Disk Backup Problems

[btfsplk]

I have two computers running XP on a home network. For a couple of years, I've used Acronis 10 on each machine to backup their disks to an external drive. No problems until a couple of months ago. Then, Acronis on one machine started hanging up after selecting the drive to be copied, when asked to identify the target drive. About two weeks ago, the other machine started hanging at exactly the same point. Acronis 10 hasn't worked on either machine since. Acronis says they don't support version 10 anymore, and haven't tried to help. I suspect that a recent update to one of Microsoft's security programs is blocking the backup process. I bought a copy of NovaBackup for one of the machines, and it will start copying files, but it invariably stops before completing. Can anyone help me?

 

[rclarke250]

Have you used a diagnostic program on the external drive? you might have to remove the drive from the external case and install into a machine just to test it. I haven't heard of an issue like that with a windows update, but you might want to see if reloading your usb drivers if they are usb external drives would help.

 

[btfsplk]

Thanks for the quick response. Western Digital provides a diagnostic which I downloaded and ran. It says the external drive is working fine. I can also use the XP Backup utility to back up to the drive without problems. I haven't tried reloading the usb drivers, but I have tried plugging the external drive directly into each of the two computers (bypassing the network), and that made no difference at all.

 

[linney]

What other disk monitoring software are you running, things like Diskeeper, Go Back, or the like, that tie up the drive. Does Acronis start outside of the XP environment when it does the backup?

There is a Acronis Forum that might be worth a look.

http://forum.acronis.com/

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling Acronis? Or eliminating possible third party interference?

310353 - How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

316434 - HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310560

I don't use Acronis myself, I have been happy with plain old ASR or the imaging software from Terabyte.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com

How to Set up and Use Automated System Recovery in Windows XP

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/itpro/managing/asr.asp

 

[btfsplk]

Thanks, linney. I don't know that I am running any disk monitoring software that would tie up the external drive, which is only used for storage. For the active drives on both machines, I run AVG antivirus, Regcure, Spybot Search and Destroy, Adaware, and Defender. All of these were used before the problem showed up. I have uninstalled and re-installed Acronis, with no effect. I have done what I could in msconfig, but haven't tried the other resources you suggested. I'll do that. Thanks again!

 

[btfsplk]

P.S. to linney. I would settle for ASR, but I don't have a floppy drive for the recovery disk. Also, one of the machines runs XP Home, which doesn't have the ASR utility. Acronis is sometimes aggravating, but it is nice to be able to do incremental backups.

 

[goombawaho]

ASR recently let me down big time, so I can't recommend that. Better an imaging application (Acronis/Ghost).