Recovery CD Cannot Access DLink-323 NAS

Using the Emergency CD, I have been unsuccessful trying to restore TI11 archives from my DLink NAS-323 to my Sony PC. System descriptions are below. I bypassed the problems to accomplish my first goal of installing a larger hardrive in the Sony by cloning/resizing directly in that PC (cloning C: to D: and then swapping).

So the emergency is over, but now I need to get the network drive working with TI11.

I have several computers and other devices network attached. I have "successfully" created three full disk image archives for the Sony on the DLink. I have also created a Recovery CD on the Sony. I have used builds 8053(?) and 8101 with substantially the same results, which are as follows:

When trying to access the image(s) from the Recovery CD:

- The directory tree shows the DLink drive in the directory tree as Network/Computers Near Me/Mynet/DNS-323 (DLink D-90111)

- Attempting to drill down further to the archive folder (/Volume_1/KitchenPC) yields a 10 second (rare) to 2 minute delay (Most often).

- Attempting to drill down to the file (/MyBackup(2).tib) yields a 2-minute delay followed by "The selected file is not an Acronis True Image Home Archive".

- Clicking on another archive yields the same 2 minute delay and result.

Additional Info:

- During the delay, the DLink NAS briefly flashes disk/network activity every 8-10 seconds. Were I forced to guess at what is going on, it looks like disk error recovery.

- The archives are accessible by TI11 from within Windows. I have "explored" them, and have also gotten 45 minutes into a validation before cancelling it myself. Having said that, I can recall times where I have gotten "Not an Acronis Archive" from inside Windows on the Sony, as well as on a network attached Dell running the 15-day ago trial DL version, which I believe is 8101. Rebooting or reloading Acronis has always cured that problem.

- I created 2 archives using the version I got in my purchased CD (8053 I believe), and 1 with the update 8101. While my memory isn't perfect, the problems were virtually identical when using an 8053 Recovery CD.

- Results are unchanged after trying "quiet acpi=off noapic" on Build 8101.

Any ideas?

==================
Sony Vaio VGC-VA10G "All-in-one" style
Pentium 4, 3 GHz

DLink-323 NAS
2x1TB WD Drives, Raid 1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822155003

 

I reported the above problem and sent all requested info files to Acronis support on Sunday August 3. On August 7, I was instructed by email to download a CD image of a new recovery CD.

I did that, and used it to successfully Validate a backup archive on the DLink-323 NAS.

I sent the following email to Acronis earlier today (8/8/08 ), and will post any reply here.

==================================

Customer_Support_Person:

Thanks very much for the reply. I took the following steps:

- Downloaded the image and used CloneCD to burn the CD.
- Inserted the CD and rebooted the target PC from the CD.
- The program loaded and proceeded directly to the GUI.
- I selected "Validate Backup Archive", and drilled down the network tree until I could click on the latest archive. Note: During this process each level of the tree opened with a brief delay. Under Windows, the expansion takes place immediately upon clicking.
- The verification process ran 7 hours 35 minutes to successfully validate a 181 GB image of a nearly full 250 GB hard drive.

So, it appears this CD will do the job. Please respond to the following questions:

1. What is different about the downloaded version of the Recovery CD?
2. Am I likely to have this problem re-occur with future releases of True Image Home?
3. If so, what do I ask for to get a working Recovery CD?
4. Is 7.5 hours normal to validate a 181 GB file on a Pentium 4, 3GHz, 1GB memory, 10/100GB network card on a 1GB network?

Thanks again for your reply and the working Recovery CD. I look forward to your reply.

 

That's really good news.

Problems like this with NAS drives show up fairly regularly. Yours is one of the first reports of success, so perhaps Tech Support has figured out how to deal with these problems.

One can only hope that this will be built into a new build of TI 11 and future versions.

I look forward to seeing what reply you get from Tech Support.

 

On Monday, 8/11/08, I received an email response. I have copied it below, minus names and some preliminary boilerplate (Boldface added):

============================

1. What is different about the downloaded version of the Recovery CD?

A. Basically it is the same as rescue CD generated by the Acronis Media Builder, but it contains the latest Linux drivers from our developers.

2. Am I likely to have this problem re-occur with future releases of True Image Home?
3. If so, what do I ask for to get a working Recovery CD?

A. Since the hardware market is dynamic, we need to constantly update our products to provide good compatibility. If you have issues with the Rescue Media, please do not hesitate to request updates anytime, we are at your service.

4. Is 7.5 hours normal to validate a 181 GB file on a Pentium 4, 3GHz, 1GB memory, 10/100GB network card on a 1GB network?

A. The validation procedure is designed for checking the integrity of a backup image. Acronis software expands the image block by block to the RAM to compare the checksum of each block against the checksum written in a special service file. When the restore is in progress, by default the validation occurs during the restore process. If you enable the validation check box in the restore options, the validation process will take place before the restoration process.

There is not a nominal time for the software operation, to avoid such delays we would suggest you to copy the images in your local hard drive in order to validate them fast.

We really care to know the results of troubleshooting, we would appreciate your perceptions with all the possible details.

Please send any other additional questions in your next reply, letting us know your perceptions with all possible details.

It is our pleasure to attend your requirements.

================================

My personal bottom line is simply this: very satisfied. As a result, I installed the other two copies of TI11 that I purchased. So I thanked Acronis for the fix and reply, and asked them to mark the issue "resolved".

Also useful to me was the confirmation that the recovery files themselves can be moved and remain useful (Duh!) Even without Linux-support for a specific NAS, given multiple computers I can still jury rig a way to do a restore.

OTOH, being ultra-picky:

1) 1 business day responses would have been preferred, especially given the nature of the fix which was really "Try these latest drivers".

2) I received two copies of each email sent by Acronis . . . a bit confusing.

3) One of the emails I sent to them was bounced back as undeliverable by what appeared to be a German mail-server . . . a little scary when you are in the middle of an "emergency" requiring support.

While it shouldn't need to be said, it really needs to be repeated lol: You have no backup system until you have tested the restore. An emergency is not the time for a first run-through.

Please keep in mind that Arconis responded, and fixed my problem.

 

Oh now you are being picky. You don't need to restore until you have an emergency.