Folder in mounted image cannot be accessed

I used Acronis True Image V10 Build 4942 on a computer with operating system Windows XP Media Center Edition Service Pack 2. I to create a full computer backup.

I then mounted this image on a laptop with operating system Windows XP Professional Version 5.1 Service Pack 2 where I am logged in as a computer administrator. This laptop has the same version and build of Acronis. I can open all folders and files except the one that I really want. This folder shows the name ("HP_Administator" which was the name for it on the HP computer on which I made the backup) but, unlike the other folders that have sub-folders, this folder does not have a plus sign to to the left of it. If I try to open it, it says "F:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator is not accessible. Access is denied."

I read Microsoft's Knowledge Base Article 308421 and, in accordance with that, I disabled simple file sharing. I then clicked on the folder and selected the Sharing tab. There I selected the "Share this folder" radio button. However, when I clicked "Apply", I got an error message saying that "An error occurred while trying to share HP_Administrator. Access is denied. The shared resource was not created at this time."

How can I get access to the folder in the virtual drive created by Acronis when I mounted the backup?

 

This may be related to Volume Ownership. Whenever you mount an image of a volume (NTFS volumes specifically) from another machine, you may need to take ownership of that new drive in order to access some/all of the files/dirs on it. This is an issue common to any image-based mounter component (you'll see this in other backup products as well as True Image).

To take ownership of a mounted image's volume, first you have to mount the image as a writeable volume, and after it mounts right click on the drive letter and select Properties, then in the properties dialog click on the Security tab and then click on the Advanced button and then in the Advanced Security Settings dialog click on the Owner tab and change the owner to yourself (this assumes your an Administrator on your machine).

 

In Windows Explorer, if I right click properties on the .tib file, the attributes read-only and hidden are not checked. If I click on the security tab, in permission for administrators, the allow box is checked for full control and also for modify, read & execute, read and write.

I tried again another 3 times, logged in as computer administrator. At the "assigning logical drive letters screen", I accepted the default drive suggested by Acronis when mounting. (This was the next alphabetic letter after the existing drives, including the backup media drive.) At the "Image Mounting Mode", I switched from the default "Mount in read-only mode" to "Mount in read/write mode". I then got a screen saying "Once you have mounted a backup archive using the Read/Write mode, a new incremental backup file is created. This file is required to reflect changes in the mounted backup archive." I clicked next on this information screen and then proceed on the next confirmation screen. Then I get an error message "Cannot assign a drive letter to a partition from the backup archive."

What else can I try?

 

Hmm, that's unfortunate. So there seems to be a problem with TrueImage's ability to mount images as writeable volumes. At this point you may be forced to restore that image in order to gain access to the files within in. Good luck.

 

I was able to view and copy folders/files on the backup to the other computer, through Windows Explorer, without mounting the image.

However, I wish Acronis would confirm that an image created on a removeable disk by one computer cannot be mounted on another computer, so that users do not waste time trying to do this.

 

If so, that would be unfortunate, but you shoulkd be able to:

1. Create a partition on the other computer.
2. RESTORE the image to that partition.
3. Get whatever files you need.
4. If needed, dewlete the partition.

 

Hello moh,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Please see this FAQ article regarding the issue you encountered.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

I had read the FAQ per the link and also Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 308421 mentioned therein, as mentioned in my first post. To repeat what I said in a subsequent post, "I was able to view and copy folders/files on the backup to the other computer, through Windows Explorer, without mounting the image." So, I no longer have a problem as it seems just as easy to access the backup folders and files by clicking through the relevant backup in Windows Explorer.

The fact that I could access the backup files using Windows Explorer on another computer seems to indicate that the problem is with Acronis and not Microsoft. I think Acronis should fix the problem in due course and, in the meantime, state clearly in its user manual that "an image created on a removeable disk by one computer cannot be mounted on another computer" to avoid users wasting their time trying to mount the image.

 

Hello moh,

Please be aware that what you describe as "I was able to view and copy folders/files on the backup to the other computer, through Windows Explorer, without mounting the image" is actually using "Explore" feature (similar to "Mount" feature, but there is no virtual drive created, thus, even file/folder backups can be explored). Please also be aware that when you mount an image in read/write mode, Acronis True Image assumes that the connected image will be modified, and creates an incremental archive file to capture the changes. However, if the image is located on a CD/DVD, the incremental archive cannot be created, thus mounting the image in read/write mode fails, while mounting in read-only still works.

Please see chapter 12 "Exploring archives and mounting images" of the respective User's Guide for more information and instructions on mounting and exploring archives.

Thank you.
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Marat Setdikov