TI 9 not letting me restore incremental backup

I created a full backup of my C: using TI 9 on 4/3/2006 6:41 pm which resulted in a 32 GB .tib on a USB drive. I forgot to add my D: drive so I did an incremental about an hour later which resulted in a second 1.8 GB .tib. Then, on 8/1/2006 I did another incremental backup resulting in a 11 GB .tib. I can see these three files, with the correct date and time stamps in Windows Explorer.

Last week (10/2006) my system crashed and in fixing it, my hard drive was re-formatted. Not a big problem as the 8/1 backup was available.... right?

Now I saved the same version of TI used to make the backups on the backup USB drive. So when I went to restore the HD, I reinstalled TI and fired it up. I began the restore process, browsed to the USB drive and found the three files (one full backup and the two incrementals). I selected the second incremental for the restore, entered the password, and up came the screen requesting me to select which date of the backup set to restore. To my surprise, only two dates were listed: the original full back and first incremental. Scratching my head, I validated the third incremental backup archive. No problems were reported.

So I emailed Acronis support, waited four days (!!) for a response, and was directed to get the latest TI 9 build (#3677). I did that. No change. Same problem.

I told Acronis in an email that nothing changed. Have been ignored for about 4 more days now. Here are the two reference numbers (I have no idea why there are two).

[Acronis #793033]
[Acronis #790217]

What now? Anybody else seen this quirk? Am I simply hosed? Can I get my money back?

 

Make the bootable TI Rescue CD, boot with it and see if it will let you Recover.

 

Just tried making TI Rescue CD to see if it would let me restore.

Nope, no go. Same situation. The only choices it gives me to restore is the the first full backup and the first incremental backup. Restoring the second incremental backup is not an option, even though that's the file I selected to restore.

Any other suggestions?

 

Is it possible that the 3rd file is actually a full image or a differential?

Could you perhaps post the 3 tib names that you see?

Can you mount the 3rd file?

Colin

 

Are you just trying to restore the C drive when you see this?
Perhaps the third image just reflect changes to the D drive, which you had added after the FULL. BTW, to me, that adding of an addition drive via and INC seems weird to begin with.

 

bodgy: Here are the file names. I am sure that I specified incremental when I made the backups.

04032006-C.tib 32,354,581 KB 4/3/2006 6:41 PM
04032006-C2.tib 1,780,674 KB 4/3/2006 7:41 PM
04032006-C3.tib 11,304,960 KB 8/1/2006 5:10 PM

I can mount the third file, and it gives me the two drives, but the mounted C: drive is clearly the second backup (the first incremental). The mounted D: drive is a small recovery partition, so I can't see what's on it.


TheWeaz: I agree, now that I look back. I should have made a separate image fo rthe D: drive. However, it's the same physical drive, so I guess I figured it shouldn't matter. But the real question (if this is an issue) is why did Acronis let me do it? And I don't think it imaged the D: drive only on the second incremental since the drive itself is only 4 GB and the image generated by the second incremental is 11 GB.

 

When you mount the second INC, it should show you everything from the FULL and first INC as well as the second. TI will not display only what’s in an INC or a DIFF; it shows everything up to that point.
When you did the first INC, did you specify both C & D as the source? It sounds like the FULL was just C, the first INC was the newly added D (which would be the same as a FULL D), and then the second INC was changes to C & D.

 

Yes Weaz, I agree. Mounting the second INC should show everything, but it shows only the up to the first INC. I misspoke in my previous post: "second incremental backup" should be "second backup", which is the first incremental backup - sorry for the confusion.

And yes, the FULL was just C, the first INC was the newly added D (which would be the same as a FULL D), and then the second INC was changes to C & D.

 

"Mounting the second INC should show everything, but it shows only the up to the first INC"

How did you determine that?

 

After the restore, I looked at the dates of files that I know were updated after the first INC. In fact, the reason for the second INC was because I wanted to make sure I had that specific set of files backed up.

Also, looking at my "recent files" after the restore shows that they were created in April/March - nothing newer. And, in the time between the first and second INC's, I had changed a couple of POP3 email accounts and my email client is trying to connect to the old (now nonexistent) accounts.

So I know for a fact that I'm not getting a restore of the second INC.

 

OK, I’ve run out of time right now, but here’s a test I ran.
I did what you indicated and it worked fine for me. All the files I had added between backups were available for restore.
However … then ...
I did a FULL of C.
Added a new file on C.
Ran an INC to the FULL but only selected D as a source. The resulting INC did not have the new file on it.
As of now, I’m wondering if it’s a matter of not selecting both drives for one of the INCs.

 

The thing is, I still have this huge second INC so I'm assuming it has the data I'm after on it. What are the chances that Acronis can come up with a way for me to, at the very least, mount that image and get at the data?

Would Acronis, say, make a patch to just to help me get at my data? Or is that totally outside the realm of possibility?

The reason I'm asking is because right now I'm holding off doing anything while this stays unresolved. I really need to move on.

 

If you step through a recovery selecting “Restore specified files and folders” and the first INC, do you see both drives in the “Contents Selection” window?
And what if you do the same using the second INC?
When I did my “However” test, when doing the above for the first INC, only the D drive showed up even though the C drive is what was contained in the FULL. I’m wondering if this might tell you what drives were selected for each INC.
As for Acronis – good luck. There are still a number of us waiting to hear if the known problems in version 9 will be fixed or if Acronis expects us to pony up another $30 for version 10, in which case I and others will be bidding TI farewell.

 

Yes, I can see both drives in the "Contents Selection" window.

I have the same selection choices, but the name of the archive is different (refelcting the fact that I' m looking at archive 3).

Acronis has requested I send that a series of screen shots so I did that. We'll see what they can come up with. Quite frankly, I'm not hopeful.

 

Good luck. I hope they come up with something other than "it will be addressed in the next release".