Cannot Restore - Archive Problem

I am a new user. For the last two weeks I successfully used the Trial version. I was able to create and recover from an image backup.

Yesterday I purchased a boxed version of True Image 9.0 from a local store (because I was unable to activate/purchase by download from the Acronis site - a long story)

- I am using Windows XP, Service Pack 2
- Installation of store bought copy was successful ( I did NOT uninstall the trial version)
- I tried to recover a file from the Full Image backup I had created with the Trial version. When I click on the *.tib file I had created last week (it resides on an external FAT32 removable hard drive) I got the following message:

"The selected file is not an Acronis True Image archive"

The "Next" button brought up an error message again. I could not continue the recovery.

- Last night I deleted the existing (Trial version created) archive and created a new backup image using the purchased version.
- I again tried the recovery and got the same error message listed above.
- I downloaded the newest update from the Acronis website. My store purchased build was 2323. I successfully installed the newest build from the web site.
- Tried the recovery again and got same error message.

In summary, I had no problems with the Trial version recovery, how come I can't get the purchased version to work? Should I uninstall everything (assuming I can figure out how to uninstall the Trial version?) and start over??

Thanks in advance,
Ken

 

The trial version is build 3677, or sumptin like that.
The retail version is very likely build 2337.

Go to the Acronis web site, register your purchase, then download the latest build.

Do NO use the CD in the retail box.

 

Thanks for your reply Howard.

It appears that I've got things working now.

I registered and downloaded the latest version.

I now have two True Image icons on my desktop

1 - "Acronis True Image Home 9.0", this points to \Program Files\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImage.exe. The .exe is dated 6/30/06. When I click this icon to start the app the Help tab informs me that the build is 3677.

I can successfully recover files from the backup I did last night AND from the backup (to another external drive) I did a few weeks ago)... so all is well and working again.

The other icon:
2 -"Acronis True Image" points to \Program Files\Acronis\TrueImage\TrueImage.exe (not TrueImageHome) and is dated much earlier (11/28/2005) and is build 2323. This is the one that fails. It must be the trial version.


Thanks for your help,
Ken

 

UNinstall BOTH, then re-install 3677.

 

Yep, sounds like a good plan.

BTW, both my external hard drives used for my Windows XP backup are formatted FAT32, not NTFS. Is there any advantage (speed or reliability of True Image, etc) to reformatting them to NTFS for future True Image backups, etc.

Thanks,
Ken

 

No reason to NOT use NTFS.
One advantage is that FAT32 restricts file size to about 4GB, NTFS does not.

 

Fergot to mention tat ALL my logical drives, other than C, are formatted as NTFS.

I left C as FAT 32 just in case I ever need to access the drive when booted from a floppy.

 

But, on the other hand, a FAT32 partition has the advantage that it allows you to write a disk-image to it using the DOS mode of TrueImage, as opposed to running it from within the Windows XP (NTFS) environment. Although the Windows interface is more convenient for image creation, many believe that DOS is still the only safe and reliable way to do it when creating an image of the Windows partition itself.

I speak from experience. Creating an image of the system partition while Windows is running does not give consistently reliable results, but you won't find out till you try to restore it... ("the image is corrupted")...... when it's too late.

This isn't a failing of TrueImage as such. It applies to all disk-cloning applications which try to convince us that you can now use Windows to create a clone of itself. You can, but don't be surprised if it doesn't always work.

 

I am afraid that you have got hold of the wrong end of several sticks here!
1. True Image does not run in DOS for making normal images or clones. It uses Linux.
2. True image run from the its CD quite happily and will read from and write to NTFS file systems with no problems.
3. The fact that you have had some corrupt images strongly suggests that you have some hardware or even operator problems. What steps did you take to find the source of the corruptions?
4. The fact that I have by now made several hundreds of whole disk images ( including the OS) all from within Windows with no problems speaks for itself.


Xpilot

 

TI does not have a DOS mode, it runs in Linux whemn booting from the CD.
No problem writing to NTFS drives.

 

Linux and DOS Boot Modes

Initially I thought that TI always used Linux whenever it was running in native mode. However, it was pointed out to me that there are two distinctly different modes of TI Boot Mode. One, called Safe Mode, uses DOS and the system's BIOS and resident drivers to access hardware, rather than Full Mode, which uses Linux & TI supplied Linux drivers.

Here are posts on this subject from two veteran members of this forum:

Seekforever in a thread titled: Re: Acronis True Image Home 9.0 - Need Bootable Image File

Menorcaman in a thread titled: Re: Problem with Recovery in Safe Mode

On another note: While discussing FAT32 vs. NTFS, you might consider this: TI uses FAT32 for its own Secure Zone. With all the problems reported using TI to restore files to NTFS partitions, one might ask, is TI more adept at using FAT32, at least on a file-by-file level?