Not Being Able To Create Image File Onto External Hard Drive

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by jsaffer, May 18, 2005.

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  1. jsaffer

    jsaffer Guest

    Yesterday, I purchased and downloaded True Image 8.0 and I have installed it on my XP system. I have tried twice already to create an image of my hard drive (partitions C and E, both of which are on the same physical hard drive -- drive D, which I'm not trying to image, is on a separate internal hard drive). I am trying to create the image onto an external hard drive (the H partition), which is connected to my computer via a USB cable. The external hard drive has 300 gigs on it, most of which are free space.

    The first time I tried creating an image, it stalled with a half hour to go and there was an XP message saying that there was a write error of some kind. The second time I tried creating an image, when I came back to the computer after a few hours, the system had apparentlyrebooted. When I tried to access the .Tib file via Explore Image Wizard, I got the message that "this is not the last created volume of the image archive. Please insert the last created volume to start working with this archive." But my "MyBackUp1.tib was the only file listed on the external drive. Also, when I tried to check the integrity of the image file using True Image, I got the message the file was corrupted.

    So, I've struck out two times out of two. I don't have any idea why the image file is not being created the way it should. Can you help me troubleshoot this problem?

    Here are a few specific questions:

    1. Is the program supposed to cause a system reboot when the imaging is done? Is that the normal behavior?
    2. Should I be able to create an image file onto an external hard drive connected to my computer via USB?

    Please let me know what you think about these questions and any other troubleshooting procedure I should go through so I can get this up and running.

    Thanks very much.

    Jason Saffer
    Serial Number=<snip>
    jason@creativegrowth.com


    edited to remove your Acronis serial number! - Detox
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 18, 2005
  2. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    Definitely not.
    Certainly yes.

    Is the drive USB only? No Firewire?

    Can you try creating an image of your smallest partition onto the internal hard disk, and then copy/paste/move it to the external hard disk using Windows?

    Before the move, download this utility and compute the checksum with the image on the internal drive. Then move it to the external drive, and re-compute the checksum. Do they match?
     
  3. jsaffer

    jsaffer Registered Member

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    Thanks for this info. I will try making an image file onto my 2nd internal hard drive, to see if that works better. I'll let you know the outcome of that.

    The external drive is only connectable via USB, there's no firewire availability.

    Another question: my C partition that I'm trying to image is a FAT type and the E partition that I'm trying to image is NTFS. Would that pose a problem if I'm trying to image both in one imaging session?

    Thanks again for any and all input!

    ...Jason
     
  4. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    No problem at all. I can image FAT32, NTFS, ext3 and ReiserFS all in one go.
     
  5. TonioRoffo

    TonioRoffo Registered Member

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    I've seen some problems with external USB2 drives, and copying large files towards them (not only from trueimage)

    Try another USB port, try without USB hubs, install newest mainboard drivers.
     
  6. jsaffer

    jsaffer Registered Member

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    Hmmm, so maybe the problem is copying large file to a USB drive? When I chose options, I let the program "automatically" choose the file size. What file size should I specifiy instead?

    Also, how do I obtain the newest mainboard drivers, and how do I know if I've got the latest ones already or not?

    Thanks for the input!

    ...Jason
     
  7. jsaffer

    jsaffer Registered Member

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    HI all,

    This is a very frustrating and disheatening experience. It's keeping me up nights!

    OK, first of all, I did a search on the Acronis site for "mainboard drivers" and that yielded no results. Can someone tell me more about how to upgrade or update my mainboard drivers, whatever that is. Is that something specific to Acronis?

    Secondly, I *was* able to image my C drive (12 gigs) and E drive (80 gigs) onto my INTERNAL second hard drive. And, I was *able* to image the C drive (12 gigs) onto the EXTERNAL Maxtor One Touch II USB drive, after I plugged the USB port directly into the computer and not via a USB hub. However, I was NOT able to image the E drive (80 gigs) onto the external drive. I ran into the same symptom as before: somewhere into the imaging process, maybe more than half done, I come back to the computer and find that the computer has rebooted. When I click on the file on my external drive, I get the message that the file is corrupted.

    What I really need to be able to do is to backup C and E onto the external drive. That's what I bought True Image for! This is very frustrating.

    Any other tips or suggestions on how to make this happen?

    Thanks very much!

    ....Jason
     
  8. MiniMax

    MiniMax Registered Member

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    One tip: Try the troubleshooting procedures outlined in this post.
     
  9. reckon3

    reckon3 Registered Member

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    Judging by my post earlier this week and others; you aren't the only one having issues with TI and using an external drive. I never had a problem till recently- moved from 2000 Pro to XP Pro and have to suspect that is part of the problem. (used the program from 6.0 on) I could only only image my C drive (before all my partitions could be imaged) and what took 7 minutes to verify from the desktop took 2 hours from the bootup disk. Acronis lost the info they requested I send them; so re-sent a little while ago. If I get any good news I'll be happy to share it.
    Thanks- reckon3
     
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