Partial restore from corrupted backup?

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by wtsitmn, Apr 12, 2007.

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  1. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    Does anyone know of a way to restore something from corrupted backups? There are products which restore parts of Microsoft backup (BKF) archives under such conditions, but TI does not seem to provide similar functionality. Surely others have been in the situation where their backup is corrupt for some reason, yet they want to be able to restore as many intact files as possible. For example, suppose I back up files to a set of CD's, then some of them get lost or destroyed. I would want to recover as much as possible from the remaining intact CD's.

    Thoughts anyone? Comments?
     
  2. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    For pure data files, using True Image is not a good idea for the very reason you describe. Just use Nero or Roxio to burn them to CD or DVD.
     
  3. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    Unfortunately, this does not address the underlying issue. A corrupt backup file problem could occur under various circumstances. For example, if one volume of a multi-volume backup is corrupt because of a hard disk read error, the same problem would result. Or part of a single volume backup could be bad although most of the data in the archive is still intact.

    There really needs to be a way to restore part of a corrupt backup, rather than the current all-or-nothing approach used by TI. It seems unbelievable to me that an archive which is the slightest bit corrupt dooms the entire recovery process to total failure and a complete loss of all data. This is hardly what I would regard as "computing with confidence". Nor could it honestly qualify as "the most comprehensive data protection available".
     
  4. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    That's typical marketing for you, no matter what the product - even outside the computing sector. True Image is good for whole disk Backup and Cloning and that's all I recommend it for.
     
  5. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    If you avoid stuffing the files into containers then it does avoid the problem because you are dealing with individual files not some kind of a proprietary monolith. If a single file has a bad cluster only that file is affected. However, a bad DVD can always be a problem depending on how it fails but there are recovery programs for optical disks.

    You sometimes can recover files from a TI image which won't restore by mounting the archive and extracting files and this is not totally unlike what you are suggesting.

    I agree with DwnNdrty, avoid the container files. Just use Windows Explorer to copy them to a different device. I use free Syncback to copy to a second internal HD and it provides enough smarts to know what to copy (basically does an incremental) to the backup area. For additional security I then copy the backup folders to a USB drive and sometimes even DVDs. Never only have 1 backup of your files!!
     
  6. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    It's good for that only so long as every single bit of the archive file(s) can be read back perfectly. But if just one of them goes bad, just one, then you're totally screwed! So when you use TI, you're essentially putting all your eggs in one basket and counting on someone else to carry it for you. That's not what I have in mind when I back up my important data.
     
  7. mfabien

    mfabien Registered Member

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    Corrupt backup... means garbage in garbage out. This is a good reason to keep more than one image backup in storage.

    If damage is caused*by a virus, the backup image can be scanned by an anti virus program.

    If worst comes to worst, one can reinstall or recover the OS, then, mount the backup image and copy files from the backup to the repaired (OS) drive.
     
  8. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    The Acronis staff should be ashamed

    Since no one has been able to provide me with an actual solution, it seems then that the crappy generic backup which comes with Windblows for free is superior to True Image backup, at least when it comes to restoring critical data under severe circumstances. Oh, that's just swell. And to think I was using TI believing it would protect me when things went wrong.
     
  9. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello wtsitmn,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    Please notice that, as already mentioned by seekforever, you can try mounting (any Acronis True Image) or exploring (only Acronis True Image 10.0 Home) the corrupted archive and extract some files. Please see the respective chapter of the User's Guide for detailed instructions.

    Thank you.
    --
    Marat Setdikov
     
  10. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    Okay you're quite right ... I should have added: "as long as you test a restore by using a spare hard drive". Which I also always recommend.
     
  11. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    I've heard this sort of claim before. Has anyone out there acually tried this with any success? Can you restore an image made with a prior version of TI? I've already purchased several updates of TI Home in the past and been disappointed. I no longer live on the bleeding edge.

    My new motto is, "You go first--I'm right behind you!"
     
  12. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    Re: Partial restore from corrupted backup? (ещё)

    I downloaded TI 10.0 trial and tried restoring from a corrupted backup and guess what happened? I was notified that my backup was corrput and the restore failed. Big surprise--NOT!

    So much for Acronis' claim of all my backup problems being solved. Like I said, I've heard this sort of claim before.

    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
     
  13. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    Have to disagree here. I have been using Acronis since version 6 for daily data images. A corrupted image can often be mounted and most data recovered - even when the image will not restore. Daily data images even to DVD mean that
    I would be very unlucky if the corrupted image had errors in the same place several days running.
     
  14. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    Yes. Old images stored on cheap DVD. Have been able to mount and restore almost all data.
     
  15. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    Not true. Just mount the image.
     
  16. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    My archive image is comprised of 60+ small .tib files (98,078KB each). I've tried to mount each of them and always get the same error message:

    Selected file is not Acronis True Image Home archive or is corrupted. Please select another backup archive.

    Long View, what's your secret?
     
  17. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    Sorry I'm beginning to see your problem. I have never made anything other than
    Full images as one single tib file. If you have tried to mount ALL 60 + then I would agree that you have a problem. I can also see why your angry but when you have salvaged what you can don't just throw Acronis away. Install a new system C: and have data on another partition. make full images of both. makes several images to different media.

    I know this doesn't help but I have to ask - why did you make 60+ tibs ?
     
  18. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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    wtsitmn
    just had a thought. Is it possible to copy all of your tibs to a folder on a partition on your hard drive ? ( I'm assuming that they are all on CD ?). Perhaps when all the tibs are "together" Acronis will be able to recognise and mount ?

    Probably a complete waste of time ? but may help
     
  19. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    This particular backup was made with version 8. I made the files small so that, in the event of media failure, at least some of the files would be intact. Obviously my trust in the capabilities of TI were unfounded, and I've never been able to get a straight answer from the Acronis support staff on whether or not they will ever create a version which can recover any data from these files. All I get are claims that their product already does this, when obviously it doesn't. They just don't seem to understand what it is I'm trying to accomplish, although it's not such a hard concept to grasp. Maybe their outsourced foreign support staff doesn't speak the English so muchly goodly?!

    I bought version 9 based on their assurances that I could recover my data, but it didn't work. I'm still waiting for a miracle. Some of these files contain irreplaceable photographs which I counted on TI to ensure their safety. So you can understand my frustration at not being able to recover anything, and why I mock Acronis’ claims of product quality and data integrity. Like I said in my original post, there are ways to recover data from corrupt Microsoft Windows (.bkf) backups. So why can’t any of my data be recovered? After all, I paid good money for this software. So if Acronis can't ensure high product quality, then maybe they should get out of the business, or at least stop making these outlandish claims. Or maybe I should find a lawyer. After all, there are laws against making false claims. But what I really want is my data back.
     
  20. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    AFAIK, you have to have the complete archive in the same folder to do a mount.

    TI, not unlike some other programs, writes an "index" for want of a better term on the last volume and it needs it to make sense of the overall backup.
     
  21. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    SeekForever:
    Do you know if it would it be technically possible to develop a program to identify and extract files from an archive without having the index? That is, is there enough information in the archives themselves to identify the files they contain, such as beginning address and length?

    In my case the index is probably intact, but apparently without every single volume of the archive the restore and mounts don't work.
     
  22. Long View

    Long View Registered Member

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  23. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    Yes, I can do that. The problem isn't with CD's, it's with TI not being able to restore anything at all when a complete set of archive files is not present. With TI it's all-or-nothing; and right now I have nothing because I do not have the complete set of files which make up the entire archive.
     
  24. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    I don't know but my guess is it would be difficult. I don't know what information is contained within the archive but the information contained in the last file would certainly be critical to understanding the structure.

    I think Long View is saying you might try isobuster or similar to recover the volumes of the archive file you can't read such that you could perhaps mount the archive. Are your files stored on optical media or are they a collection of 60 files on a HD?
     
  25. wtsitmn

    wtsitmn Registered Member

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    I doesn't matter where my data is stored or whether I can recover most of it using whatever tools. True Image requires literally every bit of the archive to be exactly 100.0% intact before it will recover anything. This means if there is even the slightest error in any of the files, the result is a big fat zero. So while True Image is a useful tool, it should by no means be relied upon to guarantee a person's most treasured critical data.

    If Acronis were being honest, their slogan would be, "One miniscule error and everything is lost." But that probably wouldn't entice many people to buy their products, so instead they conceal their deficiencies behind lies.
     
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