Nightmare Corrupt Archive

Hi:

First time poster...I have a Hard Disk partition archive that I have used in the past to restore. For some reason, when I tried to restore the image, I get an error message saying the archive is corrupt. Funny thing is when I check the archive to test its integrity, it says that it is fine. Only when I try to restore the image do I get the corrupt message. And of course, as soon as that happens, the partition that I tried to restore to is messed up and the PC won't boot anymore.

Question:
Is there any way I can restore this partition using only the files rather than the entire image (the directories and files do not appear to be corrupt). The key here is that it is my boot partition and I have programs and data that I MUST restore. Can I simply copy all of the directories from the archive to the partition? Is there any way to repair a corrupt backup image?

Running Windows XP Pro SP3 on an Intel Quad Core (q6600 processor)

HELP!!!!!

 

Hello

It is positive it can be validated- I assume check means you have validated it with TI

Where is the TIB file located? What version of TI? Is it an image of a partition or the whole drive

How many hard drives do you have and how are they set up and configured

Have you tried to mount the image to see if you can copy some critical data files to another location

The more information given means someone may be able to help

 

The image corrupt message really means that TI can't read the image properly and reconstruct all its checksums. The image itself is not necessarily bad.

The TI restoration of the active partition, typically C, or any restore that includes the active partition is done by a Linux environment either loaded off the rescue CD or loaded from the HD after a reboot when starting the restore in Windows. There are cases where the Linux drivers do not support the hardware properly and this may well be your problem.

Other causes are anything the interferes with the checksums being calculated such as RAM, bad disk cables, bad disk sectors, bad motherboard, ... . However, since you can validate in Windows (I assume it was Windows), then the above are unlikely and the cause is probably the Linux stuff.

Boot the TI rescue CD and see if you can validate using it. If you can't then this is most likely the problem.

 

That's a good point of seekforever:

Check your RAM with memtest (see my signature).
Run it a night...

BTW:
When I notice that a validate works and a restore not I think about the RAM always.
I would test it before all other things (except checking cables).

 

I have Win XP Pro SP3 and TI 8. I am running SATA with all drives and IDE with the optical drives.

My C drive is configured as two partitions, the active/primary c partition which has all of my system and program files (the boot drive) and a second partition which only contains all of my I backups (logical drive F). I also have a DVD optical drive and a lite-on CD-RW drive. Lets call this configuration the 7.4 config. And the TIB is named 7.4_Backup.

In addition I have a third spare drive with a fresh Win XP Pro install on it, TI 8 and Partition Magic. When the first restore failed, my C partition became messed-up and I was unable to boot from it, I tried using my TI Rescue CD to restore the C partition from the backup drive and I again got the Corrupt Archive message (even though I was able to validate the archive before trying to restore it).

I then swapped the spare drive with the clean windows install on it with the bad drive (the one with messed-up C and Backup partition and the F backup partition), booted off the spare drive and loaded TI. I tried to restore the original Active partition onto the original drive and again failure. Finally, in desparation, I opened up the archive by mapping it as a logical drive and tried to copy ALL of the directories in the hopes that it would allow that partition to boot again. No luck.

It isn't just the critical data files that I need, I also need all of the installed programs (there are many) and the critical drivers. In effect I am trying to restore Windows to the configuration (drivers, programs, etc) that was running from the original C drive active/primary partition.

SO, is there a way that I can get back to my original Windows configuration by copying all of the directories from the TIB file and then performing some operation to that partition to get it back to being the primary boot partition with all of the programs and drivers restored?

By the way, I AM able to restore other backup TIBs from the Backup partition to the original C partition with no issue. It seems to be only the 7.4_Backup TIB that I can't restore. Unfortunately this is the one I REALLY need back.

 

I don't know of how you can copy all the files and make the resulting collection bootable but there are others on the forum that might be able to help.

I'll go out on a limb with this and suggest some perhaps longshot attempts at a solution in no particular order:

I'd say since you can restore other archives that there is a chance your archive might be written using a bad sector or a sector that has gone bad. There is a chance a Windows copy might read it correctly or recover it. Try copying the bad archive file to a different folder or device and then trying it.

You might download the trial version of TI2009 and burn the rescue CD from it. It uses different drivers than TI8 and it might restore the archive. Note that Acronis only guarantees one version back compatibility but their record is much better than that so it could well work with a TI8 archive.

You could run chkdsk X: /r on the partition your archive is stored in. Replace the X with the drive letter of the partition being tested.

Actually, I somewhat surprised you can run TI8 recovery on C drive images with a board that supports a q6600 processor.

 

I've actually copied the archive file to a couple of different locations and all versions restore as corrupt. I've never had a problem with the Asus board and the Q6600 with TI before and wasn't aware that there were compatibility issues.

I'll try the TI9 upgrade and see what happens.....actually I'm surprised there isn't a "Repair Archive" utility in the program....

 

In support of seekforever statement, I have recently bought a new computer which has the Q6600 processor and SATA drives, my TI 11 rescue disk only sees my external drive, even after using the various commands that’s available on boot.

After using Live Chat, support gave me a link to a new TI 11 iso to burn a rescue CD, this also didn't work and support have now given me a TI 12 iso that will restore my backups. I also have both a VistaPE and BartPE disks made on my old XP system (no SATA drives) that work without any problems

 

Doesn't have to be a compatibility issue but there have been some show up on the forum from people using earlier versions with new motherboards. So its worth a try.

A repair utility would be nice but Acronis doesn't seem to want to create one. I don't know if other imaging products have them since I can see where some bad data could really upset a recovery but at least you could give it a try.

Just to be clear: Can you validate the archive by booting the PC with the TI rescue CD?

 

Well a $29 upgrade to the latest TI version and problem solved. The new version restored the archive perfectly. Wish I had thought of that about 22 hours earlier! Thanks to all for the replies. All systems go, and no issues whatsoever with my Q6600

 

It would need to be to a diff drive or partition, otherwise, the physiucal locations where the bytes are stored are not changed, only the file table entries are changed, but with that caveat, good advice.

 

Special thanks to everyone here who offered suggestions to my problem. Much appreciated!