Very slow recovery times and Acronis Supports response.

I have complained to Acronis support about the ridiculously long time it takes to complete a recovery from an external Maxtor One Touch 4 USB 2.0 drive to my HP computer using the Acronis Loader - 17 hours for 61 gig of full image recovery. PC is an HP with Intel Quadcore WD Caviar 500 gig HD with 3gig of RAM and NVidia graphics - only five months old. Searching the Internet forums seems to throw up the same replies again and again i.e. the Linux drivers used by the Acronis Loader appear to be the culprit.

What has Acronis replied to my complaint with - We well understand your issues and ask you to run chkdsk as bad sectors are the cause of this issue Needless to say I have run said task and the drive is as clean as a whistle - what now Acronis support?

MudCrab did suggest I make a VistaPE disk and purchase the Acronis plugins. However, when I tried to do this my AV kicked in when downloading files from Winbuilder - the only one I can remember was Hide.exe or something very similar. I shut down Winbuilder as I didn't want to compromise my security. Has anyone else come across this problem when making a VistaPE disk or using Winbuilder? I am using AVG 8.0 and Windows Defender.

 

Can I assume from the lack of response to my post that no one else has experienced slow recovery times with TI 10 using a USB external drive and no one else has had an AV alert when downloading from Winbuilder?

 

Restore can often be twice as long or mare than backup times. If the BootCD treats your USB drive like USB 1.1 -- even if it's a USB 2, then restore times can be over ten times longer.

A vistaPE disk should obviate the USB driver issues of the ATI bootCD.

 

I avoided all USB drives lack of speed by mounting the backup dive internally in the PC.
Internal drive to internal drive imaging and restores are like driving a fast sports car on super premium.

0 to 60GB in less than 60 minutes. Some have reached 0 to 60 in less than 20 minutes with modern kit.

Xpilot

 

I'm getting 0 - 60 in 30 minutes using an external USB 2.0 hard disk by using VistaPE for the recovery environment. IMHO, VistaPE plus Mustang's script is the best recovery environment for running TI.

Although I've never had a malware problem with WinBuilder, if you are concerned then you should visit their forum and post a question about your experience with your virus scanner. The Boot Land forum members will be happy to answer your questions.

 

Defender takes exception to hiderun.exe, but it's ok, so just add it to the exceptions.

 

Thanks everyone for the assistance - I now have an identical 500 gig WD Caviar slave internal HD which I have split, half for Linux and half for my Backups - I may try a restore when I'm feeling brave enough - the thought of another 17 hours or a possible failure (that happened to me earlier in the year, first time ever and still don't know why) fills me with dread.

I may just bite the bullet and download Winbuild and ignore the warnings. The instructions seem to have change somewhat as MudCrab was saying to go for version 11, however latest Winbuild now only has 12 with an option to press a button for quick VistaPE disk without unticking all the various exceptions.

 

Hi Faust,

AV false positives have long been a problem in the BartPE and WinBuider/VistaPE world. Some powerfull programs are used that could be seen as potentially harmfull by some AV programs. I've had numerous cases where an AV scan has kicked out usefull files from the different builds stored on my hard drive. These files can be used in a BartPE environment to make usefull and powerfull repairs to a system. A password changer is a possible example. I've never actually found (or heard of) a virus being spread in a BartPE or VistaPE plugin. That being said, AVG is famous for producing false positives.

As for your question about VistaPE 011 vs 012, I still recommend using 011 with WinBuilder 074. There are numerous reasons. WinBuilder 075 with VistaPE 012 requires a Vista SP1 source. If you have a Vista DVD, this adds the complication of slipsteaming SP1 into the DVD. VLite does this, but only does half the job. There are two files that need to be modified to get a true SP1 source (Boot.wim and Install.wim). Vlite only modifies Install.wim. Boot.wim is left in its pre SP1 state. This causes a mix of SP1 and pre SP1 files in the resulting VistaPE disk. Some think this is the reason for some problems with 012. Also, the scripts I sell do not work properly in VistaPE 012. I have made the 012 scripts available on request so that knowledible users of 012 can get them. I just don't want to push 012 on people that are not aware of what is needed to make it work. Another reason for staying with 011 is that image mounting is not working under 012. Something has changed in 012 that has broken this important feature.

 

Thanks for you very informative response Mustang - I have had another crack at building the VistaPE disk with V11 but sadly it failed. I followed instructions to the letter unchecking all the right boxes etc. The only problem I got when downloading was the hiderun.exe file which I told AVG to ignore. However, I got message file not downloaded and when I pressed play on finishing build I got 1639 error reports plus no ISO file in Winbuild sub folders or anywhere else for that matter. The only thing I did not do was make the MS download into a CD as I just mounted it using Daemon and installed the file that way which seemed to work just as well.

 

Interesting. When I built my VistaPE AVG 8 did not intercept hiderun.exe, but Defender did. However by simply adding it to Defender's exceptions the build completed successfully.

EDIT - it might have been AVG 7.5 at the time.

 

Well I have finally admitted defeat with trying to build a VistaPE disk. I have tried for four nights but to no avail. I have followed the instructions to the letter and all seems to be well, however, no matter what I do the hiderun.exe file gets blocked every time so I'm assuming this is why I cannot successfully complete the operation. It does run to the end but I then end up with over 1600 errors and no ISO file - well there is but it's empty. I will just have to hope that running Acronis from my slave HD for a recovery is a hell of a lot faster than using my external USB HD. Thanks for all the help everyone.

 

Faust,

Have you checked the build log to see what is causing the errors? With that many, it could be a source problem or a WinBuilder/VistaPE version problem.

I have successfully created VistaPE builds in Virtual PC 2007. This would get all of your other programs and anti-virus software out of the equation.

 

This is true Mudcrab, I hadn't thought of using VPC like that, I have XP running in VPC on this computer at present. I take it you are talking about installing Vista as a fresh install using my recovery CD's from within VPC then when installed load winbuilder and WAIK and run it from within VPC with Defender disabled and no AV? I do have a couple of OEM Vista disks but as such they are only supposed to install on the one machine. Does anyone know if that still applies if they are installed within VPC, has anyone tried?

I have some rather better news to report with Acronis recovery which may well negate the need for me to bother about VistaPE altogehter. I bit the bullet this morning and decided to test a full recovery image on my other PC which also has a slave drive as source rather than USB. Although the HD is only 250gig the file image is 89gig. I sort of shut my eyes then clicked the mouse at the Proceed prompt and waited with baited breath. This time instead of 17 hours the recovery took just 58 beautiful minutes and the recovery was a complete success.

I still think it wise to keep a backup copy on an external source such as an external HD though as speeds not going to help if your computers fried or even worse stolen. However, I now know all I need to do in such an event is copy and paste the tib from the external drive to an internal one if the worst every happens and do the recovery in quick time.

 

Then you're all set. You can run WinBuilder in XP and build VistaPE in your XP VM.

 

Using VPC finally did the trick and this time all went well though I did get approx 25 red cross errors. However, dragged ISO form VPC onto main desktop and burnt image to a -RW DVD. Booted it up and it worked first time including network now OK prompt or similar - large thanks. My next question is this - in the lesson about installing Acronis plugins following purchase it states Acronis has to be installed on computer - well it is on my Vista desktop but not in VPC environment. Will I be able to install plugin in Winbuilder which is in VPC or will I first have to install Acronis 10 into XP VPC for this to work?

Hope everyone has followed this convoluted question and knows what I'm getting at?

 

Faust:

Yes, you will need to install TI in your VM because the script will be looking for some of TI's files and registry entries when it runs, and will expect to find them in the current OS environment.

If you are concerned about having TI installed in your VM then you can do it on a temporary basis. Before you start, make a copy of your current XP Virtual Hard Disk file and rename it something like "XP Test.vhd". Start VPC using this test virtual hard disk and install TI. Then you can run WinBuilder again but this time with Mustang's TI script included. When you are done, to eliminate all traces of TI just delete the XP Test.vhd file and go back to using your original one. That's one of the beauties of using a Virtual Machine.

You should probably track down the source of those 25 errors. Your final build should be error-free.

 

Thanks for that info - I was just worried that the serial key you have to copy from the registry might be different to the one in the live Vista environment. In fact I haven't looked as I'm writing this but is there an actual system 32 in VPC, I assume there is?

Regarding the red crosses, it just simply says unable to copy data/users/documents or something very similar. As I said the disk booted up exactly as per instructions.

 

Success! Success he cried! I have downloaded the Acronis plugins and installed them in Winbuilder, re-burnt the ISO to DVD -RW and booted it up. The VistaPE disk worked like clockwork again and sure enough there was Acronis on the VistaPE desktop and it all appears to be working. I still don't know what the 21 error messages are flagged up in Winbuilder so I am pasting them here for expert perusal. Whatever they are they don't appear to be interfering with the only thing I really want the VistPE disk for and that's using Acronis recovery without relying on the Linux drivers

FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\browser.dll] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\name\My Documents\Name Docs\My Down FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\lanman.drv] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My Downl FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\netman.dll] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My Downl FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\netprof.dll] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My Down FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\nlasvc.dll] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My Downl FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\samsrv.dll] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My Downl FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\sens.dll] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My Downloa FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\shrpubw.exe] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My Down FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\srvsvc.dll] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My Downl FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\sscore.dll] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My Downl FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\Drivers\srv2.sys] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\Drivers\srv.sys] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\My FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\Drivers\srvnet.sys] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\ FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\en-US\shrpubw.exe.mui] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Do FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\en-US\browser.dll.mui] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Do FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\en-US\netman.dll.mui] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Doc FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\en-US\netprof.dll.mui] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Do FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\en-US\nlasvc.dll.mui] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Doc FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\en-US\sens.dll.mui] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Docs\ FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\en-US\shrpubw.exe.mui] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Do FileCopy - Failed to copy [%BaseDir%\Temp\VistaPE\InstallWimSrc\Windows\System32\en-US\sscore.dll.mui] to: [C:\Documents and Settings\Name\My Documents\Name Doc

21 errors occured!

 

Faust:

The error messages seem to be related to Windows networking components (browser.dll, lanman.drv, netman.drv, etc). These are unavailable from the Windows AIK if you used it as your source. If instead you use a Vista DVD then they will be available.

Did you have any scripts checked off in WinBuilder that related to networking? For example, Firefox browser, Internet Explorer, Map Network Drives? If you uncheck these then VistaPE should build from the AIK without error.

 

Hello K0lo, thanks for the response regarding error messages. After no less than 8 attempts to get this build to work I am reasonably sure that I followed MudCrabs screen grabs to the letter and my build looked exactly the same. I was also careful not to uncheck then recheck any of the boxes. I did notice scripts for Firefox etc. downloading when the initial Winbuilder was loading. I also note that when the VistaPE disk loads and I get the "lite" desktop that I also get the message "wpeinit.exe now you can try use network" after approx 1 minute.

Can I assume that the errors should not prevent Acronis recovery from working correctly as that is my main interest for making this disk?

P.S. Yes I did use WAIK and not a Vista DVD as I only have a recovery disk.

 

I can answer my own question now - Eureka! I decided to go for it and use the VistaPE disk I have created with the Acronis plugins to perform a complete recovery. It worked beyond my wildest dreams - 75gig restored to a 500gig HD from my USB external drive in 27 minutes. I'm sure most of you will agree that is a RESULT and a huge improvement over the 17 painful hours it took previously using the Acronis Loader A very special thank you must go to MudCrab as I would never have been able to start this task without his excellent instructions and Plugins.

 

That is quite speedy indeed; about 3 GB/minute. You've got me beat! I get 2 GB/min from an external USB drive using VistaPE and 1 GB/min from the external using the Acronis Linux recovery environment.

You've demonstrated that it seems to from your last test, but I would not be satisfied with a build that contained errors -- you can never be quite sure when one of those missing files will cause a problem. Since I've only built from a Vista DVD I can't answer your question with any specificity, but from what I've read this should be able to be done without any build errors.

Just out of curiosity - did you use the SP1 version of the WAIK or the non-SP1 version? (should be the latter).

 

MudCrab gets the credit for the excellent instructions and Mustang gets the credit for the excellent VistaPE script

 

Faust,

When you look at the log for the VistaPE build in WinBuilder, make sure to check which script (or scripts) is causing the problems. You can then troubleshoot it or just uncheck the script if it's not required for the build.

The log will show the list of errors near the top. If you click on one, it will take you to the actual place in the build where the error occurred. You can then scroll up to find the beginning of the script and find its name.

You should be able to create a build using the WAIK that doesn't have errors.

 

For those of you who like irony you will like this one. I decided because the first VistaPE disk had 21 errors (all seem to be related to a problem with My Documents folder) but everything worked OK that I would start again. This time I created a new folder for everything, started the project and this time the build was created without any errors and just 3 warnngs 2 were related to Vista DVD which I didn't use. I have reburnt disk and guess what? Yep it doesn't work. It loads all the way through then I get a blank screen with mouse cursor and nothing else. I have checked the build and everything is the same as previous minus errors - what a bummer.