3633 very slow verification

Upgraded from 9.0.2337 to 3633 and found a huge difference in verification speed.

Both image and restore at a decent clip in Linux and in Windows. And verify is fast in windows, but slow in Linux. Time for imaging C drive with 11gb is 20 minutes in or outside of Windows. Verify inside of Windows is 18 minutes, outside it's 77 to 90 minutes! Working with WinXP SP2 and images are on a USB2 external hard disk. Have tried acpi=off noapic with no speed change.

So action plan is to image and verify in windows. Restore from Linux with boot disk, and verify in Windows.

Questions: Is it advisable to make an image of C (operating system) inside of Windows? And is this second verify necessary or an overkill? And if necessary, perhaps should it should be done within windows (if system not blown that is), then restore from the boot disk.

I have searched the forum and found many reports of slow imaging and restoration, but no mention of verify speed. Does anyone know if Acronis is aware of this and working on a fix?

 

Hello Milesch,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please note that you can start backup/restore procedure both in Windows and when booted from Acronis True Image Bootable CD. The reason why you can chose to use Bootable CD is that some software may prevent Acronis True Image 9.0 Home from functionning properly in Windows (e.g. block access to the hard drives like some anti-virus programs does).

Please note that the reason why the verification time is differ in Windows and when booted from bootable CD may be connected with the drivers for you USB hard drive (which used when booted fromm bootable CD). Could you please store the image to the local hard drive and validate the image archives both in Windows and when booted from bootable CD?

Please note that you can validate image archive upon operation completion. This can be done with help of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home backup options (please check Chapter 5.3.9 "Additional settings" in the Acronis True Image 9.0 Home User Guide). You can also validate image archive anytime you want if you think that it could be damaged for some reasons.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Thank you, Aleksandr, for your quick reply.
Copying the image to the internal hard disk, then verifying from the boot disk saw some time improvement: 53 minutes as opposed to 77 minutes verifying the image on the USB drive.

However, that improvement of 31% does does not come close to equating to the faster speed obtained not using the boot disk. Verifying within Windows with the image on the internal drive was 21 minutes or 60% faster than the 53 minutes and 73% faster than the 77 minutes. And the same speed was obtained using the USB external drive.

In my opinion, the 53 minutes remains much too slow and hopefully Acronis can do something to speed this up.

One question remains: Is there in fact any benefit in verification from the boot disk as opposed to verification within Windows? (Of course, assuming that Windows will properly open.)

 

If you select the "verify before restoring" option when restoring from the boot disk you want it to work. I always use that option when restoring since it won't cause your C drive to be blown away if it can't read the archive.

 

Not really in my opinion, the verification process does only check the integrity of the new image, it does not compare it with the original data in any way.

So I would think that it does not matter which operating system is running when you do the verify (provided this checking process is bugfree and identical in both environments).

Danny
---

 

I take a different view. I never verify before a restore or afterwards. My failsafe method is not to over write an existing HD but to replace it with a spare HD. So if there were a problem it is easy to get back to the original position. Having gone through the process many times I have never had to backtrack.

MY motto is " never paint yourself into a corner" and "never waste time in doing the unecessary".

Xpilot

 

Running within Windows may be faster becase the OS and file system is smart about paging, read ahead, etc.

You can use the program at http://www.standards.com/index.html?CompareDrives to compare the physical drives with the virtual drives that can be mounted by TI. This program compares based on filesize and certain attributes.

 

Stay with 2337 unless you have a good reason to change (burning directly to DVD's, why? with HD prices Even with a laptop, image to another partition then burn.....).

It (v2337) is solid for me....and has proved itself to me. I love TI, just not any realease since 2337! I hate any program that doubles in size, let alone causes me problems, or more user time.

TI v9.0.2337 rocks !!!!

 

TI significantly improved the performance of incremental updates starting with 3567. Perhaps, also for differential updates, but I do not use them so no way to compare.

I have not seen the program double in size.

According to the Task Manager, the resident Acronis processes of which I am aware have used very little memory as evidenced by th epeak memory figure, and I have doing a heck of a lot of runing with mounted volumes the last day or so.

 

Hello Milesch and everyone interested,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

First of all, please be aware that, generally, there is no essential difference between validating backup archives from within Windows and in Linux based Acronis Rescue Environment. As dheijl has already pointed out, in both cases the same backup archive integrity is being validated. However, we recommend that you validate your backup archives in both these modes in order to be completely sure that they can be successfully restored. The point is that successful validation of the backup archive in both these modes confirms that Acronis True Image works correctly with the storage device this particular backup archive is saved to both from within Windows and when it is operating in the the so-called Acronis Rescue Environment.

If the backup creation\restoration\validation process takes considerably more time (at least twice longer) when you use Bootable Rescue CD created using the latest build (3633) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home than it usually takes when you use Bootable Rescue CD created with some previous build(s) then, first of all, please try try booting with "acpi=off noapic" parameter as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

If that does not help then please create Linux system information (sysinfo.txt file) as it is described in Acronis Help Post for both Bootable Rescue CD created using build 3633 and Bootable Rescue CD created using some older build. Then please rename the files collected to sysinfo_3633.txt and sysinfo_xxxx.txt accordingly.

Please note that sometimes the sysinfo.txt file is not readable from under Windows. In this case please try entering the file name using capital letters (SYSINFO.TXT) or follow the instructions provided in this previous post of mine.

If you do not have a floppy drive then please take a look at this previous post of mine explaining how to save the sysinfo.txt file to USB flash drive.

Please also provide us with the following information:

- Create Acronis Report as it is described in Acronis Help Post;

- Where do you store backups?

- What is the exact size of the backup archive you tried to create\restore\validate?

- How much time did it take exactly to create\restore\validate this particular backup archive?

- If possible, try placing backup archives to any other location, i.e. any internal, external or networked drive and inform us about the result.

If backups are saved to the external hard drive then please keep this hard drive connected while creating Acronis Report and Linux system information.

Then please submit a request for technical support. Provide the files and information collected in your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov