Can't Explore/Restore Image Files - NEED DATA BACK - VERY IMPORTANT!

I can not recover my True Image .tib file, which contains very important data. Here is my story:

For the past few weeks I have been having a few problems with my computer and decided to do a format. I created a backup folder on my desktop with all the files I needed. I thought I that I had copied this folder to my USB external hard drive but realized that I did not, once I was loaded into a clean install of Windows XP.

I remembered that I had two True Image .tib files that where on my external hard drive. The most recent one was from late March and was from a incremental backup. When ever I made a new incremental backup, it would create a new 33GB file every time. I thought that since the software made the new file every time, I wouldn’t need the previous files.

When I tried to explore both files I get the error, “cannot assign a drive letter to a partition from the image archive”. When I try to restore any of the backup files from the boot CD, I get a message that they are corrupt. But when I “check” the image from the boot CD, it says that it was successfully checked and there is no error.

I even tried copying the data from my USB drive to my recently formatted hard drive to boot into the TrueImage safe mode and load the file but that did not work either.

I know the data is there because I still have a huge >33 GB file. Is there any possible way to access/explore this file, even if it is corrupt? It. contains very important data and month’s worth of business that I NEED

If anyone can help me out, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

 

To restore, an INC backup image requires the FULL backup on which it was based, and all INCs that were created in between. Do you have all those files?

 

No, I only have the most recent 2 of the four INC files. From now on I am always going to create a Full back up. But for now, is there any way I can recover any information from the images I have?

 

“From now on I am always going to create a Full back up.”
That’s what I always do unless I’m about to install/update something. Then I’ll create an INC to the last FULL, which I’ll delete after the next couple of FULLs.

Hopefully, somebody else will chime in with better news, but I don’t think there’s any hope of recovering anything from the backups you have.

 

This part sounds interesting. Are you saying that the boot disk will restore for a while and then produces a "Corrupt" message? How long does it take when you check your image?

 

Both give me the message only after a second or two. Also the boot disk will not restore at all.

Also has anyone heard of the program "Recover My Files"? They claim you can recover files from a formatted hard drive even after Windows has been reinstalled. I think it takes a while to complete and don’t know how well it works, so I would like to know if any one has had any progress with this program before I try it out. Thanks

 

OK, that does not indicate a real "Check" took place. However, one very small hope would be to take the drive out of the USB enclosure and mount it as a second drive in the computer. Then try checking the images with the newest boot disk. As to Recover My Files, it should be able to recover many of your files (but not all). This is because many of your files will have been located beyond your current install of Windows. Stop using that disk now, if you are going to try recovery.

 

“OK, that does not indicate a real "Check" took place”

It’s been my impression that if you choose any one image file of a set and select Verify, TI will, in fact, verify the entire set. I believe that’s why the verify craps out after a few seconds – it cannot find all the files of the set.

 

Thanks for the reply. How would checking the image with the hard drive mounted, be any different compared to being checked via USB? I also tried copying the .tib file to my current hard drive (SATA) and tried to access it with the boot CD via safe mode but still got the same error. Any other ideas?

 

There are widely known problems with some USB controllers that might affect your ability to copy, check and restore large files. But remember, I said "very small hope".
If you had that problem, it most likely affected the original imaging also.

Edit: Uh Oh, copying that large file to your current drive would have overwritten all your old files, making data recovery very unlikely.

Edit2: After further thought, it's still possible that the backup folder that you made may be out far enough to be recovered.

 

Friend's son had a disk go bad and was very pleased with GetDataBack www.runtime.org
Apparently you have to get the NTFS or FAT32 version. All I can tell you about it.

 

Hello MikeM980,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please make sure that you use the latest build of the respective version of Acronis True Image which is available at: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/updates/

To get access to updates you should create an account at:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/
then log in and use your serial number to register your software.

Could you please clarify whether you have the full image? Please note that Acronis True Image can't verify the incremental image if you do not have the full one.

Please also clarify whether you have created the incremental or differential images? Usually, if you delete the previous incremental images, you are not able to restore the latest ones.

Could you please verify your image integrity within Windows?

If the image archive appears to be consistent, please provide a screen shot of the latest screen of the Explore/Plug Image wizard which contains the operation scenario.

Please also tell us what version and build number of the program you use. You can find this information in the Main Menu->Help->About.

Please create an account, then log in and submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva