Acronis Trueimage jobs stuck in "queued"

[StuartR]

I have been using Acronis TrueImage for my backups for many years, and I've always been happy with it. I've regularly recovered data (and entire systems) with no problems. TrueImage 2016 has now developed a problem on one of my PCs, and I was most disappointed to discover that they charge for user support - I can't even log the issue by email or chat without paying.

What happens is that all of my scheduled backup jobs get stuck in a state of "queued". If I cancel them and try to start them manually the same thing happens. It looks like one job started correctly, and finished, but failed to send it's notification email. I suspect this job may be stalled and holding up the others.

I'm going to post a separate thread asking about what backup software other people are using, but in case any one else has seen this Acronis problem I thought I might ask for ideas here.

[viking33]

Stuart, I've been a longtime ATI user and beta tester for years and regularly updated when ever a new version came out. I DID skip over 2015 And 2016 for a few reasons but finally purchased 2017, which seems to be working out fine. It did take a little readjustment and some getting used to but now all looks good.
You might want to check out the feature list for 2017. It does seem to have at least a lot of the things you require but I did not do a line by line comparison. i don't have as many needs as you list but It may be worth a back check on your part.

[StuartR]

I suspect that TrueImage 2017 does everything I need Bob, and I may decide to live with the poor support to get the feature set I want.

I currently use TrueImage for local and network backups only, but I want to start doing cloud backups too as part of my recovery strategy - it would be a shame to lose all my customer data if my house burns down! (I currently take an offsite backup about once a month, but I don't think that's good enough).

[BobArch2]

TrueImage 2016 has now developed a problem on one of my PCs, and I was most disappointed to discover that they charge for user support - I can't even log the issue by email or chat without paying.

I was surprised to hear about your support issue. Years ago, I used Acronis True Image and they did provide support under certain conditions... like for current versions. Your ATI 2016 is certainly current. I checked their web site and found this. If I read the items correctly you should certainly have received their tech support.

[StuartR]

Bob,

Thank you for that. They did recommend that I upgrade to Acronis 2017, with no reason to suppose that it would resolve my issue. They also said that the product comes with just 30 days support (by email and chat). I can get improved support if I purchase their subscription cloud service.

[BobArch2]

They also said that the product comes with just 30 days support (by email and chat). I can get improved support if I purchase their subscription cloud service.

Only 30 days support? Ouch!

I switched from ATI to ShadowProtect many years ago. As John said earlier, he left SP due to licensing and support issues. I would agree that in the early stages this was true. SP was addressed more to the business client as opposed to the home user, like me. It is also expensive to acquire for the first time. I have the Home Bundle (3PCs) and currently have their Maintenance Plan. The MP cost me C$112.28 + taxes for the Home Bundle / 2 years. The MP includes all updates (minor and major) as well as technical support. I find that their technical support has improved immensely since the beginning years.

And, I am NOT trying to convince you to switch from ATI. Each product has its merits and fanbase!

[StuartR]

Thanks Bob. I'm still considering my options. It seems to fail about once a week at the moment, always in the same way. The first backup of the night completes but doesn't send the final email and the other backups then remain "queued". My latest experiment is to change the order of the backups to see if it is an issue with the particular backup, or with the one that starts at that time.

[BobArch2]

Thanks Bob. I'm still considering my options. It seems to fail about once a week at the moment, always in the same way. The first backup of the night completes but doesn't send the final email and the other backups then remain "queued". My latest experiment is to change the order of the backups to see if it is an issue with the particular backup, or with the one that starts at that time.

ShadowProtect has a feature where you can send an email which tests the internal settings to ensure that the email function is working. Does ATI have a like option? If ATI is getting hung up on sending an email to announce completion, and IF ATI depends on that action before proceeding then perhaps the issue lies with the settings? Just guessing here...

[StuartR]

The email arrives most of the time, it's only about once a week that I get this problem. It is purely conjecture on my part that the email could be the problem, as the created backup looks good but the email isn't sent.

[garbsmj]

If it's the same time every week (e.g. Friday at 5pm) is there something else running that might interfere? Just a thought. We had a backup fail because we have to do a two step thing and the second server didn't have enough space to hold server 1's output. Which was odd but I'm not a sysadmin, just the poor person having to wade through email messages and send out the appropriate WTH's.

[StuartR]

Sadly there is no obvious pattern yet. It's happened on different days of the week, after intervals of 5, 6 and 7 days.

[garbsmj]

Darn, and I thought it would be so easy to figure out. And you've switched the jobs around so that's not the issue. And I'm sure you've googled it to death as well. Sorry!

[StuartR]

It's not failed since I swapped the jobs round, so more data will come soon - unless something wonderful happens instead.

[BobArch2]

I was thinking that perhaps the ATI Log files might provide a clue so I did a little research. It seems that ATI Log files that were once informative have been difficult to decipher. I found this ATI Forum thread that has a couple of solutions in how to read the log files. There was also a comment that ATI 2017 would change the format of the log file to make it easier to read. Alas, someone who updated to ATI 2017 stated that the problem remains.

Maybe the log file can provide some clues?

[StuartR]

The log file from a day when it failed ends with the line

<event id="11" level="2" module="316" code="6" time="1477369877" message="Operation has succeeded." />

The log file from the same backup on a normal day has two further lines after this, so it ends...

<event id="11" level="2" module="316" code="6" time="1477542690" message="Operation has succeeded." />
<event id="12" level="2" module="103" code="0" time="1477542699" message="The e-mail notification has been successfully sent." />
<event id="13" level="2" module="103" code="0" time="1477542700" message="Batch operation has completed successfully." />

So it does look like it has stalled trying to send the email.