Image corrupted x8 now Acronis loader failure - HELP PLEASE!

System:
athlon64fx54
1Gb Ram
2x200Gb maxtor sata 7500 internal drives
1x120Gb WD usb external drive
1x350Gb WD usb external drive (new)
(All drives only a few weeks old and freshly formatted NTFS)
XPsp2
Reinstalled XP
Installeded: Norton AV 2003, Office 2003, Belkin wireless G router - all working OK, then:

Installed Acronis True Image 9.2302 (Complete install) all seemed to be OK
Created Safe Zone on second sata dive. (Drive 2)
Full drive image backup attempted to Safe Zone with integrity checking option on.
Result: IMAGE CORRUPTED (0x70020)
I tried another 5 or 6 times, same results
I tried saving outside SZ on seperate drive - same results
Deleted SZ as per manual
Removed Trueimage from machine as per manual
reformatted drive 2
reinstalled TrueImage - same 'Corrupt image'
Removed SZ again & Deleted True Image again
On rebooting, I now get the alarming message:-
"Acronis Loader Fatal Error - Boot Drive (Partition) Not Found. Press <Enter> to try to boot your OS."
Fortunately it does then boot to XP....

I downloaded updated TrueImage (build 3633) but get the same corrupt image and FATAL ERROR on rebooting...

I have spent several hours on this - I am almost on the point of 'Format C' .....
HELP PLEASE...(Thanks)

 

Ok - I have to accept that no one can help - Even Acronis have remained silent....

I am resigned to having to do without Acronis True Image - It is a pity because it seemed to be just what I needed...It seems that I have wasted my money - Yes, I do feel a but aggrieved after investing about 12 hours of trying to install and get a clean backup...However, I guess that's life...

Time to move on....

Simple questions (I hope) : -

After removing TI from drive 'C' as per the manual, I am still getting a worrying error message:
"Acronis Loader Fatal Error - Boot Drive (Partition not found). Press <Enter>to try and boot your OS,"

After pressing 'enter' it does boot XPsp2 Home and appears to be normal.

Question: How do I get rid of the VERY ANNOYING Loader Error message.
I don't really want to reinstall my OS and all the s/w by hand again - (That’s why I bought TI9!

I would be happy to stay with TI9 but it seems to be such a problematical route to my backup needs.

 

Hello DonaldGray,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Could you please describe the issue in more details? Please clarify if you activated Acronis Startup Recovery Manager? If so please activate it once again.

Was it one of the local SATA hard drives or one of the USB external drives?

Did you use Acronis True Image Bootable Rescue CD or did you use Acronis True Image in Windows? If you used Acronis True Image Bootable CD please make sure that it was created with the latest build (3633) of the program.

Please also perform the following test:

- Create a new image archive when Acronis True Image 9.0 (build 3633) is running from under Windows and then validate this image by means of the embedded Validate Archive tool both when Acronis True Image 9.0 Home is running from under Windows and when your PC is booted from Bootable Rescue CD created using the latest build (3633) of Acronis True Image 9.0. Let us know the results;

- Create a new image archive when your PC is booted from Bootable Rescue CD created using the latest build (3633) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home and then validate this image by means of the embedded Validate Archive tool both when Acronis True Image 9.0 Home (build 3633) is running from under Windows and when your PC is booted from Bootable Rescue CD created using the latest build (3633) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home. Let us know the results;

Please also perform tests suggested by Menorcaman and inform us about the results.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Thanks for the response, Aleksandr. I will print, read & digest. And perform your suggestions and reply as requested in a couple of hours....



First, Even when I reinstalled TI 3633, I still get the "Loader Fatal Error" on booting - Surely, any tests will be clouded by Acronis not finding its boot needs: - Your comments willl be truly appreciated.

 

Reinstalled 3633 & Activated Start Up Recovery...the "Loader Fatal Error" Msg on boot time now gone

However, doing a quick backup of drive C to the Safe Zone still resulted in:
"E00070020 The Archive is corrupted"

I will try the other suggestions in a few moments...

Thanks for the help

 

Well....It looks as if I may have a memory problem
The checksums were different on each test:
(Drive C & drive F are two seperate 200gb HDs - F has the SZ)
For the test, I created a C backup and saved onto F (outide the SZ)
Using Windows Explorer, I then copied the .tib from F to C. I also seperately copied the C .tib to external USB 350Gb drive.

On running the CheckSum programme on each .tib fileas you suggested the results gave a different 'CRC32', 'MD5' and 'SHA-1' answer.

As yet, I have not conducted the MemTest86+ yet.

However, I am indebted to you Alexandr for pointing me to the right place.

Consider the case closed until I have sorted the memory/timing problem ....

Thinks "Where did I leave the asprins?"

 

I have conducted the tests as suggested.
The OS & TI on drive C, a 200Gb sata. The SZ was set up as a seperate partition on a second 200Gb drive. However the backup tib was saved on the F partition. Then copied to drive c (Across two seperate drives)

Running the Checksum programme gave different checksums, indicating a memory or timing error.

I ran the Memtest for over 4 hours giving 12 cycles with no errors.

I then checked the 2 512Mb memory chips for speed ( ddr 400Mhz) & checked the bios for over clocking (was set for auto but now set at standard)

Doing the Checksum test again still gives differences.

I cannot get TI9 build 3633 to issue a validated backup....

I have exhausted my knowledge .... Any further ideas & Suggestions will be very much appreceated. Thanks

 

Have a look in the Windows XP Event logger's System log for any problems related to your SATA drives. I have had 2 bad cables and they were both logged in the Event logger (Parity and controller errors). Interestingly, they didn't seem to cause any problem in regular operation other than having to boot twice a couple of times, corrupt TI archive once and taking much longer to verify an archive. SATA cables are seen as a weak link in the SATA drive system design from what I hear. There was an article mentioning that the connector design was being re-engineered but I don't know if that is true.

Even though you have run Memtest86+, run your system with one 512MB stick and do the checksum test. Memory diagnostics are good but they aren't perfect since they don't test the system with typical loading caused by activity by other devices. Then try it with only the other installed. However, it might be a good idea to create a new image with each one in place to avoid any "contamination" from a possibly bad one.

Run chkdsk X: /r on all your partitions to check disk operation. Substitute the partition's drive letter for X. C will require a reboot.

 

Looks like you hit the nail on the head - iffy sata cable....THANKS...

Checking the system log revieled a 'warning ..ftdisk....event57' 3 days ago....
I had done chkdsk at least 3 times on each drive..

What confirmed probable sata cable problem was that I did a TI9 full backup to C/..../My Documents (Ignoring the warning that you can't restore from there) - for the first time I got a validated tib file. I then copied that file to a folder on the same drive and got same checksum error....
powered down and changed 'C' sata cable.... copied original test tib back to seperate folder on C and this time Checksum agreed with the copy!
I then copied the original file to drive F, a seperate 200gb sata.... checksum agreed......

Because of the cable being on the 'C' (os) drive, I am inclined to re-install XPsp2 & TI9 so that I have a fresh image to play with....

Once again, a big thanks to you, seekforever.

 

You are very welcome, Donald. I keep yapping about checking the hardware and I'm sure some forum readers think I am nuts. I do know that not all the problems are hardware but TI does certainly put a load on memory and disk systems with the large amount of data transferred in a relatively short time.

What surprised me with my SATA cable problem was tracing the event error back to the Microsoft site resulted in a message that specifically said to "change the cable". Nothing like maybe a bad drive, maybe the cable, or maybe the controller, just a definite "change the cable".