ATI11: Scheduled tasks repeating every 2 hours????

With ATIH 11, which I am testing with a view to buying, I noted, yesterday, that Scheduled tasks repeated every 2 hours, whether called or not, and despite my setting them to run only once daily. This is goofy. Seriously goofy

I looked aruond on this forum here, saw the link to the Scheduler_update.zip file, downloaded & ran it, rebooted, cleaned my registry, recreated the task, and lo!, the same thing. The scheduler repeats every 2 hours.

I do NOT want this to happen, and will NOT buy a product as uncontrollable as this.
This is time-sensitive, due the limited demo usage period, and, if not sorted out before the demo period ends, I will not buy ATI11.
Please help, & TIA

 

It might help if you could be more specific about the details of how the task is scheduled. Maybe screen shots of each of the set-up windows.

 

OK, here goes, and thanks for getting back to me.

(BTW, this is the 1st time I've posted images, so please bear with me if I get it wrong, and correct me if so, TIA) Any comments necessary follow the URL to the relevant image.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5148/managescheduledtasksnm0.th.jpg

Please note the Scheduled time, "At 05:17:00 every day", and the "Last Run Time"

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/8194/selectbackuptypeuo3.th.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/5254/datatobackupselectionou8.th.jpg
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/1789/partitionsselectiontj9.th.jpg
These, I think, speak for themselves.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/5305/backuparchivelocationnn9.th.jpg
This is to back up the C: & D: drives to another HD on the PC, not a networked HD.

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5965/selectbackupmodesh3.th.jpg
Speaks for itself?

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/1562/prepostcommandsnq8.th.jpg

Explanation is required. "Backup Archive Location" specifies the backup to filename "MyBackup.tib" (why can't I add a switch to insert date & time of creation into the *.tib filename, I wonder in passing?).

The Pre Command "C:\Program Files\Accessories\Acronis\RenTS MyBackup.bat" runs a routine to change the filename "MyBackup.tib" to "<YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS>MyBackup.tib".

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7316/dailyexecutionoftaskdd3.th.jpg
Speaks for itself, but please note the "Repeat Task every xx hours" is unchecked. Despite the unchecked button, this is precisely what is happening, even though I only want it run at one time (05:17) daily.
That's my problem
http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/9086/pressfinishtocompletece0.th.jpg

And this is the summary,
HTH & TIA,
Jimmy

 

Unfortunately, the pics are far too small to see anything and my attempts to enlarge them just resulted in a blur.

 

For that, I apologise, ask indulgence and appreciate your effort & interest. (Please ascribe image sizes to inexperience in uploading images to forums.)

Perhaps, it might be better were I to step through the task verbally, starting with the "Scheduled Tasks, Edit Task" dialog. (BTW, the task has run again, even since my last posting...... ). I'll describe the Dialog box in the Wizard, then the checked button(s) or setting(s):

"Select Backup Type": My Computer;
"Data to back up Selection": Disks and partitions;
"Partitions Selection": Disk 2, drives C, D (both checked);
"Source files exclusion": Nothing checked;

"Backup Archive Location": Folder: "H:\Acronis Images\MyBackup.tib" (H: is on a separate disk from that hosting drives C & D);

"Select Backup Mode": Create a new full....

"Backup Creation Options": Pre/Post commands: Use commands, Before: C:\Program Files\Accessories\Acronis\RenTS MyBackup.bat; (Please see my 12:57 PM post for rationale)
"Edit Command": "Do Not perform..." is checked, "Abort..." is NOT Checked;

Compression Level: Normal; Priority is low, HDD Writing: Max; No notifications, Automatic splitting; Error Handling: Nothing checked; Additional settings: Validate is checked;

"Archive Comments": None

"Task Running Scheduling": Daily ONLY;

"Daily Execution of task": Start time: 05:17, every day. ONLY. ("Repeat task every x hours" is UNCHECKED, but it repeats every 2 hours anyhow, despite this button being cleared. ATIH 11 does the exact opposite of what I have told it to do

"Credentials": PC name/Username and both password boxes are correctly completed.

And that's it. Yet this task runs every 2 hours whether I want it to or not. And I don't.
BTW, OS is XP Pro SP2, and the Task Manager shows schedul2.exe running, and Local Services (services.msc) shows Acronis Scheduler2 Service, called from "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\Schedule2\schedul2.exe" as Startup Type Automatic. Schedul2.exe ver is 1.0.0.262.

I hope this helps in solving a problem which is starting to take up perhaps more of the time of both of us than it could be worth, but I do appreciate any help offered, as ATIH11 appears otherwise to be a good program, despite a few other little glitches to do with removeable media (that's for later, perhaps?.
Thanx
Jimmy

 

Well, I’m stumped. I’ll assume that when you said “recreated the task “ you mean you completely deleted the task and started again.
I run version 10, so I don’t even have a "Repeat task every x hours" option.
At this point, if it were me, I’d uninstall TI, then reinstall and start over. Any post by bodgy will have a link at the bottom to uninstall instructions.

 

Yes, I do mean that, I recreated the task after installing the Scheduler_update.zip

Likely, I'll uninstall, but if I do, I won't reinstall, just kiss it goodbye. I may set the "Repeat task every x hours" option to 24 and set it
Thanx your interest & help,
Jimmy

 

Are the backups being attempted every two hours actually completing successfully?

 

Yes, but the Pre command: Before: )C:\Program Files\Accessories\Acronis\RenTS MyBackup.bat) appears not to be working, as the file renaming doesn't take place.
Another glitch?
BTW, do Acronis Tech Support folks lurk this forum?
Why have I not heard from them?
This product becomes less and less attractive with every passing hour I do not hear from those who made it.

 

This might be at the heart of the prob. The tasks aren't running and are re-attempting to run

Anyway, is the batch file being called at all? Test with an echo command in the bat. That should help narrow down to whether the prob is the bat or the prog calling the bat.

 

I'd just remove the .bat command from the task and see what happens. Fudging with the command may be a waste of time if the problem still occurs with the command eliminated.

 

Thanks, guys, for the interest & the responses.
I confirm that the Task is running, because:
a) I occasionally see it in the System Tray, whirling about, when it is running;
b) I got up this am at 0630, opened the H:\Acronis Images folder, and the file MyBackup.tib had a date/time flag of 5/01/08 05:19, 2 minutes after the task was instructed to run.
Got an email notification that shieber had posted his reply, looked in the H:\Acronis Images folder, guess what? the MyBackup.tib file had a date/time flag of 5/01/08 07:19, 2 hours afterwards.

Got an email notification that TheWeaz had posted at 09:13, looked in the folder, at 09:20 guess what? the flag is now 5/01/08 09:19.

This task is like the Energiser bunny, it's running, and running.....
So, I will take the Pre command out of the scheduler, and see if that stops it.

And still the silence from Acronis Tech "Support" remains deafening.

 

At the risk of breaching Netiquette by replying to my own post, here's an update.
As mentioned in my 09:45 AM post, I removed the batch files from the Scheduled tasks, saved the tasks, restarted Windows XP Pro, waited. Watched.
Sho' nuff, at 11:17, the file MyBackup.tib, in the backup destination folder H:\Acronis Images disappeared, was replaced by MyBackup1.tib, with a size of 0KB, and the scheduler ran in the System Tray. I saw it whirling around, and around.

Ran for 4 minutes, and MyBackup1.tib was replaced by MyBackup.tib, size 4,684,805KB dated 5/01/08, timed 11:19.

Opening ATIH 11, I see: "System State: Normal" against a Green background, and:
"Time of last backup: 5/01/08 11:17:04
Result: Completed successfully
Backup tasks: Scheduled"

I'll happily send a logfile in text format to anyone who wants it, if it helps.

As if that weren't goofy enough, with an uncontrollable application doing what it's told not to, and the product and its users being unsupported by the folks who make and sell it, here's the really strange thing:

I have a 2nd task, designed to do a full C: & D: backup at night, scheduled to start at 21:14:00 every day. It ran at 21:14 yesterday, and again at 23:14, but didn't run again. At all, and the NightBackup.tib is flagged 4/30/08/23:16.
So why did it start, run twice, and then stop?

I am coming to the conclusion that this product, intended to operate in a mission-critical mode to ensure against data loss, is an uncontrollable - and thus unreliable - product, which fails and is unsupported.

If the people who make products are not prepared to support their customers when they need it, why should we become customers and pay them money in the first place? I am sick, sore and tired of badly-made and unsupported products by companies who care not one bit about the folks who pay their wages by buying their products.

If this problem remains unsolved in 24 hours from now, and if "Tech Support" continues to ignore this thread, I will remove ATIH from my PC, refuse to buy it or any other Acronis product ever, and will make no secret of my reasons if anyone ever asks me. I've had it up to here.

 

Hello JasPer69,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Backup software.

Please accept our profound apologies for the delayed answer and for the inconvenience you are experiencing.

Actually we never faced such an issue, so could you please submit a request for technical support with the issue description and the link to this thread. This will let us forward the case to our Quality Assurance Team and if they reproduce the issue, it'll be escalated to our Development Team. This can take some time to proceed with issue investigation but you can be sure we'll do our best to investigate the issue and fix it as soon as possible.

Thank you
--
Nikita Sakharov

 

Hi JasPer69,

ATI's scheduler will run task created by any user on your system - regardless whether they are actually logged in or not. But the programs user interface will only display those tasks created by the current user.

Therefore I assume that either yourself by using a different username or any other user has created that repeating task. You may check in the folder C:\Documents and Setting\All Users\Application Data\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts if there is more than just your scripts. You may open the .TIS files with any text editor to get further information about the tasks. They are plain text.

Another interesting finding: I can't set any interval other but 2 hours. Whatever I select, after saving a task and editing again the setting is back to 2 hours Just another bug adding to the other 100 .....

(would love to hear if its really it)

greetz
Haeckli

 

Thus far, since I only reinstalled my OS recently, and am debugging it, I have only one user on the PC, the Administrator. I looked in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts, and saw only 2 *.tis files. A search of the C:\Documents and Settings folder, and its subfolder, revealed only the 2 tis files referred to. These are both dated 5/01/08, when I took the batch files out of the tasks.

As to the comment:

you're right, apparently. I've just looked into the "Daily Execution of Task" stage of the "Schedule Task Wizard", which I set to "Perform this task: Every Day", and "Repeat task: every 12 hours".

This boneheaded application chose to override my setting and default back to "Every day", and cleared the "Repeat task: every 12 hours" check mark. This scheduler is junk. How much faith is a user to put into an application which performs so poorly?

 

Why scheduling can be such a problem for True Image isn't clear, but I've had problems starting with version 8.

As a result, I use TI only in manual mode and have no faith in its ability to schedule backups. It's just one of the many bugs that never gets resolved.

You just got lucky and found out early.

 

Hello JasPer69 and everyone interested,

We would like to inform that the issue was resolved by our Development Team. Most likely the fix will be available in the next build of Acronis True Image 11 Home. Please accept our apologies for any inconveniences the delay may cause.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

At least now we know: there WILL be another build of TI11
Now the question is: WHEN

Greetz
Haeckli

 

Hi all,

the new build is released - and: it fixed nothing

See here.

greetz
Haeckli

 

Yikes, he's baaaaaack ! Same OP, same problem. I'd reinstalled my OS, and, in a triumph of hope over experience (or Einstein's definition of insanity: doing the same thing over & over again, and expecting different results ) installed the ATI11 trial. Followed, to the letter, the instructions in the below email (sent to me by "Acronis Customer Service Department").

This damned scheduler still persists in backing up every 2 hours, and, even with the "fix" suggested by "Acronis Customer Service Department", refuses to accept any "repeats". (In Schedule Task Wizard, Daily Execution of Task, the only checked button is: "Every Day". The "Repeat Task every x hours" is unchecked.) Here's the email:

I intend to reference this posting in my reply, and again state my belief that a backup product whose scheduler fails to perform as the user requires, is one hardly likely to be reliable in its core task - that of saving & recovering critical user data.

Likewise, a product which goes unsupported by those who make it, is hardly deserving of the support of those who might buy it. If not fixed in 10 days, I will take this trial off my PC, and never again will any Acronis product sully any PC of mine. OK, Acronis - over to you,
Jimmy

 

For what it's worth, the procedure outlined in #21 fixed my parents computer, which had the same problem of starting a backup every 2 hours... Thanks for posting it- sorry it didn't help you!

-Kevin

 

Hello JasPer69,

Thank you for using Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for delayed response.

Please notice that a new build (8101) of Acronis True Image 11 Home was released on 3th of July. We recommend you to download and install the trial version of Acronis True Image 11 Home with the latest build to see how the software works on your computer.

If the trial period has already expired, please submit a request to our Support Team. Since you weren't able to use the trial fully because of the program's issues, you will be provided with a trial extention.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov