Wierd ATI Problem

I'm going to try to explain my problem, but if I left out needed info just tell me. I have a PC and Laptop both are running WindowsXP SP3. I also have 2 Corsair 16gb USB flash drives. I've been having no problems with any of my hardware, but thought it was a good idea to backup all my data to be safe. I made an external hard drive with a new WD 500gb IDE drive and a case with the USB cable. I then decided to purchase Acronis True Image so I could have a full bootable backup of both my Laptop and PC and Flash Drives on an external drive that would only be used for backup storage in case of fatal error in either machine.
Now I purchased 2 copies of ATI (build 9646) and installed both to Laptop and PC. I created a the bootable rescue media to a CD with no problems. ATI created the ASZ on my PC and did a backup. I didn't know enough about partitioning a new HD and did a 100gb Primary Partition, but left the rest unallocated. I tried to backup the PC and one of the usb flash drives to the ExHD and it too 2 days (only76.77gb of info). Well when I did this on the laptop I created the CD and ASZ w/backup no problem, but of course ran into problems with ExHD because of unallocated space. I used Acronis Disk Director to change the whole 500gb drive to one partition (primary). I then did the backup from Laptop and other usb flash drive. No problems. Validation was successful also.
When I tried to Validate the PC backup I started getting error messages "Failed to read from Sector 63 of the hard disk2" Clicking Ignore just brings up another with different Sector #. I talked to tech support they said to uninstall and reinstall ATI but leave the ASZ alone. I did this, and then couldn't even validate the ASZ backup just sits in my unscheduled tasks idle. I don't even get a progress bar or error messages.
After reading some of the threads here I decided to do a CHKDSK on my ExHD (G:/) I had already done this on C:/ multiple times with no problems. When I did this it first had some index errors that it fixed. Then it goes to Verifying File Data and gets stuck at 45% the first time it gave the message not enough disk space to fix. I tried to run it again thinking maybe the index errors being fixed would help. It still got stuck on 45% then jumped to 56% and stayed there for 6hours. I finally had to CRL-ALT-DEL to stop the program from running. Now when I boot up with my computer connected it starts to boot and says checking mass media storage USB DISK(1) and stops. Only when I disconnect the ExHD will it boot. After boot if I turn on the ExHD it will read that it is there G:/ and labeled External HardDrive. I tried to delete the whole thing through the ADD but on reboot still wouldn't read ExHD. Now the ADD can even read what file type the HD is.
Here is the really weird thing - I connected the ExHD to the laptop and it still shows the ExHD but in F:/ the backup of the laptop is still there. I then went and did a CHKDSK from ADD and got no problem and 0 KB in bad Sectors.
I know this is long, but it's about 4days of different attempts to fix this. Any information would be appreciated.
One more thing - After all this playing around with the ExHD I'm afraid that my Laptop Backup will not work if I need it. How do you really make sure a backup will work if you have a fatal drive error and need it? Thanks

 

Hello regina3303,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for delayed response.

Since the problem appears only when you connect the drive to your PC and not when you connect it to laptop, most likely the problem is with the USB ports on the PC.

Could you please clarify if you can validate the image when the drive is connected to the laptop?

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Paragraphs, man, use paragraphs, please. List your problem up front and then the details. It's hard to read through a long post and then find out it's not something relevent to one's own probs or areas of help. So lots of folks, in the interst of limited time avaialable, just skip the long dense posts.

 

Amen! I skipped it for that very reason.

 

Well in a sense there were paragraphs except that there wasn't a line space between them which is what makes it so much easier to read.

But, regina33, first of all, with an external drive you do not need the ASZ on the computers. Just do your Backup and choose the external drive as the Destination. And to keep the Images manageable, make four folders, one for each of the computers and two flash drives.

Next, to keep the process simple and safe and until you get more familiar with True Image, use the bootable Rescue cd to do all your Backups and Restores.

Also the only 100% way to ensure your Backups are good is to do an actual restore to a spare hard drive. I know it involves extra expense, but for peace of mind it is worth it. Too many times users find, when it is too late, that their Backup Images do not restore correctly.

And in the case of the flash drives, since you only have data files, pics etc, on them, I wouldn't use TI to back them up, just use Windows Explorer to copy their contents to the external drive in native format. If you want some kind of automation, use the free Karen's Replicator or a batch file made with XCopy and the appropriate switches. If you want to compress the files use the built in Zip feature in Windows.

 

Nicely summed up post DwnNdrty. I agree 100%

 

Thank you, kind sir!

 

Hello regina3303,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

Contact Acronis support and submit technical request using this link or contact us via Live Chat

Give the link to this thread and ask for the latest SnapAPI drivers for your version of the program, it should solve the issue with "Failed to read from Sector 63 of the hard disk2" error in Windows or ask for the latest ISO image to solve it under Acronis bootable disc.

Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev