TI 11.0.8078 still stalls when doing a file backup

When doing a file backup with TI 11.0.8078 (German) from my laptop's drive D to my external USB harddrive, the backup repeatedly stalls at 43%.

I was hoping that the most recent build would fix this bug, but apparently it doesn't.

Acronis, if I can do anything to help you finding this bug, please let me know.

 

Are you doing a complete backup (MyComputer) or folder backup (MyData) ?

I got similar problems doing a folder backup with business versions of TI under linux (Echo Server Linux).

The backup stalls reproducible with a certain folder and till now acronis got no solution for this ...

 

I'm doing a folder backup / My Data to a "backup place" located on an external USB Harddrive. I'm currently investigating this problem - I'll post more details ASAP .

 

i think this folder backup thing is buggy, because doing a complete backup is working (on my linux machine), but as soon as a try a folder backup it stalls when reaching this certain folder.

Acronis Support told me, that they use 2 different methods doing folder backup and complete backup. It seems to be that the folder backup is broken !?

 

Yes, this prob shows up for some folks in ATI 11 -- It's been known since it's public release or very soon thereafter.

 

Acronis True Image 11 has a massive problem with freezing during backups. A more complete thread can be found here.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=193687

Please keep this at the top of the forums because this problem is not being addressed by Acronis as it should be!

 

OK, so far I've found out the following:

• I've identified a certain directory containing a number of files that I can use to reproduce the bug. Unfortunately it's quite large, about 6.8 GB, 38,000 files, 1,300 subfolders.
• Whenever I try to backup the test directory using TI 11.0.8078, the backup reproducibly stalls at the same point (when doing a full backup with default TI parameters to my USB drive).
• I've copied the directory to different partitions on my local HD. The backup always stalls, no matter whether I backup the directory from drive c, d, or e, so the source location doesn't seem to matter.
• It doesn't matter whether I create a backup place on my USB drive and choose that as backup destination, or whether I directly choose a folder - the backup always stalls at the same point.
• It doesn't matter whether the backup destination is the root of my USB drive or a subfolder - the backup always stalls.
• The backup target drive does seem to matter: Storing the backup to a local partition or a network folder works OK. But storing it on an external USB drive causes the stall. I've tried two different drives (500GB and 160GB), the stall occurs in both cases at the same point.

Next, I'll try whether I can reproduce the bug with a clean Windows XP installation using VMWare.

 

No luck with VMWare. I imported my system into a virtual machine, but the error won't occur inside the VM.

But I found a workaround: When I set the CPU-Affinity of TrueImageHomeService.exe to one CPU only, the backup works. Looks like the reason for the stalling backup is some kind of racing condition.

If you want to test the workaround for yourself, do the following:
1. You need imagecfg.exe, which is a tool from Microsoft. It's normally part of some resource kit, but you can also download it from here. Or just google for "imagecfg.exe download".
2. Make a backup of TrueImageHomeService.exe (Folder: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome)
3. Open a command prompt, cd to the folder of TrueImageHomeService.exe, and run:

imagecfg.exe -u TrueImageHomeService.exe​

This should modify the executable in a way that tells Windows XP to executeTrueImageHomeService.exe in uni-processor mode, i.e. on one CPU only.

To undo the changes, restore the backup you made in step 2.

Another option that worked for me was to use Process Explorer from Microsoft to set the CPU affinity of schedul2.exe (the Acronis scheduler service) to one CPU only, for example CPU 1 (using Windows taskmanager didn't work, "Access denied"). TrueImageHomeService.exe then inherits the CPU affinity settings from schedul2.exe when it's launched.
If you set the CPU affinity like that, you have to repeat the steps after each reboot, but it's a nice and easy way to test the workaround.


If anyone can find the time to test one of those workarounds, please leave some feedback here.