Complete PC Backup Problem

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Guest

I have been trying to use Complete PC to back up my image of VISTA.
If I do this to a separate hard drive, I have no problem backing up and
recovering.

However, my problems begin when I try and backup to DVD. It gets so far
before toasting the first DVD it is backing up, and it makes no difference
about what brand of DVD I use.

Now I could try installing a different DVD burner to see if that helps,
but is it possible to force Complete PC to save the DVD images to the Hard
Drive
and use other burning software to burn the DVDs?

If not, any suggestions about any Virtual DVD software to make
Complete PC think it is writing to a real DVD?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
I have no problem with creating Complete PC Backups straight to DVD(s),
but I would be very interested in an answer to this question, as well.

kpm99 wrote:
<snip>

is it possible to force Complete PC to save the DVD images to the Hard
 
I have a similar problem but (using Vista Business on a new Sony SZ laptop)
it allows me only to backup the first DVD-R, then it keeps asking about disk
1, that it burns again, then again disk 1...and so on. It also only allows me
to open the driver door with software commands.
A
 
Your description about Complete PC asking for Disk 1 again and again,
describes exactly what is happening to me.
Hopefully, we can get some sort of solution.
 
Since it is three days that I posted the first message here and I got no
reply, in desperation...I am trying a complete back-up on an external hard
disk I have, to see if something changes. Indeed that's not as portable as
DVDs and anyway is only a partial solution but...what else to do?

I think I am going to buy Acronis True Image Home 10, it seems to do all and
better than Vista, but.....this is no why I bought Vista. Thanks for
Microsoft no-one is around me or they would hear my 'satisfaction' loud. I am
a bit fuming from my ears at the moment....one buys the
brand-new-revenge-of-the-century-OS and one of it's main 'advantages' does
not work. I wonder about the rest.

I let you know how it goes ok? Meanwhile let's hope someone here is able to
shed a light.

A

PS-Are you able to open the driver door with the button at least? My driver
seems to work allright with any other program but the door gets locked only
in this specific case, so I think it is working allright (not faulty I mean).
How is your door behaving? Just out of curiosity.
 
Yes, it is odd that no knowledgeable person has had anything to say yet
that might help you. I've had no trouble creating Complete PC Backups
straight to DVD(s), and that is the only way I've done it so far. If
your backup to an external hard drive results in an image (or ISO) file,
and it is small enough to fit on one DVD, then you should be able to
burn that to a DVD. If it is too big for one DVD, however, (which is
likely) I'm not sure how to properly split it.
 
Could not backup Complete PC on external disk as it is 'not NTSF formatted'
it tells me. I could backup files allright though (which I never managed to
do on DVDs) but as I try the complete back up it tells me the external disck
is no good as it is not formatted as NTSF. I cannot reformat it as I have
other data from my other computer at home. I think I need to buy a new
external disk as the only way out of this, probably. Not sure. I tried
another complete back up on DVD but same story as ever...no luck.
A
 
Andy, I'm sorry but I never saw your post from 3 days ago. I only saw this
one today. I'm not sure what's going on with your DVD burning...I would
suggest making sure you have the latest drivers and maybe turning down the
burning speed or trying other DVD media. I will ask the Backup team if they
are aware of any issues in this area.

As for the Complete PC Backup, the target must be either an NTFS volume or a
DVD. If your external disk is FAT32, you can always convert it using the
convert.exe command (from an elevated command prompt). Though DVDs are more
portable, there are numerous advantages to burning your Complete PC Backups
to disk--specifically, the incremental changes are saved as shadow copies,
so they are much smaller than the "full" backup.
 
I have tried Arcronis True Image 10, but have also found problems.
Mainly - it only seemed to see hard drives formatted with NTFS under XP,
Drives formatted with NTFS under VISTA were not appearing.

Also, it backed up to DVD ok, but I tried restore it from DVD it didn't
allow me to restore it directly from the DVD drive, I had to put the images
on to the hard disk first - what is the point of that?

It does however see USB hard drives and shared networked drives, so there
some more options to retrieve backups.


So until Microsoft sort this DVD issue out, I might still use Acronis for
DVD backup despite the limitations.
 
Try different media.
I saw this with poor media, but with quality media it has been ok.

I use the full backup prob every other day to an external disk on my Vaio &
it's never faulted yet.
 
Jill,
thanks a lot for the help and guess what? After I managed to save the files
only to the external HD I tried again the DVD-R (TDK, good quality I believe
- the same I used before but this time I formatted all of them before)
and.....IT DID SAVE THE WHOLE PC THIS TIME. 5 DVDs all numbered correctly. I
have not yet tried to see what happen if one try to restore (so I do not know
if it really has worked but it seems so). So may be formatting the media
before is the issue, altough one would expect to be able to do that operation
anyway as the past times it was formatting, then copying and so on. Anyway,
is there any suggestion on how to see if the restore dvds are ok without
necessarily do a restore. kpm try format before and then the P complete back
up. See if it work. No problems with the driver door opening. Jill, my PC is
the latest from Sony so I expected the driver to be updated. It is not even
out here in UK but I bought it in the USA. Anyway, if anyone knows how to
check teh restore disk I would send you thanks forever, meanwhile kpm try
that formatted-first way. Jill, I am going to buy a dedicated external HD for
the laptop and so I will format it NTSF this time. Final question, I have a
160gb HD, is it ok to buy just a 160GB external HD for complete back ups? It
is the maximum size I can find to be really portable but I wonder if I need a
bigger disk as I do not have much experience with back ups.
Thanks to all guys, kpm....try...Jill, I owe you, thanks Daze too.
A
 
I tried formatting the DVDs before using Complete PC,
but still no luck - it still toasts them and asks for disk 1 again.
I guess my only real option is to replace the drive.
 
Andy, we'd like to get some log files from you and a screenshot of Device
Manager. Will you contact me in email? Remove "online" fro my address.

To answer one of your questions: for the verification, CompletePC always
verifies the data written to the media, so if it doesn't ask to insert media
with the same number, it was readable on that machine and that drive.
 
Here is what fixed this problem for me:

I upgraded the firmware on DVD-RW drive. Yes, Sony had an update for my
DRU-810A model drive on their support site. After upgrading the firmware and
rebooting the PC, the Complete PC Backup worked just fine.
 
Yes Jill,
Only I cannot do it now and tomorrow when I am out but you get it on Friday.
My laptop is yet not connected so I need to copy the files over to this pc.
Friday you get it. Hopefully it will help others.
A
 
Jill,
How can I make copies of these log files exactly? I realised I do not know
what files you mean; if you let me know where I find this files I can copy
and send it to you, together with the pic of device manager (that one I know
how to do it).

I bought and used a portable HD today and it did file and complete PC
backups without any problem (I formatted the HD as NTSF with standard
settings).

If, as I imagine, you need log files before I start updating all software
and install new one, let me know asap how to find these files (sorry for the
ignorance).

Thanks
Ciao
AndyB64

PS-if anyoone knows it...I want to update BIOS, Video driver, Other Sony
drivers, Vista update, other programs update etc...any other idea? Any
particular order to do them? Any other item you can come up with as
suggestion?
 
I replaced my DVD drive with a Samsung SH-S183A,
and Complete PC now works with no problems.
I have finally managed to back up my PC to DVD.
 
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