SAVE MY MUSIC COLLECTION! PLEASE

Okay guys let me give ya a little run down as to what has happened here.

I have Acronis.
I installed Acronis on my computer before i formatted it so that i could back up all of my contents, i.e music and documents. I obviously didnt do it right because i did it only once but i actually have about 13 .tib files.
So that aside.

I formatted my computer and had the .tib files on my external Lacie Hard Drive.
Seemed to be no problem there.

Now i foolishly copied over the entire contents of all the users and i had some pretty big backup of un neccesary stuff.
But once the format was complete i used Acronis to load the music back onto the computer.
But me not thinking straight i loaded the wrong users set of music and not the complete library.

But its still on my hard drive.

So i decided to just forget about it, have left it for about a month.
Hard drive has just sat there and done nothing.

Now im going on holiday and wanna get my over 300 pounds worth of music off of the external compressed files and back onto the computer.

Now every file except the 12th .tib one seems to say that they are not acronis files and are all 0KB in size. But the 12th one is 47GB.

So obviously thats the one with all the music on.
So i restarted and booted from acronis, got the archive, number 12. Had a little sift round in it, found the correct folder with all the right files and now im trying to restore it back to my hard drive.
Should be fine!? No!

Acronis starts for about 2 seconds then say, "please insert #0000001 of the archive"

So i thought okay maybe it means the other tib files.
So i loaded all the .tib files onto the main hard drive and tryed again, and still no luck!?

Now i know the files are there!
I'm talking a serious amount of music could be lost here.
But i just cant get Acronis to extract. Is there any way i can just go into the tib, grab the files and move them over in real time?

I need this music!

Any help!
PLEASE!

Much appreciated!

p.s i go on holz tomoro! lol!
This is for my ipod whilst away!

PLEASE HELP!

 

You have numerous.tib files because your Lacie drive drive is formatted in FAT 32. This is not a problem as TI will recognise the whole backup image whichever part is selected.
As you still have the backup images panic not. I suggest you do not try to restore this data because it includes unwanted material. Instead mount the backup as a virtual drive or if you are using Version 10 just use Explorer to select the files you wish to get back and copy and paste or even drag and drop them to where you wish.

 

Okay!

I got progress, then i got hit, hard!
I've tried so much stuff i desperately need your help.

Basically the music folder is like 20gb and the computer im trying to copy it to idoesnt have that much free.
So i can access the image, and i can browse through it and i can see it all and everything.
But.

no matter what i try to copy, whether it be 1 or 1000 files it always comes up straight away with.
'There is not enough free space on this drive to perform the selected task'

Now, ive got about 15gb on the hard drive, it wont even let me copy a single picture over?
So i tried a different computer and still, exactly the same results!?

This is so strange, theres like 200gb free on the external as well. Im trying to copy them from the external to the internal.
It wont let me do it straight to the internal either!?

I am just stuck.
I really dont want this to be the end of so much music!?
Any help please!

 

Have you tried copying or even restoring the files in question to an empty folder or folders on the external drive?

 

Yep, tried that.

Even straight to the external, so ext to ext. Still say's No space left?

I'm so lost guys!
Anyone to shed some light!?

 

Just a guess, do you have another external drive that you can plug in and try restoring there?

 

Okay i just tried doing it from the image to my other 40GB external firewire.
Exactly the same! I'm so LOST.
if it helps the only one of the archives out of all 12 that work is the last one. Number 12. None of the others work!?

I am completely stumped now! I am in desperate need of some help! Why wont it just let me have my files!

Anyone!?
Thankyou all for your help so far!

 

Did you try mounting your image as XPilot suggested? Open TrueImage and choose the option "Mount image". This will load your entire image .tib files as another drive letter. From there, maybe you can copy some files. etc. When done, use the "unmount image" option.

Was your original .tib files ever involved being on DVD or CD?

Is there any periods or spaces, etc in your .tib file name?

Have you tried "validating your image" on whatever drives you currently have a copy of your .tib files?

Have you check your explorer listiing of available space for your drives to receive the files?

 

Okay yeah i'd already tried mounting it.

1. When i try to do that it sais.
'Image Cannot Be Mounted Because It Does Not Contain Any Partitions?'

2. Yeah It's called HOME PC BACKUP12?

Hold on a second.
Whilst i was in mid flow of writing this message. I changed the name of the files. Took out the spaces.

I went to the MY Pictures folder and i can actually move single images and multiple images over?? Onto my desktop!?
Okay so that works

So then i tried to move the itunes folder over to an external drive. No joy!
I even tried maybe just one song to the desktop!? No joy.

Still. Not enough space!?

Hmmmm

Something is very strange here!?

Guys i thank you so much for all your help so far.
We are getting somewhere!
Any more help would be much appreciated!

 

You may have tried this. Assuming you have adequate space on your external, can you create an additional, empty partition there and try an actual restore of the entire backup? Or perhaps an additional HD altogether and restore to there?

 

What you mean make a partition on the Lacie 320GB and then extract the whole lot to there?
Shall i run the image from the computer or from the external lacie?

What would be your personal advice on software for making a partition.

By the way ive just been playing around with this and i've found that i was cycling through my music folder and have found that i CAN actually copy over all my music from ruffly the letter U onwards.

What on earth!?

Thats a damn lot of music that i cant extract!

Thanks so much so far guys!

 

Is there anywhere i can go!? Someone i can see. Somewhere to test the validity of it all!?

I just cannot afford to lose all this music. This whole process has massively made me lose all faith in Acronis. They should personally be checking the archive. Trying to restore it.
I just have lost so much Hope.

 

Have you tried validating your backup files, as GroverH suggested in post #8.?

It's a guess, but I was thinking that if copying or extracting from a mounted image does not allow you to recover all the desired files, that perhaps restoring the entire image with all data, not just the files you want, might work. If it does work, then you have your files out of the True Image .tib file and copying should be straightforward. I'd try first restoring from the files on your computer.

I have used Partition Magic and am currently using Acronis Disk Director, both have worked well for me and are the only two I know anything about.

 

T-Hammer
To expand upon CatFan432's suggestion. Consider buying another hard drive-preferably internal.

Attach the new internal drive. Partition and format the drive. Then restore your entire "Files & Folders" image backup. If all goes well, transfer copies of whatever you need to wherever but keep the drive as an additional backup of your important music files. It would be best to remove the new drive and keep it safely stored as a non-attached drive. For proper safety, you need this important music stored in multiple places. You could have an external enclosure if you wanted occasional access without having to pull your case apart.

Music files are already compressed. Little space is gained when using backup software. You need some type of storage where the files are normal music files. This is often best obtained by simply dragging/copying the files from source to destination.

The link below is an very informative discussion about music & photo storage.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=164175

 

Hello T-Hammer,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Please note that only image archive of disks/partitions can be mounted via Mount image tool of Acronis True Image.

At this point it would be useful if you could create a screen shots of all you steps you performed to restore the data from the backup archive along with the error messages you have received.

In addition, please describe the action you have taken to create the backup archive.

Please also let us know the exact product name and build number of Acronis True Image, which you can find in the Help -> About dialog.

Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Okay guys, i've compiled some screen shots for you to show a better understanding of what happens when i attempt to validate it and so forth.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/hamspace

Theres explanations for each.

I am really considering a new hard drive. But i dont wanna go out and buy one if it isn't going to work?

Also thankyou very much Acronis for getting involved. Very much appreciated.

 

To save a little time for others, here is what we know.
1. Windows explorer shows the backup consists of 12 tib files. The first eleven show "0" for file size. File 12 shows size to be about 3.? 'gig
2. He attempt to validate the set by loading file #12.
3. When validation begins, he gets the error message to load volume 1.
The images below are an extraction of what I saw.

Ham,
What happened after the error message. Did you try clicking the first file?
I'm at a loss here since I never use the Files and folders function restore.
Anybody else help?

 

Thanks for summarizing that up for me there mate. Much appreciated.

Okay, when i try clicking retry, it just re pops up the message, doesn't give me a browse menu or anything? And then i have to press cancel for it to abort?

Guys be honest with me, can i still get to my music here!?

I just cannot lose so much purchased music.

 

It does not not promising--but I am no expert at predicting what is a possible recovery. As in my earlier posting, my suggestion would be

Get temporary access to another drive--preferably 100G or so. Maybe borrow from a friend.

Best if it is internal but external would probably suffice. Partition and format the drive. Then restore your entire "Files & Folders" "HomePCBackup archive. If the restore works, then you could copy the files to their proper home and return the drive to its owner. This may not work either but you're running out of choices.

I realize you have space on your existing drives but I am trying to take them out of the equation.

Acronis also suggested specific action on your part. I would still consider their suggestions before you write out your music.

The .tib files listed with zero content should be showing a file size. The fact that they do not might relate to the extremely large music files inside. Perhaps Acronis has a way of opening the files--providing there is content in the first 11 files.

I hope you can still be successful in your recovery attempt--but something obviously went wrong.

 

Hello T-Hammer,

We are sorry for the delayed response.

I regret to tell you that restoration is not possible in this situation.

Please also note that since you were able to successfully create the backup archive and the size of the files was correct, most likely that the issue is related to the file system of the external drive you use. Therefore, in order to make sure this situation will not appear in the future I would recommend that you either check the hard drive with hard drive diagnostic tool or re-format the drive.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

So the Acronis software just lost me about 300 Pounds worth of purcahsed music!?
That's just not on!
I can't accept that, as much as i wanna think, yep its my fault. I really cant!
And nor do i believe this answer. I'm sure there is a way! Because everything after the letter U on the partition works. Including the my documents pics and so forth. Just not the music, which is the most important bit.

I dont wanna now go out and get an internal drive if Acronis are gonna make a statement like that! I just wish there was somewhere i could go, someone who could check it.

Thanks for all your help other guys so far!

 

Absolutely Pete. However, I will (again) add my thoughts on being safe with backups, particularly data files.

1. Having one backup is marginal. It is always good to keep as many historical versions as space permits.

2. Data files are something that can be easily backed up in their native format using Windows Explorer or favorite DVD burning software. This means they don't have to be processed and stuffed into a big container file in which a failure renders everything unreadable as T-Hammer found out. Pictures and downloaded music files usually are also already compressed in most cases so that isn't even an issue.

3. Diversity is always good. In other words, don't use one media type such as DVD for all your backups, keep some on an internal or external HD. And yes, you can diversify how the files are backed up so make a backup with TI as well as your Explorer backup if you wish. IMO, DVDs are an inferior media but you can disagree if you wish. A bad area on a DVD is more likely to cause a bigger problem than a bad area on a HD.

4. Run chkdsk before making backups at a suitable interval. Why assume your entire disk structure is always perfect.

 

I can't help feeling, that there is still an off chance this data can be recovered. The problem is it needs someone well versed in FAT32. With a disk editor it would be possible to see if these files really are still therea and that either the FAT or the MBR has the wrong pointers in it and therefore when interrogated reports a zero file size.

Unfortunately, I know the mechanics of the FAT system, but have never used and editor in anger so to speak.

Colin

 

You could be right but it really is difficult to say just what is wrong. If the FAT is corrupted with wrong pointers or other information it could be that succeeding files have overwritten the data area of the earlier files but who knows?
Other option is to try some data recovery software but unless everything can be recovered perfectly or at least reasonable so for a Mount, TI won't process the file.

I wonder if T-Hammer has anyway of re-downloading any of the stuff he paid for if he has proof of purchase?