SOS! Acronis Acting Strange

[George Tyndall]

Hi all!

Thank you for all your comments!

And thank you for the lengthy reply.

I've already created with Acronis True Image Home 2011 a backup of my current Win7 system and I have validated it, however, I am reluctant to actually use it to restore my system at this time as said system is running perfectly. I'd rather wait unti such time as Windows System Restore has once again failed me and I therefore have no choice except to restore with an Acronis mirror image.

Question: Using Windows drag and drop, I created a copy of the Acronis 2011 backup archive that is on the one external HDD on a second external HDD, and here is what happened when I tried to validate the copy on the second external HDD: Acronis 2011 does not "see" it. So my question is, does 2011 only "see" archives that it has directly created but not copies? The reason I ask is that 2011 does "see" on that same external HDD the archive that I created with True Image Home 11 many months ago.

[Bob]

Thanks for the reply, Yana.

Yes, I am very aware of the differences between Vista and Windows 7 and the lack of support for those changes in TI 11. That was the reason I upgraded to TI 2010 in the first place -- I had migrated from Vista to Windows 7. I'm also aware that some of those changes were what was giving your software engineers so many problems in TI 2010 (e.g. the changes affecting how SnapAPI was handled, the extra partition, etc.). However, I wasn't advocating running TI 11 on Windows 7. I was speculating that the TI 11 rescue disk (i.e. the bootable media), which runs as a standalone program and NOT under Windows, should have been able to successfully restore the complete drive image provided Georges' TI 11 archive was intact, complete, and valid (not at all a certaintly as the backup was run under Windows 7 and not the stanalone bootable media). And, the restored drive should have been bootable unless the extra partition that Windows creates in some circumstances threw a monkey wrench into the works.

[George Tyndall]

...it appears that System Restore rather than Acronis restored my system (the Acronis archive was created a number of weeks ago and would be different from what I am currently seeing).

On repeat evaluation, it appears that it was actually Acronis that restored me -- in combinaton with the Windows 7 System Repair Disk that I ran subsequently. And that would explain why all my System Restore points are gone.

So, Acronis, is there a reason not to continue to use TI Home 11 in combination with the Repair Disk for future archive creation?

[George Tyndall]

We made some modifications in Acronis True Image Home 2010 to support Win7, and added full support to 2011 version. ....I’m glad to know that you’ve got your system back finally, really. And in case you’re concerned regarding the recovery process, we can suggest you to attach an external drive to the machine, boot from the Acronis True Image Home 2011 bootable media and perform a restoration. After that switch the drives and try booting your machine from it. It should work. If it doesn’t - let us know, we’ll help. (How to contact support, KB #8153)

Regarding the horror stories about Acronis True Image Home 2011. Well, I will be honest: we really had some inconvenient issues with it after the release. We constantly track the issue state, and I’m glad to say that all major problems are already fixed and the fix is also included into the next Update, which is expected in November. Best regards,
Yana | Acronis Customer Central

Yana, even if I did understand what you mean by

switch the drives and try booting your machine from it

(which I don't) I would still not be capable of performing the test for the following reason: Of the 4 USB2.0 HDDs attached to my machine, my 2011 Boot CD ("Rescue Media") can "see" only one of them and it is NOT the one upon which I created the latest 2011 Backup archive. And, yes, as instructed by Acronis, all 4 HDDs are connected to the USB ports on the rear of the machine with short USB cables*


____
*Interestingly, my TIH 11 Boot CD can see all my HDDs.



Please advise.

[AcronisSupport]

HI all,

Thank you for your comments and cooperation!

George, it's hard to say for sure, but looks like the media you own (aTIH2011) is suffering from the lack of drivers in its kernel (it's Linux based). We can send you the updated media built on another loader, but for that you need to contact us directly (http://kb.acronis.com/content/8153), or, in case you've already opened a case with us let me know it's number. I'd like to make sure it's handled in a proper way.

It can also be a glitch of the meta folder.
When Acronis True Image Home 2011 creates a backup, it also created a meta folder where the information about the backup is stored. Thus during the recovery or validation process it refers to the folder with the data and then to the file itself.
In case you've moved the backup, it will try to access it via meta folder. And in case there's no meta folder available, it may fail.

Bob, you're absolutely right. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding caused.
The reason why I pointed out that Acronis True Image Home 11 is not supported is that during the recovery process the product checkes the OS in the backup. No one can guarantee that it will detect Windows 7 without any glitches. As a workaround one can backup Win7 with the help of the bootable media in sector-by-sector mode - and restore in sector-by-sector mode. This can help to avoid the issue.
Anyway, it may work. But still we won't be able to predict when it fails, and when it does - we won't be able to fix. The investigation will require Development team assistance, and their answer will be simple: it' wasn't supposed to work...

Thank you once again. Let me know in case there's anything confusing, I will be glad to clarify.

--
Best regards,
Yana | Acronis Customer Central

[George Tyndall]

HI all,

Thank you for your comments and cooperation!

George, it's hard to say for sure, but looks like the media you own (aTIH2011) is suffering from the lack of drivers in its kernel (it's Linux based). We can send you the updated media built on another loader, but for that you need to contact us directly (http://kb.acronis.com/content/8153), or, in case you've already opened a case with us let me know it's number. I'd like to make sure it's handled in a proper way.

It can also be a glitch of the meta folder.
When Acronis True Image Home 2011 creates a backup, it also created a meta folder where the information about the backup is stored. Thus during the recovery or validation process it refers to the folder with the data and then to the file itself.
In case you've moved the backup, it will try to access it via meta folder. And in case there's no meta folder available, it may fail.

Yana, I already have the $20 custom media that arrived in the mail after I purchased and downloaded TIH 2011, however, the media will not boot my machine. That is true even when I press Esc and tell the machine to boot from the drive that contains the media. If that is an incorrect procedure, please so advise.

Bob, you're absolutely right. .... As a workaround one can backup Win7 with the help of the bootable media in sector-by-sector mode - and restore in sector-by-sector mode. This can help to avoid the issue.
Anyway, it may work. Best regards,
Yana | Acronis Customer Central

Yana, my older TIH 11 Boot CD does "see" all my external HDDs so I am VERY tempted to try that workaround, however, the program took 31 hours to make the Backup -- and wanted another 31 hours to perform a validation. Previous backups took only 5 hours or so. What I did differently this last time was to checkmark not only the C drive as in the past but also drives D (system) and E (for restoring the original OS) for Backup. If that is an incorrect procedure, please so advise.


Thank you.