Aborted backup operation to DVD

Pre-Release and beta version of AISBackup
Kob
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:31 pm

Aborted backup operation to DVD

Post by Kob »

Using B. 287 under Win XP SP1, I tried to backup a 10.2GB file to blank 4.7GB DVDs -R using the integrated AISBAckup CD writer (High compression, session based backup, verify written data)
My disk staging area was 1.18GB. AISBackup built a 1.11GB segment in the staging area and wrote it to the DVD. Same with the second segment.
Then, while writing the third segment, I got a popup window saying that I need to replace media since I have only 1.04GB free space available.
I got stuck on this window - eject media did not work, and the DVD drive was locked. Repeated OK just repeated the "change media" window. Closing the window by the "x" of the window's control box aborted the back up process (surprise!). DVD media was still locked. Had to re-boot the computer.
The used space of the CD was checked at 2.24GB, so there was plenty of space left. The log file after the successful writing of the first 2 segments showed:
12:49:30 AM CD Writing 1,112.29MB Backup To 2170 MB DVD-R 1:0:0,I: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-105 1.33
12:49:32 AM CD >>> STARTING WRITE PROCESS ON DVD-R AT 4.0X (5,540 KB/s)
12:49:39 AM CD Written: 1,112.29 MB
12:49:40 AM CD Writing lead-out:
12:49:40 AM CD Write Disc: Failed to complete
12:49:40 AM CDERR Finished Mastering TWT07290601: Failed to Complete
1:02:19 AM RESINF 1 File were backed up successfully
1:02:30 AM SESSEND Backup Aborted: Sunday, July 30, 2006 1:02:30 AM

Evidently, something is wrong here. Also, the RESINFO message reported a successful job backup - obviously a wrong message.

I have a screen capture of the "Change Media" request window and the full log, if required.

Thanks,

Kob
Barry
Site Admin
Posts: 1529
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:16 pm

Load media

Post by Barry »

I think some development code was left in 287 which may have caused this problem. I have run several tests using a 10GB file to DVD using a 1.8GB stage area, there were some problems found re-using pre-used media (the same disc again) and these have been fixed in build 288.

Having said that; I would not recommend using a stage size of the capacity of the media if possible - but then if you didn't the problem may not have been found.

Barry
Kob
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:31 pm

Post by Kob »

Thanks for the response.

You said "I would not recommend using a stage size of the capacity of the media if possible". Please explain this comment, since I used a staging area of about a quarter of the media capacity: 1.18GB staging area vs. 4.4GB DVD-R (4.7GB nominal).
Kob
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:31 pm

Post by Kob »

Now using B.288, a new issue has cropped up:
Same job parameters as in my top post, except free disk space is now 1.06GB. Program started to build a zip file in the staging area ( x_000.AIL ), consumed all available disk space, deleted the staged file and immediately started to build the next zip file ( x_001.AIL ). Again, when disk space reached 0 bytes, program deleted the prior staged file and started a new build of x_002.AIL . No DVD write had been taken place. I aborted operation. Tried 2 more times with "New Job" runs - same results.

I saw some other issues while trying to run the job based on a prior job setting, but right now they are secondary.

Kob
Kob
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:31 pm

Post by Kob »

Hi Barry,

I read your reply to my 7:32am post before you pulled it out. I ran in debug mode, and now I did not see the endless rewrites of segments to the staging area: The segments generation (each about 1GB in size) went fine (leaving always 100MB free disk space) until I was left with 485MB on my DVD medium. Then I got a message that the software failed to write to the medium. I tried "retries" a couple of time - no change. Had to abort.

I have an unverified suspicion that the behaviour of the program is GUI path-dependent. To really find out the anomalous behaviour will require some testing time.

Kob
Barry
Site Admin
Posts: 1529
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:16 pm

Pulled e-mail

Post by Barry »

I pulled the e-mail because I found a fault in the 'use small disk stage' routine if the parameter "Always use small disk stage" is set, and I guess yours is. The total free space is supposed to be decremented by 100MB to allow for some other processes to create a reasonable amount of files and to reduce the risk of the "Your disk is nearly full" messages from Windows. Restarting the same backup job also not decrement the free space by 100MB. I will upload a copy of AISBackup.exe for you to test the update when it is ready.

Are you using DVD+ or DVD-? I have media errors on some Traxdata DVD+RW and looking at the writing surface I can see blemishes in the disc - AISBackup must be tested with bad media too.

Barry
Kob
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:31 pm

Post by Kob »

I will wait for your upload then.
As indicated in my top post, I use DVD -R. I've never had a problem with bad media before. For this job I used Philips 1-8X media, and I also have Verbatim Advanced AZO+ DVD-R V.2.1 (first time that I've noticed a version number associated with a media...)

Kob
Barry
Site Admin
Posts: 1529
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:16 pm

Huge file small stage

Post by Barry »

The fix seems to work okay here and is available from build 289:

http://www.aiscl.co.uk/aisbackup_beta.htm

Barry
Kob
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:31 pm

Post by Kob »

Running into the same "failed to complete" message - now with B.289
Disk free space was about 1.26GB. Staging was OK, leaving 100MB free after writing each segment group to the staging arae (this is a non-OS carrying partition).
When the free space on the DVD was below the segment size (in this case, segment groups were about 1.16GB each, free medium space after 3 segments being written out to DVD was roughly 840MB or so), I got the failed to complete message, asking for a new, blank disk. After several futile "retry", I changed to a blank DVD and continue. Program wrote just one segment group out to the new DVD, and then "failed to complete".

Running in non-debug mode; Have the log file.
Barry
Site Admin
Posts: 1529
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:16 pm

Disc full?

Post by Barry »

It seems as if the last segment may be too big for the disc, or perhaps the free space is not been reported properly. The tests worked okay here. I once had a problem with a batch of DVD's which were visually damaged on the edges - one way to test this is to reduce the size of the DVD as seen by AISBackup using the Tools / Program Settings and Options / Advanced / CD Overflow Prevention Perhaps reduce this by 100 for a test - this will be a rather wasteful 100MB.

AISBackup can be forced to always run in CD debug mode with the run time parameter -C (hyphen C)

If you would prefer to wait for me to test AISBackup by forcing the final segment to be too big I will report back with my findings.

Barry
Kob
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:31 pm

Post by Kob »

Hi Barry,

I will wait for your tests.
BTW, the reported disk space before, during and after the staging process was fine - I double checked the space left with Windows Explorer during the process, and it matched the reported space by the backup program.
Also, I doubt that it is a bad media - after I aborted the backup process, I used Nero Burning Rom to fill the media close to capacity with another session.

Kob
Barry
Site Admin
Posts: 1529
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:16 pm

Post by Barry »

Please send the log file so that I can see the size of each segment.

How much free space was on the DVD after you added the final session?

Have you got a DVD-RW or DVD+RW to run tests with?

Barry
Kob
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:31 pm

Post by Kob »

Nero reported 97MB free space after adding the last session.

Being an optimistic person, I haven't used -RW for these tests yet. I should have.

What address should I use to send the log file?

Kob
Barry
Site Admin
Posts: 1529
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:16 pm

RW

Post by Barry »

I would like you to try an RW in CD debug mode if you do not mind, I want to see if that fails in the same way. Both -RW and -R work here.

The log may be sent using the help / bug report option, this auomatically zips the selected job files - Your own job can be run here then just in case the parameters are causing the problem. The e-mail address is displayed on the bug report option.

Barry
Kob
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 12:31 pm

Post by Kob »

I tried some things, and it is a bit messy (all with DVD -RW, in debug mode, same file to backup as in my 1st post):

1. Attempting to backup with 1.04GB free hard disk space, no verification during backup: program wrote 1 segment group to the DVD (a bit less than 1GB in size), opened the DVD drive tray, did not close it, and then poped a message to put in a blank disk or use the loaded disk. Anything that I selected or did prompt the same message - not good. I aborted.

2. Thought to send in the report via the Help menu choice. At the last "send" screen I declined to send, and the pop-up message said that the sending was successful. Can't be - I declined and nothing was sent.

A note: I declined because I did not know what would be sent - the full 10+GB job file (impractical)? just the log report?. I would recommend to post more explanatory message there in order to alleviate any technical or privacy concerns. The current process is too "off hands" to my taste.

3.Using the the same medium as in step 1 (after erase), I now defined again the backup job - this time with verification. This time, the full back up process went fine to its successful completion.

Can't explain why step (3) was now successful, while attemps from earlier days weren't. May require a lot more testing.
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