Recovery CD Changes BIOS Clock

Dear No Whiz Kid,
Thank you for reaching out. We cannot find any complaints on this issue in our internal system. Let us discus this problem with engineers and be back to you as soon as possible.

I would suspect that this user is using a Linux based recovery CD which is giving this time change due to whatever default timezone was used for the Linux kernel OS.

The best recommendation here is to create your own WinPE rescue media by using the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media Builder tool for ACPHO and selecting the 'Simple' option, this will create media that match the host PC system settings including time zone.

KB 69472: Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office: how to create bootable media

Thank you, both, for your replies. I am using a recovery CD that was created directly through the Acronis Menu.

Another issue I forgot to mention is that, although I always deliberately select validation after a backup is created, using the recovery CD, Acronis never validates the backup archive. After creating the archive, I have to search for it in Recovery to manually validate it.

If you have created the rescue CD using the Simple - WinPE option, then not sure why you are seeing the BIOS clock change, this may be machine specific rather than the media?  I have not seen this happen on any of my own systems but I normally use USB media rather than CD/DVD.

Validation set to happen after a backup from rescue media is a known issue that has been present for several years to my knowledge - other users have reported the same in the forums.

In all honesty, validation is overrated for the following reasons.

Validation does not guarantee that a backup file will result in a successful, working recovery!

What validation does do is to confirm that the backup file that was created by the backup operation has not been changed after it was written to the storage drive / location.  It does this by reading the backup TIB / TIBX file and calculating checksum values for each block of the file then comparing those checksums with values embedded within the file.  It the checksums match, then the file has not been changed since written.

What validation cannot do is to change whether any malware, virus or corruption was present in the source data for the backup operation when it was performed.  This can also include file system issues present when a backup was created but not detected or known about.

You should run CHKDSK on the source disk before making the backup along with checking the log for the backup task after it completes to ensure that no obvious file systems issues were detected.  I have read a number of topics in the forum where the user has attempted to recover a backup image and then found it had a corrupt file system index or similar.
See forum topic: Disk Restore FAILURE - "Index Corrupted" for a recent example!

Note: the latest versions of Acronis do attempt to identify this type of file system issue in the preparation stage of the backup task but then users complain because the backup takes a longer time to get started!!

Thanks, again, for your response and advice. I actually am using the recovery software on a USB flash drive. I should have made that clear. I still refer to it as a recovery CD out of habit.

I just reformatted the flash drive and re-created the recovery drive, hoping to update with the newest version, assuming it has been updated since I last created it. Now, whenever I click "Cancel" the software freezes for a bit before returning to the orignal screen. A small albeit annoying new issue.

What are you cancelling and is this when booted from the USB rescue media?

Just canceling when I change my mind or want to change a previous selection. And, yes, while using the USB rescue media. With the previous versions, clicking Cancel instantly returned me to the main menu. No freezing.

One thing, though, recreating the rescue media did appear to solve the BIOS clock issue. So, thank you, again, for that suggestion.

Not sure if it is related, but my recollection is that Windows PE (and possibly Windows RE) use the time zone where Microsoft HQ is located, so for me the times are out significantly, as I am UTC +10 (+11 when daylight saving is on) and Microsoft is UTC -8 (a difference of 19 hours which can be rather confusing). However, this has never done anything to the reported by BIOS.

Ian

Correct time in general is set by a local time server in your area.  This setting is generally found in your internet connection device so that running operating systems can determine and apply the correct time.

Most internet connections are set to automatically connect to time servers and  this can be problematic as for the most part these are set by time zone.  If your device is manufactured in another country or region it is likely to have a wrong time zone set as default.

Some devices support URL for time zone designation.  Google has one of the most extensive time zone server network.  If your device can accept a URL for this purpose changing it to time.google.com will solve most time issues for you.

As for the freeze noted by No Whiz Kid, keep in mind that when using recovery software that software is loaded into your machine RAM and all requested operations while using the software do so in RAM.  I have noticed this freeze as you call it myself in the later versions of the software and I have concluded that once you canceled a process the memory space holding the data you have requested up to the cancellation request is flush from the memory.  Thia process is what appears to be a freeze but is actually just the software doing what it is designed to do.