Corrupted archive

I use Acronis True Image 9 regularly to back up my HD to an external Maxtor drive connected to my laptop via FireWire. The external drive is fine in all respects, in that I can read/write ordinary (non-TI) files with no problems, and the drive passes chkdsk with no errors.

If I try to verify any of the archives stored on the external drive, the verification proceeds until about half way and then reports that the archive is corrupted. If I try to restore individual files/folders from the archive, TI reports the archive is corrupt almost immediately.

The archives I am trying to restore are multi-part archives, consisting of one full backup and one or more incrementals. The behavior is the same no matter which archive part I specify to restore from, or which backup date I choose.

My HD was wiped out by a worm so I am running TI from the rescue CD that I made after I first purchased it. TI does not exist on the HD any more, so I don't know the build number.

I do not want to restore the entire partition, since I have re-installed Windows and the important applications.

Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Charlie Davis

 

Hello Charlie,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

First of all, please download and install the latest build (2337) of Acronis True Image 9.0 which is available at the Product Updates section at our web site.

To get access to updates you should create an account then log in and use your serial number to register your software.

Please create new Acronis Bootable Rescue CD with the latest build and see whether the issue remains.
If it does remain then we can suggest you the following workarounds:
- Connect this external hard drive via USB instead of FireWire;
- Copy all the volumes of the image archive to the internal hard drive;
- Try to verify the image archive from the Acronis Bootable CD and from under Windows.

Please let us know the results.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko

 

Thank you for the suggestions.

Unfortunately, my serial number was wiped out with my HD. Is there any way to tell the serial number from the rescue disk?

Charlie

 

I went to your website and tried to re-download and re-install True Image 9 but I am not able to. If I go to the product updates section and download the latest build, the installer wants me to enter 2 serial numbers -- one for the update and one for the original version. The first serial number is displayed on the web page, but since my disk was wiped clean, I have no record of any other serial number.

There is also a link on your web site for downloading the installation file if the original copy has been lost. I tried that too, with the same results -- the installer wants me to enter 2 serial numbers, claiming that I am trying to upgrade. So I am at a loss how to proceed further.

With regard to your other suggestions:

I tried copying an archive from the external hard drive to the main hard drive, and using my rescue CD to recover from the archive on the main drive. This also reported a corrupt archive error and then crashed (rebooted).

Using USB instead of FireWire is not practical in my case, because my laptop only supports the slower USB 1.1 standard. Verifying an archive on the external drive connected by USB would take over 8 hours.

I hope you will have some suggestions for how to obtain an updated (or even an original) copy of TI 9 so I can continue to try to recover the lost data.

Thank you,
Charlie Davis

 

Hello Charlie,

Afraid I can't help you regarding your lost S/N. How about downloading the free Trial version of TI 9 Build 2337, use it to create a new rescue CD and see if it can recover the stuff you need from the image on the external drive? However, if the image really is "corrupt" then no version/build of TI is going to be able to help .

If it turns out that the image is corrupted then you really need to determine what caused it in the first place. Two things spring to mind:

1. Faulty or overclocked RAM. This can be isolated by downloading and running a copy of <Memtest86+> for a few hours. There should be zero errors reported.

2. An incompatibility between your computer's Firewire sub-system and the external hard drive enclosure's Firewire to IDE Bridge chipset. Short of changing the make/model of the HD enclosure, there isn't much you're going to be able to do about this. Check out these previous threads for more info:
<Who DOES NOT have a problem with corrupt images...>
<External USB/Firewire drives that work>

Regards

 

OK, I managed to find my ORIGINAL install .exe and serial number on another backup medium. This is the .exe that I downloaded back in October when I originally purchased TI 9.

If I try to run this installer, I get the same behavior. It asks for my serial number, which I enter, and then it says I am updating from a previous version and that I need to enter that serial number also.

What it is asking for

Charlie

 

Do not use the version from last October, that was quite buggy.

Download build 2337.
If you cannot get build 2337, then download th etrial version of build 2337.

 

Hi Modavi,

If TI9 you purchased in October was a regular full-price license, only one S/N should be required.

If, however, you purchased TI9 as an upgrade from a previous version, you got it at a discount granted to previous TI customers. To verify that you were indeed entitled to the discounted TI9 version (as a former license owner), the S/N you received with the previous version is required too, whenever you install any nontrial build of TI9.

 

The trial version of TI 9 build 2337 can read my archives, and I can now retrieve my data.

The only remaining issue I have is that I cannot reinstall TI9. I would like to hear from Acronis support on this.

 

I suspect that you will need to do all of the following:

1. Uninstall the trial version.
2. Download build 2337.
3. Install te downloaded build 2337.

 

I don't think he has the usual problem of not un-installing the previous version.

His problem, I believe, is that his TI9 serial number is for an upgrade from a previous version and it triggers a request for his previous version's serial number. He needs both numbers to complete the install of TI9 and he only has the TI9 number.

 

Are not the serial numbers available in his account at Acronis in the list of registered products?

 

They will be if Modavi did create an account upon buying the previous version.

 

I believe that seekforever may be correct. The install exe that I download from Acronis is asking me for my TI 9 serial number as well as the serial number for a previous version (probably TI .

When I log in to the Acronis web site it does not show any information about TI 8, only TI 9. I remember upgrading to TI 9 very shortly after buying TI 8. Maybe I never registered my copy of TI 8 with the Acronis web site, I don't remember.

At some point I must have had the TI 8 serial number or I would not have been able to install and use TI 9. However, I don't have it now. Back when I bought TI 9, it never occurred to me that I would ever need my TI 8 serial number again.

So the situation I find myself in is that I cannot install TI 9, even though I have a legitimate license to use it and have been using it under that license since October. I only need to install TI 9 again because bugs in the build I purchased prevented it from being able to recover my disk.

 

If you are able to provide some proof of purchase for TI8 you could contact Acronis. They may be willing to resend you the original TI8 serial number on that basis.

 

Hi!

If you bought your TI8-lisence in the online-shop of Acronis, then you should have got the serialnumber per email.

Otherwise i think the serialnumber must be in the original box or on separate notice in it or so, or perhaps directly printed on the CD.

Forellenblau

 

It's been a while and there has been no response from Acronis. If I have to pay for a license again, it won't be for an Acronis product.

 

Except for this delay in replying you mention, I wonder if it's Acronis to be blamed here.

 

It's not Acronis' fault that you do not have your TI 8 serial number.

If you provide Acronis with proof of purchase of TI 8, I would expect that they will provide you with a serial number.

 

Sure, I should have kept my TI 8 serial number. But at the time, I had no way of knowing I would ever need it again. I don't recall anything in the download/insall of the TI 9 upgrade that told me I might ever need it. For all I knew, I was buying a new license and that's all there was to it.

If I have a beef with Acronis, it is that they sold me a bug-ridden program that couldn't read its own backups. If TI 9 had worked as advertised, I would have restored my disk image and moved on to bigger things.

I am a software developer by profession and I stand behind my software. I had heard that Acronis provided excellent customer support. My experience so far would suggest otherwise.

Given my experience of bad software and bad customer support, buying another TI license just to get back the functionality I already paid for is a non-option. If Acronis can't or won't make this right, they won't get another dollar from me.

 

The only reasonable way for Acronis to make things right is for you to provide proof of purchase and ask them to send you a TI 8 serial number,

If Acronis refuses, then they deserve to lose a lot more than just your business.

 

Well said Kaikow, You most likely used a credit card or some "tracable" payment option. Look back for the receipt of purchase. If you know what you paid for it with but don't remember the date, I'm sure your Credit Card company can help you find the tranaction. Good luck.....

 

Yes, I always pay via credit card.

But, I do not rely on credit card receipts.
I have a separate folder for each year in which I keep tax records, and invoices, etc.

Also, I save the order from each online site as a PDF file, as well as printing the critter.

If not an online order, I scan in the invoice.

 

Hello Modavi,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Please note that if you could not find the serial number for Acronis True Image 8.0 which you should use when installing the upgrade, please submit a request for technical support and please confirm your purchase. Please provide us with your receipt along with the link to this thread.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov