What does Check Image do and what causes a corrupt image?

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by donpiet, Oct 13, 2004.

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  1. donpiet

    donpiet Guest

    When you run check image just what exactly is checked? Is it the file system, the data, missing data, new data not on the image? Then, what is it that causes a corrupt image during a check? What data may be missing, may be changed, may be added? Are file dates and times of any consequence? Unfortunately, I have found no comprehensive description of the actions of the check image program and am curious as to the actual processes it performs. Of course, some of this appears to be obvious, but, I'd like a further explantion if available. Thanks.
     
  2. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello donpiet,

    The Check Image utility verifies only the image itself. It doesn't require the access to the partitions from which this image has been taken. So this utility doesn't check file dates and versions and it doesn't check the changes you have made to the files on the partitions.

    The "Image archive is corrupted" message can appear in different cases. It can be a hardware problem - you should check your memory modules. Also there are many software incompatibilities.

    Hopefully informed you well.

    Thank you.

    --
    Best regards,
    Andrew Berezovsky

    Acronis, Inc.
    395 Oyster Point Blvd., Suite 213
    South San Francisco, CA 94080 USA
    http://www.acronis.com/

    Acronis support department
    e-mail: support@acronis.com

    Acronis... compute with confidence
     
  3. donpiet

    donpiet Guest

    What do you mean when you say there are many software incompatibilities? Of what sort? Is this possibly caused by timing inconsistancies also? What sort of software would cause the incompatibilities?

    I thank you for your effort to inform me, but, I would like to know more. Of course I understand there could, possibly, be a hardware problem which would cause this. But, the software issue confuses me. Thanks in advance for further clarification on the software issues.
     
  4. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Well... software incompatibility can occur when you use programs that require direct access to your hard drives. For instance, it can be an antivirus or a firewall.

    Also we have received messages about "Image archive is corrupted" error when the customer has Diskeeper application installed. When he turned off this application the created image has been checked as healthy. We have tried to reproduce this situation in our Testing Lab but to no effect.

    Thank you.

    --
    Best regards,
    Andrew Berezovsky

    Acronis, Inc.
    395 Oyster Point Blvd., Suite 213
    South San Francisco, CA 94080 USA
    http://www.acronis.com/

    Acronis support department
    e-mail: support@acronis.com

    Acronis... compute with confidence
     
  5. Steve1947

    Steve1947 Registered Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Tabernacle, NJ
    It sounds to me that Acronis still does not have a handle on the corrupt image problem. They always step the customer thought a series of tests that try to deflect the responsibility for the error. If Acronis cannot resolve the problem they can make an attempt to provide more detailed diagnostic data. What Acronis is doing is the equivalent of a "check engine' light. Technology has progressed beyound a error light ie "corrupted image" message.

    I spent a week working with Western Digital to prove it was not a hard drive problem, spent a day with Gateway to prove that it was not a BIOS problem, shutdown ALL non-critical applications and system tasks and downloaded two new versions of TI 8.0 - no sucess.
     
  6. donpiet

    donpiet Guest

    When the Check Image comes up with a corrupt image -- is it simply because it finds that the sector that was written does not pass a check sum test or something of that nature (since it does not check against the drive contents)? This would imply that the program writing the image did not perform properly if it always failed. But, when you can run a check on an image one time and it comes out fine and then run it another time and it comes out corrupt it sort of implies that there is a difference in the program coding of the two different programs (the writer of the data and the reader). Perhaps something as simple as a timing or sequence of instruction difference. I don't imagine I will solve this problem by asking these questions, but I hope to clear up some thoughts I have. BTW, this has happened to me as you probably already know, and each time I am not running any other application programs. Yes, there are systray programs active, but they are the usual and I would be happy to provide you a list of all active modules when his occurs. And I assume others would as well.

    I honestly believe you have a vested interest in clearing up this problem, even more than I do. But, I will not rely on TI until I can put to rest in my mind the inconsistancies.

    Along with the previous poster, I too would like to see some real world message specifying the exact nature of the corruption and not just some general statement. Could it be that difficult to do in the check image program with its very limited function? If its due to a bad read, what error procedure is in place to retry? And then terminate with a specific message?

    Your users understand your desire to put out a proficient program which will run as expeditiously as possible (we would like that). BUT, reliability is more important.

    Thanks again in advance for providing me with more knowledge as to the problem and its resolution.
     
  7. michael_in_atlanta

    michael_in_atlanta Registered Member

    Joined:
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    I have just gotten corrupt image error message when I decided to check the integrity of one of my daily incremental backup files on a removable hard drive. I can assign a virtual drive letter OK, but cannot access any of the files in the displayed folders, receiving a "Could not access data - Device I/O error" message. I also can close the virtual drive without a problem.

    This is something new. I copy files from time to time directly to this removable drive, and can access these without any trouble - so apparently the fault lies in the Acronis backups system and not the hardware.

    Depending as I do on the automated backup system, unexplained inability to access >>any<< of my incremental backups is a serious problem.

    I'm glad I found out about this before I really needed this backup information!

    Anyone have any suggestions?

    ======================================
    [Posted next day]

    I deleted all my inaccessible incremental backups and have started afresh. For the time being, I have scheduled a daily full (not incremental) backup (at 4 AM) that will overwrite the previous day's files. The first backup has checked out fine. I did not fiddle with the secured zone file.

    Is it possible that disconnecting the external Maxtor hard drive (after shutting down the unit by clicking on the Toolbar icon "Safely remove hardware"), which, for safety reasons I do when I leave the office for an extended period, somehow causes Acronis to give the above IO device error message?
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2004
  8. Fragmented

    Fragmented Guest

    I'm running build TI8 771 with Diskeeper 9 on "Set it and Forget it" mode and XP Pro SP2 and every image that I try to create (many times) is "corrupted" according to the checker.

    I cannot believe that I now apparently have to manually stop/uninstall ? Diskeeper just to get TI to create a valid .tib file !

    Why is there no mention of this on your support pages o_O - I only bought this product because of its ability to "Create and restore online disk backup images in Windows without reboot"

    The description on your web site that "Acronis True Image 8.0 is the easiest and the most convenient and intuitive disk imaging, backup and system restore software you've ever seen. Its automated, wizard-driven operations make the backup and restore a no-brainer." would consequently appear to be somewhat untrue ?
     
  9. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello donpiet,

    If you want to know the exact reason why the images do not pass the "Check Image" verification on your system please contact support@acronis.com. Also you can send me a private message with your email address and I will contact you soon on this matter.

    Thank you.

    --
    Best regards,
    Andrew Berezovsky
     
  10. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    25,885
  11. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello Fragmented,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/).

    We are really sorry for the inconveniences.

    We have tested Acronis True Image with Diskeeper installed and found no incompatibilities. That's why the information about it is not listed on our site. But we have received the message from our customer where he claims that Diskeeper is the reason why his images were corrupted.

    Thank you.

    --
    Best regards,
    Andrew Berezovsky
     
  12. wreckwriter

    wreckwriter Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2004
    Posts:
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    Diskeeper released a new version last week (9). Has this one been tested? I think a list of known incompatabilities/conflicts would be great if possible.
     
  13. Steve Mattos

    Steve Mattos Guest

    All:

    I have been struggling to identify the root cause of the Check Image errors. Unfortunately, I have only found one solution to the problem, which makes no sense to me. Please see the following excerpt from an email I have just sent to Acronis "support."

    ====================================================

    Hello Again Acronis Technical Support:

    I am still having lots of problems with the Check Image option within True Image 8. I am not able to identify a common trait that causes this error to occur. Generally, three out of four image backups fail the Check Image option. Of course, it is very frustrating to keep trying backups, which usually take one hour each.

    My system configuration is as follows:

    Intel Pentium 4 at 2.8Ghz
    1GB DDR memory
    5 drives (2-160GB, 1-120GB, 2-60GB). I uses a SIIG ATA 133 PCI controller to support the 5th drive.
    Windows XP Home edition with all service packs and updates applied.
    Microsoft Office 2003
    Norton System Works 2004 and Norton Personal Firewall 2004.
    Various peripherals...DVD-R, 2 scanners, 2 printers, etc.
    Miscellaneous software...certified by Microsoft.

    There seems to be some relationship to running scandisk on the source drive and formatting the destination drive. If I do both (scandisk source and format destination) I can reliably complete the Create Image and Check Image function. Of course, this takes all day to do one backup and is not very efficient. The results from this operation is 100%, which makes no technical sense to me. So, the only way I can complete the process is to do both (scandisk and format) before EVERY True Image 8 backup. Note: The destination drive format must NOT be "quick."

    One more note: I upgraded to the latest version of Executive Software Diskeeper (9.0.504.0). This did NOT improve the problem, which I originally though was caused by this program. Also, disabling the installed Norton software did not make a difference.

    I have also attached the report from your utility.

    Help please.
     
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