Win 7 Pro unstable...Which OS should I install?

AnIgnorantPerson

Limp Gawd
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Jan 10, 2019
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I have been using Win 7 Pro for my home server since I like Win 7 Pro the most but it is so unstable and constantly freezes and I have to reinstall from scratch or reload from an acronis save. Recently, explorer appears to crash. I can't click on anything and all keys are unresponsive and it disappears from network but I still can move the mouse around. It will never completely freeze or crash so I can't get a dump log to see what is crashing. This happens within minutes of starting.

It is completely stable in safe mode with networking though.

I loaded an acronis save from a month ago when it was stable and it runs fine for days from that image. Since that version was stable I ran windows update and bam! It starts the same thing above all over again.

1. What is crashing and why?

2. I have endless stability issues with Win7 Pro which sucks so what OS should I switch to?

I have:
Win 7 Pro
Win8/10 Pro
2-3 different versions of Windows Server. I know I have 2008 R2 and the version after that.

I tried to install Windows Server once but stopped midway through because I was totally lost. It asked me if I wanted to install like 50 different things and most I have never heard of before so I had no idea what I needed so I didn't use it last time.

If I should install Win Server....is there a reasonable guide on what I need so I don't spend 4 days learning how to install it?


Any advice would be very much appreciated.

My server and usage:
It is an Intel Xeon with an LSI HBA IIRC.

I use it for Plex/Snapraid/Acronis at the moment and will probably do other nic-nacs down the road.

I would also like to maintain using Windows obviously.

EDIT:
 
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If the only constants in the system is Windows 7 and the computer itself - those are the two primary components working together - and after a long period of time using Windows 7 without issues suddenly you start experiencing crashes and whatever, and you restore a backup (the image you mentioned) and it worked but then started having similar issues, personally I would say the computer hardware has developed some problems.

Windows is Windows, none of the versions are any more "stable" than the others, especially not Windows 10 these days because of the rolling release BS that breaks stuff - just ahead of this thread there was another one about how yet another recent Windows 10 patch/update broke something else so who knows.

I suspect the hardware has developed some issues but it could be damned near impossible to confirm or even diagnose so, grab a spare drive and install Windows 8 or 8.1 on it, or some trial version of Enterprise or Server and see what happens. I wouldn't point the finger at the OS, especially Windows 7 which is an insanely stable version of Windows - I've been using Windows 7 since the first beta back in ~2009 and I think on hundreds if not a thousand plus systems I've worked on and dozens that I've owned I've seen two BSODs over the past near decade.

It is by far the most stable OS I personally have ever used and it's the one I've used the longest and even in spite of Microsoft (and Intel) doing a lot of shady shit to get people off it, I'll keep right on using it for years to come just like a lot of businesses will once Microsoft realizes they're not going to have a choice but to continue providing security updates and other patches for it probably through 2022.
 
If you can (have it), go with windows server! I'd vote for that with both hands.
Installing it is no more hassle than any windows. It will ask then if you want to install some server roles/features and you may need to go through some settings but I'd suggest you go through that route if you use the machine as a server anyway.
Currently Server 2016 is what I use and it is rock solid, my server is used for many things, it regularly achieves uptimes of 5-6 months and beyond. I used Win2008 R2 and it also was very stable. Now I test Server 2019 in a virtual machine and it also seems Ok so far, it is much like its predecesor.
 
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If the only constants in the system is Windows 7 and the computer itself - those are the two primary components working together - and after a long period of time using Windows 7 without issues suddenly you start experiencing crashes and whatever, and you restore a backup (the image you mentioned) and it worked but then started having similar issues, personally I would say the computer hardware has developed some problems.

Windows is Windows, none of the versions are any more "stable" than the others, especially not Windows 10 these days because of the rolling release BS that breaks stuff - just ahead of this thread there was another one about how yet another recent Windows 10 patch/update broke something else so who knows.

I suspect the hardware has developed some issues but it could be damned near impossible to confirm or even diagnose so, grab a spare drive and install Windows 8 or 8.1 on it, or some trial version of Enterprise or Server and see what happens. I wouldn't point the finger at the OS, especially Windows 7 which is an insanely stable version of Windows - I've been using Windows 7 since the first beta back in ~2009 and I think on hundreds if not a thousand plus systems I've worked on and dozens that I've owned I've seen two BSODs over the past near decade.

It is by far the most stable OS I personally have ever used and it's the one I've used the longest and even in spite of Microsoft (and Intel) doing a lot of shady shit to get people off it, I'll keep right on using it for years to come just like a lot of businesses will once Microsoft realizes they're not going to have a choice but to continue providing security updates and other patches for it probably through 2022.
as i said it was stable for days...until i ran a windows update

This is the exactly what has happened broken down into steps
ran windows update->rebooted->explorer freezes within 10 minutes of startup* (did multiple restarts and troubleshooting steps)->ran in safe mode with networking for 3 days no issue (was running snapraid sync and scrub in safemode to ensure the array was safe and up to date)->switch to brand new SSD and run an acronis restore to a month old image->runs fine for 3 days (added data to snapraid and resynced)->ran windows update->reboot->explorer starts freezing again within 10 mins*

*explorer stops responding and I can not click on anything but the mouse can move and server disappears from the network. It will never actually fully crash. I have left it this way for about 2 days while mashing keys to see if it will actually crash completely and give me a dumpfile. But it will never completely crash/freeze and give me a dumpfile. (this is the same thing that was happening prior to restoring)

How is that an issue with the system hardware? The universal constant is this happens admitely after running a windows update

I have run maybe 20 rigs on Win 7 Pro and the universal theme is windows is always reinstalled after about 1 year because it just gets unstable for 1 reason or another. I reinstall windows and the system is completely stable again. A year later after a fresh install it gets super crashy but do a fresh install....it has 0 issues.

If you can (have it), go with windows server! I'd vote for that with both hands.
Installing it is no more hassle than any windows. It will ask then if you want to install some server roles/features and you may need to go through some settings but I'd suggest you go through that route if you use the machine as a server anyway.
Currently Server 2016 is what I use and it is rock solid, my server is used for many things, it regularly achieves uptimes of 5-6 months and beyond. I used Win2008 R2 and it also was very stable. Now I test Server 2019 in a virtual machine and it also seems Ok so far, it is much like its predecesor.

do you know of a good guide that walks you through it? I tried it before and I had to choose like 50 things that I had no idea if were necessary or good to install. Like some of the modules and rules I had no idea if i needed or were safe to install out of security reasons.
 
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You say you want to keep using windows. But I'm not really sure why that is a priority. Plex and snapraid work with Linux just fine. The other backup solution you mention is easily replaced.

If its windows updates causing you problems on old hardware I doubt running a different version of windows will make anything more stable. (even server) Also why have you bought copies of every version of windows ? or are you asking which you should buy to replace your win 7 ? Find a good solid Linux server OS like Suse CentOS or Ubuntu and chances are your older hardware will be much better supported.

If your warezing your windows server seriously do yourself a favor and spend a few weeks learning how to use Linux. That would be the only way to ensure a MS update isn't going to purposely hose your hacked up OS. (if that isn't the case disregard obviously)
 
Then reinstall the recent image and DON'T hit Windows Update and see what happens, I suppose. I did catch that aspect originally but didn't consider it because you didn't point it out in the first instance - you simply said you started having issues but neglected to mention any updates had been done, then when you started having issues you restored an image that worked for a few days and then you did an update and starting having issues. I don't like to presume things when people explain their situations so it's entirely possible that yes an update crapped out the installation which prompted you to restore the image and then the same update when applied did it again.

Do some research into recent Windows Updates maybe, I know there are some issues with a Windows 7 update that just came out in the past week I think, that could have something to do with it or a previous one from December, I can't say for sure. I don't use Windows Update for such patches, I wait till after they're released and then wait a few days to see how they work for other people, then apply them manually if I consider them to be "safe" based on research. I have never used Windows Update "automatically" - that's one of the very first things I disable on a new Windows 7 installation 'cause it's nothing but trouble. ;)
 
You say you want to keep using windows. But I'm not really sure why that is a priority. Plex and snapraid work with Linux just fine. The other backup solution you mention is easily replaced.

If its windows updates causing you problems on old hardware I doubt running a different version of windows will make anything more stable. (even server) Also why have you bought copies of every version of windows ? or are you asking which you should buy to replace your win 7 ? Find a good solid Linux server OS like Suse CentOS or Ubuntu and chances are your older hardware will be much better supported.

If your warezing your windows server seriously do yourself a favor and spend a few weeks learning how to use Linux. That would be the only way to ensure a MS update isn't going to purposely hose your hacked up OS. (if that isn't the case disregard obviously)

I got all of them ages ago from DreamSpark. I downloaded and registered for all the OSes and other software from my local CC.

I dont want to use Linux because I have never used it in depth (not very familiar) and don't feel like the cost in time to learn linux is worth the effort. Plus a lot of software I like and use does not work on linux. If Plex works better and faster on linux...you might get me sold on switching if you have empirical evidence that shows a speed up because Plex is horrible slow with my library size because Plex developers refuse to optimize how Plex works. It wont preload data so scrolling has silly scroll and load instead of preloading 2 screens in either direction. It also crashes after I scroll through like 2000 objects or something.

I also run a haswell Xeon with ECC RAM. It isn't that old but would love to get a threadripper build if i had the money.

Then reinstall the recent image and DON'T hit Windows Update and see what happens, I suppose. I did catch that aspect originally but didn't consider it because you didn't point it out in the first instance - you simply said you started having issues but neglected to mention any updates had been done, then when you started having issues you restored an image that worked for a few days and then you did an update and starting having issues. I don't like to presume things when people explain their situations so it's entirely possible that yes an update crapped out the installation which prompted you to restore the image and then the same update when applied did it again.

Do some research into recent Windows Updates maybe, I know there are some issues with a Windows 7 update that just came out in the past week I think, that could have something to do with it or a previous one from December, I can't say for sure. I don't use Windows Update for such patches, I wait till after they're released and then wait a few days to see how they work for other people, then apply them manually if I consider them to be "safe" based on research. I have never used Windows Update "automatically" - that's one of the very first things I disable on a new Windows 7 installation 'cause it's nothing but trouble. ;)

Sorry, I updated it more and made it clearer so please reread it. Thanks

Is there a way to uninstall windows updates after they have been installed? I am worried if I reboot my main desktop I will be SOL too. I also want to see if uninstalling an update on my server solves the issue. It took like half a day to get acronis to restore an older build and would like to not waste that much time again if i can simply uninstall certain updates in safe mode.

EDIT: how bad is it running an non-updated windows? Like security risk wise if i have MBAM and Norton/Kaspersky (I own both but only use one)
 
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If you open Windows Update, then choose "View update history" on the left panel, and then on the next screen choose the link at the top for Installed Updates you can remove installed updates, yes. Mind you that this only works for updates that have been installed using Windows Update - if you have some custom created installation media with integrated updates you may not be able to remove them because of their integrated nature. It could potentially wreck your system if you're not entirely certain of which update(s) need to be removed to address a potential issue with one of them so, proceed with caution in that respect.
 
If you open Windows Update, then choose "View update history" on the left panel, and then on the next screen choose the link at the top for Installed Updates you can remove installed updates, yes. Mind you that this only works for updates that have been installed using Windows Update - if you have some custom created installation media with integrated updates you may not be able to remove them because of their integrated nature. It could potentially wreck your system if you're not entirely certain of which update(s) need to be removed to address a potential issue with one of them so, proceed with caution in that respect.
thanks! I'll test around with my current image on the new drive. If i have any luck I will let you know.

Do you have any recommendations on which I should uninstall? I only use Windows update. I am assuming its probably one of the quality updates or .net updates?
 
I couldn't even begin to diagnose the issues you're having based on whatever updates have been installed, that's just not possible at this point in time. If you take note of the last thing I say in my signature below you should get some ideas, sorta. :D
 
well fml....For grins, I tried to update BIOS via instant flash in bios and I think it failed. I can move mouse around in bios but can't click on anything. It has been like this for about 10-20 mins....maybe longer.

What should I do? reboot? leave it this way overnight? switch to B version of BIOS?

Oh and I reread the first post and I can see how it wasn't clear that the issues happened twice so my bad.
 
If your machine is one that supports a dual BIOS then yes, I'd suggest giving that a shot and see how things work out. Again, I'm suspecting there's some hardware issue with this machine and not software based problems.
 
well i just rebooted and was able to get into BIOS and its updating...going from 1.7-3.5 :rolleyes:

BIOS was successfully updated

EDIT: I did get 1 BSOD which was random. I am redoing the restore from December 5th.

If that gives me issues I'll go back to November. and if that's an issue...it must be hardware but I don't think its hardware....I pray it isn't lol. I can't afford a new CPU/MB

Doing these restores require like half a day. So damn slow.
 
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well i just rebooted and was able to get into BIOS and its updating...going from 1.7-3.5 :rolleyes:

BIOS was successfully updated

EDIT: I did get 1 BSOD which was random. I am redoing the restore from December 5th.

If that gives me issues I'll go back to November. and if that's an issue...it must be hardware but I don't think its hardware....I pray it isn't lol. I can't afford a new CPU/MB

Doing these restores require like half a day. So damn slow.

It takes you half a day to do a system restore?! I think you have bigger issues than your choice of OS.
 
It takes you half a day to do a system restore?! I think you have bigger issues than your choice of OS.
What do you expect me to do....Rewrite acronis code and sprinkle some holy water on my server to magically make the restore process go faster? I already have my backups on 2x3TB 7200 RPM drives.

Acronis seems to read the entire backup file on each step. It takes about an hour probably to scan the array for all backups (for some reason it wants to scan the entire array instead of just letting me select the single one i want). After it finally loads all the backups. I click on the one I want and it now has to read the entire back up and its 200-300GB backup (don't accidentally click the wrong one...you'll wait 2 hours). Then I get to select the destination drive. Then it does the restore. Hence why it takes about half a day 4-6 hours.


You want me to rewrite their code so it doesn't needlessly scan my entire array for an hour and spend 3-4 hours reading the backup 2 times needlessly?

How about you not be a smartass and shit post...mmmmkay?
 
What do you expect me to do....Rewrite acronis code and sprinkle some holy water on my server to magically make the restore process go faster? I already have my backups on 2x3TB 7200 RPM drives.

Acronis seems to read the entire backup file on each step. It takes about an hour probably to scan the array for all backups (for some reason it wants to scan the entire array instead of just letting me select the single one i want). After it finally loads all the backups. I click on the one I want and it now has to read the entire back up and its 200-300GB backup (don't accidentally click the wrong one...you'll wait 2 hours). Then I get to select the destination drive. Then it does the restore. Hence why it takes about half a day 4-6 hours.


You want me to rewrite their code so it doesn't needlessly scan my entire array for an hour and spend 3-4 hours reading the backup 2 times needlessly?

How about you not be a smartass and shit post...mmmmkay?

You only need to restore your system partion. Not your 6 tb of pron. if you cant do that separately something is set up wrong
 
What do you expect me to do....Rewrite acronis code and sprinkle some holy water on my server to magically make the restore process go faster? I already have my backups on 2x3TB 7200 RPM drives.

Acronis seems to read the entire backup file on each step. It takes about an hour probably to scan the array for all backups (for some reason it wants to scan the entire array instead of just letting me select the single one i want). After it finally loads all the backups. I click on the one I want and it now has to read the entire back up and its 200-300GB backup (don't accidentally click the wrong one...you'll wait 2 hours). Then I get to select the destination drive. Then it does the restore. Hence why it takes about half a day 4-6 hours.


You want me to rewrite their code so it doesn't needlessly scan my entire array for an hour and spend 3-4 hours reading the backup 2 times needlessly?

How about you not be a smartass and shit post...mmmmkay?

You didn't mention Arcronis, you simply mentioned a 'restore'.

I was not being a smartarse, I was pointing out that if a system restore is taking that long you have bigger issues. Calm down.
 
You only need to restore your system partion. Not your 6 tb of pron. if you cant do that separately something is set up wrong
you failed reading comprehension.

I said Acronis reads the entire array to find backups. I have no power to tell it to stop....its a dumb design. It will automatically scan every drive for acronis files. I repeat...I have no say in it.

I never said I restore the entire 6TB o_O What is wrong with you?

I clearly said I restore only the one archive I need and its 200-300GB back up for my OS. Acronis also reads the entire 200-300GB backup on like 2 times before I start the restore process. I assume its checking to verify the integrity of the backup???

You didn't mention Arcronis, you simply mentioned a 'restore'.

I was not being a smartarse, I was pointing out that if a system restore is taking that long you have bigger issues. Calm down.

I mention Acronis 3 times in OP and 1 other time lower down before you posted. That is 4 times I mentioned it in total.

Maybe read before you post?
 
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A quick google search on Acronis... I don't use it nor windows. So do a bit more research if need be.

But;
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Settings\ScanComputerAtStartup.

I believe you should have that key and be able to disable the scan on startup that is slowing things down for you. It sounds like at one time they had an option in their GUI but removed it at some point. But from my 2 min of reading it sounds like the reg key should still be there allowing you to stop that annoying behaviour.

And chill dude... no is trying to be unhelpful. You listed a bunch of stuff its not hard to overlook the mention of one piece of software. Ya if a bit of backup software took hours to scan before even letting me know what I had imaged I would kill it with fire. Sounds like a super annoying bit of software.... OR their isn't anything wrong with it and its not supposed to take hours performing a quick scan. In my Acronis google search the first issue report I found that sounded something like yours (super long load) was responded by a Acronis CSR asking the user to perform check disks and the like as they believed they may have been dealing with some form of corruption or something. Now it sounds like turning off their scan at startup feature is a logical fix... but perhaps just in case run a few scans of your drives, and run a memtest. If everything checks out at least you ruled it out. It sounds like some type of windows update problem.... but rule out the obvious. (if your willing to wait half a day for a backup restore a few hours to run some scans isn't the end of the world)
 
When speaking of backup/imaging software, I stopped using Acronis long ago. Their last good versions were back in around 2010, I used TrueImage 2009 Enterprise Server and it was good and usable. Now there are too many alternatives which are even better. I tried few recent Acronis versions and I was more than annoyed by it. They haven't even updated their live boot CD from the looks as I remember it 10+ years ago. And if I remember correctly their boot CD had troubles working with netowrk shares and this was critical.
Today Easeus Todo Backup or Macrium Reflect are fine alternatives among many others. I personally use the first one on Servers with success so far.
 
you failed reading comprehension.

I said Acronis reads the entire array to find backups. I have no power to tell it to stop....its a dumb design. It will automatically scan every drive for acronis files. I repeat...I have no say in it.

I never said I restore the entire 6TB o_O What is wrong with you?
You should have backed up the OS partition by itself if you need to do it so often.
Then its a few minutes to restore, assuming you havent made the whole drive a single partition!
The problem isnt everyone else ...
 
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A quick google search on Acronis... I don't use it nor windows. So do a bit more research if need be.

But;
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Settings\ScanComputerAtStartup.

I believe you should have that key and be able to disable the scan on startup that is slowing things down for you. It sounds like at one time they had an option in their GUI but removed it at some point. But from my 2 min of reading it sounds like the reg key should still be there allowing you to stop that annoying behaviour.

And chill dude... no is trying to be unhelpful. You listed a bunch of stuff its not hard to overlook the mention of one piece of software. Ya if a bit of backup software took hours to scan before even letting me know what I had imaged I would kill it with fire. Sounds like a super annoying bit of software.... OR their isn't anything wrong with it and its not supposed to take hours performing a quick scan. In my Acronis google search the first issue report I found that sounded something like yours (super long load) was responded by a Acronis CSR asking the user to perform check disks and the like as they believed they may have been dealing with some form of corruption or something. Now it sounds like turning off their scan at startup feature is a logical fix... but perhaps just in case run a few scans of your drives, and run a memtest. If everything checks out at least you ruled it out. It sounds like some type of windows update problem.... but rule out the obvious. (if your willing to wait half a day for a backup restore a few hours to run some scans isn't the end of the world)
thanks that is really cool info. I just don't think they designed it thinking people would have an array of 9x6TB of data drives with 2 of those 6TBs filled with backups of 4 PCs that have monthly full backups and 30 days of dailies :/ I get why they did that but its still kinda silly. I have full backups for every month going back 1-2 years for 3 PCs with 30 days of differential iterations and ~3 other computers that have a few different versions of backups. So roughly 9TBs of backups ATM so because it scans all 9 data drives for Acronis TIB files and I have 9TB of it....it takes stupidly long lol.


So I just did other things on my main PC since the server is right next to my desk so I personally didn't waste much time but it definitely slows troubleshooting lol. If it was on a different computer that was down I would have moved the single backup I needed onto an external but thats a lot harder when the server is the one that is down ^-^

I'll keep note of that registry fix if I ever have to do the server again!

I successfully restored it again last night to the December full backup and it hasn't crashed since and I have done a couple restarts too. I wonder what the issue was. I really hope my main rig doesn't have this issue when I restart it because its been 30 days since a restart on it and it has that same December updates pending :/ I'll do a backup just in case but its a pain to do restores on my main drive. It is NVMe and there are a lot of extra steps :/
You should have backed up the OS partition by itself if you need to do it so often.
Then its a few minutes to restore, assuming you havent made the whole drive a single partition!
The problem isnt everyone else ...

Again....as I said the restore is only the OS drive. You failed reading comprehension too. I even uploaded an image for you since you need some help. It is highly compressed and ~300GB unpacked.
I would dump Windows entirely but that's just me.
any tangible reason why? A large number of my programs that I find critical do not work on other OSes. The switching cost/barrier is currently not worth it unless you can prove why it would be.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switching_barriers

When speaking of backup/imaging software, I stopped using Acronis long ago. Their last good versions were back in around 2010, I used TrueImage 2009 Enterprise Server and it was good and usable. Now there are too many alternatives which are even better. I tried few recent Acronis versions and I was more than annoyed by it. They haven't even updated their live boot CD from the looks as I remember it 10+ years ago. And if I remember correctly their boot CD had troubles working with netowrk shares and this was critical.
Today Easeus Todo Backup or Macrium Reflect are fine alternatives among many others. I personally use the first one on Servers with success so far.

sorry missed your post.

That is interesting. I have to be able to do backups every month that is full disk and 30 days of daily differential iterations (see image below) and be able to highly compress them. Right now acronis ~halves the data requirement. It is also 100% of all files with no exclusions. It also must verify every backup upon completion. The ability to see versions of files is also important for retrieving older versions or deleted files within the OS on the fly.

My only gripe with acronis is NVMe restores are a nightmare and it doesn't auto manage my daily iterations. Once a month or 2 I go and delete the previous months 30 dailies (~800-1500GB) (For NVMe restores: if the other softwares does this without modifying and importing drivers you may have me sold)


I would need the workstation version I think and that would cost me at least 375 bucks. Definitely can't afford to switch :/
https://www.macrium.com/products/business/standalone

The other one seems even more expensive :/ Macrium looks decent but how does it handle NVMe?
 

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you failed reading comprehension.

I said Acronis reads the entire array to find backups. I have no power to tell it to stop....its a dumb design. It will automatically scan every drive for acronis files. I repeat...I have no say in it.

I never said I restore the entire 6TB o_O What is wrong with you?

I clearly said I restore only the one archive I need and its 200-300GB back up for my OS. Acronis also reads the entire 200-300GB backup on like 2 times before I start the restore process. I assume its checking to verify the integrity of the backup???



I mention Acronis 3 times in OP and 1 other time lower down before you posted. That is 4 times I mentioned it in total.

Maybe read before you post?

Wow you sure fall to insulting fast. Having some issue at home?

Still it showed up I was right that you had it set up wrong. (Per ChadD)
 
could be bad ram or a bad hard drive or a bad motherboard, cpu paste needs to be re-applied? win 7 is the better Os ms has ever put out besides xp sp3........
 
Wow you sure fall to insulting fast. Having some issue at home?

Still it showed up I was right that you had it set up wrong. (Per ChadD)
You only need to restore your system partion. Not your 6 tb of pron. if you cant do that separately something is set up wrong
Look in the mirror bub and I never insulted (I stated facts). You were the one to insult....

I may be ignorant but I am not stupid.

you didn't read what chad said did you....I don't have anything set up wrong. They removed a setting that forces a full scan and only way to possibly change that is to edit a registry. It is that way default and no average user can change that. (see below. I am unsure that even works...could be wrong)

You have anything useful to add or are you just trying to derail and be dishonest?

A quick google search on Acronis... I don't use it nor windows. So do a bit more research if need be.

But;
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Settings\ScanComputerAtStartup.

I believe you should have that key and be able to disable the scan on startup that is slowing things down for you. It sounds like at one time they had an option in their GUI but removed it at some point. But from my 2 min of reading it sounds like the reg key should still be there allowing you to stop that annoying behaviour.

And chill dude... no is trying to be unhelpful. You listed a bunch of stuff its not hard to overlook the mention of one piece of software. Ya if a bit of backup software took hours to scan before even letting me know what I had imaged I would kill it with fire. Sounds like a super annoying bit of software.... OR their isn't anything wrong with it and its not supposed to take hours performing a quick scan. In my Acronis google search the first issue report I found that sounded something like yours (super long load) was responded by a Acronis CSR asking the user to perform check disks and the like as they believed they may have been dealing with some form of corruption or something. Now it sounds like turning off their scan at startup feature is a logical fix... but perhaps just in case run a few scans of your drives, and run a memtest. If everything checks out at least you ruled it out. It sounds like some type of windows update problem.... but rule out the obvious. (if your willing to wait half a day for a backup restore a few hours to run some scans isn't the end of the world)
BTW...I am thinking more about what you said....I dont think that works.

I am using a USB recovery tool that I made. So are saying edit the registry on my OS drive (how would that affect a bootable USB recovery tool?) or edit the USB recovery tool registry?

If I am editing the registry on the USB I honestly didn't think that was possible.

I just put that together after reading and thinking about it for the 6th time hahaha :ROFLMAO:

EDIT: This is what I am using ChadD to restore. 3 of those 5 steps take like 1-2 hours each.
https://kb.acronis.com/content/47165
aur2012_03.png


The archive selection is where it scans the entire array of 22 drives (9 logical data drives) and takes a long time.

then whenever you select the backup you want it will unpack and read the entire compressed backup. Then you can select the destination and then it rereads it again and starts unpacking.

I am wagering the first read is it unpacking to verify it works and there is enough space for it to unpack.
 
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What you describe about Acronis, if that's real then its behavior is ridiculous. It should start and wait until you point it to your backup tib image you need to restore. Then after and only after you comfirm all steps before the actual restore begins, it should begin reading it and check it's validity and correctness before it actually begins the restore step.
About Easeus or Macrium... well, I only do full backups every now and then (OS changes are very rare). I do incremental archives only to data (with different programs and scripts) but for OS images only fulls, maybe once a month or so, and keep only the last 3-4 archives.
If you ever deicde to switch, their trial versions can be tested (in virtual machines for example) if they suit your needs. At least Easeus supports incremental but I didn't test that. If I'm ever to rely on incremental strategies, I'm too picky and I would test extensively. For data archive needs I use incremental and because no software satisfied my requirements I had to write my own big scripts with commandline tools to achieve exactly what I wanted.
 
Look in the mirror bub and I never insulted (I stated facts). You were the one to insult....

I may be ignorant but I am not stupid.

you didn't read what chad said did you....I don't have anything set up wrong. They removed a setting that forces a full scan and only way to possibly change that is to edit a registry. It is that way default and no average user can change that. (see below. I am unsure that even works...could be wrong)

Is in an insult that I wrote pron ? nothing in my text was targeting you. only the issues you provided.

Still what i said was that you set up was wrong. Why is wrong ( registry change or bad choose of software) stil makes it true, I proper setup would not take that long to restore your os/system.
anything else are just excused of why the set up is wrong.

This derail is only because you couldn't muster criticism of your setup and had to take in personal insults.
My original post was 100% targeted you set up and in line with your thread/issue of long restore time
 
What do you expect me to do....Rewrite acronis code and sprinkle some holy water on my server to magically make the restore process go faster? I already have my backups on 2x3TB 7200 RPM drives.

Acronis seems to read the entire backup file on each step. It takes about an hour probably to scan the array for all backups (for some reason it wants to scan the entire array instead of just letting me select the single one i want). After it finally loads all the backups. I click on the one I want and it now has to read the entire back up and its 200-300GB backup (don't accidentally click the wrong one...you'll wait 2 hours). Then I get to select the destination drive. Then it does the restore. Hence why it takes about half a day 4-6 hours.


You want me to rewrite their code so it doesn't needlessly scan my entire array for an hour and spend 3-4 hours reading the backup 2 times needlessly?
I have used Acronis TrueImage for backup/restore for almost 10 years and what you are describing is . . . . . . . insane.

I can boot from a USB thumbdrive with Acronis on it, and do a full system restore, pulling in the backup image from an external hard drive, in less than 20 minutes total, from start to finish.

I think your "array" has some serious configuration problems.
 
What you describe about Acronis, if that's real then its behavior is ridiculous. It should start and wait until you point it to your backup tib image you need to restore. Then after and only after you comfirm all steps before the actual restore begins, it should begin reading it and check it's validity and correctness before it actually begins the restore step.
About Easeus or Macrium... well, I only do full backups every now and then (OS changes are very rare). I do incremental archives only to data (with different programs and scripts) but for OS images only fulls, maybe once a month or so, and keep only the last 3-4 archives.
If you ever deicde to switch, their trial versions can be tested (in virtual machines for example) if they suit your needs. At least Easeus supports incremental but I didn't test that. If I'm ever to rely on incremental strategies, I'm too picky and I would test extensively. For data archive needs I use incremental and because no software satisfied my requirements I had to write my own big scripts with commandline tools to achieve exactly what I wanted.
Yea I prefer differential. It is more fault tolerant but the websites said they support it but not sure how customizable it is. I find acronis not giving you enough control but i know it current;y meets my needs and is way cheaper. Macrium looks nice though and probably better but i can't drop nearly $400 bucks on the program when this is good enough.
Is in an insult that I wrote pron ? nothing in my text was targeting you. only the issues you provided.

Still what i said was that you set up was wrong. Why is wrong ( registry change or bad choose of software) stil makes it true, I proper setup would not take that long to restore your os/system.
anything else are just excused of why the set up is wrong.

This derail is only because you couldn't muster criticism of your setup and had to take in personal insults.
My original post was 100% targeted you set up and in line with your thread/issue of long restore time
sure champ....if that makes you feel better :rolleyes:

I have used Acronis TrueImage for backup/restore for almost 10 years and what you are describing is . . . . . . . insane.

I can boot from a USB thumbdrive with Acronis on it, and do a full system restore, pulling in the backup image from an external hard drive, in less than 20 minutes total, from start to finish.

I think your "array" has some serious configuration problems.

Does your external contain 9TB+ of backups and about 500 or maybe 1000 TIB files?

No? It doesn't? Maybe that's why. (y)

As I said normally when I restore I use an external too with only 1 backup. Bam! It goes super fast. Event this time I had to restore the server with all the TIB files.....Granted hindsight I could have just pulled all the drives out that weren't needed. But i didn't know that would bog down acronis usb key back then.

Do you use high amounts of compression to the backups too? No?

Thanks for the input but it isn't configured wrong. Runs at full speed.
 
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Keep all the TIB files renamed with another extension (ex.: *.tik). Then Acronis should not touch them or inspect them. When you need an image, rename it back to tib and use it. Not sure if this can be done right from the browse dialog within acronis boot flash drive.
 
I just don't think they designed it thinking people would have an array of 9x6TB of data drives with 2 of those 6TBs filled with backups of 4 PCs that have monthly full backups and 30 days of dailies :/ I get why they did that but its still kinda silly. I have full backups for every month going back 1-2 years for 3 PCs with 30 days of differential iterations and ~3 other computers that have a few different versions of backups. So roughly 9TBs of backups ATM so because it scans all 9 data drives for Acronis TIB files and I have 9TB of it....it takes stupidly long lol.

Does the word excessive come to mind reading that? :D

Sounds like you have a seriously excessive amount of backups and obviously so much redundancy that you're hampering you're own efforts if there's a big problem or even a relatively minor one. I'm not slamming you at all for it, I've known people that have done similar backup strategies, I'm just saying: 1-2 years of that many backups? I know I don't have any right to ask but: WTF man? There has to be a better and vastly more efficient way to do things in your situation, but I suppose if the method you've become so accustomed to works for you - given what happens if there's a problem - so be it.

Damn... that's a crazy amount of backups. :eek:
 
Does the word excessive come to mind reading that? :D

Sounds like you have a seriously excessive amount of backups and obviously so much redundancy that you're hampering you're own efforts if there's a big problem or even a relatively minor one. I'm not slamming you at all for it, I've known people that have done similar backup strategies, I'm just saying: 1-2 years of that many backups? I know I don't have any right to ask but: WTF man? There has to be a better and vastly more efficient way to do things in your situation, but I suppose if the method you've become so accustomed to works for you - given what happens if there's a problem - so be it.

Damn... that's a crazy amount of backups. :eek:
I have been cursed with so many faulty drives and lost data I said one day I would get running a system that is fault tolerant and does everything I need. :whistle: I also keep everything on Snapraid as well. It also has come from as I said having terrible issues with Windows getting faulty (this post as a prime example) (not hardware related...just gets unstable. A fresh install and it works just fine or restoring to an earlier version) So I said I was tired of fresh installing so many times and that I wanted a clean windows only backup with all current updates as my first save for every computer I have. Then install all programs. Then back up again. This way starting on fresh version is super easy. The 3 most important rigs (will) do the backup scheme from above. I haven't gotten my main desktop backing up yet. Been waiting for fresh build. I dedicated 2x6TB for backups. Whenever I run out of space I start thinning out archives. Like now I only have every other month vs every month. So far it has 100% paid off. Case in point, my server was restored without taking days to reinstall and customize my OS and all the programs.

over the year from moving data from drive to drive. I have ended up with tons of unorganized and duplicate data. Like photos...I have many duplicates

because of not having a good storage solution. Now I am set :D. Someday I'll try to normalize all my data but hopefully more useful programs will come out so it won't be a lot of effort. Now I don't have any of those problems :D
 
The basic gist or point I was trying to make is: unless you're a business with critical data that needs redundancy like that, a typical home computer user - even a professional doing work at home - would rarely (personal opinion here) need to make full system backups of any kind (differential/incremental/etc) that stretch out more than maybe 30 days because of the sheer amount of redundancy taking place over that span of time. To have 30 day backups going back 1-2 years is just a literal waste of drive space that *might* be more useful for other purposes.

But hey, if you can afford the machines, the drives, the storage, the electricity, etc, go for it. ;)

For me personally any "critical" or seriously important data gets burned to M-Disc single layer DVD5 media. I don't have files that are larger than will fit on a single DVD5 aka about 4.7GB, and I use a PAR strategy on top of the M-Disc tech for extremely long lasting backups where I make sets of 10 discs and even if I lost 2-3 of those discs entirely I'd still be able to recover all the data and never lose a single byte.

Largest hard drive I've ever owned is 1TB in size and it's currently in use as the raw storage "dump" drive till the data gets sorted out and burned off to M-Disc. As for my system drive, using Windows 7 it's never larger than 120GB and because of that I can image it and restore it anytime in a matter of minutes (and that's with hard drives). Using SSDs means it just goes even faster for obvious reasons (the much higher read/write speeds). I can't imagine attempting to restore terabytes of data, or even more than 120GB at a time, personally.

I don't trust any hard drive or SSD technology 100% anymore, but I've yet to have a single M-Disc go bad or develop any issues and again because of my chosen strategy even if one or two now and again do develop a problem I can just restore the data and make a new set. Yes optical is slower, but in my own opinion it's vastly superior in terms of overall reliability but that's just my experience.

I've known people with terabytes of data and poof, they disappear when a drive shits itself, or an array implodes, no matter how carefully prepped it happened to be. I knew a guy years ago that ripped/transferred 1,100 Blu-rays to a SAN he built and his house had a lightning strike which a) caused the entire structure to burn/collapse on itself and b) shorted/electrified all his hardware (even the APC industrial strength UPS hardware and surge protection he paid for couldn't withstand that direct hit) including the drives in the SAN and c) all his Blu-rays literally melted in the fire as well. Talk about bad luck, geez, but APC honored their warranty and guarantee on the protection so he was able to replace almost all the computer hardware but those 1,100 Blu-rays, that was a serious chunk of change he lost but even eventually got a lot of them repurchased.

Nowadays with video streaming services, the days of physical media are numbered. I've never had more than 3-4 Blu-rays at one time, had an external Blu-ray drive a few years ago (just a reader, not a burner, as I don't trust Blu-ray media for my own reasons for burning purposes), but sold all of it and I just stick with what works: traditional DVD5 media as well as M-Disc DVD5 and haven't had a single problem in 15+ years of using the strategy I created for myself. I don't hoard data, either: I've got maybe 60 M-Discs with data on them which is pretty much everything I consider of importance enough to save it on that type of long term archival media.

But again, it's your money, if what you've created is exactly what you want, so be it. :)
 
any tangible reason why? A large number of my programs that I find critical do not work on other OSes. The switching cost/barrier is currently not worth it unless you can prove why it would be.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switching_barriers

I just don't like Windows and all the problems it gives you. I can imagine how horrible time people are having if I get problems using it on average 1 hour per week. Even then my workflow was interrupted by a forced update reboot (during my active hours). Most applications run nowadays just fine using Wine or other compatibility layers. Personally I've switched to using MacOS for a daily driver for desktop applications and anything more technological gets run on linux.

I run Windows as a virtual machine and just suspend it for the majority of the time I don't need it. I also have a couple of situations where I either need to simulate something running on Windows or need some poorly coded software that runs only on Windows. I'm actually planning to try to find time to get even the rest working on linux so I can ditch also the virtual machine.
 
Everyone is another person. It is useless to argue whether Windows or Linux is better (e.g. popular flame wars) because there are so many factors, not many of them pure technological or easy to avoid.
I don't remember the last time I had any major (or mid-minor) problem with Windows on many machines (incl. virtual) for the last 20+ years. I don't use antiviruses, nowhere. Windows Servers run for 5-10 months with no issues, for years and decades.
It's again, the switching barrier which has many layers, not only software. Wine runs most softwares but far from all.
Today I tested Ubuntu server with few graphical UIs. I was yet again astonished by the lack of common sense and features to control most basic functions in the OS.
A server is not only the notorious http or ftp server. One may need GUI for terminal services where you install most normal software on the server and clients log in remotely. Etc.
Windows Server is rock solid, I know it from experience. Given you don't do antyhing stupid that the common home-joe would do, of course - then it could become less stable than Linux, and that's something inherent to all software. Some years ago I could get any Linux to a halt just after few hours of messing around with its settings and/or GUIs.
 
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