Testing of v9 Build 3854

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by bodgy, Dec 11, 2006.

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  1. bodgy

    bodgy Registered Member

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    The option to make a master rescue CD for all installed Acronis products has been removed.

    Using the rescue CD.

    Full Mode:

    Still does not recognise Logitech Wireless USB mouse (DiNovo model).

    No longer recognises DiNovo wireless keyboard whilst at the command line prompt-F11 key causes
    to show up on screen (looks suspiciously like the ASCII escape code for 'F11' is being piped to screen, but is not recognised by the loader/kernel) and then causes the program to go into a loop - the Vulcans Pinch sequence is not recognised and so system has to be physically turned off/rebooted.

    Safe Mode:

    Mouse works (due to motherboard hardware/firmware) however a test of validating an existing archive on an external harddrive caused the program to hang, trying to find the image files (I gave up after waiting 10 minutes for the archive list).

    I have just noticed, that the way the external USB drive is reported is different between the safe and full mode screens. This may be just the fact two different programmers worked on the respective functions and project management failed to notice this, or they may actually use different drivers.
    In Full mode the backup drive is shown as 'A:' drive (something that has always been the case, but I think naming it as 'A' removable drive is confusing - perhaps a hark back to my floppy days.). However, in the safe mode it actually shows the drive using it's Windows name and a FAT/NTFS drive letter. So, in safe mode it shows up as Drive G: and the volume name as Backup - makes me wonder if safe mode uses DOS drivers. Been thinking here, it probably gets the info from int #13 via the BIOS


    In Windows based TI, I validated the archive made yesterday, and it seemd to be a little slower, took 8 minutes.

    I'll be making a standard backup tomorrow.

    Little disappointed that this mouse thing hasn't been fixed. As I keep saying, it used to work upto the 3rd build of v9.

    Colin
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2006
  2. Kapiti

    Kapiti Registered Member

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    Just installed the latest build 3854.

    When installing over the existing build it no longer asks for the registration number (using upgrade from version 8 to version 9).

    When restoring an image from within Windows it still does the double verification - once while in Windows and again on reboot.

    No problem with Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse (never a problem for me anyhow).

    John
     
  3. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Hi all,

    I posed a question to Acronis Support in the thread titled <Will there be more updates to TI9 Home?> asking if they could confirm which of the known, generic, hardware-independent anomalies listed below had been fixed in the final build:

    <Does Acronis take account of deleted folders in differential backups?>
    <TI 9.0 Build 3666 Direct to DVD Imaging - Still Some Problems>
    <Boot Mode Files & Folders Restore: PDF file corrupt and unreadable>
    <Bug Report - Bootable Rescue DVD Selection Screen>
    <Am I missing something>
    <Build 3567 - Unnecessary Verification?> (sorry - missed this one the first time around :p)

    Perhaps those of you who are in a testing mood could check out Build 3854 against the specific bugs detailed in the above threads and report back your findings?

    Regards
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2006
  4. bodgy

    bodgy Registered Member

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    Item 1 on the list appears to have been fixed.

    Item 3 works for me, using the full mode (IE no mouse for me) to a different partition and directory preserving security settings. The file opened fine.

    Item 5 on Menorcaman's list. No difference .

    Can't do the others as I don't 'DO' DVD :) .

    Colin
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2006
  5. bodgy

    bodgy Registered Member

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    The incremental update went OK, and it verified under both XP and from the rescue CD using full mode.

    I haven't tried a re-install as yet.

    Colin
     
  6. bobdat

    bobdat Registered Member

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    Try to build a BartPE disk with the new Acronis TI v3854 plugins that you get from the Acronis Complete Install and you end up with coasters!

    Acronis holds 100% to their record of saying they fixed something in a new release but f****d up something that used to work.

    CONGRATULATIONS, ACRONIS!

    :thumbd: :thumbd: :thumbd:
     
  7. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    I've just added another known, hardware-independent, anomally to my list above (forgot that I had included this one at Post #55 in the thread titled <Will there be more updates to TI9 Home?>).

    Regards
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2006
  8. werne

    werne Registered Member

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    Re: Final build (3854) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home released

    Ok., we haven't heard from Acronis, so I decided to test the one issue that was important to me - Direct to DVD imaging (and placing a copy of TI 9.9 on the DVD). I was always receiving errors with the previous version. This time it worked perfectly. Sigh! I will never understand people or companies that with a few words could clear up any misunderstandings on their or our part. They could start with a changelog that has more than "GUI fixes". In fact, the most important thing they could add to that changelog would be what additional chipsets new builds support so that every single customer doesn't have to email them with questions. While Acronis customer service does leave a lot to be desired (to put it mildly), their product is generally pretty good and has some qualities that put them head and shoulders over the competition (like the ability to resize partitions on the fly when restoring a partition).
     
  9. Kapiti

    Kapiti Registered Member

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    Using a used but erased DVD+RW I received this error message while attempting to burn onto a DVD. Appears to be the same error message as seen in the previous build.

    Magical Snap - 2006.12.15 07.32 - 001.png

    Further error messages shown in the next two postings.

    John
     
  10. Kapiti

    Kapiti Registered Member

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    Starting the burn process the DVD drive opens, and this message appears. Again, it seems the same as the testing done in the previous build.

    Magical Snap - 2006.12.15 07.33 - 002.png

    John
     
  11. Kapiti

    Kapiti Registered Member

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    Before verifying the DVD+RW this message appears. Note: The backup only required one (1) DVD disk.
    This makes it impossible to do a unattended backup to a DVD+RW disk.

    Magical Snap - 2006.12.15 08.08 - 003.png

    As I've also mentioned in a previous posting (see above) when restoring from within Windows TI verifies the backup file twice, no difference to the previous build.

    Minor points: The little balloon now shows up with "Acronis TrueImage Scheduled task started" this was missing on the last build (at least on my computer).
    Some progress bars still show half way when the job completed.

    I didn't attempt to restore from the DVD but did recover a file okay.

    John.
     
  12. werne

    werne Registered Member

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    I received the same message but when I continued and ignored it, everything worked fine. Seems to me to be an unimportant anomaly. I really don't care about the messages as long as the stuff works
     
  13. Werni

    Werni Registered Member

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    I tried to do some restore operations using the rescue CD.
    A) For me this works only partially because I have some experience using the keyboard, while my Dell (Logitech) wireless mouse does NOT work either in safe mode nor in full mode with the rescue CD.
    B) Restoring Files/Folders from an image of drive C to a new location on drive D does not work at all. I can follow the wizard up to where the task would start. Then the window that shows the progress of the task appears and that’s the end of it. Nothing happens any more. I only can use Cancel by pressing C on the keyboard and after this Y. But then the same window appears again. The only possibility to get out of this is to press the start button on the computer case for 5 seconds, what I don't like much! By the way, naturally there are no files restored. Question: If the rescue CD is not thought for doing this, why then does the menu offer it?
     
  14. Kapiti

    Kapiti Registered Member

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    My posting were in reference to this link that was started sometime ago. :)

    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=132414

    John.
     
  15. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Hi werne,

    Yes indeed. As I indicated in my thread <TI 9.0 Build 3666 Direct to DVD Imaging - Still Some Problems>, that particular warning message can be overcome by clicking "OK". However, it's still an anomally that shouldn't be there.

    From what I've read in this thread it seems that very little, if anything, has changed as far as imaging direct to DVD is concerned :(.

    Regards
     
  16. werne

    werne Registered Member

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    Unfortunately, you are probably right. Sigh!
     
  17. werne

    werne Registered Member

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    Tried backing to a DVD again. This time the DVD media (blank DVD+RW) was in the tray but not closed . TI 9.0 Bld 3854 Performed without incident (it closed the tray and wrote to the DVD). I know this has been documented elsewhere in this forum, but I had forgotten about it. A small thing but it makes all the difference in the world as far as error messages are concerned. With TI 9.0 the little things seem to be very important (this kind of thing should be documented in the help file). I get the feeling that there are 2-3 people at Acronis who actually understand their programs; the rest are PR flacs and you never know who you will get.

    Edit: To avoid confusion: When I said documented elsewhere, I of course, meant builds of TI prior to 3854
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2006
  18. werne

    werne Registered Member

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    A further note: I also put on the DVD a copy of Acronis TI so I wouldn't need another medium with TI on it to restore the .tib file on the DVD. The program did give me the option of including the rescue program for disk director as well. At least for me this particular feature in TI 9.0 Home works fine now (yes, I did boot up and try iit out - better safe than sorry).
     
  19. werne

    werne Registered Member

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    Conclusion about Menorcaman's 2nd Point (TI 9.0 Build 3666 Direct to DVD Imaging - Still Some Problems>):

    Is that writing directly to DVD at least on my hardware/software combination works perfectly as along as the DVD media is not inserted in the slot before using Acronis. When Acronis TI does this on its own everything is ok. I can live with that. So for me, I cross that objection off my list.

    Next (<Boot Mode Files & Folders Restore: PDF file corrupt and unreadable>)
    Menorcaman's 3rd Point: I backed up a txt a pdf and an exe file using the files and folders backup method. I then booted from bootable rescue media and restored those files to a different NTFS formatted partion. Rebooting back into Windows I was able to read the two files and execute the exe file. I was able to delete the files and directory that they were in. Chkdsk returned no errors. I have never used this method before but again with my particular hardware and software combination it worked. So I'm crossing that objection off my list
     
  20. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Hi werne,

    Grateful if you could advise whether the image occupied more than 1 DVD and you had set the option to Validate the image as part of the image creation task . If so, then it would seem that the endless loop problem has been fixed as well.

    Regards
     
  21. werne

    werne Registered Member

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    Menorcaman, you are really making me work. Ok, I tried to back up to a DVD a project that I knew would occupy two DVDs and had the Validation on image creation on. Everything worked as expected until the 2nd DVD was finished creating the 2nd part of the .tib file. I received a message to insert the last DVD which initially confused me because the last DVD was in the DVD slot. I first put in the first DVD and the program correctly indicated that it wasn't the correct DVD and please put in the last DVD, which I did. Note here: Every other operation I have done when directly writing to a DVD required for a correct operation that I leave the DVD media open in the tray. Now when changing DVDs I had to manually close the DVD tray for the program to recognize the DVD. This time the program correctly recognized the last DVD and proceeded to validate the image. Except that it took forever. By forever I mean, I had to leave the DVD in overnight and in the morning it asked for the first DVD and then validated at the normal more reasonable rate. The two images (one on each DVD validated correctly. Conclusion: The process works correctly with two anomalies (1) the program changed behavior in that you have to close the tray manually in order for TI to see the DVD media and (2) it took a long time for the first part (at least an hour before I went to bed) to validate the 2nd time was at normal speed. To give an idea of normal speed, it takes about twice as long to write to a DVD then to write to a separate hard drive. Writing to a hard drive for 1 DVD (about 4.5 GB) takes approx. 7 minutes and to a DVD about twice that (which is pretty darn fast in my estimation). I was expecting the program to automatically recognize that the last DVD was in the slot but I guess that this was the only way for Acronis to transition from writing the tib file to validating it. I wouldn't call that a fault. But the program's behaviour should be consistent thoughout - you shouldn't have to start manually closing things when previously you didn't have to do it. I don't know if the first very long validation time had to do with my particular hardware/software configuration but it did work; it just took a very long time. There was no endless loop.
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2006
  22. werne

    werne Registered Member

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    The above exercise piqued my interest so I backed up again without the immediate validation portion checked. It backed up fine, but when I went to validate (after completion of the backup) the files on the DVD directly, after 5 minutes (4% completed) it indicated that there was still 1 hour and 40 minutes to go. Not being a glutton for punishment, I quit. Copying the files to a hard drive (1st tib took 9 minutes the second 8 minutes for a total of 17 minutes) and validating the files took exactly 5 minutes and 15 seconds. So apparently the problem is in the validation process to the DVDs and not the backups. It works; it just takes a long time to validate them, if you do it from the DVDs. It takes so long that the only practical way to validate is after copying the tib files to the hard drive. The other complaint I have is that on the selection screens it asks you if you want to validate and then the program says it is verifying. TI apparently uses the two words interchangeably so that that for all practical purposes they mean the same thing. Acronis should use the same language to describe any process throughout the procedure. FYI my DVD burner is a PLextor SATA PX-716A.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2006
  23. werne

    werne Registered Member

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  24. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    I find this sort of thing really annoying, it makes what I consider to be a pretty good product look third-rate and like you said it is an easy one to fix. It really makes them look like a "back of the envelope" operation.

    Like the president of an airline said, quoted in "In Search of Exellence", IRCC, - to the customer, dirty seat trays means we don't do engine maintenance.
     
  25. Christopher_NC

    Christopher_NC Registered Member

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    I installed Build 9.3854 today, and ran a number of tests to see if anomaly #3 had been resolved: Boot Mode Files and Folders Restored PDF files corrupted.

    I used the same files from previous tests...the Acronis TrueImage9.0_UserGuide.pdf and DiskDirectorSuite10.0_ug.en.pdf, both downloaded from Acronis several months ago.

    To be fair, using TI 9.3854 Boot Mode, Full, I made a new Files & Folders (F&F) archive of a number of PDF manuals and other files, and then restored that archive to a new location on an internal SATA hard drive. The results were as before, both of these Acronis user guide files were corrupt, as was the containing directory. They could not be opened, copied, or deleted. I tested this to two different NTFS partitions on two different hard drives.

    Then, I thought, what if there is something different about the properties of these PDF files...and opted to try freshly downloading both files today. The TI 9 Users Guide is a newer version (TrueImage9.0_ug.en.pdf), though the Disk Director 10 Users Guide is identical, same date, size, attributes, CRC32 Check Sums ( 5A415E18 ) etc.

    Using these fresh PDF files, in TI 9.3854 Boot Mode, I created a new F&F Archive, and then restored the files to a new location, and, they both opened, intact, and there is no resulting directory corruption! I tested this again, reformatting the partition to be sure that I hadn't given ATI Boot Mode any help, and they both came thru intact.

    So, to confirm that this is unrelated to V 9.3854, I tested again with the V 9.3677 Boot disc, and, they both restored intact! To an empty NTFS partition. So, while I do not know what caused the original PDF files, from Acronis, to corrupt, the fresh ones work fine. Both User Guides open fine, by the way, prior to being archived and restored by ATI.

    I noted along the way that Boot Mode V 9.3677 will validate a Files and Folders Archive made with V 9.3854, but cannot see the files that archive contains - while attempting to restore files from several F&F archives created with V 9.3854 , the Boot Mode V 9.3677 restore file tree is missing the names or details of the files contained in the archive - there is simply a single icon looking like a page of notes, rather than the directory tree showing the files with a check box in front to select them. If I select that icon, and proceed, V 9.3677 Boot Mode continues and almost instantly reports the restore of files as operation successful, but does not restore any files, as apparently none were selected.

    So, having learned of this new constraint, I made a new F&F archive with the V 9.3677 Boot disc and restored the two PDF files from that. That worked...both open and the newly directory structure is intact.

    So, what of this strange and inconsistent behavior? It seems that ATI Boot Mode restores some compressed files incorrectly, and leave the corrupt directory structure or corrupt files that Windows XP cannot manage or clean up. But, other files work fine. Could it be that there is some hidden property to these earlier downloaded Acronis PDF User Guide files that allow them to open normally, and be copied and pasted within Windows, but that ATI Boot Mode can't restore correctly? As previously noted, these exact same PDF files can be restored intact using ATI running under Windows, with no corruption resulting. That's my report on anomaly #3. Seems that successful operations still mean something other than what I define as success, at least using ATI Boot Mode to restore certain files & folders on my Windows XP Pro, Athlon 3400+ computer.

    I've also posted this, along with a screen shot, in this thread: Boot Mode Files & Folders Restore: PDF file corrupt and unreadable
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2006
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