Refund from Acronis?

Hi,
Yesterday, I finally upgraded from TI8 to TI9. I seemed to have forgotten about the heartaches and headaches Acronis caused with the launch of TI8. Over time, however, TI8 began to behave and I was beginning to believe that I could "compute with confidence."
I really hoped that TI9 had overcome its teething problems, and hence my upgrade to TI9.
I spent all yesterday and into the evening trying to create an image that would restore correctly. I will not go into the issues and problems and lost data that has been caused by this upgrade.
Before I demand a refund from Acronis, I have to consider that I might be at fault.

I can create a backup that I can obtain verification. I then try to restore that image. True image requests a reboot to restore C: True Image then starts the process: when about half way through, the process "freezes." Of course, this destroys the existing C: This causes me to reformat and restore an earlier image created by TI8.

I have also tried to backup to the Acronis Secure Zone. Here, the image passes the verification stage. On requesting a restore, the process starts and then freezes. After formatting C: and restoring from the earlier TI8 image, I find that the previously verified image is not visible in the secure zone.

If someone has experienced something similar, then please help. Failing this, I will return to TI8 and demand my refund.

 

Hello Robert,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

First of all, please make sure that you use the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home which is available at: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/updates/

You can find the full version name and build number by going to Help -> About... menu in the main program window.

To get access to updates you should create an account at:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/
then log in and use your serial number to register your software.

Please uninstall any previously installed build by following Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Acronis True Image, prior to installing build 3567.

Note that you should create new Bootable Rescue CD after installing the update.

Please create a new image, boot your computer from Bootable Rescue CD created with the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home, try to restore this image and see if the problem still persists.

If the problem still persists with the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home then please provide us with the following information:

- Where do you store the image having the issue?

- Did you try placing this image to any other location?

- Can this particular image be successfully verified both when the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home is running from under Windows and when your computer is booted from Bootable Rescue CD created with the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home?

- Let us know when the image restoration process "freezes" exactly;

- As far as I can understand you are able to restore the image created with version 8.0. Could you please clarify where do you store this image?

- Describe actions taken before the problem appears step-by-step.

Please also perform a memory test using the memtest86+ utility and inform us about the result.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

Alexey,

With much respect.
Yesterday, I had a smooth running computer with precious data included: I installed Acronis True Image 9 and "Poof." OS, Data, and backups all killed.

I hope you will appreciate that I am not a "happy bunny." I do not want to tread the paths that lead to your support people, for very clear reasons - been there before!

Alexey, just tell me what I do to get my money back. I am only at the 2nd day of the mandatory 30 days.

 

Alexey,

An update. As the data on my computer is destoyed, I formatted all my three drives and reinstalled Win XP Pro.

I installed TI9 on a pristine drive. TI9 froze at the identical situation as it did prior. I reformatted the drive and installed TI9, once more. I created the disk media and took two separate backups and placed them on the respective drives. On reboot, TI9 saw the backups, but when asked to restore, the computer once more froze.

So out of sheer grit, I formatted once more and installed the trialware TI9. Guess what? It worked like a dream. Go figure, Alexey.

I do need that refund, ASAP.

 

I think you have some flakey hardware.

 

OK, I am having similar problems (currently being dealt with) and lets not deny that "corrupt image" is a fairly frequent topic, that said, there are a lot of people using this software and getting good results. In my opinion, not as a teccy, but as someone who wants to be able to restore after problems, if it is possible that "flaky" hardware can cause this problem, then somehow the software needs to be able to take this into account and NOT report image is OK, the fuel gauge on a car does not report full when the car is empty just because a headlight has blown. Acronis TI needs to be the same and people need to be confident that when those words appear (IMAGE OK) you can sleep easy and KNOW that you will be able to restore. Please take these comments in the spirit in which they are intended which is to get an already good product working for a lot more people.

Frosty

 

Marse, is that trialware that worked a different build to the one you purchased?
BTW, you can still recover some of your data using special data recovery software even though you have formatted and installed the OS. Just don't write any more software to it if you want to try to recover the data.

 

Hi, all.

I cannot subscribe to the "flakey hardware" argument. From the processor of a FX calibre to a PSU that cost £115, and similar class components: "flakey" doesn't describe my computer, at all. So, I will dispense with those comments.

I will subscribe to the comparison of the trialware success and the purchased TI9: I will look into that and report back.

I started with Acronis and the 7 and graduated to TI8. Well, I suffered agonies with that launch, like most of us. The reason I am so annoyed is that I did not have to upgrade to TI9 so I feel that I brought the problem on myself. I was a Drive Image man until Norton messed up a good product.

I will add my computer's specification: FX57, DFI Lanparty Crossfire, 2 Gig DDR HZ PC4000, XFX 7900 GTX Extreme, 3 WD Raptors (1x150 Gb 2x74 Gb), Tagan TG 900w, Thermaltake Tai-Chi. I am not a youngster: I am a retired maths teacher.

 

“I cannot subscribe to the "flakey hardware" argument. From the processor of a FX calibre to a PSU that cost £115, and similar class components: "flakey" doesn't describe my computer, at all. So, I will dispense with those comments.”

You can spend your life savings on a system component, but that doesn’t guarantee it will work out of the box. You can “dispense” with what you like, but it won’t make a “£115” power supply that’s gone bad work any better.

 

ATI and ULI don't have a very good reputation for producing 100% stable and reliable chipsets, which i think are the same chipsets used for the DFI Lanparty Crossfire.

You either have a hardware conflict or TI9 doesn't have proper driver support for these chipsets, either way you have a problem that can probably be solved one way or the other.

Try to disable any onboard devices that are not in use from within the bios to see if that helps with any hardware conflics you may have, as for the possiblity of any driver issues, it maybe possible that a driver package can be downloaded from Acronis (you would have to ask support about this) or maybe someone will be kind enough to post a link to the latest driver package in this thead.

Hope this helps!

 

Maybe flakey is different on the other side of the pond but over here it means, unreliable, unstable etc but is properly described as slang.

You have a system that freezes, the posts on this forum do not report freezing after the program starts to do its task as a common failing. You reformatted the disk a couple of times and now it starts to work.

The first thing I would do is run Memtest86+ (www.memtest.org) overnight as a minimum. For good measure I would also run chkdsk X: /r on all disk partitions where X is the drive letter for the partition. Can I guarantee you will find hardware as the cause of your problem? No, but it won't hurt to try and reduce the suspicion that it might be, particularly since the above is easy to do.

BTW, I have returned faulty expensive Corsair and Crucial memory for warranty replacement, I have never had the "cheap stuff" fail so don't think a high price guarantees it won't fail.

 

Hello marse.robert,

I have send a Private Message to you with a further instructions.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Hi all,

I would like to resolve this problem for a host of reasons. Firstly, this particular forum has a singularly peculiar theme. People who have purchased Acronis True Image are experiencing their own set of problems and consequently, gather in this area. That is the nature of forums of this design. Because the problems gather in this area, it does not mean that Acronis True Image is a poor product.

For what it is worth, Memtest run on my machine throughout last night - and no problem reported. My business partner brought his laptop to my home last evening, and the download in question failed, once more.

Resolving this problem is a matter of time: and for my partner and me, we have not got an abundance of time, we have deadlines to meet.

 

Hi all,

Earlier, I did make the comment that the problems that I am experiencing could be human error. Am I doing something wrong? If so, what procedure do I adopt to check this?

I have noticed at restore, I am given the option to restore MBR. This option was not present on TI8!

Anyone prepared to take me through the backup and restore routine?

 

you mention data loss. Even though the entire image won't restore properly, will it mount from inside windows? And what about validating the image...does it pass?

Your data should be able to be recovered. I've tried many imaging programs and True Image has worked the best for me. It's not perfect but the company is much more accessible than any other in this field in my opinion. Hope you get your data back.


Sean

 

Hi People,

This an update:
Formatted C: - again. As per Support's instructions I downloaded a fresh copy of TI9. I installed TI9 and made a media disc - as per instructions.

Using the disc, I rebooted and TI9 saw the previous TI8 backups. I booted back into Windows and created a backup and rebooted. TI9 saw the TI8 backups, and the TI9 backup. I selected restore. The process ran to the point were only 3 seconds remained, and the computer stopped. This freeze killed C: as it had done a part job.

Again, I formatted C: and rebooted to the media disc. I selected restore and hey presto, a clean restore.

TI9 will not restore from within Windows. I can validate the image from within Windows, successfully. It would appear that I can backup and restore using the media disc. If I accept this, can I trust that TI9 will behave? If I cannot begin the restore from within Windows, it is like working with one shoe on, and the other off.

Any suggestions?

 

It is always much safer to make your backups and do the restore using the bootable TI CD. You never know what is still running in the background when you run TI from within windows.

BTW, some of the items that others reported that may make TI not work right:

Multiple usb devices including hub, keyboard, mouse.
Wireless keyboard, mouse.

 

Hi Chutsman,

Many thanks.

I do have the Logitech Media Desktop including the Mouse, and this is controlled by Bluetooth. I also have a few USB devices + hub.

 

Glad you have seemingly made some progress with your problem.

If you are doing a restore of C from within Windows you are really booting up the same environment that is present on the rescue CD since Windows can't be running to restore the active partition. This doesn't totally agree with your symptoms since you seem to have good luck with the rescue CD. Does the CD version really work 100% of the time if booted?

A weakness in the rescue environment is that it is a memory-resident version of Linux that is stripped down to essentials. This means that it may lack proper drivers for some devices and thus the comment from Chutsman about some USB devices; whether or not this is indeed the root cause remains to be seen.

It sounds to me like something is "on the edge" and causing a random conflict which would explain the fails and works scenarios.

 

Hi, Seekforever,

You pose an interesting question, does the CD work 100% of the times it is needed?
Just prior to upgrading to TI9, I considered First Defence from Raxco. To be clear, I have already purchased that product, but so far, I have not installed it.

I have suggested to Acronis Support, that the refund from TI9 could be used to purchase Disk Director. I have 30 days to make up my mind. I did get along with TI8: but after the disaster with TI9, should I move on?

I suppose, I could use TI9 in tandem with First Defence? What's your take on the issue?

 

My understanding of First Defence is that it is a better version of Windows Restore something like Symantec's GoBack (without the Symantec baggage ). If so, it will allow you to jump back in time to get a working system if the problem is caused by bad updates, files getting corrupted etc. Where it falls down, is that it does nothing for you if your HD dies since it is lost as well.

An imaging program, used frequently, can provide essentially the same function and provide a restoration in the case of a HD failure. This is at the expense of more time taken to do the backup although an incremental backup should be fairly quick in most cases.

People who use Windows Restore find that over time the size of the the used space on their C drive increases dramatically since each restore point adds to the database. I would imagine a more comprehensive program would take even more space. A lot of TI users turn-off Windows Restore, some leave it in the default state and I am in the camp the reduces the allowable space for C drive restore points to be only 200MB (Default is around 10% of the partition size).

A slight caution in case it matters, FirstDefence may modify your MBR. Not a big deal for many, in fact the TI automatic system recovery or whatever it is called, does as well which is why you have to disable GoBack at certain times. It also means that you can't just overwrite the MBR with a vanilla XP MBR and have your FDef work. This is one reason that TI users wanted the MBR backed up with a partition image as well as a whole disk image.

In short, I feel an image backup is preferable to a roll-back product.

TI8 seems to work well for you so you do have the option of staying with it unless there is a TI9 feature you want other than it is the latest.

The other approach is to try and find out why this is happening with TI9. It would bother me that it doesn't work so I would fool around with it but I don't have to worry about any mission critical deadlines! Also, you are going to have to work with Acronis support if this forum can't help you.

Did you try the latest version of TI9 - Build 3625?

 

Bingo! Can you revert to standard types and remove all unnecessary (to TI) usb devices? Just keep the external usb drive for backup if you use one. Also there were a few messages here where using the front USB port caused problems while the rear ones did not.

TI seems to work best with "mutt" systems ... pedigree systems seem to pose problems ... just my take from reading the many problem messages here.

 

Hi Seekforever,

Thank you. You have supplied some very pertinent information: I also appreciate the manner in which you "suggest" the optimum approach to this problem.

In your reply, there is an awful amount of information to digest. I need to retire, and ponder. But, thanks a lot, Seekforever. I will get back to you.

Hi, Chutsman.
I could hear you shouting "Eureka!" In your suggestion there exists a cost and benefit analysis to consider. Furthermore, in response to an earlier Post from you, provoked me to seek updated drivers: and I found one. I found a very recent AMD processor driver dated April of this year. After installing this driver. TI9 allowed me to restore from the CD. I cannot prove it was the driver, but an improvement occurred. Perhaps, you may have been correct
Thanks, Chutsman.