Nature of Safe Mode Restore

What is the function of the safe mode restore functionality; is my experience normal?

Using TrueImage Home v. 9 (currently the second the last built), I had saved two full backups to the SecureZone. Each of them failed at about the middle of the restore process, with the message that he archive was corrupted. Similarly with restoration when I started from an emergency disk. Finally, I tried the safe mode restore, which succeeded by required more than 7 hours for the restoration as compared with less than one hour ordinarily using the full program.

Does anyone know why the restore would work using the safe mode, but not the full program? In a way I'm relieved. Perhaps it is over-optimistic, but I have the sense that maybe with the safe mode the problem with frequent corrupted archives, even in the SecureZone, may be solved. I know these archives are NOT generally corrupted, because 1) sometimes the same archive will work and at other times fail, even using the full program; and 2) what would corrupt them? They are isolated from software operation, and if some hardward defect was frying files, surely this result would not be restricted to True Image archives. Even so, seven hours to restore a 40 GB disk is no longer convenient. It seems to vitiate the slogan "Compute with Confidence."

 

I would run chkdsk /r and also perform a memory check. There are several suggestions in the forum for memory checks. Also do you clean your Temp, Temporary Internet Files, and Cookies folders regularly? Do you run Spyware checks and have an Anti-virus program constantly monitoring?

 

Have done all of the above (am I correct in assuming they are all good things to do ?), except the memory check, which I shall look into.

Thanks.

 

I would suspect that one or more of the drivers loaded with the full version are unhappy with your hardware.

 

Essential in today's computing world.

 

The Full mode is a Linux environment with Linux drivers and a Linux version of the TI program. The Safe mode is some form of DOS and it does not have USB, Firewire and possibly other support. It sometimes does work with USB if there are USB capabilities in the MB's BIOS. Most MBs don't have this capability even though they do support booting from a USB device. Your long time to restore is typical when running in TI Safe Mode.

You definitely could have marginal memory but if you've never restored sucessfully before, ie, this is a problem that has just started on a system that previously restored with no problem, then you may have a problem with the Linux drivers used in the Full version.

 

Hello srdiamond,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please see this article describing the differences between full and safe modes of Acronis Bootable Rescue Media.
Please notice that you can find the detailed instructions on how to use Acronis True Image in the respective User's Guide.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

I think that's the most likely source of the problem, where I can recover in safe mode but not with the full program. I don't have any other symptoms that suggest problematic RAM.

Is there any more that can be said about this? Which hardware is the lilkely culprit? My computer is a garden variety Dell, middle range, a couple of years old. I have a Dell flat panel monitor, an external Maxtor hard disk, a PS2 keyboard, a Kensington trackball, a Logitech wireless mouse, and a Samsung laser printer. That's pretty much the hardware. Nothing particularly esoteric.

I'm wondering about the significance of these being Linux drivers. Has this always been the case with TrueImage, or does it mark a change, as of say a year or so ago (when I started having problems with "corrupt" images). Is Acronis now catering primarily to the Linux and not Windows market?

 

Hello srdiamond,

Download and install the free trial version of TI 10. Use this to create a new bootable rescue CD (it will contain additional/newer Linux device drivers) and try that. Note that a rescue CD created via the free trial version of TI isn't time limited but can only validate and recover images; it can't create them.

TI is known to stress your memory subsystem like very few other application. Suggest you download <Memtest86+ v1.70> and run it for a few hours. There should be zero errors reported during the test.


Regards