Acronis True Image v8 issue

apintofstella

I've been using this program for backups directly to a 160GB hard disk in a USB IcyBox enclosure for 6 months. Touch wood, I haven't had to use the Restore function yet. The only test I usually do after creating an image was to use the 'Explore Image' function to grab random files (e.g. tunes, excel docs) and check they opened ok.

Well I'm prepping my PC to try out the Vista Beta so thought a backup was a good idea. (FYI for each drive I create 1 large image). This time I tried the TI 'Check Image' function; it was corrupt. Tried again this time creating the image on the local drive. Corruptus in extremis. (Currently checking all my available previous backups - it isn't looking good)

After a bit of research (various pages on https://www.wilderssecurity.com inc. http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=65129), I used the 'split the image into x-sized' parts option during creation; 2GB 'chunks' verified ok both locally and on the ext drive (and checking the md5's of the file before and after copying the file to the external 160GB drive).

But I'm backing up 1 74GB drive (that's about 1/2 full) and another 160 GB drive (that's about 3/4 full) so 2 GBs chunks isn't going to work longterm.

Three points:

1. Check your backups!
2. Has anyone else experienced this?
3. Has anyone any experiences of Norton Ghost? (I'm shivering at thinking of giving Symantec money but if it works...)

apintofstella-in-need-of-many-more :wall:

[eeek long post alert]