commandline tool for dos creating corrupt images

Re: dos command line read error is still not fixed!!

Hi there. can you tell me is the bug able to be reproduced on your machines or is it just me?
Here is how to reproduce the bug.
Create an ms-dos startup disk with the wizard built in to windows xp.
backup your ntfs drive to images and put them on a fat32 drive like this
true.exe /create c:\xpsp2.tib /harddisk:1
The image will be split up into 1 gig parts. xpsp211.tib, xpsp212.tib etc
Make a note of the filename of the last file in this backup set IE, xpsp219.tib
next, try restoring the image like this
true.exe /deploy c:\xpsp219.tib /harddisk:1
Do you get a read error?
time to use the rescue cd.

 

Re: dos command line read error is still not fixed!!

Hello whocrazy,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Remote Server Backup Software.

I have forwarded your information to our Development Team. This information would let us investigate the problem under consideration thoroughly and provide you with a possible workaround.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva

 

Re: dos command line read error is still not fixed!!

humph, all I was looking for is a simple yes&no answer... Hey guys. is anyone with a similar setup to mine brave enough to test it out? if the bug is only occurring on my machine then that would suggest something is wrong at my end, at least if I am able to find someone else to help me try and reproduce the problem, then that info could be sent to acronis's development team (who are located at all points west) and we can go on from there.

 

very annoyed at the lack of a solution

Hello.
Right, thats it!! I've about had it with your constant delays and shabby customer service
(case #535522) and dont tell me you've lost the emails or ask me to submit yet another report using the acronis report utility
you keep telling me you'll look into it, or get back to me with a fix
asap but you never do.
I've not gotten one single email back from them with a plausible explanation. Not even a progress report or a clarification of the circumstances in which the bug occurs.
As a totally blind individual, I have just as much right as everyone else to be able to use acronis true image and all of it's features
Cmon you guys, it's been nearly 3 weeks already! I will set a deadline of may the 15th and if the issue isn't resolved by then I'm switching to a rival product!!!
Good day!!!

 

As you await what will hopefully be a satisfactory response to you from Acronis....I have taken the liberty to merge the three threads you have created to better serve you in keeping all relevant info together.

Please do not start yet another thread concerning this same issue. Simply give Acronis time to respond to your latest queries concerning this matter.

Regards,
Bubba

 

Thanks bubba, and sorry for the inconvenience.
I promise you guys that when I get an answer back from acronis with a fix I'll let you all know. I really do want this sorted out.
People often ask me Stephen, Do you ever wish you could see? and I reply No, I've never really thought about it, Well this is one of the times that I wish I can see. If I could see, I'd just use the rescue media.

 

Hello whocrazy,

We are really sorry for the investigation of this issue being so time consuming.

I did have the respective person pay attention to this issue and he will proceed with the investigation as soon as possible.

We will certainly do our best in order to provide you with the most suitable solution as soon as possible.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

Hi again. Just an update, ACronis got in contact with me and said they weren't able to reproduce the bug. They weren't very speciffic on what they had done to try and reproduce the problem and actually were rather vague about it.. The more I think about it, the more their responses sound like they're being read from a script. It would be really handy to know exactly what they had tried.. Did they just try restoring with the rescue media or did they actually try my dos command line method
They asked me to do all these really odd things like change some settings in my bios, even turning hyperthreading off, but they fail to take in to account one minor detail.
It's only the dos command line tool that I have the problem with, if I use the gui (true image.run renamed to test.exe) the restoration goes without a hitch.
Further more, I've discovered earlier today that for some reason, when an image is created, if you split each .tib file in to 1gb parts, I'll get the read error at around 80% upon restoration using true image cmd dos, but if I create the image and split it up in to 2gb parts, surprise surprise, on image restoration, no read error. How very very strange,
in my reply to their email, I included some more info, like the fact that the ntfs drive is full of about 20 gig of mp3 and exe files and such, and that the drive has been compressed to save disk space. I'm not sure if the drive compression is somehow tripping up the true-image-cmd-dos.exe program, but I know something is, the gui restoration method works fine. I also tried running memtest86 for 4 hours without any errors
This is pretty frustrating as I'm sure you can understand. I never got read errors when restoring using true image 8 enterprise server. It would be really handy to know where and when the read error is. IE, which tib file and which file from the image does it stop at, whereas the current message "read error" is not very useful.

 

just heard back from acronis, here is what they had to say for themselves
Hello Stephen,

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response. Our Development Team still couldn't reproduce the problem even using absolutely the same settings
you pointed. I'm afraid that the only solution for you would be splitting image into chunks of 2 GB. We are really sorry for all the inconveniences caused.

Thank you.

I just can't help thinking that according to them, it's the end of the matter, though I am really intrigued as to what is the cause of the problem, and this question will continue to niggle and nag at me to no end.

 

Here is my email to acronis.
Hi there. I would really like a rundown on just what you did to reproduce the bug.
Did you use the latest build of acronis on a windows xpsp2 machine?
Did you use the true image cmd dos.exe from the trial version or the payed for version?
what type of computer did you test it on?
I have a p4 3.2ghz with 1gb ram
my c: drive is a st380021a (ntfs) and my d: drive is a st380011a (fat32).
despite what you might think, this is not the end of the matter. Something must be causing the dos cmd commandline program to trip up, because the dos gui program works perfectly. As I've said many times, if I could see the gui, I'd use it.
It would really help if the read error message was more explanitory, IE which tib file does it get up to before it stops?
Which file or folder is being restored?
This situation is partly your fault.. If the program gave more information I'd have a better idea on the cause of this mess. As it stands, whenever I create a new backup, I have to remember to stplit the files up in to 2 gb chunks instead of 1gb which is the default, and I'm scared I might forget to do so and wind up having to bug people to come and read the screen for me.

 

does the stephen.tib > 4G?
you should convert the disk2 to ntfs. then

true.exe /create /filename:"\stephen.tib" /file_partition:2-1 /harddisk:1

true.exe /deploy /filename:"\stephen.tib" /file_partition:2-1 /harddisk:1 /target_harddisk:1

 

if I convert it to ntfs then dos won't be able to see it.

 

fat32 do not support a file>4G

notice:

/filename:"\backup.tib" /file_partition:2-1
it says that the backup.tib is saved on harddisk2 partition1,the partition can be fat32/ntfs

 

Arg!!! it doesn't work!!!
I thought I had it all fixed up by splitting the archive in to 2gb instead of 1 gb, but when I try to restore the backup, I get "operation has succeeded" straight away when it hasn't really done anything at all.
It must be a bug with the latest build, I'm going to try for version 8 and see what happens.

 

There's gotta be a workaround some way, some how.
If the gui is able to restore my image, why can't the dos commandline version do the same?
Obviously, there's something up with my computer or hard drive which is causing true-cmd-dos.exe to throw a fit, but it obviously isn't bad enough to effect the true-image.run gui for dos.
I seem to remember a couple months ago trying true image 8. I created an image of my ntfs drive and put it on my fat32 drive, and then I was able to restore it without a hitch. What has changed I wonder?..

 

another update, I tried loading my windows 98se startup floppy, I chose the boot without cd-rom support item.
I then proceeded to restore my image, but instead of a read error at 78%, It only made it to 33% before erroring out.
I have a feeling this has something to do with my ram, but when I left memtest86 running for 4 hours, there were no errors whatsoever. Am I meant to run memtest86 for longer?

 

Hello whocrazy,

Hmm, if your problem was memory related I would have expected it to also show up when using the GUI rather than just from the command line tool. Still, who knows - computers can be fickle things!!

Was that memtest86 that you ran or memtest86+? If it was the former then I recommend you download and run memtest86+ Version 1.65 from http://www.memtest.org. It's much more up to date than the original memtest86.

Running the test for 4 hours is should be long enough to pick up any errors.

Regards

 

sorry, I meant memtest86+
btw, there is something else I forgot to mention, Sometimes when I run the dos gui program, When I click operations, recover and then click next, it goes to a black screen. Then I have to reboot.
It takes several tries but eventually it will work.

 

Hey. it's me again with another update.
I've just remembered something.
There is a program I've mentioned elsewhere in this forum called copywipe.
I used it to erase one of my hard drives, but while it was running, I for some reason stopped it.
I believe this could be what is causing the true image for dos commandline utility to slip up.
I've reformated both drives and made some other changes. I'll let you all know how it turns out and if the true image commandline for dos program still slips up.
Chears

 

it's me again with another update.
There is a program called ntfs4dos made by datapol technologies, they have a chkdsk program that is supposed to be able to check the ntfs drive under a pure ms-dos session. When I run it, it says corrupt master file table, chkdsk aborted. However, if I use chkdsk from within windows, it asks me to reboot my computer, then checks the drive for errors and finds none.
Obviously, something is up with either something on the hard drive perhaps the mbr or the master file table, but the problem isn't severe enough that it stops windows from running, but it's bad enough that true image-cmd for dos notices it and falls over on itself.
I've also tried norton disk doctor for dos from norton utilities 2006, it couldn't see my ntfs drive, so I tried norton disk doctor for windows, and no problems were found.
I have a feeling that the fat32 to ntfs conversion program is faulty somewhere, since thats what I did when I installed xp..
I'm going to try and reformat my hard drive, then use the true image for dos gui (with sighted assistance of course) to copy the individual files to the drive instead of restoring the image.

 

Extremely unhappy with acronis true image, giving it up

bye bye acronis, and thanks for the pitiful product support. Obviously, you dont care enough about your users to clean up all the bugs that I've reported. It certainly doesn't seem like you care much for the vision impaired either.
I will say one thing though. The linux part of acronis, the portion that activates when you go to restore your system drive while running under windows, works flawlessly.
It's clear to me that the dos portion of acronis is pretty unstable. The dos gui portion is completely unaccessible for blind people to use, perhaps if they made it a 80-x25 text mode only interface, the true-image.run file wouldn't be anywhere near as big!!.
Off topic comments removed - Ron

 

Re: Extremely unhappy with acronis true image, giving it up

Another view. There is no DOS is used n ATI. Perhaps you are referring to the CD boot operating system, which is Linux.

You tried the program at no charge -- don't you wish MS gave you such opportunities before you paid?

Support, particularly through this forum is better than almost any other software I use, excepting those that also have well moderated forums.

sh

 

As requested above....Please do not start yet another thread concerning your issues. As such I have again merged another thread that was started this AM into your ongoing thread concerning your issue.

Having said that....I'll assume by your above remarks that Acronis Support is no longer desired by you. Given that assumption I'll take the liberty to close this thread before it deteoriates further. If Acronis Support wishes this thread to be re-opened to offer further Support they can do so at their leisure.