Copy and paste a backup to another location

Is it possible to copy and paste a *.tib backup file to another hard drive and restore the backup?

 

The ATI backup file (*.tib) is just another file. It can be moved (Wiindows copy) to another drive of your choosing.

If the backup file is a "disk" backup which includes all partitions, then yes, that file can be used to restore the backup to the origiinal computer. Boot up using the Rescue CD and then restore the file from its location back to the original comnputer.

 

I hear in another forum that someone defragged their drive that contained backup files and couldn't restore the backup images because of the defrag.


Could this have happened or is there some other explanation?

 

Yes, there have been numerous postings of defragging ruining backup files.

Very little is to be gained by defragging a disk containing backup files. The risk to great and the benefits is too small. IMHO

 

That's why I'm thinking if I copy and paste it'll mess the files some how..

If defragging corrupts those files, then surely copying and pasting will do that too?


I can't do a restore and check because I don't have any extra spares and can't risk trying to do it on my current good drive.

 

I lost my Vista system through this. It is a major weakness in ATI imo, as it is so easy to forget this when you are doing your housekeeping.

 

So how does defragging mess up the file?

The image file is 1 single file, no? Why would Vista mess around with 1 file?

 

Normally, defragging an image file should cause no harm. It is a waste of time, but that's another issue.

However, if you defrag a really large file and something goes wrong (nothing is supposed to go wrong) then you have corrupted your image. It only takes a single bit in error to do this.

If you defragged a file and it got corrupted then you have a hardware problem. It could be memory or it could be marginal IDE, SATA, or USB cables, or something else. This should not happen, but if it does then you need to debug your hardware. Running memtest overnight is a good place to start.

 

I have copied and pasted many TI image files from many sources (internal, external, network, flashdrive, dvd) to different places without having any problems.

If you're worried about it, just run a validation on the copy before you delete the original.

 

Hmm... so if you ran the validation on the backup images, what would Acronis tell you about the files?

 

Wheter they were valid or not.

Like Mudcrab, I've copied backup files from disk to disk both internal and USB external drives and over my network with no problems. The copies verify and restore without problem.

If you have a problem, it's a hardware problem, and that's good to know about so you can avoid it. If you aren't happy using just the Acronis verification, use an MD5 checksum verification to prove that the files are identical.

 

So it didn't work.

The validation didn't even want to run.

It said,

"This is not the last created volume of the image backup. Please insert the last created volume to start working with this archive."

I then tried to proceed anyway and this popup came up,

"The selected file is not an Seagate DiscWizard archive or the file is corrupted. Please, select another file."


BTW, I'm running off of Acronis lite (the free version that comes with Seagate drives). Maybe this feature is not included in my version?

 

Is it a multi-part image?

What are the filenames?

 

It's just 1 file....

MyImage.tib

 

Did it Validate successfully before you moved it?

 

No.

I didn't bother to validate it before I copied and pasted. (I had the intention to validate after the move) But the original will now pass validation. So I can only assume that if it passes validation now, it would've passed validation 2 days ago.

Maybe there's some trick to moving the file?

I just click copy and paste. Is there some jedi trick I'm missing?

 

There are no special tricks. It seems like you may have hardware problems.

Can you copy any other large files from the source to the destination and have them pass the MD5 test?

How large is the image file?

If you create a copy on the same drive (if you have room), does it Validate okay?

Are you trying to copy the image to another internal drive or an external drive? If external, USB/FireWire/eSATA/etc.?

 

I don't have large files on the destination drive. But I do have about 90 gigs worth of data on there in the form of games and apps...

The image file is roughly 129 gigs.

I can't even create a backup onto the external disk.. My orginal problem prompted me to manually move the image file to my external. Here's the thread.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=204441

 

I can't answer that, but what I can tell you is that I had defragged every partition I have, and shortly after that the pre-existing problems with my Vista system caused me to decide to restore a previously restored and known-to-be-good tib image. It failed to restore a working system, so I reverted to a known-to-be-good previous image, which also failed to restore a working system.

I had to rebuild Vista from scratch, but accept now that this disaster may not have been ATI's fault. Maybe my defrag programme, Auslogics Disk Defrag, is responsible or possibly a system error, though in view of their usually reliable performance both seem rather unlikely.

The true cause will remain a mystery, but for sure I'm never again gonna defrag a disk with tib images on it.