Can't restore...

Since January I've been running two backups each week - one of important data files and another of music. Did a full backup at the start and then have done incremental backup each week.

My hard disk has died - and now I discover one of the backup sets doesn't work. TI (9.3854) just says that each file is "not a backup file" - each is a .tib file and TI was happy enough to create a new incremental backup each week.

Of course it is the important data that doesn't work - and the music is just fine.

Am backing up to an external USB HD.

Any ideas?

Peter

 

Are the data file incremental backups and the original ful data file full backup in the same folder on the external drive?

Did you try restoring just the full backup by selecting it instead of the latest incremental backup?

How has your hard drive failed? Is it just unbootable or is it completely unreadable? Is it recognized in the BIOS?

If you boot from the Acronis Recovery CD, is your hard drive listed; and can you make an image backup of the drive to the external hard drive?

I hope that you can recover all or most of your data, but you have learned the hard way that you never know for sure whether you have a backup until you successfully restore. Also, you have only one backup, and it's much safer to have more than one backup of important data. Although you could have started another full backup on the same external drive, that's really only one backup since it is on a single drive. Two backups means two different media for security. As a final point, most people here don't like to make more than half a dozen incremental backups before creating another new, full backup. Since all later incrementals require all the previous incrementals, one bad incremental makes all the later ones useless.

 

Are the data file incremental backups and the original ful data file full backup in the same folder on the external drive?

** Yes they are in the same folder **

Did you try restoring just the full backup by selecting it instead of the latest incremental backup?

** doesn't like any of the files there **

How has your hard drive failed? Is it just unbootable or is it completely unreadable? Is it recognized in the BIOS?

** totally unreadable, currently almost running advanced data recovery software to extract data...

If you boot from the Acronis Recovery CD, is your hard drive listed; and can you make an image backup of the drive to the external hard drive?

** can't make an image - finds too many errors **

I hope that you can recover all or most of your data, but you have learned the hard way that you never know for sure whether you have a backup until you successfully restore. Also, you have only one backup, and it's much safer to have more than one backup of important data. Although you could have started another full backup on the same external drive, that's really only one backup since it is on a single drive. Two backups means two different media for security. As a final point, most people here don't like to make more than half a dozen incremental backups before creating another new, full backup. Since all later incrementals require all the previous incrementals, one bad incremental makes all the later ones useless.

** thanks anyway! **

 

Regarding the bad files: Is there any spaces or extra periods in the name and does it end with ".tib"? If yes, maybe rename the files so that they are something plain and simple-- such as any of these samples.
mybackup.tib
mybackup-1.tib
Aug29-1.tib

 

called main.tib and main1.tib and main2.tib and ... main21.tib

original one is about 18Gb others vary around 0-3 Gb

Is there no other way to get stuff back from .tib files?

 

Not much help so far.

If you try to mount the backup in TrueImage instead of restoring it, what happens?

In some cases a backup that won't restore can be mounted, and you can then copy the data files from the backup (it has a virtual drive letter) to the real hard drive.

Did you ever try to validate the image on the external drive?

 

Will try to figure out how to do "mount" - doesn't seem an obvious choice in the software... Is this what TI v9 calls "plug image"?

Didn't validate. Didn't know I should have done... until it all went horribly wrong and I read these nice forums...

Sigh.

Peter

 

Peter,
Some forum members have recovered problematic backups on an external HD by copying the backups over to an internal HD. It might be worth a try once you get a working HD going.

 

Yes. It used to be "plug". In my version of TI9 B3677 it is "Mount". Right click on the .tib file. One of your choice should be "Mount". Click on "Mount" to assign a virtual drive letter and you will be able to use windows explorer to browse the image file.

 

Yes, the old language for mount was plug.

I think you may have accidentally given us a key piece of information that we should have asked for. The language was changed from Plug image to Mount in the early versions of TI 9.

What build of TI 9 are you using? Click Help and then About for the version and build number.

You should be using build 3677 or the last build, 3854. If you are not using one of these, register your copy of TI 9 on the Acronis web site (www.acronis.com) and download the latest build.

Uninstall the old build of TI 9 and install the new one. Then creates a new TI Recovery CD. Then try to restore your images.

 

Hurrah! This worked - well the first file in the backup worked - so have restored almost all files (no email - but have recovered years worth of baby photos).

This is probably the best I'm going to get sadly. Need to rethink backup for future plans...

Thanks!

 

Have got 3854-haven't tried recovery CD yet - see other post- copying to HD and mounting did work ok for the first backup...so recovery CD option - may be the last attempt.

Have also given HD to data recovery person... who sounded kind of hopeful... so we'll see!

 

Were the backup files created with 3854? If created with earler version, you might try using the earler version Rescue Cd. Protect what you have. Don't jeopardize your current copies. Make copies of your photos onto DVD now before anything else happens.

 

Peter,
Hope your recovery efforts are successful. Many of us think it's wise to separate data and media files from the imaging process, to avoid exactly the problem you've run into. Once things have settled down, you might find this thread interesting: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=164175.

Regards, CatFan