Binary (.gz)
# Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable Binary (.zip)

# Download - Pre-Compiled EXE file for USB Key (Pure DOS)

# Download - Pre-Compiled package for Floppy (DOS - Win)

Which one do I need ?

Presumably "download, burn, boot" will be obvious once I've downloaded the program ?

Mike

 

Hi,

I downloaded iso and burned it to a cd - I can boot with the cd in the drive but then windows loads - with the acronis bood disk I get taken into "acronis" so it's not my boot sequence.

Below is what is on the cd ..

memtest86+-1.51.iso 900 KB ISO File 2/15/2005 7:32 PM

thanks

Mike

 

Hello Mike,

I'm afraid you haven't burnt the ISO to CD correctly. You don't say what CD/DVD burning software you use so check out the relevant procedure provided via links at the end of this <Acronis Support Sticky>. Once it's burnt correctly there will be no files visible on the CD when viewed through Windows Explorer. However, right click on the CD, select Properties and you should see Used Space at 1.17MB with Free Space at 0 bytes.

Regards

 

Ok it works now thanks - after a cold boot and not a reboot.

I will leave it running all night - if there is no log file what should I write down and post tomorrow ?

Mike

P.S. I've learnt new stuff today ...

 

Hi,

ok I ran the test and the results follow. There were errors in test 7 but I don't know if this is often the case or if not what can be done about it. Going out and buying more ram - checking it to see if it's ok etc - not something I'd be very enthusiastic about doing. Anyway I'll be very interested to see the responses.

L1 cache 16k 16379 MB/s
L2 cache 1024K 12301 MB/s
Memory 512M 957MB/s

Wall time 8:55 Cached 512 Revd Mem 104 Mem Map e820-std
Cache ON
ECC OFF
Test Std
Pass 24 Errors 374445 ECC ERRS 0

Test 7 (random numbers)

Failing address
ooie84c5a4 - 488.7MB - 001fff2f2c 511Mb

I have only given you the first and last addresses above - there were around 8 of them.

regards and thanks

Mike

 

Hi Mike,

There should be zero errors in the Memtest86+ results. Boot into your system's BIOS and check the memory timing is set to Default (usually found under "Advanced Chipset Features" or similar). If it isn't then change it to Default and run Memtest86+ again. If the mem timing is already set to default or you get the same result after changing the timing then I'm afraid you need to bite the bullet and replace that faulty memory module. You could never be totally confident in your system's performance under stress until you do (and believe you me, imaging a hard drive really does flush out any weakness in your hardware).

Regards

 

thanks for your continued help ..

I checked the bios ...

Ambios - ASP - BIOS type AMI (10/22/04)

Motherboard Chipset VIA Apollo PT880

Memory Timings 2.5-3-3-8 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

the only thing that I could see (then I don't know exactly what I'm looking for) that might be "memory timing" was that "fast write" is enabled.

Of course there are many other settings and sub-settings too.

Mike

 

Hello Mike,

Thank you for all the investigation you performed.

you may try to load the "Default BIOS Settings" in main BIOS menu. Note that this would disable all overclocking settings (if there were any). After that please run RAM test again. If there are any errors again I would agree with Menorcaman that you have some problem with memory module and you may need to replace it with another one. Most applications work properly with faulty RAM but Acronis True Image is very sensitive to hardware and the problems result in corrupted image.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I wouldn't want to do the above as I wouldn't know how to put it back to the manufacturer's specs. If anyone is familiar with my bios and able to tell me what to set to default precisely then I'd be pleased to try that.

I might try writing down the chipset settings and setting them to default or disabling the "fast write" but bios settings is not my field at all.

Mike

 

Hello Mike,

I could recommend that you refer to your motherboard manual for BIOS settings description. I am afraid it is difficult to advice you something more exact since there are a lot of different BIOSes.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Hi again Mike,

I agree with Ilya - check your BIOS settings against those listed in the motherboard manual. Usually the manual will state the default/recommended setting for most parameters. Although I'm not familiar with your AMI BIOS, generally I would expect to find something similar to "F6: Load Fail-Safe Defaults" and "F7: Load Optimized Defaults" for each BIOS screen. I would recommend you use the Optimized Default setting in each case.

Usually the "Fast Write - Enabled" setting relates to the AGP bus so I doubt if it affects the actual RAM timing. However I'm not sure whether this is the same in your case so, whilst you're looking at the Asus motherboard manual, take a note of the model number and post it back here. That would help other TI users with the same board to provide more relevant advice.

Regards

 

I found the attached and page 44 seems relevant but not really helpful.

not sure if the pdf will upload or not ?

regards,

Mike

 

Hello Mike,

Menorcaman's advice sounds reasonable. Please let us know the full model name of your motherboard. This would help us to find out what BIOS settings you need.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I do not have an AMI/VIA board so I can not help you with the specifics, but the memory timings seem fairly conservative to me (I run my system at 2.0-2-2-11 which surprisingly is slightly faster than 2.0-2-2-6 - don't ask me why).

One you thing you could try is to lower you bus speed. It is probably listed in the BIOS settings as the FSB (Front Side Bus) speed, and would be in the area of 133 MHz - 200 MHz. If your memory is flaky at top speed (as indicated by MemTest86+), then they might be stable at a lower speed, e.g. 166 MHz. It is easy to check, so why not?

 

thanks..

I checked the bios and my sytems is set at 200 MHz but I haven't yet changed it because the cpu ratio selection is set to "locked" and I cannot (with the + and - keys take it below 200Mhz - I can type in 166MHZ and it changes but am not sure what the ratio should be ?

At the moment the speed is 200MHz and the DRAM frequency is 400

Please let me know what the DRAM freq should be if the speed is 166

Good news is that the store where I bought the system 5 months ago said "bring in the ram module and we'll change it". I will do that after I've tried the above as it would be interesting to know if it works.

regards,

Mike

 

Hi Mike,

With a clock speed of 166Mhz, and using Double Data Rate (DDR) memory, the dram speed should be 333Mhz. However, given that your retailer has offered to exchange the suspect memory, I would leave the BIOS settings alone now.

Fit the new module and run Memtest86+ again and see what the results are. If there are no errors then create a new image and verify it. Hopefully it'll check out o.k. this time.

Regards

 

If you look closely at your motherboard manual and/or the memory itself, you will hopefully see that it is called DDR RAM - Double Data Rate RAM. And that is what you see: The RAM is clocked at twice the speed of the FSB. This doubling is done internally by the RAM chips and has nothing to do with the (locked) CPU/RAM clock ratio.

Your CPU also does some internal doubling - or rather internal multiplying of the FSB. With your 3 GHz P4 CPU, this multiplier must be around 15: 15 x 200 MHz = 3.000 MHz = 3 GHz.

If you lower the FSB to 166 MHz, both the CPU and the RAM will slow down a little bit, with the CPU running at 2,5 GHz and the RAM at 333 MHz. And that is perfectly fine.

Now, if the BIOS allowed you to unlock the clock ratio, you could tell the motherboard to give the CPU a faster clock signal, e.g. if you raised the ratio to 120% in favour of the CPU, it would again run at full speed (166 MHz x 120% x 15 = 3.000 MHz = 3 GHz), while the RAM would continue to run at the slower 333 MHz.

But for testing the RAM there is no need to touch the clock ratio - just run both the CPU and the RAM a little bit below their max ratings.

 

I just had another look at the bias and it will let me raise the FSB rate from 200 MHz but not lower it ?

Anyway hopefully all will go well at the store tomorrow and the exchange ram will be an improvement on the one I have.

Will update tomorrow.

thanks

Michael

 

well the news so far seems to be good good and more good

the dealer exchanged my ram; I replaced it and just tried a back up of one of my partitions (not the C yet) and the bu verified as GOOD.

The dealer kept me waiting for 2 hours while he ran memtest on the new ram which I can't really complain about.

I want to buy an external DVD player and it doesn't really matter to me if I back up direct to DVD or to one of my drives and then copy it.

Are there any caveats regarding my buying an exteranal DVD ?

If I copy the partitions separately, will there be any later problems if/when (hopefully never) I restore them or is it better to copy all partitions at the same time ?

many thanks to all who have helped me so far.

Mike