Yet another corrupt image issue

Hi all,

I have a slightly different problem than most people here. I have just reviewed quite a lot of issues on corrupt images searching for help but it appears that the solution is not forthcoming nor has everyone found a solution to their ills.

It appears that it doesn't really matter what version of TI you use, what your hardware configuration is, whether or not you are using a secure zone or a CD/DVD, if you use TI from a boot CD or within Windows, if you do a full or incremental backup, etc. The problem is that many people have what appears to be a corrupt image upon creation. I have had them in the past and recreated them or even successfully restored from them anyway and the results were always ok. Until now.

I have a Secure Zone created with TI9, build 2323 from 11/05. I have a single full backup created 11/28/05. I have constantly downloaded updates to TI until a couple weeks ago when I got TI Home, V9, build 3633 and I generated an incremental archive with validation on. It created and validated using the boot CD method (I generally never use software like TI while IN Windows). This was done right before installing XP SP2.

Several days after installing SP2, I decided to revert back and I attempted to use my new boot CD to restore the incremental, validating upon restore. It failed with the following"

Type: Error
Module: 7
Error(code): 32(0x70020)
Description: The Archive is Corrupted: None

and

Type: Error
Module: 1
Error(code): 502(0x101F6)
Description: Operation with partition "C:" was terminated
Details: Image corrupted (0x70020)
Tag=0x0

I then performed a second validation and was told the archive was ok.

Now the issue is that the restore failed and produced an unbootable partition so I had no choice but to restore another older full backup I know worked in the past. I had a slightly later full archive generated 1/14/06, I restored that using the boot CD. I also used the CD to "restore" the contents of the C: drive from the incremental image to another location to see if I could recover anything as I didn't know if it was corrupt or not. I appear to have restored 9.1GB of data which sure doesn't seem like an incremental backup to me since my C: drive in the old full backup is also about 9GB. Still, that's a lot of files to actually have recovered.

So, I had the latest build which generated an archive it said was good. I then tried to use the same latest build to restore but it failed saying the image was corrupt. I used the same latest build to restore a previous good full image and now I am running like it's January of this year. So I am functional but not where I need to be.

My situation is a bit different because it says the image is corrupt at restore, not at creation. But it's probably the same issue. One thing to note is that using TI 9, build 2323 as exists on the old restore point, it says the SZ has no archives in it but when I boot using TI 9, build 3633 it sees the full and incremental. Unfortunately, it won't restore the incremental. I guess the update to build 3633 modified the SZ so that earlier builds don't work with it anymore?

So the questions are 1) What's going on here? 2) How do I restore the incremental? 3) Why is it both valid AND corrupt? 4)This has shaken my trust in the product so how can Acronis gain that back?

All hardware checks good, the HD is fine according to the Seagate boot utility. Memtest ran for 3 hours and 11 passes with no failures. Every time I use TI9, build 3633 to validate the incremental, it's GOOD.

I have a plan to use a Linux boot CD to boot to and copy the restored C: drive files (the ones that came from the incremental) and overwrite what's on the C: drive now and see what happens when I reboot. If that works and It's like it was the day before I installed SP2, I may consider myself restored but I don't know if that's going to work. Anyone have any suggestions?

I may also try restoring it again but use the full archive in the SZ first and then overwrite that with the incremental. It may fail again anyway. What's the best way to restore an incremental? Can I just restore from it or do I need to first restore the previous full? Is that why this failed in the first place because I only restored the incremental?

That's my story so far. Any suggestions? Sorry for the wordy post.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

Hello Kevin,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please download and install the latest build (3666) of Acronis True Image 9.0 which is available in the Product Updates section of our web-site.

Please uninstall any previously installed build by following Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Acronis True Image, prior to installing build 3666.

Please create the new bootable rescue media with the latest build and try to restore your image.

Could you please clarify whether your full image was created with build 2323 and the incremental one with build 3633?
Please be aware that since build 3567 the image format was slightly changed and we strongly recommend you to recreate the full image.

Please note also that an incremental image contains all changes that have been made since the latest full image was created and you are able to restore the incremental image if you have the full image too.

Could you please mount the image you want to restore within Windows and see whether you are able to restore individual files/folders from it?

Please let us know your results.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva

 

Hi Tatyana,

I will download the latest build but first I'll answer your questions.

Yes, the full image was generated with build 2323, though I can not confirm which build generated the original Secure Zone, and the incremental image was generated with build 3633. NO doubt about that.

I believe that the Secure Zone was updated when I installed build 3633 but I admit I don't know exactly what changed when I installed the new build other than all the files in c:\program files\Acronis\trueimagehome and of course the newly generated boot CD.

Yes, in Windows XP using the Windows-based True Image I was able to restore all the files in the incremental image to another drive location which I was then able to copy back to c:\ so even though the image was supposedly corrupt, I seem to have been able to restore the data in it using my own methods instead of using the TI interface. I am surprised that the "incremental" image seemed to include all the data however. It definitely wasn't just changes. If it weren't, I don't see how my computer would be functional.

Here's the million dollar question though - if I download the latest build, create bootable media, try to restore the incremental image again and it fails, I'll have to go through the exercise of piecing together what I did the last couple of weeks! So what is the process I should follow?

Do I boot to the CD, restore the last good full image, reboot into the CD and restore the incremental? Or can I boot to the CD and restore the incremental which should then know to use the only existing full image in the Secure Zone? I have to admit the correct process for restoring an incremental image is not clear to me.

I suppose I will take the time to create a new full image before trying to restore the incremental with the absolute latest build, but I don't have confidence that either will work!

I'm awaiting your reply,

Kevin

 

I have had the same problem with a Pentium III system and Windows XP Home.

I backup to one internal hard drive and alternate among 4 external drives. Sometimes I copy the image files to DVD for additional protection.

I validate every backup yet when I got in a bind, the last 5 backups were "corrupt". These were Version 8 and Version 9 (Trial) images.

Acronis let me extend my trial version and with that was able to download a newer version than the first trial. It too failed.

Now, Acronis is off my machine but I keep hoping to see where they have solved their problems.

Acronis tech support responses are excellent while Norton is non-responsive. Acronis seems sincere in their effort to fix and problems and improve the product.

My last trial expired a few months ago so will have to wait for version 10 to try another trial. I will not buy the product without a trial version that performs as it should.

My last trial version was 2-3 versions back.

 

If I were you and wanted to see if TI does I want I would approach it this way:

Download the latest version. Forget about any old backups for now.

Create the recovery CD with the latest version.

Make a full backup of C to another partition on the same or another internal HD. This is generally the most trouble-free way to make an archive since it eliminates any USB chipset/driver problems and optical media problems.

Validate the archive on the internal HD. If you can't do this then there is no point fooling with anything else.

Boot the recovery CD and make sure you can start TI in both Full and TI Safe mode.

Validate your internal HD archive with the rescue CD version.

In Windows mount the image and browse the image with Windows Explorer. Restore some selected files.

Ideally get another HD and install it in your PC. Boot the recovery CD and restore your C partition from the internal HD.

Verify your restored C drive works as it should.

Now that the base functionality of the program has been successfully demonstrated, you can play with the Secure Zone, USB external drives, optical drives, and incremental/differential backups etc.

 

I can only give you my experience.

I used to have have corrupt images randomly in TI 7 but since replacing my memory - it showed errors in both sticks I have had no problems with verify both internal IDE, internal SATA and external USB drives. I have sucessfully restored to my C drive

I have a P4 3.2 1 gig RAM,
Motherboard is Soltek SL-PT880E-RL / PT880E2-RL (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio, LAN)
Motherboard Chipset is VIA Apollo PT880 Award Bios

I backup from Windows and restore from BartPE (for speed)

Also watch out for overheating.

 

Hello Kevin,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

As I said in my previous post above, starting with build 3567 the image format was changed and we strongly recommend you to recreate the full image in order to avoid the corrupt message problem.

Please follow the adviсe of seekforever in order to make sure that the program works properly for you.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva