TI-91, still corrupt broken backups and restore

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by kknostman, Apr 4, 2006.

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  1. kknostman

    kknostman Registered Member

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    1 simple question. Acronis, when are you going to fix the corrupt image problem on restore that such a large number of your testers (read retail customers) are experiencing?

    How many have to find out after the fact that your product guarantees they will have failed disaster recovery images? I'd like to say I'm lucky I only found the problem after using the trial version. However the fact that I cannot restore any part of my data over a couple of kilobytes without getting a corrupt data error means I'm pretty unlucky.

    And asking me where the data was stored (on a hard drive btw, and not raid) isn't a solution to the problem.
     
  2. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    A sarcastic (rant) reply has been removed from this thread.

    People, please do try to reply with helpful information or don't reply at all.
     
  3. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello kknostman,

    Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    Please note that the issue with corrupt images can be related to the specific software or the faulty hardware. So we need to find out the reason of the problem.

    Please clarify whether you create the image to the internal or the external hard drive.

    If you save the image to the external hard drive, please try to create the image onto the internal hard drive and see whether the problem remains.

    Please let us know the results.

    Thank you.
    --
    Tatyana Tsyngaeva
     
  4. kknostman

    kknostman Registered Member

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    The image was created on and attempted to be restored from an internal drive.

    It doesn't matter where the image(s) are moved to, they do not restore. The only files that can be restored from the image are extremely small images.

    Here's my problem. Whenever these types of forum messages appear your response is always always the same, to ask where the file is located. What does that have to do with it? With all of the people having this problem can't you folks identify where your problem is without asking us where the file is located, or some other obscure information about the drives themselved?

    Really, these problems are not drive related, they are software related. And there are many, like myself, stuck with unusable backups, in many cases the only backups, due to this chronic problem. I'm personally very upset about it as I trusted your application, your marketing people, and the reviews on the web as to the quality of the product. I'm now stuck with a backup with important files that I cannot access.

    How about releasing a version of the product, or a tool, or whatever, that simply restores without verifying the image. I'd rather force a restore in the hopes that it's simply shoddy coding that is giving erroneous corruption errors that not having access to my data I trusted to your product.

    Sorry, but pretty upset about this whole thing as it's been a problem for a long time according to other forum issue posts.
     
  5. Chutsman

    Chutsman Registered Member

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    I can understand your frustration, but the problem is not totally software related. I'm sure there are many more people that are restoring successfully than the number of people here who say they have problems.

    As a "shot in the dark", do you check your system for spyware and have an antivirus program active all the time?

    Also multiple usb devices and wireless keyboard/mouse are some of the things that make TI hiccup uncontrollably. :) Do you have anything in those categories?
     
  6. mwilg

    mwilg Registered Member

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    For what it's worth, I just had to do a restore of my D drive, which has a second OS on it, the other night. It restored w/o a problem and everything was back the way I hoped it would be (phew :thumb: ) after a check disk run succeeded in corrupting one of the OS's dll files (another good job by our great friends at Micros*** !

    However, to Chutsman, you said 'Also multiple usb devices and wireless keyboard/mouse are some of the things that make TI hiccup uncontrollably.' I don't like the sound of that - what exactly do you mean by 'hiccup'? I have a number of USB devices plugged in (game devices and ext drive) as well as a combo, wireless, Logitech keyboard/mouse.

    Reason I ask, is that I cannot get a successful disk-image creation of the primary C drive (see my new post 'Unable Disk-Image creation (+ gen questions)' w/some other questions included)
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2006
  7. Chutsman

    Chutsman Registered Member

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    Well, Mwilg, I mean that those devices tend to "throw a curve" to TI. So if you have problems with TI and you have multiple usb devices (especially usb hubs) and/or wireless keyboard/mouse, try disconnecting any usb items that are not necessary for the task at hand. Next, use standard keyboard/mouse devices.

    It just seems to me that there are many problems being reported by others who are using such devices.
     
  8. levendel

    levendel Registered Member

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    I second the frustration of this poster because I was and still am in the same predicament. By the way, software quality should not be the result of a democratic vote ("there are more people who do successful backup than those who don't!"). We, the "unlucky ones", did not buy this software to watch the "lucky ones" do great backups. Software manufacturers need to understand that there are many thousands of different configurations out there and that creates complexities which they need to measure up with.

    I would be glad to hear once the answer to the following question: "How do I need to set up my PC so that Acronis will work 100 times out of 100?"
     
  9. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Hello kknostman & levendel,

    Many users have found out that TI will sniff out "iffy" DRAM or too aggresive memory timings, which can lead to image corruption. If not already done, I recommend that you download and run <Memtest86+> for a few hours (preferably overnight). There should be zero errors reported at the end of the run.

    If nothing else, passing this test will elliminate your computer's memory sub-system from the equation.

    Regards
     
  10. Chutsman

    Chutsman Registered Member

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    I guess the old saying, "you can lead a horse to water .... " is still alive and well. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
     
  11. Cat-21

    Cat-21 Registered Member

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    Has this new version build version 3567 fixed the corrupt image problems yet?? I haven't tested............
     
  12. beenthereb4

    beenthereb4 Registered Member

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    There is nothing to fix in the software, just as there was no problem with the correctly made boot CD (when you had burnt a bad one and went off on a round of erroneous conclusions).
     
  13. tachyon42

    tachyon42 Registered Member

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    Last edited: Apr 16, 2006
  14. Cat-21

    Cat-21 Registered Member

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    Just for the record:
    I have been working in I.T. for almost 10 years. I have about 300 desktop PC's and around 20-30 Servers at my disposal for testing. I have not mentioned this, but I have continued my testing beyond the 4 machines I spoke about in the forum and didn't bother mentioning it. I have not completed a successful restore yet on any hardware so now I have tested TICorpWorkstation v.3534 on PC's from every major name brand (HP/Compaq, Dell, Gateway, IBM and an Alienware) as well as some servers and some white-box PC's for a total of 13 different computers. These computers are 100% functional and are being used daily. I purchased all of these computers new about 2 months ago for an upgrade/migration. If your going to now say that my multiple vendors have sent me over $2M in faulty new computers, my answer to that is "next time take the Red Pill!!"
     
  15. beenthereb4

    beenthereb4 Registered Member

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    Yeah, I'll concede that it would be nice if the software could be made more forgiving of hardware/software flaws/conflicts. However, it's somewhat the nature of the (imaging) beast to be fussy. Look at the companies that make a living by fixing corrupted files from the competition:

    http://www.swstars.com/services/corrupt-ghost-images.htm
     
  16. Cat-21

    Cat-21 Registered Member

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    UPDATE: Installed TI 9.1 Corp v3534 on a brand new Dell Optiplex running for about 10 minutes. True Image is the only install added to this computer. I created an image and even here I cannot restore it as the image is also corrupted as well. Now I'm 0-15 on TI 9.1. Then I uninstalled TI and installed another imaging product, backed up and restored no problem.

    I do agree with tachyon42 to a greater degree. Hardware is not made to the standard is was due to keeping costs down, however I believe that either TI is creating good images and failing with corruption because of an error in the image verifying process during restore or TI is creating corrupted images that erroneously pass verification.
     
  17. Cat-21

    Cat-21 Registered Member

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    Also, note that I can't restore with the Bootable Media. With that said hardware/software flaws/conflicts would not be as troublesome without Windows running, yet they are.
     
  18. Menorcaman

    Menorcaman Retired Moderator

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    Phew!! 13 different computers and all failed to restore :blink:. I just can't believe this is typical for any version/build of True Image. You have either cornered the world market for bad luck or there is something drastically wrong somewhere o_O.

    Regards
     
  19. Cat-21

    Cat-21 Registered Member

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    15, mixed SATA and IDE, you name it. It's not only me though, I have over a dozen friends in other companies exibiting similar issues all related to corrupt images. Like I said in another post they did repair the issue with browsing network shares from version 8.0 Corporate.

    Right now this "Corrupt image" issue should be Acronis' top priority to fix as other problems with TI are not as bad as this particular issue which I can imagine from this forum effects 25-35% of their users. I have found more people having trouble with the Corporate version in my oown observations as I have personally had 2 successful restores with the 9.0 Home Edition latest build.

    If I hear another "TI is just fine, your crazy...." line again I tell you.

    Acronis, this is crazy, let's please fix this and move on to better things like "Universal Restore". Believe me, I'm tired of beating this dead horse, I continue because of my dissatisfaction with the time it is taking to fix it. If I were in charge I would do whatever I had to do to end this problem quick. Check out CNET, Softpedia, Tucows, people are complaining. TI is your flagship product, end this madness..........
     
  20. beenthereb4

    beenthereb4 Registered Member

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    Hmmm, why would this even be important to you? You originally said you were testing it for a friend. You also say you have another imaging program that works. You have no money involved by your own statement and you have a solution -- move on! No sense wasting time on a program that does not work on "every major name brand (HP/Compaq, Dell, Gateway, IBM and an Alienware) as well as some servers and some white-box PC's". Hell, nobody must be able to use it with all those brands you have "eliminated".
     
  21. tachyon42

    tachyon42 Registered Member

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    This is the most extreme case I've heard of.
    I suppose something like this would happen if you were always creating the image files on the same brand of second rate CDs or external USB drive.
    You have, of course, submitted support requests to Acronis. You've been in regular contact with them and provided all their requests for further information. Naturally you've followed it up with regular requests for information on the status of their investigations.
    If none of that got you anywhere then it's time to to see if you can do better with another imaging product. Good luck with finding a better product.
     
  22. Cat-21

    Cat-21 Registered Member

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    Well, simply put I am a Windows and Citrix administrator mostly, though I specialize in mass deployments/imaging/backup/SMS/MOM/RIS, etc. as well. I have about 6-7 clients who have purchased Acronis' True Image Corporate products of all versions Workstation thru Server as well as the Universal Restore option. I don't use or suggest this product as I have my experience using other products that I have built a comfort level with (nothing personal). It is from my testing with my friend and these clients on-site that I come up with my 15 different hardware failures. My clients made these purchases on there own so no, I personally have not contacted support and have no obligaton to do so.

    I started this journey with one of my friends when he purchased one workstation 9.1 license. We were interested in testing this product for a future rollout that involved moving some machines to different hardware. If anyone has done this before without a "universal restore-like" feature, you will know that this can be a very time-consuming process. So with that said, our testing hit a bump on restoring with "corrupt image" errors. I received calls from other clients about the same "corrupt image" problem. Some were performing restores intermittantly, but obviously were not satisfied with this product's reliability percentage.

    My clients have all gone the support route and as you can see from this forum, the problems are not fixed yet. They asked me to check into it as a last resort which led me to write in this forum as I am astonished as there are a larger than acceptable number of users with this problem. I would like to see the corrupt image issue rectified quickly and professionally as it's what your customers and my clients deserve. What your customers do not deserve is this lack of acceptance of a problem. Look at this and the many long theads about this issue, I'm not the only one.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2006
  23. tachyon42

    tachyon42 Registered Member

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    It is common knowledge that TrueImage, like other imaging products, are highly hardware dependent. As such each of the 15 cases needs to be investigated individually as it is unlikely that there is a single 'corrupt image bug' which accounts for all the problems. It seems that your clients have been doing that in conjunction with Acronis Support. I can only suggest that each continue asking for help with their issue directly from Acronis Support. If necessary, raise the issue at a higher level within Acronis. I'm sure the Aconis Sales team would be concerned that such a large number of major accounts have such apparently insurmountable issues.

    As a customer myself I certainly agree.
     
  24. TonioRoffo

    TonioRoffo Registered Member

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    One corrupt image is too much.

    We're talking backup software here. If TI, by design, has trouble with writing faulty images now & then, well then, they should have a verify system, so at least you know it at backup time.

    Way back with V8.0 I had the exact same problem - I D/L'd the latest build at that time, and it made corrupt images all the time. There was no way to tell except to mount the drive (which worked...) only to find out that a FC between 2 files didn't match.

    I love the new features of TI, but quality control has been mediocre all the time.

    Learn a lesson from a simple software like "drive snapshot" - which has a whole lot less functionality, but at least the BU is rock stable.

    Drive Image and Symantec livestate brought a 4-way xeon server doing SAP to it's knees every time (bluescreens) at backup time - the simple drive snapshot software worked perfectly. I didn't mind writing batch scripts, and I don't mind building a BartPE to have a decent restore disk.

    I *do* want perfect images.

    I'm only looking at TI to do server moves to new hardware, because of the new universal restore technology.
     
  25. Cat-21

    Cat-21 Registered Member

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    Thanks TonioRoffo, and the software you mentioned is good, simple and working as I have used it as well. Acronis should know that most of us would rate reliability as our highest priority. With that said, please fix this potentially great product. You have so many good things going for you, why spoil the broth.............
     
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