Desperate

I believed I was backing up my data successfully as I had tested a restore ok. Tonight when I wanted it in a real situation it failed with 'Not a True Image archive or the file is corrupted.
My data is archived to an external drive daily. I had to do a full restore of my internal hd today which meant another install of True Image 9.0 build 2302.
I am in a desperate situation now as there are bugets and an Excel project which I have spent months working on involved.
I would be very grateful if anyone can assist.

Thanks

 

You are running a very old and buggy build of TI9. You may want to download either B3677 or B3854 and try your restore with one of them. One possible cause of corruption is memory. Download and run memtest and look for errors http://www.memtest.org/. Run memtest for several hours. Also run a validation on your image.

 

First of all your 2302 build is way out of date. Download the latest from the Acronis site. You will have to register if you didn't already. Try the latest build and see if it works.

You can also try to Mount (with the TI Mount command) your image and recover individual files.

Is there any chance you created your archive with a newer build and are now trying to read it with the 2302 version of TI. Somewhere around (I can never remember) build 3625 TI changed the engine in TI which resulted in a different format archive file. Older versions cannot read the later build's files but the later builds with the new engine can also read the older archives. Your error message indicates this could be a possibility.

 

I am downloading TI 10 at the moment.
In the meantime I can't find help on mounting. Appreciate some help on that too.
Thanks

 

It's on the opening page of TrueImage when you run it. Select Mount and then select the backup file. TI will assign the file a drive letter as a virtual hard drive.

You can use Windows Explorer to browse through the virtual hard drive to find your data.

My documents in Windows XP is located at:
C:\Documents and Settings\Your logon name\My Documents.

 

Phewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

I believe it was as Seekforever suggested - I had updated my original version and used that prior to today, then trying to read from the original again simply didn't work.
Downloading a trial of TI10 worked just fine.

Many thanks to all contributors - I was beginning to get just a tiny bit rattled What was a bit scary were the words in the error message 'may be corrupted'.

And doesn't this just prove the power of forums. I'm very grateful for the quick responses.

 

Data that important deserves to be backed by multiple methods!

Another backup program on your computer is XP Backup. This will backup your data to a file and you can then copy the file to CD or DVD. The program will not copy to CD direct.

Another option is to use your burn software and simply drag the data files onto the CD or DVD.

Another option is an external drive. Simply copy from internal to external. File remains in its native format.

Having multiple archives or multiple backup methods provides you with multiple chances of protecting your data. Think of this episode as a trial run! Don't rely on just one program for your protection!

If you have not done so, update your V9 ATI Rescue CD. You should always have a Rescue CD for each version used and retain the old Rescue CD--......just in case.

 

You are right GroverH. I have no defence. Though I had backed up to another partition daily that was trashed with the full restore! Though I had backed up to a cd and dvd that was some time ago.

The backup regime has to be a strict one, even when wrapping up gone midnight. It has got too easy and quick with TI when closing down and eyelids are drooping

 

If you have no external drive, then at least use a Flash drive (2GB for $20.) and use a program like Replicator to copy all changed files from designated folders. This type backup requires none of your time! Just set it up to make it happen.

 

But GroverH I do have an external as I stated in my first post. So my regime was:
1. a daily archive to a partition on the same hd
2. a daily archive to an external hd
3. 'weekly' backup of files to cd and dvd. Except this was 3 weeks old when I looked.
So my strategy was flawed in that:
a) the partition on the same internal hd was overwritten in the full repartitioning
b) the archive on the external hd was made with a newer version of TI9
c) my cd data was old.
Where I was caught was in not making a recovery disc of the updated version which I downloaded from the site.

Apart from all that the price of an upgrade to TI10 seems a bit steep. It looks like the cost is as for new. Is there no discount for an upgrade I wonder?

 

The upgrade cost directly from www.acronis.com is $29.99. From Newegg it is $19..99 by download http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681531211SF. Newegg does not deal internationally so if your not in the US this won't work.

 

My only point is for you to have safe and up-to-date backups and for you to have multiple choices when needing to access your archived data. As paraphrased "don't have all your eggs in one basket."

This should involve a series of "what if's". (I'm sure you an think of plenty of ask.)

An electrical shock could wipe out your computer or its hard drive. If external drive is attached, it's gone too. This happens more often than you might think. Are you covered if this happens to you.

A malfunction or operator error can cause the loss. Do you have a backup which is not connected to your computer?

Perhaps a second external drive and alternate their use. External drives should not be attached 24/7.

There have been several past postings of backup strategies. A review of some these postings might be helpful.

Good luck.

PS: When upgrading, you will additionally need to use the serial number of any previous version.
If you purchased from Newegg, simply take their serial number received via email and register it; and then download the latest update from Acronis. No need to download anything from Newegg.

Un-install the old before installing the new.

 

Thanks for the advice - it's appreciated.

It's always the same, just when you think you have everything under control and you can get on with the 'real' work, something jumps up and bites you.

As a start I've purchased the upgrade to v10 (@ 29.99) and begun to reconfigure my folders to identify daily changing vital data. I'm already happy with my cd and dvd strategy, 'cept I must apply it!!

I have also enrolled my son who lives away to archive important data - thus I can be protected if any disaster strikes my place.

All I have to do now is apply the new strategy

 

Good move. Another way of protecting copies of the real important files is to copy them to the personal webspace you may have been given by your ISP.

Another place is to email them to a Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or whatever account and leave them on the server. For these methods I would encrypt any sensitive data and it is not practical for large volumes. I have a couple of spreadsheets that I would be in big trouble if they got lost so the above works well for that kind of situation.