TI Server 9.1 with USB Tape fails restoring from Rescue Media

Hello,

I have currently purchased ATIS 9.1 for Windows Server together with Universal Restore as bundle for one of my customers. Still waiting for 2 months now to receive a correct license pdf from Acronis germany for Universal Restore (the first one was named to my company not to customer's)...

Now I was trying to setup of backup with a usb tape drive (Quantum DLT v4). Quantum was helpful to test an evaluation of ATIS before I bought their drive.

Everything works "fine" except one big issue: Tape restore from ATIS Rescue Media does not work. The system is a new HP ProLiant ML350 G5 with all currently available System ROM patches etc. applied.

The restore process hangs after choosing the destination harddisk (which is a RAID 5). The raid is correctly identified and ATIS shows the screen with "delete exisiting partitions prior to restoring / restore to empty partitions". I´ve choosen "delete exisiting partitions".

Now the taps rewinds back and forth until end of time. Nothing happes - It simply hangs.

As a long term customer of ATI / ADD etc. I am very disappointed having such an (mid-range) expensive backup solution where disaster recovery does not work.

Please, please - with sugar on top - fix this issue. For my customer I am responsible for your software not working. May have been a bad decision to move from working solutions like Sym. Back Exec to something having bugs like this.

By the way: The local distributor states "buy ATIS bundle and receive next version free". How to I receive free upgrade for AT Echo for Win Server? It is an official reseller, listed on Acronis page here in Germany.

I'll appreciate any help

Kind regards
Assertor

 

Hello Assertor,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Server Disk Backup Software.

Could you please clarify, by "hangs" do you mean the activity of tape drive and hard drives stops? Please notice that restoring tape backups with partition resize may take a long time depending on how fragmented the original drive was.

Please make sure you use the latest build (3920) of Acronis True Image 9.1 Server for Windows. To get access to updates you should first register your software. Don't forget to recreate Acronis Bootable Rescue Media after updating.

If updating doesn't solve the problem, please try booting with "acpi=off noapic" parameter as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

If the issue persists, please collect some information to let us investigate it thoroughly:

Please create Acronis Report, Windows system information and Linux system information (sysinfo.txt) as it is described in Acronis Help Post. Please keep all drives in question connected and powered on during the creation process.

Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

For details on promo actions held by local distributors, please contact the respective distributor's support/help desk.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Hello Marat,

happy christmas first of all

"Hangs" in this context means (what I`ve written): The tape rewinds back and forth but the screen remains the same (button greyed out on repartition screen after clicked "next"). The partitions are not resized but deleted - this is done as an emergency disaster recovery test.

The amount of data in backup is about 25 GB uncompressed. The same size has to be restored. The full backup process takes about 30 minutes under Win2003 with ATIS but the tape is still rewinding after about 12 hours since clicking "next" button in Acronis Rescue Environment Restore Screen.

Checked. Using latest build. Already registered enterprise versions.

I will try the linux kernel boot options "acpi=off" and "noapic".

All drives stay and remain connected while boot and full backup/restore process. This is system environment will be needed in productive use in first week of January 2008.

Kind regards
Assertor

 

Again me...

"acpi=off noapic" does not help for this issue. I just send a message to technical support with sysinfo.txt file attached. I need this problem fixed within a short time as we are deploying server in January...

Could you help speed things up?

The first ticket on german acronis site is #1271778. I will need to check back tomorrow to get ticket id from US site.

Regards
Assertor

 

Hello Assertor,

Your other ticket number is 1276718. Please follow the instructions that were sent to you via e-mail.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Hello Marat,

I have just tried the ISO from the mail I´ve received from Alexey I. I see differences (e.g. Mouse working correctly) but still no working restore.

Now it "freezes" at "Restore Wizard" after selecting USB Tape (Small Window with "Please wait...." shown). This took in previous ATIS (latest build before Echo Server) a few minutes and proceeded with showing available backups on tape.

Regards Assertor

 

Hello,

after waiting a few hours I am now getting to the same freeze position with your provided ISO as in the latest TI 9.1 for Windows Server Build.

Regards Assertor

 

This issue is still unsolved.

Hardware:
- Quantum DLT v4 USB External 160/320 GB Backup Drive
- HP ProLiant ML 350 Server
- Acronis True Image 9.1 for Windows Server #3920 AND
tested with provided ISO of latest True Image Echo Server

Do you have any (professional) support escalation policy?

I have tried different ways, rechecked firmware of Server and Drive, tested Drive operations using Win 2003, provided SysInfo.txt, tested latest Build and ISO provided.

Still no go using your software.

I am a IT consultant, so might be better to not resell any True Image "professional" products again, or?

Regards Assertor

 

Dear Acronis Support,

as your emails have stated that USB Tape drives are not officially supported by Acronis True Image Server I´ve started using the DLT 160/320 Drive as eSATA.

The good news: Backup & Restore are working (with Rescue Media)
The bad news: Backup fails under Windows (!)

So comparing the steps to using USB Tape or USB HDD - as you said - I´ve seen that the USB Harddisk is seeking a lot into the Image Files after the step of selecting to "delete existing partitions" has been confirmed.

In all cases of using USB Harddisk Image Acronis True Image was able to delete and re-create the whole RAID within the ProLiant Server System.

Better: Acronis Rescue Media correctly asks for the password used on the image using USB or eSATA Tape Drive (!).

So what is the real Problem? You are just a small step away from making USB Tape working - just stop your massive seeking in the image OR better: Let the user decide if he want to have ATIS seeking! Comparable to your "check image before staring restore" option.

And now for all other potential customers:
Acronis is very kind in helping with email support or providing common solutions like knowledgebase. But there is one lack: If the software has a real BUG no one seems able to help.

I am hearing from many administrators NOT using Acronis True Image for Servers. Now I know why.

The last EMails just stated USB Tapes are "not officially supported". But now I have failures with both - USB Tapes and eSATA Tapes. C'mon this is a technology beeing using for years now - especially USB.

I would have bought a replacement drive with SCSI. But no one could proof this working. When it fails your support will as well state "incompatibility", right?

So I don't trust your software anymore. Have been an Acronis customer since the early days - just moved after the arrival from Ghost and Backup Exec.

That is quite bad for a software where trust in security and reliability is everything.

Just one wish: Please provide additional support and reply to this post. E-Mail Support is not helpful anymore. Just the same responses...

With kind regards
Assertor

 

Hello Assertor,

We are sorry for delayed response.

Please be aware that current versions of corporate family of Acronis True Image have guaranteed support for SCSI tape drives only. However, some types of tape drives using other interface do work with them. That is why you were recommended to try the trial version of the software first.

Please also try to avoid sending duplicate requests to different language Acronis Support sub-departments in the future as it makes us do a double work sometimes and may delay the resolution of the problem both for yourself, and all other customers.

As for the "backup fails under Windows" problem you have encountered, it is most likely a different issue, and as such should be investigated separately. Please describe the details of the problem to the German Acronis Support sub-department you are currently in contact with, and follow provided instructions. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Hello Marat,

"That is why you were recommended to try the trial version of the software first."

And I have contacted your chat in presales. They also stated "it should work". I have a transcript here for your interest.

As well I have a print-out of two documents for 9.1 Server stating it should work aswell.

Please also try to avoid sending duplicate requests to different language Acronis Support sub-departments in the future as it makes us do a double work sometimes and may delay the resolution of the problem both for yourself, and all other customers.


National support was way too slow due to the season's holidays. After a week I contacted your team. In the meantime before I received the national reply I already had many things checked (despite of not having a working solution either).

As I have problems with your product you will also understand that my interests as a paying customer are somehow important.

So - as you can see - in this case the double raised ticket was unavoidable. Having a project delay may lead to compensation. Guess what my company will do if everything in your presales documentation stated it "should work" or will work? Right, if I have to pay compensation I will sue your national department for damages aswell.

By the way the national technical support member I have written with has been very cheeky. May be better to have a company-wide customer care training... Never had such a reply in 15yrs of beeing in business.

Regards
Assertor