Whatcha think 'bout this???

OK, so I do believe the money I spent on Acronis True Image is the best software investment I've ever made as it has saved my system numerous times from hard drive crashes to the occasional tweaking experiment gone bad.

But, recently I've been getting occasional error messages when I re-boot (which I do weekly). This last time, Windows had Scan Disk (or whatever it's called) scan the hard drive to check for errors. This isn't normally something you see when you re-boot.

So, I just wanted to see if you guys that use and know Acronis True Image (I'm using version 8, build 791) think that the way I'm using the program might be harming my hard drive.

Basically, I use two programs for backup purposes...I use Acronis True Image to capture my "System", along with all the programs I have loaded onto my machine....and then, I use Second Copy to backup my data, as I have 2 extra hard drives in my box that this program copies My Documents (and the contents therein) to each drive every night at 2am and at 3am.

So, what I do is about once a month I restore my system using Acronis True Image. When I do this, there is virtually nothing in My Documents, as I copy them back over to C Drive later.

When I restore my system, I usually update Windows and my Virus definitions, then make any tweaks or changes that I've made to any of my programs since last restore. Then I scan for virus', malware, etc. Then, I capture that state of my system with Acronis True Image.

I then have the program verify the back up as I copy the new back up image to several other hard drives that I use for backup. Once I'm done there, I use the Second Copy program to copy My Document from my primary backup drive, back over to my C Drive and I'm good to go.

I've been doing this for at least 2 years and it's been working great so far. I've even had a couple of virus' sneak through...but I just restore and no more problem.

So, do you guys think that any of this would be problematic on a hard drive?
My system has a 150gig WD 10,000rpm 16meg drive. I'm wondering if maybe there is just some inconsistencies on the drive that came up recently, because my system is still working just fine (Yes, I've defragged recently too)

The drive came with my new computer that I bought in Feb 2006, so just to be on the safe side, I'm going to be replacing it soon. I'd rather have a brand new drive in there as I use my machine for business and I cannot have any down time, although downtime for me is about 15 to 20 minutes thanks to Acronis True Image!

Just wanted to see what the resident experts thought about the possibility of what I'm doing being hard on my C Drive.

Here's my computer's profile since undoubtedly someone will ask about my system's configuration:
http://www.professionalmediaservices.com/offsite_pics/pc_profile.gif

 

I can't see anything particularly amiss, except that you are not using the latest build of V8. b937 was bulletproof for me until I updated to SATA2 disks.

Note that as you start to introduce newer hardware, the likeyhood of satisfactory compatibility with any build of v8 version is diminished.

Also, I suggest you try running chkdsk occaisonally to see if you have any bad sectors or other disk issues.

F.

 

Can "chkdsk" repair anything? OR, does it just report?

Well, I took version 8 from my old Dell system where it worked fine (purchased in 2002), and ended up putting it on my new high end, high performace system (purchased in 2/2006) and it works great.

I tried their version 9 and it would not work...but version 8 has never missed and has performed perfectly.

Currently, my system is running great, but twice now it has restarted itself and left a message on the screen saying "Recovered from Serious Error", so I thought I'd post the error message I found in the Event Viewer.

Just curious is anyone had a clue
concerning these error messages:

http://www.professionalmediaservices.com/offsite_pics/pic1__gif.gif

http://www.professionalmediaservices.com/offsite_pics/pic2__gif.gif

http://www.professionalmediaservices.com/offsite_pics/pic3__gif.gif

http://www.professionalmediaservices.com/offsite_pics/pic4__gif.gif

 

Yes chkdsk with a /R flag will attempt to make good, problems caused by bad sectors.

F.

 

Is it possible for chkdsk to NOT be able to repair bad sectors?
If so, should you go ahead and install a new hard drive?

 

I ran chkdsk, and it did not return any errors.
Does that mean I should not change out the hard drive?

OR, should I go ahead and change it out just to be on the safe side?

 

That's a great question, but it's unanswerable without more information.

The drive is acting suspiciously. You might check one of the SMART monitoring programs to see if it can provide any direction on replacing the drive.

If the cost of a new drive doesn't bother you, that's what I'd do. If the error mesaages stop, then the drive was the problem and you've fixed it. If the errors continue, then something else is the problem and you can start looking for the source.

Since you seem to have lots of drives, my guess is that you won't mind replacing the drive to find out what's going on.

 

Yep, I am quite "Back-up Happy" over here, so just to be on the safe side, I think I will install a new drive.
(Found one at NewEgg.com for $189 after $30 rebate...gotta love that!)

Using Acronis, it's only about a 10 minute deal, not counting the time it will take to format the new drive which I can do in an external enclosure.

Now, once I do this...if I keep getting errors then I'll know that it's something that Windows is doing (or, at least I'll think I know )

Anyway, if that happens I'll just use my manufacturer's "restore to new out of the box state" restore disk and simply re-install all my stuff. I have a detailed list of exactly what I need to install, so it won't take but a few hours.

Once that is done, I'll be able to use Acronis to capture my system with the O/S and all my programs freshly installed.

I'm also wondering if Norton's program had anything to do with any of this...I've removed that resource hawg from my system and now I'm using AVG.

Anyway, the best part about using Acronis is the ability to "capture" a certain state of my system and be able to restore it to that state later.
It's saved me numerous times already, and is the best piece of software I've ever purchased

 

Acronis will even do that for you using their "Prepare New Drive" feature. The ironic thing is that if you use the Clone feature afterwards, it will see that a partition now exists on the new drive and will have to delete it in order to procede with the cloning.

 

I don't know anything about "Clone", or "Prepare New Drive"

I do know how to format a drive, install it in my computer, and then boot up with the recovery disc in the CD Rom drive so I can access my Acronis file over on one of my backup drives.

When I do that, it will restore my system onto the new drive.
That's what I did on my old computer when I rebooted and the hard drive decided it wanted to go into retirement

To me, it's too easy to do what I know how to do.
If I get off into that other stuff, I may or may not know what I'm doing so it's safer for me to do what I know to do because I know where I will end up....otherwise, I may screw something up which just wastes my time.

 

Understood - though you could just read the manual

F.

 

Hey, I'm a busy guy with very little time to learn new stuff when the stuff I'm already doing is working great.
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