Acronis backup files gets corrupted and system crashes

Hi All,
my first post here.
I have been saved by acronis images couple of times, so got so impressed that I scheduled an event every morning 2AM to back up my system. It was going fine until one morning when I came and try to open up a browser, found a strange error that windows could not find that path to the browser. So tried to reboot and it just vanished, no OS at all., I ended up reinstalling an older version of image(the last image that woudl have been created the last night was shown as corrupted). SInce then this has happened frequently as much as that it happens almost every time I try to create a new image for last couple of days. WOndering if some kind sould can shed some light here...

 

Hello KhalidAli,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please make sure that you use the latest build of the respective version of Acronis True Image which is available at: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/updates/

To get access to updates you should create an account at:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/
then log in and use your serial number to register your software.

Could you please clarify what exactly happens when you try to create an image? Please describe your actions step-by-step.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva

 

If it were my system I would be trying to remember what software or hardware I changed just prior to it crashing. Restoring to an old image should take care of the software part of the above.

If I hadn't changed anything then I would wonder about a hardware failure. If XP, I would run chkdsk X: /r (substitute the drive letter for each partition for X). It will reboot to check C.

I would run Memtest86+ (note the +) for a couple of hours minimum to check the memory.

 

And don't forget to scan for spyware and viruses. And maybe clean out your Temp, Temporary Internet Files, and Cookies folders.

 

I have downloaded and ran memtest86 for about 3 hours, no errors were reported.

I do keep my chache prety clean (and yes I did do this before I tried the last time)

Now for step by step what I do to make a copy, by the way I started making images with several browser windows opened and was no problem till last week or so.
1. restart my pc (win2k sp4) 40 gig c drive and 106 gig drive where I keep the image.
2. Start Acronis 8.0) I have updated with the lates build as well 937, the last time I failed with this update installed.
3. Follow the wizard to create the image. the Image almost runs 99% without any problem(takes about 25 mins on my 800MHz pentium3)
4.Just a fraction of time before it should say successfull I get a message that will say something about any open application that the path is not being found.
5. then I will see the image was created successfull window.
6. As soon as I close the Acronis a hell breaks lose.
7. I start getting all sorts of messages including that C: is not being found and/or is corrupt.that crashes the system in some events somtimes not but I can not really do much after this point if I restart it will just hang right after the BIOS screen disappears and it should go to windows.And the last image that I have just created is corrupted if I tried to use that image to recreate my disk using acronis. Hope this made any sense

 

Hello KhalidAli,

You didn't say whether you ran chkdsk x: /r on all the partitions of your hard drive (where x = the partition letter you wish to test) as advised by seekforever. Also, if it really was memtest86 that you downloaded then I would ditch it and, again, follow seekforever's advice and download <Memtest86+> instead (it's much more up to date).

Regards

 

hunmm..to be honest I don't think I have ever run chkdisk on any other partition then the main one that has the OS on it. I will do that...and yes u are right I did not have used memtest86+, I have downloaded it and will use it now and will post back results(including running chkdisk for all partitions with switch /r)
However I am not sure what impact will chkdsk will have. Because to me it seems like all the disks are fine and win2k has no problem reading anything from them. Most of all I know that I have been successfull in making images numerous times(the last completed one was march 1 in the morning).
Anyways will post my results later on today...thanks

 

Consider your problem as something mysteriously wrong with the universe. To fix it we have to find out where it is. The only way we can do that is by eliminating things, starting with the most likely even if it seems OK under other circumstances. Imaging requires reading and writing huge amounts of data so ensuring EVERY part of the disk system being used is good seems like a good place to start. RAM is also used in image creation so make sure we can eliminate it. Chkdsk and Memtest86+ can easily give us some degree of confidence that these parts are OK.

Another area is some obscure activity upsetting TIs imaging while in Windows. Easily eliminated by using the standalone CD version of TI and sucessfully creating an image. For the record, when I image in Windows I close all applications and don't touch the machine to minimize any changes. I do leave anti-virus and firewall and the various processes running though.

 

ok all thanks allot for your time and suggestions.
I have done each and everything that I havebeen suggested.

Ran chkdsk on all drives/patitions on my system without any problems.
Ran memtest86+ for around 2:30 hours with 2 complete successfull tests without any errors.

Created an image using cd rom (was successfull in making one)

Now tell me what to do. Cus using cd rom to create an image is a good idea that atleast I can always create an image. However that is not the most favorable approach so now I need some help to figure out why my OS would crash during an image creation...

 

I believe you said earlier that you reloaded the last good image before the problem started and you still had problems creating after doing that.

How about going back several days or weeks earlier and trying one of those images. This would eliminate a recent contamination by viruses or spyware.

Try Safe mode. Lots of stuff not loaded in Safe Mode.

You could disable a bunch of the stuff that is loaded at startup by using msconfig or other utility. However, don't deactivate any Acronis entries, I believe there are 2.

Is your PC connected to high-speed internet such that maybe you are getting a lot of traffic the PC has to deal with while doing the image? Unplug the cable or modem. If you have one, a gateway router should block this, though.

No hardware changes? Your system used to work and reloading an old image that worked is providing a "sort of" fresh reload of TI. I am going to speculate that just because it dies at the 99% mark doesn't really mean that the problem happens then. It could be that is the point TI does its final housekeeping before closing the file and something is amiss. Like I said, speculation.

Hopefully Acronis support or someone else has experience with this particular problem and can give you a definitive answer.

 

Hello KhalidAli,

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

First of all, please try disabling\uninstalling any other software that requires an exclusive access to the hard drive (i.e. another backup software, antiviruses, disk managment applications, etc.) prior to creating an image and see if the problem still persists.

If the problem still persists then please take seekforever's advice "about going back several days or weeks earlier" and see the result.

If that does not help either the please provide us with the following information:

- Create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post;

- Provide us with the exact text of the error messages that you receive;

- Download and install the free trial version of Acronis True Image 9.0, try to create an image once more and inform us about the result;

Please also make a screen shot of the Device Tree application:

- Download and unpack the Device Tree application;

- Run the application;

- Completely unfold the \Driver\Disk and \Driver\FtDisk branches;

- Move the margin to the left in order to see all the items;

- Make a screen shot;

Note that the application may crash the system when you exit, so we recommend you to save all your work and close other programs prior to running it.

Please also do the following:

- Open Computer properties either by right clicking on My Computer icon and choosing Properties or by opening System properties in Control Panel;

- Go to Advanced tab;

- Press Startup and Recover Settings button;

- Choose Small memory dump in Write debugging information box;

- Close all the dialog windows by clicking OK buttons.

- Reproduce the system crash and send us the mini-dumps created.

Please submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

The problem is that I can not do anything after the system crashes, because my pc will not allow to go to OS hence can not access disk and get any thing saved on C:\ drive. Its extremely strange, the only thing at that point I can do is reinstate my system using an existing TI copy....

The last thing that I could save is normally any one message after that there are messages but I have no control over system. Here is one message I got it was generated when there were 49 seconds left for whole process to be completed and it was generated by MsnMessenger.exe

"MsnMsgr.exe - Corrupt file
The file or directory C:\DOCUME~1\KHALID~3\LOCALS~1\Temp\TFR2.tmp is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility."

Funny thing is that after this point I can not run chkdsk at all, I have tried repairing windows by using all options that win2k gives(recovery disk or recovery console etc)

After this there are allots of other messages until system crashes or I reboot and as soon as I do that it just hangs right at the point where it should start windows startup routines. Normally Ido get errors along the lines that says that C: is not accessible etc...

 

Hello KhalidAli,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please create Acronis Report in the way described below:

- Download and run Acronis Report Utility;
- Select the "Create Bootable Floppy" option;
- Insert a blank floppy disk in the A: drive and proceed with creation of the bootable floppy;
- Boot the computer from this diskette and wait for report creation process to finish;
- Collect the report file from the floppy.

Please create an account, then log in and submit a request for technical 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 the solution.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva