ATI 8.0 (826) TAKES TOO LONG TO RESTORE

OK, I talked to a SONY Tech about resetting the BIOS to default and he gave me the steps to do that. Now.. I don't know in which way resetting the BIOS will affect my system and the tech told me that once I reset the BIOS to default I will not be able to reverse the settings to the present.

I would like to know, since the BIOS is part of the OS, when I create a FULL backup image will that include the present BIOS setings? and if I reset the BIOS to default and it does not solve the problem... Can I get back the current BIOS settings BY RESTORING THE IMAGE? I mean, if I create a digital image of my entire system, I suppose that it will include the present BIOS settings and then when I restore the BIOS to default and I don't like it, then BY restoring the digital image that I created I will be also restoring the BIOS settings as they were when I created the image? (just in case something goes wrong after resetting BIOS to default)

I am a little afraid of restoring BIOS to default (factory settings) and then how it will affect my software or printer capabilities or the USB 2.0 Belkin Card specially after SP2. I don't know very well what is the function of the BIOS on the OS. I was told that it will not affect my software since the BIOS regulates the way the OS interacts or communicates with the printer, Disk Drives, etc. and if I reset the BIOS to default and it does not communicate well with the printer or whatever...?

I need to get some info about the BIOS in relationship with my restoration problem becaus I was told by the tech that I can not change the BIOS by individual settings, that the BIOS is changed as a WHOLE. And once the BIOS is set to default I can not reverse the process (that's why I want to know if I can restore the present BIOS settings by restoring the IMAGE).

I am still trying to decide whether it is worth or not to restore BIOS settings to default.

 

Hello Mazaprin,

Acronis constantly try to improve TI by providing support for a wider range of hardware via additional Linux drivers, as well as (supposedly) better versions of the existing drivers. As some users have found out, these new or revised drivers sometimes have a detrimental effect on their particular hardware.

With regards to the BIOS, it isn't an OS as you understand it. It's microcode that's held in EEPROM on your laptop's motherboard that, amongst other things, enables various components and subsystems to communicate with one another before loading an OS. Therefore, if you create an image of your hard drive (or a partition thereof) it will only contain the data that's been recorded to the hard drive not the BIOS setting that reside in EEPROM on your motherboard.

Regards

 

The boot CD that works best on my computer is build 774. I think the boot CDs you have made are all based on the same version of Linux with more hardware being accomodated for in each new build. Around about build 800 boot CD a slightly later version of Linux started to be used and this is when I began to have problems with boot CDs not working properly. I know you aren't in a position to make a boot CD for a pre 800 build of Acronis but on my computer the much earlier build boot CDs work better than build 800 onwards. For me build 774 always works without a hitch and building and restoring an image from outside of Windows is identical to doing it within Windows.

Interestingly I just did a restore of an image using build 903 boot CD and this time it took around 7 minutes compared to about 20 minutes the previous time I used it. I'm not aware of anything about my computer being different each time I did the restore. The build 903 boot CD is starting to look as good as my build 774 boot CD. Maybe Acronis learnt something from the sysinfo.txt files I sent them for builds 774 (my good boot CD), 826 & 859 (2 bad boot CDs) and learnt why build 774 worked and the other 2 didn't and fixed the problem in the 903 boot CD. Anyhow the fact that one restore with the same boot CD took 20 minutes and just now an identical restore with the same boot CD took 7 minutes probably means something just has to be slightly out to produce very different restore speeds.

 

Hi Mareke and Menorcaman this is for all of you:
First... I had to wait a week or so for the NEW External HD. here are the results:
The New external HD did not solve the problem with the long restorations processes (now we know it was not a hardware problem and that also means that my previous external HD was not at fault as I, or some of you incorrectly thought).

Second.. I received instructions from SONY on how to reset my BIOS to its default settings and I did it BUT it did not help a bit the problem. The problem remains exactly as it was before replacing the external HD and before resetting the BIOS. It is a big coincidence that this problem began after I installed SP2 on my laptop (I know that you have repeated several times that the Acronis software works with Linux drivers and don't use windows system at all, BUT the coincidence remains a fact)

Creating an image from within windows (to the external HD) is still at NORMAL
SPEED regardless of what version of Acronis (7 or is used and also regardless of the different Builds. The only problem remains the same at creating image or restoring from the Boot CDs, regardless of version and build. Also, trying to restore an image using the Acronis software from Windows has the SAME result (4 hours) as using the Boot CD because Acronis will REBOOT to take charge of everything with its Linux drivers.

I don't know what else to do. Acronis support sent me a link to download an ISO image (later I learned that it was Build 889) that I burned to a CD and tried to Boot from it to create an image (as I was instructed) and it was also the same time (4 hours). I explained to Acronis that I have already used all the Builds from version 8 and none of them create image or restore in the regular time (less than 30 minutes).

I also sent my sysinfo.text to them a week ago and I have not received response from them regarding their analysis of the data.

If the Windows system has nothing to do with this problem, and my BIOS have been reset to default settings and I have replaced the External HD and I checked the hardware manager and there are NO conflicts with any hardware and everything in my computer is up to date, then... I just don't know what is interfering with the Linux drivers.

 

Hi,

1) Have you tried restoring just the image of your D: drive using Windows. This will isolate the need for a reboot during the restore process, which means that it won't reboot into Linux restore environment. It will restore fully inside windows (eg no Linux drivers used!).

Clearly as a comparison, you will then want to try restoring the same image file (just D: drive) back, but using the restore CD. This will allow you to compare the times of the two restore processes from Windows and from Linux.

Basically all your restore methods you currently use, all use only Linux environment, as when you restore C: drive, it can't do it whilst Windows is running. TI solves this by re-booting your system into Linux as a temporary OS so that it can work on restoring your windows image. So it is no surprise that you get a similar time for restoring from Windows & from Boot CD, as when restoring the C: drive they both actually use Linux OS & Drivers and NOT Windows as you would think. If you try the test for just the D drive, we will all know what is going on as it will really use the Windows drivers inside Windows, and only the boot CD will use the Linux ones. This will give you a direct comparison for restore times. Hope this makes sense to you.

2) Another test for you would be to try the create & restore your whole HD from your USB1.1 port. This will let us see if it is slower again (eg MORE than 4 hours), or about the same. If it ends up the same, then it would appear that your Belkin USB2 adapter, is only working at USB1.1 speed from inside Linux OS (as used for most restores.. see above). This would point to the Linux drivers for your Belkin card being incompatible at USB2 speeds. With the log info from your system that you sent to Acronis, they should be able to see the chipset that your Belkin card uses, and maybe find another Linux driver which will work better. However, this will take them sometime to sort out, and would only appear in some future build that they would release.

I feel that these two tests will help to confirm better where your actual problem lies.

Hope it all goes well for you. Feel free to ask here about anything, if you are unsure about any of this.

Mike

 

Hi to all fellow users,

Just thinking out aloud but is there any possibility that a bug in Windows XP SP2 (similar or the same as the Cache Management bug) somehow alters the sector discriptors or layout that TI uses (or has used) to create an image under Windows? Probably the answer is "No" but if it were, then two things need to happen in order to reproduce mazaprin's problem:

1. Accessing or restoring an image under Windows isn't affected by the bug.
2. The USB device drivers used by the TI rescue CD, in combination with mazaprin's Vaio motherboard/Belkin USB2 adaptor card/external USB 2 HD enclosure, are not functioning properly due to some change to the sector descriptors/layout now contained in the images.

Note: Since starting this thread, mazaprin has confirmed that, after booting into the Linux environment, both the imaging and restore times have increased since installing SP2. Which, in a way, supports the above hypothesis.

As you can see I've run out of logical suggestions and am now clutching at straws!!!

Regards

 

@Menorcaman
I don't think so. We have ruled out everything except a driver problem with Linux. I think mazaprin was using an earlier version of the 7.0 boot disk when it was fast. He upgraded 7.0 and burned a new boot disk, but did not have occasion to test the restore until after he upgraded again to version 8 of TI. Thus, now it appears to him that both 7.0 and 8.0 are slow. He associates this in his mind with SP2 since he is not a knowledgeable user. Either Acronis must fix the driver problem or he must use a BartPE CD. I don't think he would be able to make a BartPE CD on his own.

 

The only slight problem with that hypothesis (SP2 causing problems due to the cache) is that I'm sure I read that Mazaprin had a successful restore in Jan/Feb since installing SP2 in Dec.

So it would have to be something caused by a patch installed since SP2, which would make it much harder to track down.

I think that knowing relatively how long the restore takes on:-
1) Windows based D: drive restore (non reboot), compared to Boot CD of D:drive
and
2) Boot CD restore from USB1.1 ports
...will help to diagnose what is happening here.

Someone a while ago said that maybe the version that mazaprin remembers as working correctly at 30mins restore was actually earlier than build 634, which could mean that the Linux drivers since then only support USB1.1 speeds on his USB2 adapter... eg something is broken in the Linux build from then onwards with his chipset.

I hope we can help mazaprin get to the bottom of this.

Mike

 

Yes, "Someone" did say this quite some time ago and "Someone" thinks the evidence since then has only made it more and more likely!!

 

Hi Mike,

You are absolutely right of course. In Post #17, Mazaprin stated that he had installed SP2 in December 2004 and was able to carry out a "fast" restore on February 10 2005 using a, what I accepted to be, TI 7 Build 634 boot rescue CD. So, as you said, if it was a bug then it could only have been introduced by a patch or other some software since he created the January 24 image or the February restore. I guess that's even less likely than my original hypothesis!!

Now, thinking aloud again, I wonder when Mazaprin started using his Diskeeper 9 Pro? (I said I was now clutching at straws!)

Regards

 

I have the same problem, takes about 7 hours to restore my 40gig image. Boots and runs backup CD fine, but xfer is only at usb1 speed, any way to get back to usb2 speed? Would cut restore down to 1hr from 7. Is there a usb2 driver that can be loaded after or with the True Image boot disk? Again great program but issues, I have a HP ze200z and backup is fast and 100% but restore is all night. Guess Linux or what ever operating system Acronis uses dos not have a USB2 driver in it. Slow but it works in my HP..

Again open to any suggestions,
Sheriff

 

Hi Sheriff,

You certainly have a problem regarding compatibility between your USB sub-system and the True Image Linux device drivers. However, I doubt that it's the same as Mazaprin's as, at one stage, he was able to create and restore images via the boot rescue CD in a reasonable time. Even reverting to the previous, known good, build of rescue CD didn't make matters right.

As we used to say in aerospace engineering "similar is never the same" .

Regards

 

Create the BartPE CD with the TrueImage 8 plugin - Super fast.