Backup Hangs at 80%

I have been a long time user of Acronis True Image. When it works well, it works very well. When it has problems, it is extremely difficult to troubleshoot and fix.

I have a Dell Dimension 4700 with a 3.4GHz Pentium 4 CPU and 2GB of RAM. It has two Western Digital SATA hard drives installed: the system drive (backup source) is 160GB and the backup (backup target) is 500GB. I am running WinXP Pro SP2 fully updated with Norton AntiVirus 2007 and eTrust PestPatrol 8.

About 2 weeks ago, my backups started hanging at 80% (total TIB file size is 47+GB). The hard drive access light goes solid green and the PC becomes unresponsive. This was under the latest version of TI9. I upgraded to the latest version of TI10 (uninstalling TI9 first) and the problem remains. Unfortunately, I am unaware of any software changes the might have accompanied this problem (Windows Update?).

I saw a post about a backup hanging at 65% and downloaded and installed the following two files: snapapi.dll and SnapAPISetup.msi. This actually allowed me to run a full backup (I do all partitions nightly to my D: drive) ONCE. The following night the scheduled backup apparently rebooted my PC and when manually launched it hangs at 80%.

How can I identify which file the backup hangs on (in case that is the problem)?

I have reformatted the D: - did not help. I replaced the D: drive temporarily with a WD SATA 350GB drive (old backup drive that I out grew) - same problem.

Please help me solve this quickly - I have been struggling with this problem for two weeks now.

An additional piece of information: the log files for a hung backup within TI 10 all end with the following line:

<event code="506" id="16" level="2" message="Locking partition C:..." module="1" time="1176258472" />

Warmly, Al Stearns
The Computer Guy
Supporting PCs since 1982 and networks since 1990
Certified NetWare Engineer (CNE), CNE3, CNE4, CNE5, A+ Certified)
Novell Support Connection SysOp Alumni (7+ years)

 

Hi Arstearns,
I already had a similar problem in the past with a different backup software and that was caused by a particular file .
Fortunately, that software allowed me to see the guilty file and I just excluded it from the backup using the filter device.
This is where you should put your efforts to solve your problem .
With Acronis, I don't know how to identify such a guilty file but no doubt someone in this Forum may help.

 

Hello arstearns,

Could be the result of a bad sector on your source drive. If not already done, run the command chkdisk C: /r to scan for and "repair" any bad sectors (the system needs to reboot in order to chkdisk the system partition).

Regards

 

I do not know how to identify which file the backup hangs on (if this is in fact the problem) - it is not displayed on a backup of the entire drive.

I have already run chkdsk /r from the Repair Console on the source drive - problems found and fixed but the problem remains.

I have tried two different source drives and the primary one I have deleted and recreated the partition and reformatted - same problem.

Warmly, Al Stearns

 

Hello arstearns,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please make sure you use the latest build (4942) of Acronis True Image 10.0 Home. To get access to updates you should first register your software.

If updating does not solve the problem, please download the latest version of Acronis drivers, unpack the archive and install unpacked MSI package.

If the issue persists, please collect some information to let us investigate it thoroughly:

- replace C:\WINDOWS\system32\snapapi.dll with the one from the downloaded SnapAPI archive;
- reproduce the issue and collect 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 create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

Please also try creating the backup using Acronis Bootable Rescue Media.

Then 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 a solution.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Hello Marat,

I have been a user of Acronis TrueImage since version 8. For any but the simplest problems, you folks post the dreaded CANNED response – sadly, I got it too. This CANNED response places the burden of solving the problem on the customer with most threads ending with the CANNED response (thus the forums are not very helpful in solving any problem that is not simple). Yes, I did see the thread where someone mentioned that the reason many threads end with the CANNED response is that it is taken to email for further support. Might I suggest you folks post the solution to the problem that started the thread – it would help us help ourselves via the forums.

The first suggestion was to run the latest version of the software. In original post, you will find that I was ALREADY using the latest version of TrueImage 9 and then the latest version of TrueImage 10. So I already tried this on two levels and it was not the source of the problem.

The second suggestion was to download the latest version of Acronis drivers, unpack the archive and install unpacked MSI package. I did this and it worked ONCE. The problem returned and stayed after one successful backup.

The third suggestion was to replace C:\WINDOWS\system32\snapapi.dll with the one from the downloaded SnapAPI archive. I did this and it did not help.

The forth and fifth suggestions were:
- Reproduce the issue and collect 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 create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

These were intimidating and seemed time consuming, so I skipped them with the intention of coming back to them if I needed to.

The sixth suggestion was to try creating the backup using Acronis Bootable Rescue Media. This was the first good suggestion in my case. I got an “E000101F4 Failed to read data from the disk” error. This lead me to run a Western Digital diagnostic on my system drive (C – a detailed scan failed with bad sectors. This was odd since the hard drive was only 2.5 years old, was passing all SMART tests and giving no other indications of problems.

So the problem was that I had bad sectors on my C: drive. The solution (after many attempts to use TrueImage to get an image of my hard drive and or partitions to a new hard drive) was as follows:

1) Using PartitionMagic 8.01, reduce the size of the C: partition from 160GB to 50GB (leaving 10GB free in the partition, hoping to exclude the bad sectors from the partition).
2) Using PartitionMagic 8.01, copy the utility partition and the C: partition to the new drive.
3) Using PartitionMagic 8.01, expand the C: partition to use the unallocated space on the new drive.

I have been getting good backups ever since.

As you can see, PartitionMagic 8.01 was the key to transferring my C: partition. I tried using TrueImage to clone the drive, but even telling it to ignore the bad sectors resulted in a non-bootable partition.

Hopefully, this information will help others who also are dealing with a TrueImage backup hanging.

Respectfully, Al Stearns
The Computer Guy
Supporting PCs since 1982 and networks since 1990
Certified NetWare Engineer (CNE), CNE3, CNE4, CNE5, A+ Certified)
Novell Support Connection SysOp Alumni (7+ years)

 

Hello arstearns,

First, let me mention that we are glad to hear that you were able to find the source of the issue and solve it.

Please note that while usually it is possible to provide a solution\workaround based on the information user have posted on the forum, sometimes investigation of the particular issue might require a closer look to the problem and most of the technical problems are much easier to resolve through e-mail, because the process usually includes some instructions how to obtain certain files, create logs, etc.

Please note that as Marat described these instructions should be carry out successively to enable logging. Therefore, replacing just snapapi.dll file do nothing.

The report created with Acronis Report Utility would provide us with detailed information on the hard disk partition structure and condition.

In addition would like to mention that sharing your experience is very much appreciated. If you have any further experience to share, please feel free to post it on this forum.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov