Rescue and Recovery 4.1 frustrations: T60/XP-Pro

[RaviN]

I just installed R&R 4.1 since R&R 3.1 was not working as expected.

After the installation and reboot, I attempted to do a backup to my external USB hard disk using R&R. I saw a lot of files transferring out of a z:\ drive. I assume that these are system files of some type. It began to back up my data. At this point, the progress bar got stuck at 1% and after 30 minutes there was no progress and no sign of external HD activity.

I shut down by task manager and tried again. R&R would not come up although there is an rnr_gui.exe process running. I tried shutting that down and starting R&R again, no luck. Two reboots, still no R&R opening screen. I have disabled my Comodo Firewall 3.0 during these backup attempts.

Any ideas? I just want to back up my drive and I don't think it should be this hard.

As an aside, am I wrong to be unimpressed with ThinkVantage software? Since buying this notebook in January, I've had to uninstall Client Security Solution, the Wireless Access UI, and at least one other program.

[Ken Fox]

I just installed R&R 4.1 since R&R 3.1 was not working as expected.

After the installation and reboot, I attempted to do a backup to my external USB hard disk using R&R. I saw a lot of files transferring out of a z:\ drive. I assume that these are system files of some type. It began to back up my data. At this point, the progress bar got stuck at 1% and after 30 minutes there was no progress and no sign of external HD activity.

I shut down by task manager and tried again. R&R would not come up although there is an rnr_gui.exe process running. I tried shutting that down and starting R&R again, no luck. Two reboots, still no R&R opening screen. I have disabled my Comodo Firewall 3.0 during these backup attempts.

Any ideas?

In answer to your general question about Thinkvantage software, it is highly variable in both quality and reliability. My own personal opinion is that it is not adequately tested before release, and has gotten worse since Lenovo took over, although some new functionality has also been introduced that was not available before.

As regards your problem with R&R, if all you want to do is to back up your notebook, there are better solutions than R&R, such as Acronis Tru Image, EZ Gig II (from Apricorn), and Norton Ghost 2003 booted from a floppy disk. I believe that the first two are in fact the same program, or different versions of the same program, as the interface is nearly identical and the resulting .tib files also appear to be the same. Perhaps Apricorn buys this program from Acronis.

If you don't want to buy these programs (but want to use them for longer than a trial period), you can often find them bundled with various devices and hence otherwise free. I got a dumbed down version of Acronis which is fully functional, with hard disks only, bundled with a Netdisk NDAS/USB2 hard disk enclosure, plus a copy of the Apricorn version that is more capable bundled with a "Driveware Universal Hard Drive Adapter," that converts any IDE or SATA drive into a USB drive. The Apricorn Driveware thing is quite useful for being able to use naked hard disks for backup, although there are many competing and perhaps better products that do the same thing.

As to your issues with R&R, I have had similar issues with 4.0 and 4.1, which I use only for potential recovery on a road trip, backing up the drive on itself into a hidden directory. In order to resolve this situation, what you will need to do is:

(1) download a complete version of R&R 4.1, if you don't already have it, plus any relevant patches that are on the Lenovo server.

(2) Uninstall R&R from your system and reboot.

(3) Reinstall R&R 4.1

DO NOT EVER interrupt an R&R 4.1 backup that is in progress. Doing so will cause exactly the problem you describe, where you can no longer use the program even though you think you might be able to by terminating services, processes, or whatever. I've tried every solution I could think of with that problem, and none of them worked, other than a uninstallation and then re-installation. If the uninstall routine gives you the option to delete additional files, delete them. You want a total removal and then re-installation, which is the only thing that I believe will work with this problem with this very buggy software.

Personally speaking, I would not feel like I had really covered myself by performing system backups with this program, and feel much more comfortable using one of the three programs I listed above.

[RaviN]

Ken,

Thank you for the comprehensive suggestions. I just learned from IBM support that my system has a known issue that won't let R&R make the system recovery disks. They're going to send me a set since the issue is with their software.

I will look into the other packages and hardware you mentioned - yes, my main goal is to keep my own files backed up and it looks like there are better ways to go than R&R. I'm going to uninstall it.

--- Ravi

[draco2527]

Ken,

Thank you for the comprehensive suggestions. I just learned from IBM support that my system has a known issue that won't let R&R make the system recovery disks. They're going to send me a set since the issue is with their software.

I will look into the other packages and hardware you mentioned - yes, my main goal is to keep my own files backed up and it looks like there are better ways to go than R&R. I'm going to uninstall it.

--- Ravi

Care to share what system? I also tried to do the upgrade, and it bombed as well...

No problems removing 3.x but 4.x would fail to install....never did anything else with it. I used version 4.x (T61)and it seems to work rather well. previous versions IMHO had a lot of issues....

[RaviN]

Care to share what system? I also tried to do the upgrade, and it bombed as well...

No problems removing 3.x but 4.x would fail to install....never did anything else with it. I used version 4.x (T61)and it seems to work rather well. previous versions IMHO had a lot of issues....

I have an 8744-5BU 15.4" widescreen T60, 2GB RAM, 120GB HD, running XP-Pro.
(I didn't know beforehand that there was a Flexview display that was superior and only available on a specific smaller screen and model type.)

When I called in, I had R&R 3.1, the version issued with the machine in January 2007 when I bought it. I've been keeping copies of files on an external drive but had not used R&R to do it. R&R would not unpack the hidden partition for backup so per other discussions here, I called in the problem. The rep said that it has happened on other machines and that IBM sends free disaster recovery CDs under those circumstances. He didn't say that it was specific to a model type, though, just that they don't charge when it is a defect in the software they supply.

He pointed me to R&R 4.1 for my unit and said that I should be able to use it to do a backup. I downloaded the 475MB file, installed it, rebooted, and ran it. No joy. That's when I posted this question.

I am increasingly puzzled by the state of personal computing these days. After having bought IBM for quality reasons, I am not unhappy. But, I've had hardware problems with the wireless (fixed), software issues with ThinkVantage (worked around), and a still unresolved problem where the screen will occasionally go blank and for which I'll have to go in and out of sleep mode to fix temporarily. There are so many combinations of hardware, firmware, and software even within the T60 model name, it is hard to know whose fix may be appropriate for my machine and vice-versa. This is common across other manufacturers - I've looked at similar forums for other vendors.

[Roadster]

RaviN, I have a T60p running Windows XP Professional, and I have not been very impressed with Rescue and Recovery 3.1. In fact, I created a thread on this matter just this afternoon.

Why did you attempt to upgrade to 4.1, and what particular problems are you having compared to 3.1?

[RaviN]

RaviN, I have a T60p running Windows XP Professional, and I have not been very impressed with Rescue and Recovery 3.1. In fact, I created a thread on this matter just this afternoon.

Why did you attempt to upgrade to 4.1, and what particular problems are you having compared to 3.1?

Quick synopsis:
Tried to use R&R 3.1 to make a full backup: hidden partition + OS + data. 3.1 would not extract the hidden partition and would not backup the non-hidden material. IBM agreed that the lack of a disaster recovery CD set is bad and is sending them out to me. I tried 4.1 at IBM's suggestion to do the backup of the non-hidden material but that didn't work, either.

Based on the comments by Ken, there are many other better and economical options for creating a backup than R&R 3 or 4.

[Ken Fox]

Care to share what system? I also tried to do the upgrade, and it bombed as well...

No problems removing 3.x but 4.x would fail to install....never did anything else with it. I used version 4.x (T61)and it seems to work rather well. previous versions IMHO had a lot of issues....

I have successfully installed R&R 4.1 on the following systems: an X32, two X60s, a T43, and 3 X60s. Whether it was worth installing it on these systems is another question (probably NOT).

The only machines I have actually ever tried to recussitate from these backups, on the road (where I had no other option) was the X32 (but not from this 4.1 version) and an X60 (from this 4.1 version).

But I would not use R&R for regular backups when I had another choice as it does not deserve your trust in the same way that you might trust Norton Ghost 2003 or Acronis Tru Image (and its twin, EZ GigII from Apricorn).