All images are corrupted!

I have about 22 images on my D drive. About half are dated 4/30 and the rest are dated 5/14. I backed up every night. When I click on the 5/14 image (i.e. Backup.tib, Backup2.tib, etc.) I get a list of dates from May 14 going back over a week. The same with the 4/30 images.

Problem is no matter which I select I always get the "image is corrupted" error at some point in the restore.

How can I get my data back? I have about 140 GB backed up and cannot possibly stand to lose all of it!

Please help!

 

It seems odd that every image is corrupted. When you say that every image is corrupt are you basing this on all restore attempts stopping at some point? It could be some other problem causing this as it is unlikely that every image is corrupt unless the drive itself has some problem. I have found that some boot CDs work for me and others result in Acronis freezing so if you have boot CDs from different builds it may be worth trying them to see if you can get a successful restore. If I use a boot CD made with the latest build (826) Acronis freezes during a restore but a boot CD made from build 774 always works without a hitch for me. I'm also wandering if every image is corrupt because the backups were automated and something wrong was occurring with the backup process which involved the same error with each automated backup hence causing each image to be corrupted. Did you manually do the backups or were they automated? If some were manual and some automated there could be a sound image among them. Do you have a working operating system on C drive or has it been wiped by Acronis attempting a restore? If you don't have a Windows on C drive you could try doing a new install and then installing Acronis to see if you can explore any of the images and copy your data from them.

If every image is indeed corrupt and you can't explore the images someone else may be able to suggest a way of saving your data. The images are presumably in a proprietary format and getting it into a more recognisable format without using Acronis is the problem.

I see Acronis as a way of backing up an operating system rather than a way of backing up data. For data there are other programs like Handy Backup and Platinum Backup (the same as Handy Backup but will backup to DVDs) that are brilliant at this sort of thing and will backup data automatically to several locations ensuring that your sort of disaster is unlikely. Acronis should ideally be used mainly to rescue an operating system rather than a method of backing up data. I hope others can come up with suggestions for rescuing your data.

 

OK, the first thing that will help is a description of your hardware.

What is D drive? Is it a partition on the first hard drive or a second hard drive. Is it parallel ATA or Serial ATA (SATA).

What is the first drive if it's not just a partition on a single drive? Seria or parallel ATA?

What motherboard/chipset do you have?

Did you use the Check Image function after making the backups to find out if they were good? Did the report change from good to corrupt, or didn't you check earlier?

From your wording, it sounds as though you had data that you backed up and then deleted, so the only copy of the data is the corrupt TI images. Is this correct?

 

I have two fairly new 200 GB ATA drives, one is C and the other is D. All backups were automated. My motherboard is an Asus, about 2 1/2 years old. I don't recall the chipset. I have restored successfully once before, about 6 months ago, with this configuration - but with an eariler TI build.

I never verified images before now. My C drive is currently wiped because TI had to delete the partition to restore so all of my data is in the images.

I will try to use an older build. Any other suggestions?

 

If you don't have any luck restoring any of the images I would do a new install of Windows on your wiped C drive as I suggested in my first response and then install Acronis and check the images with Acronis to verify if Acronis reports all of them as corrupt. Since they were all automated I assume they were not split images so they could be checked reasonably quickly for soundness and you could also see if you can explore any of them using the explore image function in Acronis. If you can explore any of them you may be able to copy and paste your data to one of your drives. It is your best bet as far as I can see and won’t do any more harm so it is worth a try. There could be a problem if your data was in My Documents and you specified that no-one besides the administrator could access the data as you probably would be denied copying and pasting it but this is getting too far ahead. Good luck!

 

Hello robkunz,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

The problem with corrupted image files is usually a hardware problem (the hard drive cable, the hard drive, the memory module). Did you try to explore the images that are reported as corrupted? Sometimes it is possible to explore corrupted image and recover the main part of the data.

Thank you.
--
Irina Shirokova

 

Using the Rescue CD did not work so I reinstalled XP then reinstalled TI. Trying to Restore it said I needed to reboot because the drive was in use. After rebooting TI loaded but there is no Explore option.

I guess I will have to reinstall XP again and then try to Explore the images within Windows.

Maybe I need to go back to a previous build? If so, how do I download a specific previous build?

Also, this is not a hardware problem. Everything was fine in my hardware before and nothing was done to the hardware since.

Thanks,
Rob

 

Hello Rob,

The problem with hardware can affect only some particular processes. Since image creation process uses a lot of resources the slight error in one of them will cause the corruption. Other applications may be more flexible and overcome the hardware failure.

The "Explore Image" wizard is available only under Windows. The main point of this wizard is the virtual drive creation. This can be done only under Windows. After you explore the image you will get a new drive containing the data from the image. Please note that if the image is corrupted it is sometimes impossible to explore it. But anyway I would recommend that you try to.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Hi Rob,

You went one step too far. You want to Explore the images in Windows, not after hitting Restore. Just start TI in Windows and double click the Explore button. Select the image you want to Explore and see if it mounts.

When you explore an image, TI mounts it with a new drive letter, and you can use Windows Explorer to view or copy files from the image drive to your C drive.

 

Rob

I, and others on this list and other lists, have the same problem imaging one sata drive to another. If your motherboard is the Asus A7N8X deluxe, revision 1.04, the problem is the sata controller. If you copy any large files from one drive to the other, you will find that the checksums of the original and the copy do not match. This has nothing to do with TI. I only solved the problem by installing and IDE drive to hold nothing but my images. Imaging from the sata drives to the ide drives works fine. Checksums are the same.

This mobo uses the SI3112a controller, but Asus has mucked with it. SiliconImage cannot fix the problem, since they are not sure what Asus did with it. They do know that their drivers cannot be used with this board. SI provides a raid and a non-raid driver. Asus supplies only one. It's because apparently they combined the two functions of the chip. My drives are Seagate, and Seagate is aware of the problem, but cannot do anything to fixit, since it is not the drives that are the problem.

I've tried to get Asus interested, but they don't care. Abit had the same problem, but issued a BIOS that addressed it. Asus refuses to do that.

Grant

 

Ok, I've reinstalled XP and TI 8. I cannot explore an image because I get the error "Cannot assign a drive letter to a partition from the archive image."

I then tried to verify the lastest image, "backup14.tib," but got the error that the file was corrupted, "A possible reason may be poor media quality" and it asked me to Retry using backup12.tib. Hitting Retry did nothing.

What do I do? To the previous poster, I do not have SATA drives. They are both IDE. I have had them for about a year and I have restored from D to C in the past using TI.

Also, on some images in the Check Image Wizard it says on the right either "The selected file is not an Acronis True Image archive" or "This is not the last created volume of the image archive. Please insert the last created volume to start with this archive."

 

I can't see why you get the message that Acronis can't assign a drive letter to a partition in the archive. Was the drive you imaged split into more than 1 partition? I guess the most likely reason you get the message is because the image is corrupt. Do you get the same message when you try to explore each image archive?

For those image archives where you get the message saying it is not an Acronis True Image archive you should check if it shows up as a True Image Archive by checking the properties or unticking the box ‘Hide extensions for known file types’ after clicking on Tools/Folder Options/View. The extension should be .tib. If it isn't try changing it to .tib. All of the images should have the same default Acronis icon. You may be getting the message because the image is corrupted and if that is the case there is not much you can do about it.

You need to make sure images are not mixed where you specified an image size and got split images. If you specified an image size to get split images Acronis may when doing Automated backups have overwritten part of an older split image when starting a new one and that would explain why all the images appear to be corrupt. If that happened the last image would be the one with the best chance of being OK. Are your images split or each one a single file?

Try copying an image that isn't split or if they are all split, the last image made, to another folder on your D drive and see if you can explore it or restore it. There must surely be 1 good image among 22! Another possibility is transferring the D drive that the images are on, or, one or more of the images, to another computer with Acronis installed on it to see if you can explore the image on the other computer without getting the message about not being able to assign a drive letter to a partition on the image archive. This however is unlikely to work as the probable reason you are getting the message is because the image is corrupted but if it is for some other reason then there is a chance it might work.

You did say that you have successfully restored an image with an earlier version of Acronis. You could try using that version to try to restore or explore the images although this may not be possible if the images were made with a much later version of Acronis and anyhow it looks as though your problem is that the images are corrupt and if that is the case there is not much you can do. It is possible that all your images are no good because of some hardware fault or because of the Automated backup procedure being faulty in some way and if that is the case you may be out of luck and have to accept that the data is lost but I would not give up yet.

 

After trying all suggestions I reinstalled XP and all updates. I then installed TI 8 build 826. I verified many of the images and found that each one checked was corrupt.

Then I tried to Explore again. This worked! (It did not work before all of the XP updates). I have been able to copy most everything. I do get a copy error on what appears to be a windows file in Documents & Settings (didn't write the name down). I have not tried to copy the Windows folder.

So the question now is how do I restore all of my Windows settings, registry, etc if I can only access the images via Explore? I don't want to have to reinstall every program to get them to work!

Also, currently my C drive is seen as only 137 GB by XP while my D drive (second drive) is viewed as 200 GB. If I can't use TI's Restore (which would make the whole 200 GB viewable) how do I get XP to see whole 200 GB on C as one partition without losing/erasing data?

 

Hi Robkunz,

sorry to disturb you, but I have exactly the same problem as you had a year ago with TI8 (build 826) and I hope you can remember a few things about it...

7 or 8 files of my last back up are corrupted, I can not restore, neither explore my last image...

Then, I managed to restore an image which is now 1 year old (and I have done a lot the PC since). I am at the moment updating my XP Pro with SP2, and all the new updates since...

You said that after doing such a thing, you could "Explore again". The only diff. here is that you had a fresh install of XP while I am starting off an older back up. But I do not see how this could matter...

I also actually do not understand why you could not explore before XP was all updated but could do it afterwards !!! What has this to do with it ?

But I believe it worked for you and I am trying the same thing right now...

If only I could explore and get my files, programs, pictures, mp3, etc. back, then I would only call the situation I am in right now, A WASTE OF TIME.

If not, THAT WOULD BE A DISASTER...

I'll let you know...

Chris

 

Well,

XP is patched, updated, all of it, but still, I can not explore the image...

I really think the files are ****ed and me too...

Could I run the HD manufacturer's own diagnostic tool (if there is one) to try to repair the corrupted files

Chris

 

I am having the same problem as you and everyone else. All of my .tib files are corrupt. I've tried booting from the rescue disk, tried to explore the image. I've tried different versions of the software from 8 to 9. I can't believe this! I will not use Acronis for backups ever again if I don't get some help from them soon. I need to recover all my pictures and files from the image files at the very least.

I haven't tried the memory check yet though, I also have these files on an external USB 2 Maxtor HD. I have tried transferring them to another HD in my system and they are still seen as corrupt.

I have .tib files from a previous computer which I never deleted, and these are still valid, not corrupt. The difference is that I was backing up to an internal HD then, now I'm using the USB HD.

Please...if there's some way to get the information out of the .tib files I would be forever greatful!

 

CAUTION a manufacturer's diagnostic tool may well be able to repair a bad sector BUT it will destroy any data in that sector when it does the repair. CHKDSK is much safer to use as it can correct minor errors and will flag bad sectors as unusable for further work.

Xpilot

 

Well oneerc, I would be forever grateful too, I do not even ask to be able to restore that image but only to explore it, so I could just copy my files back...

Weird thing by the way, my HD is divided into 5 partitions (from C:\ to G:\) and if I ask TI8 to mount/explore only the G:\ drive (where my games are installed) then it works ! But if I ask for D:\ or E:\ or F:\ (the ones I am interested in), I get the famous "Cannot assign a drive letter to a partition from the image archive."

Yes Xpilot, I found out about and ran a scandisk this afternoon, but it doesn't help, the files are still corrupted...

I have read somewhere on the forum that someone with the same problem could fix it by just defragment the disk. But I don't think so, I actually think that it is how I damaged the files in the first place...

Any other suggestions................?

 

Its a long shot but make sure enough drive letters are enabled so they can be assigned.
Go to powertoys for Xp, open tweakui, go down to my computer,click on drives and tick every drive listed right to z

I had trouble assigning drives as my multicard card reader was taking 4 drives plus my external USB drives took two and there wasn't enough drives letters enabled . (doesn't explain why you can mount the old G drive (which will mount as h: I assume) but not others unless you are trying both at the same time)

Worth a try given the desparate straits you are in.

 

The error message "image corrupt" or "The selected file is not an Acronis True Image archive" is not always an hardware problem, i had this problem also often in the past and was related to the following :

1) Image was made with an newer build of Acronis then the build of the used emmergency cd.

2) Renaming the images after creation.

Many people forget to update his/her emmergency cd after installing
an newer build of Acronis True Image wich results in errors like "image corrupt" and so on.


Greetz
DeLorean

 

To Delorean and Tatou,

none of the things you are talking about are actual in my case.

I really thing that there is nothing to do about it, the files are ****ed up, they got ****ed up during the defrag of my extern HD and that's it, no more to it...

Chris

 

Hi again,

I was thinking... I am actually running TI8 (buil 826), I have always used that one and it never let me down before this time...

Do you think that I should give it a try with a newer build of TI8, or even with TI9

I would be happy if only I could mount/explore all my partitons, not only G:\...

I have not tried to defrag my USB HD yet...

Chris