How to restore my pc

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by FQTWER, Jun 26, 2009.

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  1. FQTWER

    FQTWER Registered Member

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    G'day,

    I just purchased Acronis image home 2009, I backup my harddrive to external crappy drive, I am wondering in case of if my window xp crashed for any reasons, how can I backup all my systems from external crappy drive? Do I need to create a rebootable CD, if so , how should I do it? I read Acronis manual, but does not seem to find a section instructing how to create a bootable cd in case of disaster, can anyone point me to it?

    And thanks for Shieber answering my last thread, but I am unable to post reply to it, and asking questions. I cannot find a "post reply" button. AT the left bottom conner, It said:
    "You may not post new threads
    You may not post replies
    You may not post attachments
    You may not edit your posts"
    i am wondering why this happen, and how to post replies to my thread?

    thanks alot
    Twer
     
  2. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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  3. FQTWER

    FQTWER Registered Member

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    Thanks GroverH

    What is TI Rescue CD ? is it same as a normal CD, or I need to purchase from somewhere? And my question will also be how can I test it my backup to know it is working in case of disaster? I only have one pc (window xp).

    thanks alot for your help
    TWER
     
  4. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    Not GroverH but:
    The TI rescue CD is made by the True Image program although if you bought the retail boxed package the CD you got may do the function as well. There is an option on the main screen or in the Tools menu or somewhere else that reads like "Create Bootable Rescue Media". This is what you need if you need to restore an archive if your HD or Windows installation goes bad. If you update your build of TI then you should recreate the rescue CD so you have the latest fixes incorporated in it.

    Testing your restoration:
    The TI rescue CD is LInux, not WIndows, and it may not have suitable drivers for your PC. It is essential that you test the restoration before you really need it.

    The absolute best way is to make an image and store it on a second internal HD or an external USB or whatever. The only restriction is that it cannot be stored in a partition that is being restored since one of the first thing TI does when restoring a partition is to delete the old partition. If you backup is contained in that partition then it is not available.

    One the image is made then put in a spare HD (spare, in case it fails), boot the TI rescue CD and restore the image and then boot up the PC. If it works, it works.

    If you don't want to do the spare HD method the next best way is to:
    Boot up the TI rescue CD and create the image with it. This will quickly indicate is all your devices can be seen and if the image creates that the drivers are working reasonably well.

    Then, still using the TI CD, Valdiate the archive. This will show if TI can successfully read the archive and successfully recreate the thousands of checksums. If only one is bad the archive will be declared corrupt. If the valiate fails the problem may be a Linux driver issue or a hardware issue such as bad RAM, bad disk sectore, cable, etc.

    If the validate works then go through the restore wizard as if you were going to restore. When you get to the last screen without any problem, then cancel out of the wizard instead of clicking the Proceed button.

    Not as good as a restore to a spare HD but a pretty good test.
     
  5. FQTWER

    FQTWER Registered Member

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    Thanks seekforever

    Is this what you mean? I own Acornis TI home 2009, is this version 11? So I can follow GroverH's instruction here to create TrueImageHome Rescue CD with my own portable CD, just by selecting ""create bootable rescue media" within TI, and follow the steps.
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthrephp?t=188253
    Then my rescue CD is created.

    I have to do a full image backup (that is backup all C:, D:, E: drive) to create TI rescue CD, as partial backups can not be used for the purpose of creating rescue CD. (A full image backup will takes 13 hrs for me). So that means every month at least, I should create an full image backup as rescue CD? This is quite time consuming, is that something you can recommend to make this step more efficient. At the moment, I have an initial full image backup for my whole hard drive to external drive, then weekly incremental backups to add on. So if my rescue CD contains my initial full image backup, then if disaster happens, my pc can only back to the initial state, then what I do is to add the following incremental backups to it, then my pc will back to what it was before the disaster. Is this what you mean? My backup takes 20GB, so I need to buy a portable CD with more than 20 GB for each full backup, right? As at the moment, I backup to external crappy drive. So I cannot use my crappy drive to make rescue CD, I must use a CD, is this right? But then I think you said I can create a full image backup to external USB or crappy drive as bootable CD? I am a bit confused. Sorry, I am new to image backup, not sure if I got it right.

    thanks alot
    TWER
     
  6. alan_b

    alan_b Registered Member

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    Fundamental error in "So if my rescue CD contains my initial full image backup,".

    The rescue CD is used to boot the P.C. even when the operating system is broken.
    The Boot Rescue CD is not intended to contain a 20 GB image.
    I am surprised that you can do this.

    13 hours for a 20 GB image is ridiculous.
    Is this when creating a series of CD's, or when writing to the external hard Drive ?

    Before I pensioned off an old Windows 98 P.C. I copied the entire system to a partition on a USB connected external drive. A total of 3 GB uncompressed files were transferred in half a day, because the old P.C. used USB1.

    My 4 year old P.C. has USB2, and creates a 5 GB (after compression) image in 6 minutes on the same external drive.

    You should need less than half an hour to create a 20 GB image using an external USB2 drive, and even faster if you use faster interfaces (e.g. SATA / FireWire etc.) or even faster if you put the image on a different internal hard drive, or if you put it on a separate partition on the main internal drive.

    Regards
    Alan
     
  7. VEB

    VEB Registered Member

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    FQTWER,
    1. Backup archives and Resque CD are completelly different things. Resque CD is a media to boot up your PC and perform any backup/restore actions. The backup archives you will create or resore from could be located on any other media - local HDD, external HDD, flash drive, other CD/DVD, etc.
    2. What to back up is up to you and your requirements. You can back up all the drives or just one or two. Considering disaster recovery that you want to achieve, I would suggest 2 backups: complete image of system partition (it's likely C:) =with= MBR; file backup of the other drives.
    3. You don't need to boot from Resque CD to perform backup operations. If TI is installed into your system, it can run on the background while you're working. Alternatively, you can schedule TI to make a backup when you're away.
    4. Having a full backup, you can then do incremental or differential backups. The difference is that to restore your PC up to the state as of last backup, in 1st case you'll need full backup and all incr. backups; while in the 2nd case you'll need full backup and only 1 differential backup.
    5. I recommend using compression when performing backups. It significantly reduces the size of the resulting file, while current CPU power is enough to keep the processing speed in reasonable timings.
    6. As a resque media, you can use CD, USB flash drive, external HDD, etc. However, using any other than CD/DVD requires some tricks. You can even use the main HDD in your PC (in this case you will need to create Acronis Secure Zone on it), but it will not save you in a case of the HDD hardware fault.
    Hope this will help.
     
  8. FQTWER

    FQTWER Registered Member

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    Thanks Alan and VEB

    I am not a computer techie, and easy mess up things. I did my first full image backup for all my drives (C, D, E drive - 20 GB size) in 13 hrs. I think it is extremely ridiculous, I wasnt expect that long. So how can I use compression to speed up backup. As this sounds great to me ! I dont seem to find a compression backup button within TI, or you mean using another software for this purpose?

    Alan- you also said "The Boot Rescue CD is not intended to contain a 20 GB image.", I am confused, what should the rescue CD contain? Only my program in C drive? so how can I restore my others files in D and E drive? Can you explain a bit more?

    Because I am a newbie, to make things easier to myself, it sounds like I should do full image backup to my external drive, plus do another full image backup to rescue rebootable CD. So I have 2 copies to rescue myself from disaster. Is this what you mean? Because once the backup speed up to half an hour each (as Alan predicts), so it only takes me about 1-2hrs to get this done.

    VEB, you mentioned that I can do a full image backup of all my system, then a differential backup afterward. So if I do 1 full image backup, then 4 differential backup afterward. Do you mean I need to do this to rescue bootable CD, then when I restore my pc, I use the 1st full image backup, plus 4th differential backup, my pc will be backup to what its original function. Is this what you mean?

    thanks alot
    TWER
     
  9. alan_b

    alan_b Registered Member

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    I used the T.I facility to create a Boot Rescue C.D.
    I just plugged it in, and the CD properties shows
    "Used Space 46,137,344 bytes 44.0 MB"

    It knows NOTHING about my 5 GB (or your 20 GB) of data.
    It only has the intelligence to ask you the source and destination
    and then to restore from your chosen archive to your chosen drive/partition.
    I believe it can also work the other way, i.e. create an archive corresponding to your choice of drive etc. - but I have never tried this.

    My laptop suffers a common limitation, it cannot boot from a DVD, only from a CD.
    The BOOT Rescue CD is happy, after booting, to use a series of DVDs to access an image in 4.7 GB chunks. It may be able to use CD's for a series of 700 MB chunks, but I would not have the patience for that.

    I only create a FULL image on my external drive. This holds MANY images so I can easily restore to an earlier state to see if today's problem existed before SP3 was installed - etc. It also means that if the last FULL image has become corrupted when I really needed it, I have earlier images to fall back without having to re-install Windows.
    I do NOT validate when I create. I found validation took 50 times as long because it stupidly revalidated the new image plus all 50 older images.

    A new un-validated image is then copied from the external drive to a spare partition on the internal drive, and replaces the previous copy of an older image. This new copy is then validated on the internal drive which proves the external image is also valid.

    I now have TWO identical and proven valid images, one on the internal partition, and one on the external drive.

    I strongly advise against one image to hold C: + D: + E: etc.
    Create separate images for each - if something goes wrong you still have the other two.
    Ensure duplication of C:\ image. If you can restore C:\ you can search for help to retrieve or download the things you had on D:\ or E\


    VEB
    I disagree with your point 4.
    If you have a FULL image followed by a succession of Incremental or Differential images, you still need the lot.
    Using incremental, T.I will automatically validate and restore the FULL image,
    and then validate and restore each increment in sequence, and if any increment is corrupted you cannot proceed through that.
    Using Differential it validates and restores the FULL image, after which it only has to validate and restore the final Differential - it has no need for the intermediate Differentials,
    BUT UNFORTUNATELY before it does what is needed, it wastes time and effort validating all the intermediate Differentials,
    and if any UN-NEEDED differential is corrupt, that is excuse enough to abort the restore and leave the P.C. without an operating system.

    Both Differential and Incremental images have similar risks - if one gets corrupted the whole series is unusable for restoration.

    For minimal risk I only create ONE FIRST Differential for a FULL image, and when I want to create a further Differential I relocate the "first differential" to a separate folder before I create another "FIRST Differential".

    Incidentally, two years ago I created a FULL image that was 5 GB. I then remembered a little tweak I had forgotten. and half an hour after the FULL image I created a Differential which was 2 GB ! ! !
    Recently I discovered that when the disk is de-fragmented, T.I. will consider as new data to be put in a differential any change, even if it is NOT new data content, but a new sector to which it is relocated.
    Automatic De-fragmentation is now disabled, and one week after creating a FULL image the Differential still needs only 100 MB.
     
  10. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    I only do Full but now with the increase in the size of everything these days, the temptation to start using incrementals or differentials in increasing. I really don't know why it is such a problem for Acronis to more selectively validate archives stored under their "scheme". I only do manual images of my C drive and I specify my own filename etc and don't bother with any of the automatic scheduling, locations whatever so my validates only validate the last archive I did. If my last archive was an incremental then it would validate the entire archive, not just the incremental but not every archive in the folder. While such behaviour may not be what you want timewise, it isn't totally bad since it does give increased confidence in the status of the whole archive which is what you need for a restore. My current soapbox TI issue is that a HD on which some archives were stored developed bad sectors and found 2 images were bad. They had been done a couple months ago and validated at creation. This was not known until I went to restore C to an earlier point in time.

    To be a little more specific, a corrupted incremental renders that incremental and all later ones to be unuseable, not the whole series.

    AFAIK, although you need all the differentials to validate (there may be exceptions to this) you do not need them all to restore. My understanding is that TI will restore the Full and any good differential.
     
  11. FQTWER

    FQTWER Registered Member

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    Thanks Alan & seekforever

    Alan - you said a Boot Rescue C.D is only 44.0 MB in size, but your data is 5 GB (or mine is 20 GB) of data. So I dont need to backup all my computer data to rescue CD, right?? May I ask What exactly is in the rescue CD? I thought it was a clone to my whole pc, maybe I am wrong? OR it is smaller in size because TI compress it?? Can you clarify this please? The more I learn about TI, the more i realize I dont know.

    Also, is that a way to compress my date, so my full image backup does not take that long ( which currently takes 13hrs for 20GB).

    You also said "I strongly advise against one image to hold C: + D: + E: etc.", so if I create a full backup1 for C: drive, then backup2 for D: drive, backup3 for E: drive. Then when something bad happen, do I just reboot from rebootable rescue CD is enough to restore my computer? Or I also need to restore from all seperate full backup from C:, D:, E: drive? I am still not sure with this.

    thanks alot
    TWER
     
  12. alan_b

    alan_b Registered Member

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    You are probably correct - but it is dangerous trying to restore something that fails validation.

    I was still focussed upon a novice level for the benefit of FQTWER

    To slightly append my previous emphatic declaration :-
    Both Differential and Incremental images have similar risks - if one gets corrupted the whole series is unusable for restoration.
    But with either type, if you delete/remove the corrupted portion you have a smaller series that can be validated and is then safe for restoration. Unfortunately Acronis fails to indicate which image file has the checksum errors, so you do not know which one to remove.

    To elaborate :-

    The problem is that if you omit to validate first, then should the archive have been damaged since creation, any restoration will only abort after the partition has been deleted and has then been partially repopulated with bytes of data up to the point where a checksum error is detected - leaving you with a big empty hole on the disc. BIG BIG BIG problem for anyone who has not got a boot rescue CD to give them a second chance.

    I had a folder with 1 FULL image plus several DIFF images. All good and validated O.K.
    I corrupted DIFF no 3 (or there-abouts) by replacing it with a text file that had the same name.
    No matter which DIFF I selected for validation, the entire series was declared corrupt with no indication where the problem was.
    Only if I deleted the text file simulation would Acronis validate the FULL plus the first 2 DIFFs as a series, whilst DIFF 4 onwards was no longer a part of any series.

    I conclude that if a corrupted file is removed, it is possible to validate and restore the earlier part.
    We are agreed that it is impossible to restore from a Incremental that follows a corruption.
    Restoration from a DIFF only NEEDS that DIFF and the FULL to be error free,
    and does NOT NEED that the other DIFFs be good - BUT what does Acronis WANT ? Could Acronis have additional superfluous requirements for integrity of other parts of the series ? It has already proven that to validate only the FULL image it also requires that all the DIFFs must also be valid.

    Incidental aggravation - I renamed the latest DIFF to replace the corrupted DIFF so that the whole series had perfect checksums. Acronis immediately had a hissy fit - obviously the original file name it was created with was embedded within the file, so it immediately saw it was being cheated.
    I wonder how many more booby traps it has - but life is too short ! !
     
  13. alan_b

    alan_b Registered Member

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    FQTWER

    The Rescue CD is only 44 MB because it is pig ignorant,
    not because a Windows operating system is compressed inside.
    It cannot run an excel spreadsheet.
    It does not have your emails.

    The Rescue CD allows you to choose which particular 20 GB archive image you want to retrieve, and which drive / partition(s) you wish to restore, and then it does the transfer and hopefully the computer will work again.

    If something bad happens :-

    If the computer will not work, the system partition (normally C:\) will need to be restored by the Boot Rescue CD, using any one of several image files.
    You can have all drives/partitions captured into 20 GB image files if you wish.
    I have individual images for each partition, and my 3.5 GB used space C:\ is compressed to a 2.5 GB image.
    Upon disaster I can recover in 3 minutes from my 2.5 GB image
    If I had a 20 GB image of all partitions, it would take 24 minutes to restore all partitions.
    To restore only the 2.5 GB portion corresponding to C:\ out of a 20 GB set of other portions should not take longer than 24 minutes, but it will probably take much longer than 3 minutes.
    ADDITIONALLY, 20 GB file uses 8 times the number of tracks / clusters / sectors, and is 8 times as likely to suffer a random chkdsk etc. corruption,
    and therefore 8 times the risk that you cannot restore drive C:\, even though the corruption has only affected the data corresponding to drive E:\.

    If the computer boots, then C:\ and Windows, Acronis, etc are functional, and the Boot Rescue CD is not needed for restoring D:\ and E:\ etc.

    With luck you will not be unlucky.

    If you are unlucky, you probably only need to restore one of the partitions,
    and restoration will be much faster and more reliable if you have an archive image dedicated to that partition.

    If you are extremely unlucky then all partitions could fail together.
    Restoring each partition from the corresponding archive is slightly more tedious, but is almost as fast, as having all the partitions captured in one image. And if there is a failure you can still restore the other partitions.

    If you are extremely unlucky, and all partitions have failed, then if you only have a composite image of all partitions you will be a victim of Murphy's Law - your unlucky streak will continue ! !

    Incidentally if all C\, D:\, and E:\ items are partitions within a solitary physical drive, a total disaster to the drive could lose those partitions, and there is a fair chance you will have to replace that physical drive before you can get the P.C. working again.
    If however each item is a separate physical drive, they are much less likely to fail together, and if they do you can probably claim for them together with all your furniture on your Fire insurance ! !
     
  14. FQTWER

    FQTWER Registered Member

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    Thanks Alan

    The explanation clears up so much for me ! Ok, what i should do is to create a full image backup seperately for C:, or D: or E: drive. Then restore from that.

    I am currently backup all my images to external crappy drive (G: drive) which is 160 GB in size. My window is MS2003 version, can you see any problem that will slow my backup speed from this?

    I understand that I should not put all my eggs in one basket, what is the safest way to do backup. How many copies I should prepare? Can you share your methods?

    thanks alot again
    TWER
     
  15. alan_b

    alan_b Registered Member

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    My methods :-

    1. My last FULL image is 2608 MB created on 19/06/2009
    I created it in I:\ on an external USB2 connected drive, WITHOUT validation.
    I then used Windows to copy that file to partition V:\ on my internal hard drive.
    I then validate the new copy in V:\ to prove that both the copy and the original are perfect.
    Then I restore the image to R:\, another internal drive partition,
    and then a C:\ to R:\ comparison just to be sure to be sure to be sure ! !

    2. Perhaps once a day I run a task which invokes my user command script to create a new folder and move any existing DIFF file to that folder, and to then create a new DIFF image for use with the last FULL image.
    Today's DIFF is 213 MB, less than 10% the size of the FULL.
    It took 72 seconds to create, and 113 Seconds to validate.
    All previous DIFFs were validated when created, and do not need revalidating, hence they are moved to new folders out of the way.
    PLEASE NOTE - Your version 2009 may object to you moving images.

    3. Automatic defrag is never allowed. I do extensive defrag (BOOT mode etc) immediately before creating a FULL image.
    I like the pretty picture when the defragger finds a "hole" where a file was deleted and it shifts everything along to fill that hole and get all the free empty space in one chunk.
    Unfortunately a DIFF image is not concerned about changes to information in files, it is concerned about changes to the contents of platters/tracks/sectors. I once created a FULL image, remembered a tweak I forgot to do, did the tweak, and made a DIFF. Instead of my expectation of a 1 MB image, it came out as nearer to 2 Giga bytes ! ! The automatic defrag had struck at just the wrong time.
    Now, 2 weeks since the last defrag, the defragger analysis shows the disc performance is still 98.5% - It is good for another month ! !

    4. Before creating a FULL image I do a C:\ to R:\ comparison.
    This gives me a last chance comparison with a "perfect" system,
    reminding me of anything I created or downloaded and no longer need,
    and warning me of any malware that has got on the system.
    By malware I do not just mean viruses and trojans etc.,
    but also the sneaky downloads against my express wishes because Microsoft thinks it knows better than me what should be on "our" computer.
    After comparison I can delete what I never want again, and make any other improvements, until I can say "This is now a perfect system for future comparisons."

    Images take twice as long to create on the external drive c.f. the internal,
    hence my daily routine ignores the external.

    The last 5 FULL images are duplicated on both external and internal drives.
    The previous 30 FULL images are also retained on the external drive.
    The Internal drive also retains all the DIFF images corresponding to the last 2 FULL images so I can restore to any chosen day in the last month or so.
     
  16. FQTWER

    FQTWER Registered Member

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    Thanks Alan, I only have C:, D:, E: drive in pc, I have no idea how to create a V: & R: drive in my computer? Also how do you do different drives comparison (like you said C: & R: drives?).

    Also, Acronis has "one-click" protection, is this same as a full image backup? So if I do a "backup my computer" full image backup for C: drive, then also do "one-click" protection for C: drive, are these two copies exactly the same?

    Once I created a boot rescue CD, how can I know it is working? I want to be absolutely sure for this, nothing is worst than my pc gets crashes, then my boot CD is useless. That will be a nightmare! Do you have an instruction on how to test out this boot CD?

    13 hrs Image backup a week is very time consuming, I am wondering whether I can work on my pc, OR surfing the net, OR watching video etc, while I am doing the full image backup? As this will saves me some times. I think I did some validation while I create the image, not sure if this extend the time to create the image. Alan, if you only create full image backup each time (not incremental or differential), do you still validate it? I think you said you use internal drive to validate, but I only have 3 drives (C: D: E:) in my computer.

    thanks alot for your help!!
    TWER
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2009
  17. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    For a more comprehensive test of the TI boot CD, AKA, rescue CD, rescue media, recovery CD, etc) boot up the PC with it and create an archive to your archive storage device with it. This will show if it is truly happy and is a no-risk operation. The recovery environment on the CD is Linux and just because Windows works doesn't mean the Linux environment works. If you restore the active partition from Windows, the PC will load the Linux environment off your HD so it is essential you know the Linux stuff works on your system.

    After you've done that, validate the archive with the CD version. This will show it can accurately read the archive into RAM and recalculate the 4000 checksum/GB of data properly by comparing them with the ones stored in the archive when it was created. One bad biit in a checksum and the archive is declared corrupt. It is also a pretty good RAM and disk-subsystem test too since any hardware issues will likely cause the checksum calculation to fail.

    For a further test. Run through the TI Restore Wizard entering and selecting the appropriate information. When you get to the last screen Cancel out instead of clicking on Proceed so you abort the restore. This is about as good as you can do without doing an actual test restore.

    Absolute best test of the Linux recovery environment is to put in a spare HD and do a restore to it and then boot up the sytem. The reason for a spare HD is in case the restore fails. One of the first thing TI does before restoring a partition is to delete the partition. If the restore fails, you will end up with no partition, just unallocated space.
     
  18. alan_b

    alan_b Registered Member

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    I used EASEUS Partition Manager 3.0 Professional to create partitions
    R:\ (Reserve operating system if C:\ goes Kaput) and V:\ (Vault for archives).

    I find EASEUS good, effective, and I prefer it to others (I got it free).
    Be warned that ANY partition manager can make everything disappear in a flash if you do the wrong things. There are recovery tools that may rescue you, but you wont have the Internet to hunt for them.

    You started this thread by saying you were unable to post a reply on a previous thread. That was slightly inconvenient for you.
    If you have any such difficulty issuing commands and understanding consequences when using a partition manager it will be far worse than inconvenient. I strongly recommend that you first get hands-on guidance/supervision by some-one accustomed to such tools.

    N.B. There is no danger in using partitions once they have been created, perhaps by a friend.

    For comparison of partitions I use a "Bundle" of "Compare It!" and "Synchronize It!" from http://www.grigsoft.com/
    That is time-limited shareware.
    I also use Open source always free Winmerge from http://winmerge.org/.

    I know nothing of one-click - I do not think it is available on my version 11.

    You really should not waste 13 hours creating a 20 GB image. It should only take minutes.
    My first suggestion is that your USB interface is NOT fully USB2, or for some reason it has dropped down to USB1 mode - perhaps because the External drive is exceptionally grotty - or maybe you also have plugged into another USB port an ancient device that drags everything down.

    If you can get Windows to copy an existing file between the computer and the external drive at about 1 minute per GByte, then perhaps the software has a horrible bottleneck - perhaps software, or Windows, needs to be re-installed.

    It takes about 4 minutes to create a FULL 2.5 GB image on the external drive, after which I no longer waste 3 more minutes validating its checksums.
    That FULL image is copied by Windows to V:\, after which its checksums are validated in 2 minutes - faster than working through USB2. Validate checksums on the copy proves the original checksums had to be valid, and that the copy matches the original without error.

    When I restore to R:\ the image is already validated. My reason for updating R:\ are :-
    Easy instant comparison of what is now on C:\ with what I approved when making the last imge ;
    Additionally a slight hope that upon disaster I can use the EASEUS Boot disc to swap partition labels so that I can use the old R:\ as my new System C:\.
    At some time I will choose a dual boot mechanism and then I will conveniently be able to prove bootability of my images.
    For now I know that I have an image that my Boot CD restored to C:\ and it was fully bootable, and I have good hopes that at least one of the last half dozen FULL and validated images can also be restored and bootable.

    My daily DIFF image took 70 seconds to create, and validation of that DIFF with the FULL took 104 seconds. If any DIFF fails it is no disaster - plenty more to go at, so I was not bothering to validate, but now I have mastered a task to do everything for me I am happy for the computer to spend 3 minutes whilst I make myself a cup of coffee. You realy must stop thinking about waiting 13 Hours ! ! !
     
  19. FQTWER

    FQTWER Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2009
    Posts:
    11
    Thanks Alan and seekforever

    I have tried just backup a full image for my C:drive (10GB in size), it took me 4hrs, this is still very slow. As Alan indicated it should only take me 10 minutes, I would be extremely thrilled if it takes me half an hour. Alan, I remember when I first plugin my external drive to my pc, I got a message saying that if I use a faster port, my downloads will be much faster. But I just check my hard drive, it is USB 2.0 port, not USB 1.0.

    Alan, I tested this out, it took me 3 minute and 10 seconds to copy a 178MB software from C: drive to external drive. So you think it is a slow window causes the problems? But my window is updated with automatic updates, and I also go into IE to check out important updates manually. What you might think it is the problems? How can I improve this?

    Seekforever, I inserted rescue boot CD to CD room, then turned off my computer, turned on my pc again, a blue screen came up saying 'Acronis True Image Home 2009', then on the right hand side of the screen, saying "Acronis True Image Home (full version), there is a window icon underneath it. I clicked on "Acronis True Image Home (full version) =>manage and restore => select my first backup for C: drive full image backup, but then I saw no button saying "ok" or "cancel", there is no way to continue. So i tried to click on restore my computer at the top menu to see if anything happens (as I think as long as I dont click on "proceed" button, i should be ok), then a message saying "cant find archieve of my backup" o_O , I clicked on "cancel" to try to get out of this section, then "my first backup for C: drive full image backup" at the previous screen disappeared !!! I was afraid I did something wrong, so I removed the boot CD and turned off, then on the computer again, I found that my C: drive are still there, and seems to be the same, my C: drive backup in external G: drive are still there. But my printer for some reason does not work. I am not sure why it said it cant find archive, but I did not create any archive when I created the backup i think. So what should I do now? How can I create achieve, so TI can find it. And also how can I validate the archive? I think something must be missing out in my steps.

    Another question, When I first trial on Acronis, my build is 9790, but now when I checked in my account, it is 9796, also, there is a plugin download just above the new build download, so I supposed I need to download both the plugin and new build, Acronis site says images created with build 9790 can not be restored with build 9796, So once I download build 9796, I need to create a brand new full image backup for C: drive as well as re-create a brand new boot CD for new build too?? is this correct? Is this the process I am supposed to do it? Then if something bad happen, I just need to use the boot CD and backups I did with the same build, it should work. At the moments, I am not updating the build yet, as I need to sort out the slow download problems, plus the boot CD is working, but just want to make sure the above process are the ones I should do immediately after the download problems resolved.

    thanks very much !
    TWER
     
    Last edited: Jul 6, 2009
  20. alan_b

    alan_b Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 13, 2008
    Posts:
    100
    Location:
    Lancashire, England
    I have a DIFF *.tib file that is 237,555 KB in a FAT32 partition on the Internal drive.
    Windows Explorer drag/drop copied it to and external NTFS partition in 17 Seconds.
    It then copied from Internal FAT32 to external FAT32 in 16 Seconds.

    My Windows can copy over USB2 at 14 MB per Sec, or 71 Sec per GB

    My Windows can copy twice as fast from one internal partition to another on the same drive (I think if I had two internal drives it might be much faster still)

    Copying to a FAT32 Flash drive is about 20% slower.

    Your drive is achieving 0.93 MB per second.
    35 years ago I upgraded from 10 byte per second punched paper tape to a floppy disc and was delirious - if you had given me your external drive I would have thought I was in heaven ! ! !

    Your priority MUST be to operate at USB2 speed. You are currently downgraded to USB1.
    You said
    "I got a message saying that if I use a faster port, my downloads will be much faster".
    That was your computer saying I CAN go much faster, but I am crippled with a slow port.

    You also said "But my printer for some reason does not work."
    I am guessing that is connected via USB, and this part of the USB world is at a standstill.

    Perhaps the printer is plugged into one port and is paralysing all the others.

    I recommend that remembering to "safely disconnect" you remove all non-essential USB devices and measure the time taken to copy your 178 MB file from the internal drive to C:\ to
    1) A different Internal drive;
    2) Your external hard drive (Flash Drive disconnected);
    3) A Flash Drive (External Drive disconnected).

    If "1" is below 3 MB per second the internal computer needs fixing,
    perhaps it is overheating, perhaps the processor is failing, perhaps you have been taken over and are part of a BOTNET which uses more processor power for issueing spam instead of serving you.

    If "2" is still below 1 MB per Sec, but "3" is much faster, then a replacement external hard drive should sort your problem,
    BUT it may be possible that the USB2 labelled external drive is deliberately slugged to only USB1 because you need to make a simple configuration change via a special initialisation command or via screwdriver etc.
    The manufacturer of the drive can advise you,
    or others on this forum may if you post the exact details of the drive.

    If both "1" and "2" are below 1 MB per Sec, the problem is within the computer. You can probably get a better machine from the local second hand charity shop ! !
    It may be worth posting exact details of your computer. Some-one else here may be able to advise of a well known "feature" and how to overcome it.

    All the best.
     
  21. FQTWER

    FQTWER Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2009
    Posts:
    11
    Thanks Alan

    I did a test as your instruction:
    I copy a 120 MB file from C: drive to =>
    1. D: drive, takes 8 sec.
    2. external flash drive (with 1GB space), takes 55 sec.
    3. external crappy drive (can store 160GB, this one has slow speed download problem with my previous image backup), takes 2min+40 sec.

    I also did an internal backup this morning, and backup my E: drive (3GB) to my D:drive (still have 5GB free space) for only 4 mins. But back up my E: drive to this crappy external drive will take 45 mins as indicated by Acronis. It is 10 times longer.

    My external drive is Maxtor OneTouch 4 mini (160GB) . I thought it was USB2 because I read one of the description in their info booklet like this "1. connect the USB 2.0 cabel connectors in the following order:" . The sales person says it can be plugged into USB 2.0 port. When I first pluged it into the ports at the back of my computer tower, I received a message like this:
    Hi-speed USB Device attached to non-Hi-speed Hub
    The USB mass storage device is a Hi-speed USB device and will function at reduced speed when plugged into a non Hi-speed port.
    The hubs shown in bold type have free ports that can support the Hi-speed USB device.
    (-) VIA USB enhanced host controller
    (-) USB Root Hub (8 ports)
    Unused port
    Unused port
    Unused port
    Unused port
    Unused port
    Unused port
    Unused port
    Unused port
    I have tried switched to different ports at the back of my computer tower with this external drive, still same slow download speed.

    So you think the USB2 labelled external drive is deliberately slugged to only USB1 because I need to make a simple configuration change via a special initialisation command or via screwdriver etc? I will need instruction to do this.

    thanks alot for your help
    TWER
     
  22. alan_b

    alan_b Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 13, 2008
    Posts:
    100
    Location:
    Lancashire, England
    After a 40 year career in Electronics, mostly Real Time embedded software for 8 bit microprocessors, and a few early days with a Data Processing department based upon 80 column punched cards (for which I correctly predicted the use of a single year digit would lead to a "Millennium Bug" every 10 years), my special skills are knowing only a little bit about many things, investigating and solving problems, and thinking the unthinkable.

    I am happy I was able to point you in the right direction,
    but I have no hands on experience to give further advice.
    I suggested using a configuration file, or a screwdriver adjustment to move a DIL switch, as methods used for various electronic products. They may also be relevant to some hard drives - I do not know.
    Your particular drive supports encryption. That is likely to degrade transfer speed.

    There will be others less fortunate than I that have suffered your problem,
    and can give definitive answers.

    You have measured a speed of 0.75 MB per second.
    Google had 16,000 hits when I "searched for all the words"
    Maxtor OneTouch 4 slow speed USB

    First I saw that your drive can take more current than a USB2 port will supply.
    The next good hit was
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=249143
    He was complaining that he achieved a speed of no more than 1.0 MB per Second.
    He received a lot of advice that may help you.

    N.B. if power is a problem, than an external powered hub is a solution, but ensure it is proper USB2 - I have seen USB2 compatible hubs that faithfully transfer data without error, but only at USB1 speeds ! !

    Best wishes
     
  23. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2005
    Posts:
    4,751
    Using TI with hubs has caused problems but it may help this problem.

    Does your external One-Touch have 1 or 2 USB plugs for the PC end? If 2, make sure they are both connected but you probably did that. It could be the high-data rate is requiring more power than your USB port will provide and it is backing off to conserve power (it might be that smart). Your time for a 120MB transfer does suggest USB1 speed which is 12Mbits/s vs 480Mbits/s for USB2 - these are theoretical, actual will be slower.

    To alan_b
    DIL switches aren't used in HD setups anymore. The controller settings if any are done by NVRAM and the process is now relatively refined so the PC and BIOS can make sense out of virtually any modern HD. The only mechanical settings on IDE HDs tend to be Master-Slave-CableSelet done with jumper plugs on the back of the drive. Older drives may have a cylinder-limiting address for backwards compatibility. SATA drives may have a speed limiting setting jumper but that's about it.
     
  24. FQTWER

    FQTWER Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2009
    Posts:
    11
    Thanks Alan and seekforever

    I submitted a ticket to Seagate support to request for their software download for my onetouch driver, as when I connect it to my pc, there is no software screen showed up, so I thought it may be not probably installed, which can contribute to the problem. I am waiting for their response, and thanks so much for your both help. Your generously helps have pointed me the right direction.

    Thanks again,
    TWER
     
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