Security Software may cause problems

Recently I had to restore a System partition from an external USB drive.

The restore would start and proceed as normal for some time and then "hang" with an assortment of error messages. The only way to terminate ATI was to end the process through Task Manager - not my preferred way of doing things!!

The messages from ATI indicated that either the Archive was corrupt or that the target disk had a bad sector(s), resulting in a failed restore.

I checked the Archive and the disk using other tools and could not find any indication that there was a problem.

As a last resort I physically disconnected the system from the Internet, and then terminated all the active security software - Firewall; AntiVirus; Spyware.... etc.

The Archive then restored without any problems

The "lesson" to be learnt here is that you cannot always believe the error messages that are generated by any application. In this instance had I accepted that the error messages were correct I would have made the wrong decision with respect to both the Archive and the disk.

When an Archive is reported as being "corrupt" or a disk as "bad" it may be helpful to first try another solution before jumping....

T.

 

Hi,
I am somewhat startled by your finding that a restore can be spoiled by Security Software. When I restore a system drive it matters not whether I start the restore from within Windows or from the TI rescue CD. In both cases the restore process will run from the TI Linux recovery environment. As all my security software is installed under Windows none of it is loaded or active during a restore so there is no way that any interferrence can be caused.
I never turn off any of my protective software during the image creation process and it still run just fine. As stated above none of it is running in any case during a restore, which again completes without problems.

Perhaps I have mis-understood your post .

Xpilot

 

Hi Xpilot

I think you have understood my post correctly. But just in case I was not clear....

As all experienced users know (but not necessarily newbies) there is no such thing as a "standard" system - almost every installation differs in some way or other from any other installation.

For the most part I have not experienced a conflict when restoring a system partition with security software active. In this particular example what is interesting is that the "error" messages could easily have led to the Archive or the disk (or both) being dumped.

How sure am I that the security software was causing the issue? Very sure. I tried everything that I could to restore the Archive 5 times, and every time the restore failed and ATI displayed an error message (not necessarily the same message) which indicated a problem with the Archive or the disk.

Switching the security software OFF immediately resolved the problem.

If, as you suggest, a user restores via the Linux interface (CD version) then of course there could not be a conflict because the Linux subset does not have security software.

However, as you are aware, backing up or restoring via Linux can be painfully slow, and in a commercial environment, where time is important, backing up and restoring via the Windows interface is usually preferred.

My intention was to alert particularly inexperienced users to the possibility that error messages are not always accurate in describing the problem.

Hope that helps.

T.

 

No I am still confused. You are using a system partition in your example. In this case even if started from Windows a restore would require a re-boot into the Linux recovery environment. Once this is done any Windows secuity programs would not be loaded and I cannot see how they could disrupt the recovery process.

If your restore fails before the re-boot into the Recovery environment I can understand that there could be a conflict with resident programs but if it happens a later stage...I give up.

Xpilot

 

Ahh... now I understand your confusion... my fault

The restore need not necessarily be to the boot disk. If you restored to a 2nd disk (or across a network) then you would boot as normal and run ATI. In such a scenario it is possible (as I have just experienced) for a certain setup to create a problem which generates messages that are not reflective of the actual issue.

T.

 

I suppose that one of your security programs is protecting your drive in much the same way as DeepFreeze, if active, will stop Acronis restoring from within windows. The only way to restore is to use the Emergency boot disk.

or, I should have said, turn off the deepfreeze protection

 

Hi Longview

Thanks for your feedback.

You are absolutely correct. The security software is probably doing just that.

The "problem" (if you want to call it that) is not so much that there is this issue with the security software but rather that the error messages are way off the mark.

If I had believed the error messages I would have dumped both the Archive and the hard disk.... Neither of which were the problem. Once the security software was turned OFF the backup restored without any problem.

T.

 

Probably something to do with the Russian to English translation. Look at this very recent thread for a similar situation:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=207031

 

I agree that TI error messages are often not either plentiful or understandable. As us experienced people know, "corrupt image" really means "TI couldn't read the archive and successfully re-create the checksums" and there are many reasons for this message.

From my experience of writing code that gets an error code returned from system routines, trying to translate them into non-technical English pointing to the exact cause can be an onerous, if not impossible, task.

I would assume (and that's all it is) that a "can't write data" type code was returned and the obvious but not only problems were listed. This doesn't mean it is adequate and perhaps your findings should be added to the list or a general "turn off security software" message should be provided.