Acronis still won't validate archives

I don't know how to do one. You mean I should boot up using the rescue disk, having made it, save an image of the C drive to another drive, then boot up using the rescue disk again and try and validate the image? I know how to boot from the CD drive so I can do that, if that's what you mean.

And, for the gallery, which swells, I notice , I now have the very latest version of ATI and I tried backing up the C drive to the D partition and it was yet again corrupted. This was using normal compression. I suppose I should try using no compression just so we can say we've done it. Sigh :-(

BB

 

Yes, but you won't need to boot the rescue disk twice.

Boot from the recovery CD, do the backup, then do the validate immediately after. Next boot to Windows and validate the same image just made from the rescue disk from Windows. Then post your results for both validations.

F.

 

Hey Foghorne, you got a cousin called Leghorne, by the way?

Hot News, puzzle kidz, is that the uncompressed backup to the D partitiion actually valdated.

I'm going to experiment further and report back.

BB

 

Have you looked in the XP Event Logger System Log to see if there are any entries related to your system when you have run the validation or on boot up. I am thinking of SATA errors.

You could try a different SATA cable if you are running out of options. That was the cause of my only problem when trying to validate and it was OK for everything else. If you don't have a spare try reseating both ends of the cable.

If the uncompressed works consistently I'd speculate a bit more about a memory problem. One could see where having to read blocks into memory and apply the decompression algorithm might put more of a load on RAM (yes, speculation).

 

But the uncompressed archive I made to the external drive, which got split into six segments, I observe, failed validation immediately.

I'm going to try an uncompressed archive to the mobile sata drive now.

BB

 

And that failed immediately too. I'm going to try a backup to the D partition at maximum compression, mainly because it's something we haven't done yet and it won't take long, I'm putting off too much I have to do here.

BB

 

Backup to the D partition at maximum compression failed validation.

Probably tomorrow I'll try off the rescue disk.

BB

 

Some of us in a similar situation can also get an occasional .tib which validates sometimes but not always.
Sometimes that .tib will be created OK but sometimes fails validation (always validates successfully on another computer which is known to have no problem with TrueImage).
Sometimes that .tib will be corrupt (always fails validation even on that other computer).
Can you validate this uncompressed .tib consistently without problem?
Can you create this uncompressed .tib consistently without problem?]

 

As with most faults which are difficult to fathom, and which have confusing symptoms, it could be that you have more than one problem. Could I suggest that you run chkdsk /R on all your drives. Let us know if you have any bad sectors or anomolies.

F.

 

The tib doesn't always validate.

I don't have problems creating tibs, I get no errors when making them.

BB

 

That doesn't necessarily mean that the .tib is valid.
It could still be corrupt.
Do you have access to another computer/laptop you can use?

 

Thinking about it, I do. What should I try?

I'm halfway through running chkdsk/r on all my drives, by the way, so things are progressing.

BB

 

You could either install TI on the other computer or just use the Linux based TrueImage boot CD (if you haven't already got a boot CD you can create it on your computer which is having the validation problem).
Try creating and validating a .tib on the other computer. Do this a few times just to be sure that computer can work OK with TI.
The problematic .tib file then needs to be accessible to the other computer.
This can be achieved a number of ways depending on what's easiest.
Possibly remove the disk from your computer and connect internally as a slave on the other computer.
Alternatively, if the file is on a removable USB drive then connect that drive to the other computer (assuming the USB drive chipset is not part of the problem).
If the .tib is small enough you might copy it to a DVD (a rewritable DVD is a useful means of transfering files between computers).
Maybe you can network the two computers to copy the .tib?
If you create a copy of the .tib then use a checksum program just to ensure that the process of copying has not introduced any corruption (this has been known to happen with some USB and/or motherboard chipsets, particularly when copying large files)
Whatever method you employ you can then validate the problematic .tib.

To respect TrueImage single user licence conditions you should not install or use TrueImage on more than one computer simultaneously.
So if you do install on another computer then don't use TI on your computer until you've uninstalled from the other computer.

 

And we have a winnah! The D partition reads, um, (peers over his glasses) "Insufficient space to fix security descriptions data stream".
Well! What can we make of that then?

BB

 

You could try this
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms832792.aspx

Seem to fit the bill.

 

Yup, that was very useful, thanks. OK, an update, very promising so far. I moved a whole load of files from my D partition and ran chkdsk/r on it and fixed it. Then I did an uncompressed backup of the C drive to it that validated ok. I copied that tib to my mobile drive and it validated there too. Then I made an uncompressed backup of the C partition to the external drive (not the mobile, that's different). It validates ok. So, when I go to the gym later, I'm going to try a backup of the C/D partitions to the mobile drive, at normal compression, see how that goes. It's looking good so far, eh?

BB

 

Definitely a step in the right direction. Well done for persevering.

F.

 

Here's another step.
A compressed backup of the C partition to the mobile drive validates.
A compressed backup of the D partition to the mobile drive won't.
A compressed backup of both combined, which is what we really want, to the mobile drive won't.

So I'm going to chkdsk/r the D partition again.

BB

 

Bill, have you tried a Restore yet? The successful validate "ain't worth a hill of beans" if you don't get a successfully Recovered drive.

 

Hi Ralphie,

I'm not sure there is much point in trying to restore if the backups are not even being reliably created. It is possibly best to try and keep things simple and solve one issue at a time.

F.

 

The D partition comes up clean. Damn! I'll try an uncompressed backup of it to the mobile drive.

BB

 

What was the longest that you ran memtest for ?

Is D: on a separate physical drive to C: ? (If it is check/replace your cable)

What happens when you backup from D:->Mobile from the recovery disk?

F.

 

Nope, that won't validate either. I'm wondering if I can backup the D partition to the C partition but I don't think there's room to try.

What can be wrong with the D partition?

BB

 

A) All night, 14 passes, IIRC. Clear, no problems.
B), No, it's a partition, C) I haven't tried the recovery disk yet, but I will!

BB

 

As suggested a couple of times already, I think trying from the rescue disk might be interesting.

F.