True Image Workstation 9.1: doesn't work for me

I wish I had read some of the cautionary posts in this forum before I downloaded TI 9.1 (build 3,602).

On the other hand, I think I am very lucky that I did not depend upon its output copy. My story is not so sad as others: I only wasted a little time.

I was glad to try TI: I'd existed without backups for a long time. So I tried to copy bit-for-bit from my system drive (C:\) (250GB) to another drive (E:\)(also 250GB). The program got into step two (1 -> 2) and copied (I suppose) all of C:\ to E:\ then gave me the error, something similar to:

OPERATION ERROR: number of sectors copied different from number of sectors counted.

Then it just stopped dead. No recovery possible, no nothing. Only option was to reboot, which I did. After reboot, the system did not even see the destination drive, E:\. Why not? Because TI 9.1 had decided it couldn't go through with step three, copying the MBR.

The final result: a useless, invisible disk. I can get out of this by reformatting, but TI 9.1 didn't come close to fulfilling its promises.

<snip>
-- Pete

edited to remove excessive editorialization - Detox

 

Since I don't use TI workstation, I'm not sure whether you meant clone instead of copy. If you did then yes there are some problems concerning cloning to an external HD (based on some threads).

Steady on, I wouldn't go that far. It is a product that behaves well as long as precautions are taken. This goes for any product.

There are many imaging products on the market and most of them give you the opportunity to evaluate their product. You might find that TI is as good as, or even better than, the others.

I existed for many years without a backup of the OS, and there are millions of computer users who have never heard of imaging. Unfortunately, without backups, there will come a day when you will have wished that you had had a backup.

 

Thanks, Mark, for your thoughtful comments.

Yes, I did mean clone. It was not an external HD, but one of two identical 250GB Western Digital SATA HDs mounted internally in a machine running WinXP Pro sp2. As a new* Acronis customer, I'm puzzled that I should have to go through threads to see that a product is not as advertised. I don't remember having to research any other product this way. In particular, I expect a warning from a vendor when one of the few modes of operation renders its output disk unusable. It's not all that hard to include a readme with the distribution. That file might contain the caveat: "Don't clone!" or similar.

And if the bug reports have been in the threads, well that's even worse. It is incompehensible that the vendor should simply ignore bugs -- fatal bugs -- and let the product stand as is. Some bugs truly are fatal: there is absolutely no reasonable hope of recovery.

* I'm not a new customer any more, of course. I go by the name "former" now.

Steady on? Steady on? Heh! You're joking, right? You know, in 9.1 there's an option to wipe clean the source as that source is being cloned. Suppose I had taken that lunatic option? I would have lost quite a few years of work. If this had happened to you, I dare say "steady on" would not have been your very first reaction.

As for precautions, I took the precaution of reading the instructions for using the product. But those instructions were, well, incomplete and misleading to say the least.

Yes, this was an evaluation of the TI9.1 product; and my evaluation is that it's not a product. Thus my post in this forum: I don't want anyone to believe that TI9.1 does as it claims. If TI9.1 is better than its competitors, that looks like a huge market opportunity for you and me.

You needn't preach to this long-time choir member. Backup is^^ was the very reason I tried TI.

Thanks again for your response. I appreciate your taking the time.

-- Pete

 

Pete, if you ran TI from within Windows, try making the bootable Rescue CD, boot with it and try the Clone again. That bootable CD will have all the features you might ever want to use.

Some items that may make TI not work right:

Multiple usb devices including hubs.
Wireless Keyboard/Mouse

 

Amen to the USB mice / keyboards, and some HP Laptops (N610C, NC6000) where even the keyboard is not recognized.

 

You are right, I would have been devestated if I had lost years of work.
I have not cloned using TI so I'm not even aware that the option exists. If it does exist then it should incorporate a warning. Fortunately for you, you read and understood the implications of that option.

But be it with TI or other imaging program, unless the user is conversant with the product, then problems will occur. There have been posters here, new TI users, who have blindly accepted that once thay have created an image, their backup is secure. They have even then restored back onto their original OS in blind faith (shudder on my behalf) without first contemplating what the consequences would be if the whole process becomes corrupted.

Preaching was the last thing on my mind and I sorry if you took it that way.

 

And I apologize for being so touchy. I do appreciate your thoughtful comments very much.

-- Pete

 

Hello Pete,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Workstation Disk Backup Software.

We are very sorry for the delay with the response.

First of all, please check each partition of both source and destination hard drives by Windows utility: use Windows menu Start\Run, then enter the command "chkdsk c: /r" "chkdsk d: /r" for every partition of your hard drive. Note that you will need to reboot your computer in order to scan the system partition.

Please also download the latest version of Acronis drivers, install it with disabled logging and see if the problem still persists.

If the problem still persists after checking the hard drives and updating the drivers then please provide us with the following information:

- Create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post;

Please keep both drives connected while creating Acronis Report.

- Use digital camera to make a shot or provide the exact text of the error message that you receive;

- Let us know when exactly you receive this error message;

- Try to perform the disk cloning process when your computer is booted from Bootable Rescue CD created using the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.1 Workstation and inform us about the result.

Please submit a request for technical support. Provide the files and information collected in your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov