Locked File in Mounted Image

[Jim Johnson]

I like to occasionally mount a recently backed up image to check that the back-up really is there. Today I mounted an image, and checked an Excel file. I received the message that the: "Image cannot be saved because the file is locked". Can anyone explain what this means? I checked other files at random and they seem OK. Thanks.

[foghorne]

It usually means that a process has the file open and locked to guarantee that it will not be modified whilst it reads from it or writes to it.

File locks are primitive semaphores in operating systems and if you ever get this message it is usually right.

F.

[Clearline]

when you say you mounted it, does that mean you explored the image or you restored it.

An explored image can not be changed (saved, altered or deleted), although if you copy the files to an active location, the you can do anything you want with them.

Such a file would be perceived by a program as 'read only' which is probably why you got the message. I have seen other ms products give that response when you open a read only file. Actually it is a pain in the ass, as it shouldn't even give you that warning till you try to edit such a file (like a template).

[Acronis Support]

Hello Jim,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

We are very sorry for the delay with the response.

Please be aware that the current version of Acronis True Image (version 9.X) allows mounting partition images as virtual drives in both read-only and read\write mode.

If you mounted a partition image in read-only mode or using an older version of Acronis True Image (8.0 or earlier version) then you may not be able to open some files (e.g. Excel documents) directly from the mounted virtual drive. That's because opening such files requires an immediate creation of a temporary file which is usually saved to the same folder the opened file resides in. This is not possible because of a partition image being mounted in read-only mode. In order to open such files you should copy them to a partition\folder located on a physical hard drive first.

If you mounted a partition image in read\write mode, you should be able to open any files from the mounted virtual drive. All changes made while a partition image was mounted as a virtual drive will be reflected in the newly created incremental image which is saved to the same folder the mounted image resides in.

You can find more information on how to use Acronis True Image 9.0 Home in the respective User's Guide (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/docs/).

We also recommend that you take a look at the Acronis True Image 9.0 Home FAQ page (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/faq.html), Acronis Public Knowledge Base (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/kb/) and this article (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/company/inpress/2006/06-15-1ati.html) providing the illustrated instructions on Acronis True Image 9.0 Home installation and usage.

Please let us know if the same problem is experienced when a partition image is mounted in the read\write mode. We'll provide you with the further instructions in this case.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov