Problem with Email Backup

Running ATIH 2009. I have MS Office and Outlook Express on my WinXP Pro system. I use OEx for all my email. I cannot backup my email using the TI function for this. When I select it, first it pops up window saying it cannot find default email program, and says I should set Outlook to default. I just ignore it because I do not want Outlook as default, I have OEx as default.

Then when it shows dialog for backing up email, I select the OEx and Windows Address book for backup. I skip to the screen to start the backup immediately, and go. The status dialog opens, says it is going to back up email, and says it will take about 45 seconds. Then it runs, shows the status bar progress going to 100%, countinmg down time remaining to 0 when it shows 100%. But then the dialog and operation hangs, it just sits there with "time remaining:" line showing nothing for time, it is blank where the time is supposed to be, both status bars at 100%.

I have let it sit like that for two hours, nothing happens. No complete ever shows in the status dialog, and the program just shows that it is not responding in task manager. I have done image backups and sys state backups with no problems. When I look in the scheduler, it just shows the email task as being idle. I always have to cancel the email backup to do anything else, cannot even close the program itself until I do.

How can I get this to work? I have been able to just use winzip to archive the email files so it is not a problem with the files either.

Pete B

 

Hello Pete B,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

What is the build number of your program? Also, please close Outlook Express, start a backup operation and see if the issue remains. Let us know the results.

Thank you.

--
Oleg Lee

 

I have the very latest build, 9.709. I always do this with Outlook Express email closed. Note that TI does not even appear to create the file to save the backup, although it lists the task in the scheduler.

I don't know if it matters, but I do not even have MS Office Outlook set up at all, I never use it, but it still appears in your list of email message stores to archive. I just leave that Outlook option blank/unchecked and select the Outlook Express option (and the third option I forget what it is). Running IE 7 too if that matters.

Pete B

 

Given the small number of files associated with OEx you could just copy the OE folder to another drive and be done with it. Its located at c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\application data\identities\GUID (long hex string)\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Better yet, relocate the OEx folder to another partition to get it off your system partition, then when you have to do a system restore you won't lose all your most recent e-mails (assuming you don't image daily). Do a web search for how to do this, its not difficult. Then periodically copy the OEx folder to another drive for backups.

 

Yes, I do that. I use Winzip which has a backup/archive automatic function to back up such stuff into a zip archive (and Winzip does it in about fifteen minutes start to finish), which I store on the external USB drive that I also use for Acronis backup. As well, I have the email backed up in the TI image backup I have made, TI does that with no problem. It is only when I try to run the Email Backup function in TI that I have this problem, and I would like to have it working because I do regular backups of my system state, my data, and my image archive, and I would also like to have this email backup done along with the others as a unique backup. After all, that is one of the functions I paid for when I bought the software so it should be working.

If Acronis cannot help, I am thinking I will try making a backup by copying the email store and address book to another isolated folder, and see if I can back that folder up like it was a data backup. If that works it will tell me that it is not a problem with the email files per se, but rather a problem with TI.

Thanks for the reply.

Pete B

 

As I thought, the problem is with the Backup Email function in TI. I did the above, I copied the email files and address book file to another folder, then used TI to back it up as a data folder. It only took TI about 2 minutes to do the whole thing trouble free.

Now I am going to try to back up the email folder and address book up by just directly selecting the email file storage folder and the address book file storage folder and using them for a data backup. If that works it is a usable way to do this but it still needs to be fixed by TI. I will post the result shortly.

Pete B

 

OK now it is fully confirmed: the problem is something in the TI functional software for executing the Email Backup operation. I was able to directly back up my email storage folder and my address book storage folder with no problems, by running the backup as a data backup operation for those two folders.

This is probably caused by the TI software not able to handle the fact that, although I have MS Outlook installed, it is not set as my default email handler, rather I have Outlook Express set as the default handler. In fact, I have not even run the MS Outlook initialization setup wizard at all because I never use Outlook for anything.

When I try to do an Email backup procedure, the first thing that happens is that TI pops up a window saying it does not see Outlook set as my default mail handler, and tells me to go and set it to be the default. I just close the window and deselect the first option, Outlook, setting only the two other options, Outlook Express and Address book, for the archive. But when I do that, the process runs for a minute then stops and hangs. I cannot even cancel it, nor does it stop even though I use the Task Manager to end the process. I actually had to power off my PC to get the TI software to stop trying to run that operation. This is a serious problem with the TI software, I hope they can fix it.

In the interim until they (hopefully) do fix it, I will just use the Data Backup function to store my email data as I described. Thanks for the attention to this.

Pete B

 

I have the same problem on one of my computers. ATI Home 2009 freezes when I select to backup email or try to create a backup task to backup email. I have to shut down the computer to close the ATI program.
The problems that I have had with ATI seem to be never ending.