How long should it take?

I had an open thread here but decided to start a new thread since this is a different issue.
Apologies if this was improper and thanks in advance for your help
From the other thread, I upgraded to TrueImage 2009 and have a lot more functionality, but several different problems.

Windows XP Pro SP2 and TrueImage 2009. 279 Gb hard drive

I need to do 2 things. 1.) Create a new full back to an external hard drive and (2.) Clone my existing drive to a new,larger drive.

(I didn't get the documentation with the new download.I did purchase the additional downloads option but can't seem to find the documentation download that was in my original download option. My install doesn't have a "Help" option)

I tried to do a full back up to my external but Acronis doesn't show it as an option for back up.
I did do the "add new disk" to be sure it was clean of any previous stuff.But,I couldn't find it to back up to in the menu.

It would allow me to clone an image to it.

This is my second issue.
After 18 hours, it had only accomplished 53%.
That seems so much longer than any previous back up.
Is that normal and correct to take that long?
Hate to take my system offline for that long, but, I guess if it's correct, it will take 36 hours for this procedure.

Once again, thanks for your help.

Larry

 

The manual you can find here: Click

Question:
- Do you use the rescue-cd for backup? Or do you backup under Windows?
- is your 279GB drive full of data? In other words: What is your free space?

 

MrMorse, thank you for the quick reply and the link to the PDF

As far as using Windows or rescue disk, I can't remember for sure yesterday but I think it may have been Windows
In the past (prior to 12/200 I always backed up from Windows.

My 279GB only has 18 GB of free space. My external is the same size as the hard drive.

Larry

 

Larry,

you have 250GB of data. 15GB for OS and the rest for... what?

music/pictures/films?
or
games/programs?

Let's confirm it first before I answer your question of the thread-title

 

Thanks, again, Mr Morse.
Please allow me to clarify
My c drive is using 261 GB of the 279 available with 18 GB of free space.
Mostly, it's filled with programs and data. Very little music and pictures.
I'd like to be able to back up "My Computer" with a full back up to an external 279 GB hard drive.
I have done that numerous times previously, but I seem to have recently started getting problems.
Until a few days ago, I was using TrueImage V9 but upgraded to TrueImage 2009 to see if the problems would go away.
Ultimately, I'm looking to :
1.)Get a new fresh bach up to my C drive
2.)Clone a new bootable C drive. I have a new 500 GB but have had tremendous problems getting this done. (I've done this quite a few times and never had any problems before)

Previously, I could get a complete full back of all the data in 6-8 hrs.
The last attempt was 18 hours with only 53% progress.
I guess I want to back up 260 GB

Thanks for sticking with me on this.
Appreciate your patience and help

 

Hello Larry,

the reason I ask for the file types was that if you have a lot of music/pictures, the Ti-backup-compression rate is rather useless.
But you have only a few of these files.

ok, here that what I would do:
1. chkdsk c: (to see whether the hdd is ok. If not, "chkdsk c: /r")
2. if 1. is ok: Shutdown the PC, connect an start the USB-drive.
3. Put in the Ti-rescue-CD and start the PC.
4. choose Fullversion of Ti
5. check whether your USB drive will be recognise
6. do a fullbackup (mark whole disk) with the compression rate "none"
(I hope that the space is enough on the usb hdd...It seems so. If it runs out of space, use the rate "low compression").

7. pray

Then you want to clone the disk. I prefer not the clone function but the restore of the latter disk image.

P.S.: Yes, I know that chkdsk /r needs a lot of time.
If point 5. doesn't recognise your usb drive, please let us know.

Good luck


PPS: If you want to know more of cloning/restore to a larger disk, please read the documents/manuals of the forum member GroverH. He has useful documentation in his signature...

 

Thank you MrMorse for staying with me on this.
Can I run chkdsk from Start-->Run?

Larry

 

Yes, you can.
But first without the parameter "/r".

 

You should note that Windows will give a message saying "Cannot lock C:\" or similar and will ask if you want to run on the next boot, click yes and reboot, Chkdsk will then run and report any faults.

If the faults report scrolls by too quickly you can find the log under event viewer, if you can't find it report back here

 

Thanks, como.
I'll run this in a bit when I leave for work.
That way it will be ready when I get back tonight.

 

How long should it take?. My C:\ partition is 160 GB, of which Windows and Program files take up 60 GB. Using ATI v11, default settings, this makes a compressed image of 27 GB in about 30 minutes. In order to restore back on C:\ partition the free space available must be larger than the original used space, in my case 60 GB. Otherwise you cannot restore back to C:\.

Sounds like your drive is overloaded.

 

Thanks for staying with me
Here's an update.
I did run chkdsk and got 4 errors.All had to do with "first allocation unit is not valid. Entry will be truncated"

2 of the errors were in \prefetch\, 1 was in my virus scan (Trend Micro) and 1 was in Temp Internet files\content.IE5 (I'm running IE7)
Not sure if any of these errors would cause my problems

Here's what is happening now:
Tried again to do a backup to my external. Acronis doesn't show either the USB external or the E drive as a possible destination.
It only displays C:
Tried first from Windows. Always used to run Acronis from Windows.
When I rebooted with the Acronis boot disk, I got a very distorted, almost unreadable view of the acronis dashboard.
I also tried to forget about the back up and go straight to cloning the new hard drive.
After several hours of analyzing partition C, I aborted.
I'm starting to get nervous without a back up. Especially since my family's computer crashed a week ago and lost everything.
For them it's an inconvenience.
If mine crashed, it would be a catastrophe
I'm reluctantly considering starting the new drive as a clean disk and copying files from the old drive over.
That will be a long process with 260 GB.

Thanks again
Larry

 

Hello larryfoster,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

I have send you an ISO file via PM. Please create Acronis Booting rescue media and try to perform a backup. Let us know the results, they will help us to localize the issue.

About the unrecognized USB HD. Please collect the following information:

1. - Download and unpack the Device Tree application

- Run the application;
- Completely unfold the \Driver\Disk and \Driver\FtDisk branches (please see the attached file);
- Move the margin to the right in order to see all the items;
- Make a screen shot.

If you are not familiar with making screen shots, please read the below step-by-step instructions.

- Get to the window which you want to make a screen shot of;
- Hit the (Alt+)PrintScreen button on your keyboard;
- Run Paint usually available in Start\Programs\Accessories or another graphics application;
- Choose Paste command in Edit menu;
- Save the result picture in JPEG format being preferable.

2. - Open Start\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Information;
- Choose the "Save" option in the "File" menu (or "Action" menu under Windows 2000), enter the "File name" and set the field "Save as type" to "System Information File (*.NFO)";
- Send us the saved file.

Thank you.

--

Oleg Lee

 

Here are the rules of thumb about how long a partition/hdisk backup and restore should take. If you experience faster times, congrats:


If a backup takes longer than 1 minute per GB, something is wrong.

If a restore takes longer than 2 minutes per GB, something is wrong.

For ATI 11 and later -- Don't rely on the progress bars or % complete indicators. They don't always update often enough or reliably enough to be trustworthy.

 

Thank you shieber and oleg.

Sieber, you mentioned the unreliability of the progress bars.
If the back up or imaging were successful, would I get a message indicating success?

Oleg, is the iso file the same as the boot disk I have already made?
I will perform the other processes and post back
Thanks again
Larry

 

These huge files don't usually get posted on the forums but sent to Tech Support and aren't of much use here. The instructions about the info file n this regard were perhaps a bit vague.

 

I thought for a bit before posting them.
As far as support, I've not had much luck getting any response.
But, I'll send it over
I have a ticket that's 2 weeks old

 

It doesn't hurt anythiing, I jsut don't think it will get you the right response quickly.

I suggest you send a Private Message to Oleg and ask him where to send them so the right folks can see them.

sh

 

Thanks, shieber. Good advice
Will do

 

Here are the results for the iso image from Oleg.
There seem to be no back up locations.
In BIOS, There are 3 HDs; 2 fixed and a USB
Acronis only recognizes my c drive with back up option.
No option for any destination.
I seem to have a Windows problem.
My Computer was recognizing my E drive but not now.
Appreciate any suggestions.
I'm scared to death to do a Windows repair without a backup.
One time I did this on another computer, I wiped out everything

 

Hello all,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

larryfoster, Microsoft KB describes several issues with USB drives. Please try to find the appropriate article there

I suppose the issue with Acronis CD has the same root. Please let us know the current state of the issue.

Thank you.

--
Oleg Lee

 

Hi, Oleg.
I guess this forum doesn't give me an email notification of replies.
Here's an update.
I tried again to create an image to the new hard drive.
It took about 30 hours. That seems so long.
Removed the original drive, set jumpers properly, installed the cloned image as master and removed the original C.
This was by cable, not USB
It would not boot. Disk boot error.

I hooked it back up as a slave and the files were cloned to the new drive. I didn't verify they 2 drives were the same size but close
I didn't verify each file but there were system files

I then got a bright idea to do a Windows repair from the windows cd.
I ran chkdsk /p
The repair processed properly but still wouldn't boot.

I then did a Windows repair on the original drive.
In event viewer, there were 2 errors. System Control Manager 7000 and 7009.
I followed the link to Microsoft but didn't see anything that seemed to fit my situation.

I did the clone using the automatic setting.

Thanks for your help

I can't attach the .nfo file here that you requested. It's not a valid file for this forum. There were 25 screenshots of the Device tree which I deleted when someone posted they were of no use

 

Hello Larry,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

If I correctly understood you, the clone operation took 30 hours. The performance is unacceptable.

If you executed the operation from within Windows, please try to do the following:

- First of all please check if DMA for a certain channel/controller is enabled in BIOS.

- Please do the following to enable DMA mode using Device Manager:

1) Open Device Manager (Click Start -> Run and type "devmgmt.msc");
2) Double-click IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers to display the list of controllers and channels;
3) Right-click the icon for the channel to which the device is connected, select Properties, and then click the Advanced Settings tab;
4) In the Current Transfer Mode drop-down box, select DMA if Available if the current setting is PIO Only.

If the drop-down box already shows DMA if available but the current transfer mode is PIO, then toggle the settings:

- Change the selection from DMA if available to PIO Only, and click OK.
- Then repeat the steps above to change the selection to DMA if available.

Please let me know if DMA cannot be enabled manually or if you executed the clone operation under Acronis Booting Rescue Media.

Thank you.

--
Oleg Lee

 

Thank you, Oleg, for sticking with me and the fast response.

It is correct that imaging is taking 30 hours. more or less.
Although the last time, I tried using Windows but there is no difference in time using either Acronis or the .iso file you provided.

I ran devmgmt.msc. The transfer mode for the Primary Ide channel was set to DMA if available and the current setting is PIO Only.
I followed the instructions, but the current transfer mode will not change from PIO only.
I checked the secondary channel and the transfer mode was set to DMA if available and the current transfer mode is Ultra DMA mode4.

I am not certain which channel is which, but the hard drive is connected to the controller in the front farthest away from the motherboard

Once again, thank you for your patience
Larry

 

Larry, I just posted a long story here regarding the exact same thing. I really hope this can be resolved.

--Andrew