Constant corruption - Schedule clone?

After many problems with True Image full-disk images being verified as corrupted , I am wondering if there may be some redeeming value in this program by simply scheduling a full clone of my system?

I have been scheduling 2 images, one of just my boot partitition, which is small and seems to be fine, and the other is of my full drive, which is very large and always comes up as corrupted.

These images are being written to another hd inside my machine, but I get the same corrupted error on my external usb as well, no difference.
I have a P4 machine with 2gigs of ram, so performance is not the issue.

I have tried deleting and redoing full image (not incremental) with the same results. What is the point of a backup image if it always shows as corrupt?!?

Anyway - can I schedule a full disk clone to my external drive? I bought it only as a backup, seems to me that would be the only TRUE 'image' I can get!

 

Corruption issues are most often related to faulty RAM on the PC. I suggest you check out your RAM first by running something like MEMTEST. You will most likely find you have a bad stick of RAM.

 

I agree with the memory test suggestion. Sometimes very large files can be the source of corruption. As a test, you might try splitting the backup of your data drive at 1000MB and then test for corruption.

Overclocking or aggressively fast memory settings can also be a source of errors. Using the default (normal) parameters can be the answer if you have changed any of these settings to increase performance.

 

MemTest shows fine, as I suspected.
However - I just tried a full image - with the image split into 4 gig segments.
It took a few hours, but verification showed successful!

So, maybe the secret here is to split the big image?

Also - I need to know - if I verify a disk image, it only lets me select one image to verify at a time. Since this large image is split into numerous 4 gig sections, will selecting verification on the first section run the verification on the whole image, or just that section?

I did itjust now, and it took about the same amount of time as it used to for a single image - about 45 min - but I just need to make sure that is the way this works.

Thanks.

 

Hello Michael23,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please be aware that all files are the parts (volumes) of the entire multivolume image archive, therefore it does not matter what file you have selected for the verification, as Acronis True Image 8.0 verifies the whole image archive anyway.

If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

Thank you for the response.

That is good news.
Splitting the backup file size down into smaller increments seems to have worked... so I think I found the fix!!

HOWEVER - I never did get an answer to my original question... can a disk clone be scheduled?

 

Hello Michael23,

I'm sorry for not answering your initial question.

However the answer is that Acronis True Image 8.0 allows you to schedule a task for the image creation only, but not for the disk cloning.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

How about that! I guessed right. Or, at least it looks that way as long as all images that are split verify successfully.

Some motherboards just don't handle huge files correctly. Sometimes a BIOS update may fix the problem, but often there's no way to fix it. It's just a limitation of the hardware on that motherboard. However, if splitting the files to something as large as 4GB allows correct writing and reading, it's not such a terrible problem. In some cases, especially with external USB2 drives, the image has to be split at less than 700MB to verify successfully. That wouldn't be practical for an image as large as your data drive image.

Obviously, one success is encouraging after only failures; but until you have done this a few times with continuing success, you can't be positive that this is the solution. I certainly hope it is.

By the way, how large is the image of your entire drive?

 

yep, 4 gigs gives me just a dozen or so chunks to deal with... but you are right, until I get a few to verify I will not rest so easy.

I think a full clone in storage will be my only real sure backup anyway.


ANOTHER Q:

What I would really like is a 'leapfrogging' backup system... i.e., make a backup weekly, and each time it erases the one from 2 weeks ago, so I always have 2 images - one week old and two weeks old - at all times.

Any ideas as to the best way to define this in the settings for automated imaging? I don't care for incrementals, my machine is always on so overnight full imaging is fine. How can I make it save just the previous week's backup, and delete the one from 2 weeks ago each time it runs?

 

Hello there michael,

the best thing for you to do in that case is to create a script that looks up for the older backup images and have it deleted. in case you are running a linux box, the best thing is to create a shell script that would do the lookup of older back-ups and delete it after finding it, After you have finished making the shell script then you could have that played in the cron job folders
hope this helps

 

??

I thought maybe I could do it by using a secure zone, and limiting the size to only enough to fit two images... would that work?

If so, I need the details on how this functions.

 

Hello Michael23,

I advice you to use the following simple scheme in order to achieve your goals:

- Schedule a task for the full image creation on a particular day for every two weeks starting from the current week;

- Schedule a task for the full image creation on a particular day for every two weeks starting from the next week;

- Do not forget to give these two full images different names or place them in two separate folders;

Since Acronis True Image 8.0 will overwrite the corresponding full image archive each week, you will always have two full images for the last two weeks.

Even if your system will crash during the backup creation process for some reasons, you will not loose your data, as you will always be able to restore the second full backup.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

Hello Michael23,

As for Acronis Secure Zone, Acronis True Image 8.0 manages the space in Acronis Secure Zone in the following way:

- If there is not enough free space in Acronis Secure Zone to create an image, then Acronis True Image deletes the oldest full image with all subsequent incremental backup images;

- If there is only one full image (with subsequent incremental backup images) left and full backup is in progress, then this only full image (with subsequent incremental backup images) is deleted;

- Otherwise (only one full image left, and incremental backup is in progress) then you will get out of space error. In this case you will have to either create full image or increase the Acronis Secure Zone size;

- You can always check how much free space left in Acronis Secure Zone on the second screen of the Manage Acronis Secure Zone wizard;

Please read more information on how to create, use and manage Acronis Secure Zone in section 3.2 of Acronis True Image 8.0 User's Guide.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

If you create a SZ just a bit larger than is needed to hold 2 full backups then TI will always overwrite the oldest backup to avoid an 'out of space' condition. That will give you what you want and you need just check the log occasionally to make sure that backups are completing successfully.

 

I would check how your other hard drive is formatted. Fat32 partitions have a file size limit of 4 GB, which might be the problem you're having. At work, backups another guy was doing would mysteriously stop early, hitting the 4 GB limit of FAT32. If you format using NTFS, you shouldn't have those issues. Here's a link to Microsoft's file systems overview: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkc_fil_tdrn.asp