Who DOES NOT have a problem with corrupt images...

Hi Jerry,

This forum is for problems. Most people don't have the problems that are discussed here. If you were able to figure out how to find this forum and leave a message, you know enough to run True Image.

The term "image" is used because the entire hard disk or a partition are copied to a compressed data file that can be used to restore the hard disk or partition or just individual data files. So, it's sort of a picture of your drive at the point when you make the backup, and you can restore and get back to that point. Somewhere along the line, the term image began to be used, but it's really just a big data file.

Get TrueImage and try it. The program is not hard to use, and it will probably work for you without any problems. It does for me. Unless you have a DVD writer, you will probably want to make backups to an external USB 2.0 hard drive. Buy one when you see a good sale. For example, an 80GB external USB 2.0 drive for $50-$60 after rebates.

Use the Check Image feature in TrueImage to check the backup images you make. I'll bet they all will be fine, mine are.

Now, if you get a bad virus, some horrible spyware or a hard drive failure, you will be up and running again in 20 minutes. Backup is like car insurance, but a lot cheaper. You don't want to ever use it, but if you have an accident, you will be really glad you've got it.

John

 

John,
Thanks for the encouragement.
I did buy an external USB 2.0 hard drive. I don't have a great deal of concern if only the images are corrupt, but I hate to think of anything that causes me problems with the computer itself. I don't have any idea what is required to reformat the drive, and hope I do not have to learn.

I may get the courage to try TI. If a file or image is corrupted, what is the impact? I assume it is not usable, but does it leave a problem in the basic files or images in the computer?

This is my second computer. My first was a Micron that I bought in 1999. It never crashed or had problems except minor problems with some program that I did not know how to use or install correctly. Those problems were easily solved. So I never learned much as to how to fix my computer.

If my old computer had an OS newer than W98 I would work with it and see what problems I would encounter. If it crashed it would not cause me much heartburn. Anyway, thanks, and if I do try to use TI and have problems, I know that I can get a lot of help here.
I realize that there are many people who use these programs with few problems, and those who post them here are in the minority.

Jerry

 

No John, for the moment I did image all the workstations via LAN to the internal disk of our SERVER splittet in 100MB parts. Verifying them takes some time because its only a P3-500MHz but all are o.k.

 

Hello here some performance comparison between USB20 and 1394

PC ATHLON64/3200, ASROCK Z8-COMBO newest BIOS1.6, 512MBRAM, W2000SP4, ATI9800pro, on board USB20, 1394-PCI card
External disk MAXTOR XT5000 250GB NTFS
Programm HD-TACH version 3.0.1.0 www.simplisoftware.com

1.Picture LONG BENCH (32mb zones) via 1394!!

 

Hello here some performance comparison between USB20 and 1394

PC ATHLON64/3200, ASROCK Z8-COMBO newest BIOS1.6, 512MBRAM, W2000SP4, ATI9800pro, on board USB20, 1394-PCI card
External disk MAXTOR XT5000 250GB NTFS
Programm HD-TACH version 3.0.1.0 www.simplisoftware.com

2.Picture LONG BENCH (32mb zones) via USB20!!

ANY COMMENTS ON THIS USB20 PERFORMANCE??

 

Well, I have some good news for a change. As I reported earlier, every time I have backed up my C drive to CDs using TI the images were corrupt, even running from the TI boot disc. One of the reasons I really needed a good back-up was because I was going to install a new HD. My old HD did not have enough space to back-up, so I didn't have that choice. Well, thankfully, the HD installation was successfull without any problems. I have used TI to back-up my old drive to my new drive. I checked the images and they were fine and not corrupted. I then copied them to CD using my Yamaha CD burner and Nero. I have checked the CD image using the Image Checker (a tedious process with 8 CDs) and it is fine. I haven't been happy about all of the time I have invested in trying to make this software work, but I feel a lot better now that I have managed to back up my HD.

My own experience with TI along with my reading of this forum leads me to believe that a large part of the corrupt image problem has something to do with using external drives or burners. I think that TI is very buggy and Acronis should acknowledge that and provide more help to customers. If there is an earlier version of TI that doesn't have the corrupt image problem, I think that Acronis should make that available now and then provide us with a free upgrade to the next version if they ever get the bugs worked out.

 

Stefanos,

I think you have found a very useful tool. Look at the chart for my Maxtor 250GB external USB 2.0 drive:

AMD K6-2, 500MHz
Belkin USB 2.0 PCI card (NEC chipset)
Maxtor 250GB, 7200RPM drive in a CompUSA USB 2,0 case

It's just plain flat! It's slow, only half the speed of your USB drive, but there are no sudden dips in the speed. This drive and my other USB 2.0 40GB WD drive have never given a corrupt image message whether I create the images on the drives or copy them to or from the external drive.

How did you include the chart in your post? I'd like to do that but I don't see how.

 

I think I've attached the HD-Tach test on my Maxtor 250MB, 7200RPM external USB 2.0 hard drive.

 

I see that I'm not the only one having a problem with version 8 (the last 3 builds).

I wonder if it has something to do with the raid1 on SATA combined with backing up to an external USB drives. I have yet to get an image of my main drive that isn't corrupt.

 

I am one who does NOT have a problem with corrupted backup images.

I'm running TI 8.0 b796. I backup 2 PC's to an "Acomdata" (WD 80gig HDD) USB 2.0 external drive which I have divided into 3 partitions. I have created backup images in Windows and after booting with the Boot Disk. I have verified all image files and they are all fine. And yes, I have even restored an image on my personal PC (Win XP SP-2 w/all latest updates) just the other day to assure myself that there would be no problems later on should I really need to restore an image.

 

I've been reading through this long thread with quite a bit on interest since I bought an external USB 2.0 DD but had to add the USB 2.0 PCI cards to both my PC's, which only had USB 1.0. In my investigative browsing online for USB 2.0 cards, I came across something interesting and possibly relevant to this ongoing discussion. It seems that people with VIA Motherboards and/or VIA chips have an acknowledged problem with USB 2.0 functions. The problems can be sporadic or regular. Now, in all fairness, some (many?) of the reported problems, as is the case with TI complaints or any software/hardware, could be due to various things apart from that which is being blamed; e.g., faulty user, software/hardware conflicts, viruses, spyware, bad memory, overtaxed power supply, etc., etc... Nevertheless, if those who are experiencing these corrupt images which are being saved to an external USB 2.0 HDD have VIA motherboards and/or chips, that may be at least part of the cause.

Secondly, before purchasing my present "Acomdata" USB 2.0 external HDD (WD 80. gig 7200 and formatted with NTFS), I tried out another brand that contained a Seagate 120 gig 7200 HDD. With that unit, I could not create an image in Windows; I had to use the Boot Disk. I couldn't partition the drive with Partition Expert in Windows; again, I had to use the PE Boot Disk. In short, I had numerous problems and annoyances with this unit. However, this "Acomdata" unit with the WD 80. HDD works flawlessly in Windows and with the Boot Disk for both True Image and Partition Expert. So, I have to conclude that there ARE differences to be found among the various brands of USB 2.0 external HDD's.

 

At least one user here has mentioned that after transferring a TIB file to an external USB drive, the file no longer has the same MD5. This is a clear case where the problem has absolutely nothing to do with the ATI software.

I'm not sure what the circumstances are with the others...

 

I have a Lacie 80Gb usb2 hard drive formatted to NTFS and I've had no apparent problems with corrupt images when running from bootable CD. My image files vary in size from 700Mb to 10Gb.

I use it with my Toshiba A10 which has an intel 82801DB/DBM USB2.0 controller.

The only time I have encountered problems was when I bought some cheap USB2 pci cards to upgrade my P3 desktops (intel 815EP chipset). The cards used the ALi M5273 USB2 chip. I was occasional getting random failures during restores where TI appeared to lose connectivity. I eventually returned the cards and replaced them with Belkin cards which use the NEC USB2 chip. Restores are now faultless.

I'm still using TI8 build 774.

 

Hello, this message is for ALL USERS WHO HAVE CORRUPTION PROBLEMS with internal or external harddisc.

To get more valuable info I would suggest that you download
Programm HD-TACH version 3.0.1.0 www.simplisoftware.com
Make a long bench test (32mb zones) with all your drives (if you have more then one you can compare the results in one screen)
and post the results here in this thread
making a picture (GIF format) of the results like I did.
Everyone can add picture attachements (look below in "Additional Options" press "Manage Attachments")

Perhaps we can isolate the problem this way!

 

I agree. It would help to clear the fogg a little if everyone experiencing corrupt images on external USB 2.0 HDs carried out a large file transfer via USB 2.0, creating a MD5 checksum of the original file and then another one of the transferred file. Posting back the results (MD5 checksum the same or different) along with details of their USB chipsets/host controller driver version/external HDs might just begin to reveal a trend.

It also makes it difficult to sort the wood from the trees by having this thread and the one titled <Problems with corrupted images> running in parallel. I have already suggested that one of them should be locked down by a Moderator or Adminstrator ( I assume these threads are being monitored?) and the discussion continued in a single thread. Would there be a problem with that?

Regards

 

Menorcaman - I'm afraid your link is leading to the wrong alternate thread.

update - I agree and found/locked the other thread and left a link leading to this thread for the discussion to continue here - Detox

 

Hi Detox,

Oops! Sorry about that - wrong cut-and-paste I've just edited the post to insert the correct link.

Many thanks for your intervention. I'm sure everyone will now find it easier to continue this particular discussion via a single thread.

Regards

 

Hi Detox,

I saw that the other Corrupted images thread is closed, but I didn't see a link to bring people here to continue the discussion. Shouldn't that be in the last message to that closed thread?

Joining the two discussion will be helpful.

Thanks

 

For the sake of accuracy, assuming you were referring to my reply, I did not mention "ATI software" as being a possible cause. My exact words were:

Notice, my reference to ATI was specifically to HARDWARE.

Thanks!

 

Well, I have a new machine and have been creating images on a second internal hard drive (via the boot disk) and then copying them to an external 40GB USB2 drive (you can never have too many backups!). Every verification has been OK and last night I did my first ever restore and it went perfectly. Back up and running in less than 10 minutes. My images aren't that big though - just under 3GB - so that might be why they aren't getting corrupted.

 

It's there - I made it a link like this. Clicking the blue words (link) here will take you to my post which links to this thread ;-)

 

Detox,

My mistake. Your message is there. I was on page 4 and didn't notice that your message was on page 5.

 

Yes its flat, this shows that the performance is limited by the chipset of your pc or the external drive.

I did check my MAXTOR on our server (P3-500), also with a USB20 PCI card with NEC chipset (from D-Link) and did get a very similar result like yours, plain flat!!

 

My first post failed
I have been reading ALL of the posts herein.
Thank you to all the super techs for their input.
I have 3 boxes running XP - ATImage, PQ DI, and NorGho.
I ran the following tests.

Box one Dragon SOYO AMD 1800 2-HD converted to NTFS, 512 mem. VIA IDE.ALL the SW will image off the D0 to D1. ALL validations from any of the prog indicate the image files (2g or so) are corrupt. Assume its HW or OS SW problem. I was running FAT32 did the CONVERT to NTFS. Still no good backup. NOR can I burn large files to DVD Ext USB 2.0 I get random CRC errors. Even have errors with internal copy from HD to HD..

BOX2 AMD 500 no name MB 2-HD all loaded new as NTFS, 512mem. VIA IDE.ATI run and file is valid. Copied image file to DVD external 1.1 USB. Worked- but quite slow. Image file 1.2g CRC checker OK

BOX 3 High end AMD 3200 ASUS 1 gig 2 BIG NTFS HD, Nvidia chip. ALL 3 image programs run- all create valid images. Copied to internal DVD. Images valid. CRC checker good on any image copied from HD to HD or HD to int DVD

I got a great CRC program from www.dexadine. com Advanced CRC Utility. Worked better then all the others posted herein. Really helped to figure out this mess. I paid for it to test folders with over 250 files.
I have proved my junker box and hi end box are OK - they run the image SW perfect and can copy large files to DVD with no CRC errors.

My main work box is bad? I have defraged - put both drives on the same IDE channel. Read all herein, info from Symantec and MS- I cannot fix it. So I guess I have to take this weekend plus and re- install the whole mess. I see no other option?? at least all my data files can be sent over the lan to the other box.

I dont think ATI sw has a problem.
RR

 

Hi Stephanos

Can you make good images to the external USB 2 hard drive from your Server?

In other words, does the flat response in HD-Tach show that good backups can be made, large files copied, etc. with out MD5 errors or TI reporting corruption?