image is corrupt

hello,

i am a ti8 user with the latest build available from acronis and for the first time my hard drive failed. i got it replaced with an empty hard drive (the exact same model and company) that i made sure was formatted correctly.

then i tried to restore my files using the acronis 8.0 rescue (boot disk). my files were backed up on 12 CDs. everything works fine until I get to the 8th CD, then it terminates the program with the message "image is corrupted" and no other information.

i have kept the CDs in pristine condition without dust and no way to get scratched since they were all kept in padded cases. there is not a problem with the image. there is not a problem with the hard drive (it was installed by professionals). i am suspecting there is a problem with the true image software.

could someone please tell me what to do to fix the problem or does this mean basically i will never be able to recover my data?

thank you.

p.s. i sent an e-mail to acronis support and they told me to collect testing data to send to them. but i can't collect and send any data to acronis because there is no OS installed on the computer in question. when i e-mailed to tell them this i never got a response from them again. so i am coming to the forums out of desperation.

 

Do yourself a BIG favor, stop backing up to CD's and get yourself an external device! A USB2 or Firewire external drive is the way to go for backups.

Even a DVD burner is better than the 12 CD's you are using. Perhaps a dual-layered DVD burner if TI supports them.

Everyone, now and then, runs into a 'bad' CD. By backing up to 12 CDs you just increased your odds on a corrupt image 12 fold.

External devices are well worth the money. They are not all that expensive these days. Maybe you can even get an IDE to USB enclosure. IDE drives are dirt cheap these days.

Sorry I can't help with your problem at hand, but maybe what I say can prevent a future one.

Good luck!

 

You raise a good and helpful point, but I did not know this before. The CDs I used came in a pack of 120 and were brand-new (right out of the box). I have used all the other CDs in the pack without a problem with any CD. I seriously doubt I had a bad CD. This seems highly unlikely. What seems more likely was a problem with the software.

Thank you for your help, however, I doubt this problem will occur again because in future I am going to go with a different company.

 

Give Symantec Norton Ghost a try. I've been using Ghost 9 for awhile now and always liked it. I use TI in conjunction simply because I am paranoid when it comes to my data.

Ghost 10 is now available btw.

 

Try a slower spin CDROM. I've got an old CDrom that i sometimes try if i can't read a disk with a modern CDrom. Whats the point of a 52X drive etc - the seek time and spin up time totally erradicate any possible benifit - and it increases disk read errors due to the speed and the disk deformation ..oohh and the speed only applies to the outside track of the CD .

If you can't do this then some CDroms allow you to slow them down in windows (spin speed). i've got a couple of drives which have retainer clips -little clips which hold the disk in place better so it doesnt wobble as much.... when you do this burn a DOA copy of the disk that apparently won't read properly. If you can't read/copy it at its lowest speed and it's clean and scratch free then I think you essentially stuck - althoug hi'd try reading the disk on a few friends machines also - especially someone with an old computer with an early model of CDrom.

I personally think backup software shouldn't even have the option of backing up to CD/DVD. It's about the worst place possible to store data as the CD / DVD technology relies on dyes which change colour when subjected to laser light. So consequently when normal light hits the disk surface it degrades over time eventually becoming unreadable - even the best quality CD/DVD writable discs become unreadable eventually. Note this is not the same as the CD's you buy music on from the shops its a different technology all together. Rewritables work by using a differrnt frequency of laser light to turn the dye back to its original colour. It's why when you burn a disk the written areas look different.

So top tip for CD/DVD writable disks is keep them in the dark - even so if at a later date you try to restore from it and it won't then you've only got yourself to blame.

Not once have I ever even considered backing up to CDR / DVDR - backup software should warn your it's unsafe to store data on.

 

I thought USB external hard drives were the way to go also, and I went out and bought a $100.00 Acomdata 80 GB external USB hard drive, but have not yet been able to successfully create and then check archive using it....as you can see in this thread....https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=101821

 

If you really want to use disks get -RW disks. At least when (not if) you get corrupted images you haven't wasted a disk. I know they are more expensive but will workout cheaper in the long run as you can cycle them for later backups.

 

I saw your post before... I have 2 USB 2.0 external hard drives. Both of which I made myself and never once had a problem with TI and using them.

I have a 5.25" size external USB enclosure I bought from Newegg.com for around $40 and a 3.5" 160 GB hard drive I got on sale at staples for $30 after rebate. I also have the same enclosure with a DVD burner in it.

My second external drive is a 2.5" USB 2.0 enclosure I got from newegg.com for around $30 and it has a 2.5" laptop 80 GB drive in it which I bought for around $60 on sale.

The full size enclosure has needs a separate power supply to run, but the small one is powered by the usb ports which makes it extremely portanle. I take it everywhere when I work. It has gotten me out of some major jams and has plenty of space for all my TI images...

I wouldn't worry about the USB and Firewire combo units. USB 2.0 is faster than normal firewire. The next generation of fire wire will be around 800 mb/s transfer rate, but not many systems are equipped with that yet.

The only thing I would suggest is still burning your final image to a DVD. Like any other hard drive, external drives are not fail safe.

 

There is a vast difference in quality and life of different CD media. In my previous job we had many hundreds of archive CDs going back 10 years and never had any problems.

External drives do fail, the saving grace is that as you regularly use the disk to do new backups you know that it has failed before you need to get data of it. Other point is that it needs to be large enough to hold 2 backups and be kept in a different location to your PC.

To try and help the OP - After all that is why he posted here - I would try and copy the "faulty CD" either on another machine or temporily put a copy of XP on your new disk. If possible try as many different CD drives as you can, there is a vast difference between drives in ability to read poor discs. This would also establish if the problem is in fact faulty media.

Good luck

Tim.