How can I recover documents, files from Incremental Backup?

The hard drive of my Compaq laptop finally dies and for the first time I was left with the task of restoring the image created with Acronis 9.

I was only successful to restore the original image but not the incremental image. So I was able to recover my drive the way it was by the end of February of this year. The ideal thing would have been to restore the drive the way it was when it broke down (end of April). But when I applied both the incremental backp and original backp, the laptop did not want to boot.

In any case, this is better than nothing. However, I would like to know if it was possible to revover individual files (pictures, word documents, etc.) from the Incremental backup image ? If so, what would be the steps to do it.

Would really appreciated if you could let me know because I have some important documents I would like to recover.

 

See if you can mount an image by clicking on the incremental part. The mounted image would automatically include the original plus the incremental backup. If the image is mounted, then you will be able to recover the relevant documents.

If that does not work, then another option would be to restore the incremental and original, and then attach the hard drive as a slave to another computer and see if it can read the disk. It could be possible that your documents had been restored but Windows was corrupted in the process.

I would also suggest that you regularly copy (not image) your data across to DVDs. Some copy programs even provide encryption.

 

This is also what I was told that I could mount an image by clicking on the incremental par. But I do not see any menu that says: Mount the image anywhere. Or is it another technical name ? I am quite new at this. Please, explain.

 

When mounting an INC image, selecting any one of the INCs should present you with a list containing all the INC dates and the FULL date.

“But when I applied both the incremental backp and original backp, the laptop did not want to boot.”

How did you do this? Did you run 2 restores? When you selected either image for restore you should again be given a list of all the dates from which to choose.

 

No, only one restore was done but both were selected. I think the incremental image is corrupted. I verified the original image the first time and it was ok but never verified the incremental. In any case, I would be just happy at this point if I can have access somehow to the incremental image files. Is that possible? They are telling me I could try to mount it but I just cannot figure out how to do this?

There are some images and doc files I would like to rescue from the incremental image.

 

“No, only one restore was done but both were selected”
I’m not sure how you selected both.

“but never verified the incremental”
Have you tried to verify the INC?

“but I just cannot figure out how to do this”
Either from the tool bar Operations menu, or there should be a Mount Image icon in the Pick A Task window. You just need to follow the prompts, navigate to the image you want to mount, make a date selection (if more than 1 is shown as would be the case with multiple INCs or DIFFs), then continue to follow the prompts.

 

Perhaps this is a problem of semantics but I cannot locate anywhere the word MOUNT. I can see is PLUG, UNPLUG, CLONE, CHECK ARCHIVE, etc. Would the word MOUNT actually appear as a choice ?

 

PLUG = MOUNT
What version are you using? I think PLUG was the older terminology.

 

If you are trying to restore a Version 9 image with Version 8 software - it will not work.

 

AFAIK, you cannot access the incremental files separately.

But you can select an incremental file to define the image that is restored or to define mount point(s).

If you select the FULL file, you get the files as of that date.
If you select an incremental, you get the files as of the date of the incremental.

If you want to know what's different between the FULL and incremental, use http://www.standards.com/index.html?CompareDrives

 

I’m not at a system right now that has any INCs, but I’m sure that during a restore or a mount, selecting any one of the INCs or the FULL will present a list containing the create dates of all the images, FULL and INCs, from which you can choose.

 

There was no MOUNT option but I was able to click on the incremental file and do a RESTORE of the files and documents. I have only Acronis Image 9 -no version 8- .

Well I was not really able to fully do a restore yet since I am in the process of doing so. It gave me an estimated time of completion: 1 day and 4 hours for 17MB. So far, 17 hours to go. This is not unusual due to my very slow connections: USB 1.1 port . I have no option since even with a USB 2 or firewire adapter, the connection will be still slow.

Also, this is what I found out about my experience with Acronis now that I was faced with this near disaster which I was able to resolve almost to my full satisfaction.

Since I took the laptop to CompUSA to replace the failed drive (I couldnt do it myself), I opted for having those guys do the IMAGE hoping that it would be perfectly fine this way. After a couple of days, I received a call from one of the technicians who told me that he did not feel confident that the incremental image would work. He said that usually the original image works in these cases but not the incremental one. In other words, he did not like that I had an incremental image and was doubtful about it. He seemed quite competent and was suposedly an expert in backup software.

He called me the next day and he said he was able to do the Image only from the original image part but not the incremental. When he mounted both the original and incremental, the drive would not boot. I dont have any idea how he did it if he just gave the incremental or both but he couldnt restore both images. When he mounted only the original image then the laptop would work fine. He said that in the future whenever I create an image I should always do a full image of the drive and forget about incremental or differerntial images since many times these will not work regardless if it is Acronis or any other backup software.

Thank you very much for your suggestions. Even with all these problems I am really glad I bought this Acronis software. I was able to restore my computer to my previous image backup (end of February). I would have loved to restore it to the Incremental Image (end of April) but in any case I think I would be able to recover those important files created during March and April any way by mounting the incremental image as suggested here.

 

Hello backupuser,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

Please be aware that you can also use the Restore Data Wizard (the "Recovery" option) in order to resotre separate files from the hard drive/partition image archive. There is the special selection screen where you can choose the "Restore specified files and folders" option which you can use for your purpose.

We would also like to recommend you to download and install the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home which is available at the Product Updates section at our web site.

To get access to updates you should create an account then log in and use your serial number to register your software.

Thank you.
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Kirill Omelchenko