Western Digital External Drive Question

17 years ago

I am using Acronis 2009 to back up my PC internal hard drive into a Western Digital External Drive. The PC is a Dell XPS 400 running Windows XP Pro. Due some problems, I decided to do a restore but -I think- the restore fails.

I see some msgs from the Acronis Loader but they display too quickly so I am not sure if they are problems or normal msgs. One thing I notice after these failed restores is that the external drive does not show up when Windows reboots (not listed in Windows Explorer). I have to reconnect the cables or power it off/on to fix that. If I simply restart Windows once Windows Explorer lists it, rebooting does not make Explorer loose the drive. Do you think the failed restore is causing this?

Note: I assume Acronis is failing because it does not take much time to "restore" & switch to reboot Windows. I once was able to restore using Acronis and the amt of time spent doing that is many many times what the PC now takes when trying to "restore" to the same date. Ergo, I asume the restore is failing although I see no explicit msgs from Acronis (except for those that display for micro seconds).

I am new to Acronis 2009 so I could be doing something wrong but for now, my puzzle is the external drive that Explorer no longer sees after Acronis tries to restore.

TIA, Luis

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

PKponder TX Z7B
17 years ago
Hi Luis,
I found your previous post. I don't use Acronis, but someone who does had a suggestion that you may have missed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Previous post about Acronis
owbist
17 years ago
Luis take a look at this thread. Be sure to read post #5 and try the link to Wilder's Security on post #4.

Note. Before posting I went to Wilders site. You should most definitely have a looksee, very interesting.

I recently bought Acronis 11 and have my current 3 computers all backed up to my external drive. Plus I have the emergency startup CD for each but have never tried to do a restore.

To create a bootable rescue CD in version 11 I click Tools and 'Create bootable rescue media', your s should have similar choices.

Having just replaced my IDE hard drive with a SATA drive I made my first backup as soon as I had all my Windows updates, safety programs and any much needed programs installed. The intent was to create as I progressed with this drive but I have a couple of small issues to resolve before creating a newer backup.
Related Discussions
Need Advice on External Hard Drive...Please
Q
Comments (7)
I have the 1TB Western Digital My Book Essential which has the USB3 connection (compatible with USB2). I use EaseUS Todo free backup program. First I make a complete image of my internal HDD, and then I can schedule backups on whatever schedule I wish. I love this program for its ease of use after struggling with Acronis. I am very pleased also with the WD external drive. They do stand behind their warranties and replaced an internal HDD that failed, without question. All hard drives are subject to failure, so I think you're okay as long as you stick with a name brand.
...See More
External hard drive almost full?
Q
Comments (10)
OK we need to step back a little. You did not mention your operating system nor the program you use to create your back up image. If you have Vista or Windows 7 it comes with a back up utility. XP does not so you need a third party program such as Acronis True Image or similar. From what I can see you external drive came with no back up program installed on it. Using your HP recovery disks will return the computer to the state it was when you first opened the box and set your machine up. All data will be lost unless it is backed up. All bloatware will be installed again, exactly as it left the factory. Restoring an image created in Vista, Win7 or third party software however returns the computer to the exact state it was in when you created that particular image. Some (perhaps all) programs offer incremental backups, in other words they add stuff onto the previous back up. Personally I never allow that, I always create a new image then delete the older one. There is no specific reason for that, it is just one of my many quirks.
...See More
External Hard Drives
Q
Comments (8)
for anyone looking for a great price on an external drive I just spotted this deal at buy.com. Fantom G-Force GF1000EU32 1 TB - Hard Drive "Fantom Drives G-Force eSATA\USB 2.0 Hard Drives offer the most affordable storage solution for USB and eSATA enabled PCs and Macs. The USB 2.0 interface is capable of up to 60MB\sec transfer rates while the eSATA interface is capable of up to 150MB/sec transfer rates. This products features sturdy aluminum casing to provide maximum durability, fan-free design for silent operation, and could be placed horizontally or stand vertically to allow maximum deskspace. From increasing storage space to providing a safe and flexible data backup solution, Fantom Drives G-Force eSATA\USB 2.0 Hard Drives are ideal for home and business users alike." a 1 TB hard drive for $59.99 and free shipping that is a decent deal and the customer reviews are good. Nice that it offers both usb and eSATA. I buy from buy.com often and have never had any issues with them and I know they do have a coupon code for first time buyers, so googling for buy.com codes should bring that up.
...See More
Western Digital External Drive Corruputed?
Q
Comments (2)
I have a Western Digital 80G external drive. I installed it for backing up data files. Everything worked fine until I tried to copy a large folder of files; It was a very large folder. The copy process stopped midway without a hint of the problem - just stalled. This is what happened, but I did not know it at the time. The write process hit a bad sector on the disk. I had wrongly assummed that the drive was ready to use fresh out of the box. The fix: I re-formatted the disk and then scanned the entire drive with "fix disk" (or scan disk depending on the operating system.) After the scan I found that the disk was not as large as before; The scan had marked off some bad sectors. Thereafter, the disk has perfomed flawlessly for 3 years. It took some time to scan and verify 80G of disk space, but it is necessary and worthwhile to insure a well behaved disk.
...See More
luis_pr
Original Author
17 years ago
thanks for the comments pkponder and owbist. I posted replies to the other original post, in which I said something related to what owbist is saying here.

Basically, acronis support also suggested that I create a bootable CD to restart from. After hours trying to understand how to do that, I got Acronis started from the CD only to have it complain about reading some acronis files all over again (different error msg though). The msgs made it sound as if the file was maybe corrupted or something. This being a new external drive, I seriously doubt there is any file corruption or bas spot on the external disk itself. I noticed how the letter assigned to the external drive changes when I am in normal Windows Explorer Mode & Acronis off the bootable CD. In Windows Explorer, the external Drive is letter J. When messing with Acronis off the CD, it is I but the internal records for the backups kept by Acronis display the file names with letter J. Odd.

owbist, caution! I originally thought I was in high heaven when acronis was backing up things regularly but, after this bad taste trying to do a restore, you may want to ck to see if trying to restore is possible or not for you. So frustrating since it did exactly this same restore request last month like a champ!

Luis

PS - My apologies for not replying sooner. One of the effects of what screwed me up is not being able to start Outlook. Some file called outlook.pst is missing so I have not been able to check my emails for a few weeks...
owbist
17 years ago
Luis wrote:- owbist, caution! I originally thought I was in high heaven when acronis was backing up things regularly but, after this bad taste trying to do a restore, you may want to ck to see if trying to restore is possible or not for you. So frustrating since it did exactly this same restore request last month like a champ!

Thanks Luis, I think you have convinced me I need to investigate Acronis a whole lot better than I have done. The program seems a good one but seems to need care and attention paid to it. The other forum had a few threads on Acronis woes over time, all were worked out eventually with help from other users. In the next couple of days I will create another full backup, then try a restore to see how we go.

Western Digital External Drive Question

Comments (4)

PKponder TX Z7B

owbist

Related Discussions

luis_pr
Original Author

owbist

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Western Digital External Drive Question

Comments (4)

PKponder TX Z7B

owbist

Related Discussions

luis_prOriginal Author

owbist

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

luis_pr
Original Author