8.0 demo, Roxio Drag2Disk, DVD = coasters

I installed the TrueImage 8.0 trial on XP SP2 with Roxio 7, Drag to Disk 7.1.0.189, using with external firewire Memorex DVD writer ( ).
Tried to do a trial burn image of entire C: drive, directly to DVD writer,
using HP DVD+R 8x media. (Had already successully used Roxio backup,
but was looking for better solution to "incremental backup" problem, and
True Image looked liked the best bet.)

As TI was writing each disk, I got an error popup from Drag to Disk about error writing to f:\ (drive letter), then TI (??) opened the disk tray, and asked me to put in another disk.

Long story short: when I finished the backup, and went to check the disks, they were ALL UNREADABLE, and Roxio's ScanDisk was unable to repair the disks. I had 8 (expensive) coasters!

Trouble seems to be related primarily to the eject feature and reported error; when I created image of just the hidden config partition on C:, it wrote a good disk w/o problem, no auto-eject, and when I used Drag-to-Disk to eject, it properly wrote all the volume info (I guess).

Tried another test with TI, just creating 2 disks, and had the same (create-a-coaster) experience.

Are there particular option settings in TI or Drag-to-Disk that I should be using? The docs for TI imply that Roxio 7 should work correctly.

Thanks in advance! I *really* want to like this product, but if I can't get this working soon, I'll just upgrade to Roxio 7.5.

 

Oh, more info that I neglected above. The Memorex is DVD+/-DLRWN16 2.0AD firmware -- latest from Memorex.

 

Hello TMorris,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Have you formatted your DVDs in the way described in our article concerning DVD burning? Could you please insert the last disk and try to verify the image on it with Acronis True Image?

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I had already destroyed the bleeping coasters that I burned in my first attempts to use this product, as they were unsalvageable even with Roxio's scandisk / repair utility. So, NO, I cannot check the last disk.

I did try formatting the disks as you noted in your FAQ above, preformatting the whole series of disks before staring the next attempt at using TrueImage.
I'm STILL getting the error message about a write error, and even when I use the drag-to-disk eject function (which should properly close out the disk), I STIL ended up with futher coasters.

Sorry, folks, but you have DEFINITELY LOST MY BUSINESS.

I've wasted ~20 DVD+R's, and about 6 hours of my time. At my consulting rates, what little I thought I might save on the use of the product has been p*SSED away in unbillable time and expenses.

I've deinstalled your product and WILL be buying from one of your competitors. Sorry.

 

Who said that packet writing is an alternative?

 

I'm sorry about your lost time. As a consultant also, I know how annoying that is.

Since you want to make incremental backups, you would be unhappy with doing this to multiple DVD disks. The incremental needs to see the original full backup and any earlier incrementals to create the next incremental. This isn't like file backups where the attribute can be set to new or backed up. Imaging programs read disk sectors which don't have that sort of attribute.

In order to do what you want, you should backup to an external hard drive so that all the earlier files will be available while the incremental is being written. The good news is that external hard drives are cheaper than external DVD writers.