Yes it is. I am running Windows 8.1 Pro and ATI 2014 is running flawlessly.

What do you mean by the external drive keeps opening?

Pat L wrote:

Yes it is. I am running Windows 8.1 Pro and ATI 2014 is running flawlessly. What do you mean by the external drive keeps opening?

This PC>FreeAgentPro (1:) just opens and shows what is on this drive.

Running Acronis True Image 2014 which I downloaded December 2013

Am getting Error message too. Sync Agent service Error. Try restarting computer - which I have done.

The Sync Agent service provides the user with the ability to sync files between devices and the cloud. It is enabled by default during install. You can read about these functions in the documentation or on the online web help pages. In order to sync with the cloud you must have an cloud account with Acronis.

It sounds to me like when you installed the app your Free Agent was selected as a device with which you would choose to sync with. If that is the case you can disable the sync feature. If you choose to use the sync agent for its intended purpose then you will have to leave the feature enabled. You can set the sync agent service within windows to only start manually as well so that when you need the service you will be prompted to start it.

True Image 2014 * Win 8.1 with Office 2010

Thanks Pat L and Bob for your comments.
ACRONIS 2014

Bob, I am absolutely clueless regarding the running of my computer, so I am not quite sure what is meant in your message - sorry to be so dim. I am not using Cloud and have no Cloud account. The Sync Error seems to have disappeared.

I have now seen that when the Acronis suddenly opens that the tab Drive Tools is highlighted. Google Desktop is finding:
xp_tools_5_9.xml
schemaLocation=www.acronis.com/script script.xsd" description> title .. ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers .. Tools 5.6

It seems that messages are restricted in length, here is the rest
Google Desktop is finding:
xp_tools_5_9.xml
schemaLocation=www.acronis.com/script script.xsd" description> title .. ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers .. Tools 5.6 information>Tools
Preview Program Files (x86)\Com...\xp_tools_5_9.xml - Open folder - 1 cached - Aug 26 2009

pain_shop_pro.xml
script xmlns=www.acronis.com/script" xmlns .. LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\Browse with Paint Shop .. editing tools category
Preview Program Files (x86)\Co...\pain_shop_pro.xml - Open folder - 1 cached - Aug 26 2009
Following the cache in Google DT I found this:
The following file cannot be found:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\BackupScripts\xp_tools_5_9.xml
This may happen if you deleted or moved the file.

Now I do not recall deleting or moving a file as I like to leave Program files folder alone. So is my Acronis searching for these two files?

Thanks, and sorry late coming back to you, but I feel sure I checked Notify but I haven't received a response email.

CassieRae,

It looks like some problem with your context menu handlers.

Uninstall Acronis, run the clean up utility, reboot, and reinstall it. Move your existing backup files to another directory on the same disk (to avoid a long file copy). Create a new backup task. Does the problem persist?

Thank you Pat, do I also ditch a file which will not move called System Volume Information - it is dated just about the time when I purchased my update of Acronis.

Do not touch the System Volume Information! This is a critical system file (Windows won't let you touch it, but do not attempt to touch it with anything else).

Hi Pat, Well I did try to get rid of it. It is odd though as the properties show it is empty.

Hello Pat L,
I am so glad I asked for advice, as it seems that following your instructions to have corrected the error I had. Thank you so much as it was so annoying.

Acronis seemed to go mad yesterday - am I supposed to have 2 partition backups?

What do I do when my external drive is full? Can I take out files by moving these to Acronis files? Can I overwrite files or does Acronis simply do that?

CassieRae,

Unless I am mistaken, you are a new user to Acronis. When you say "2 partition backups", what do you mean? Do you now have 2 tasks listed in the UI, or do you see 2 backup files on the disk.
If the former case, it means that ATI has discovered a TIB file on the disk but cannot "match" it with an existing backup task. This happens when you uninstall and reinstall without deleting backup files. ATI will examine the content of your disks, and has probably found the files you moved. You can safely remove (not delete) the unwanted and unnecessary listing in the UI.

Hi Pat,

I was so pleased that I had, by following your instructions, stopped this constant opening of the [I] drive containing my Acronis yesterday, but I spoke in haste! Later in the morning, it happened again. This was 12.20 London time and then about 1.00pm, 4.20pm., 5.45pm; and when I came back to computer at 10pm it had happened again. When the file is open it will not occur.

I have added a screenshot of what is shown on my Acronis Backup.I assume that I need one lot of partitions, done at the beginning and they do not need to be replicated?If this is so, I must remove the dates for backing them up?

You advised me to make a folder and call this 'Acronis files' I believe that when my backup gets full that I simply move files into this folder? This in time must make my backups very large, as Acronis will back this folder up with My Documents.

Many thanks, from a 'new to understanding Acronis'. My friend used to set  up Acronis True Image 2010 and anything that went wrong I called on him. I never did understand it, so thought I should try to do so now with 2014.

Hi,

From the look of your screenshot, you have a bit of mess with archives and schedules. Let me clarify a couple of points. Whenever you create a backup with ATI, you create a task that runs on a schedule. You can see you have a task called "My partitions" with a monthly schedule and another one with a weekly schedule. Then, ATI discovered an isolated backup file "my partitions full b1 s1 v1" and couldn't make sense of it within one of the previous tasks (which is weird), so it listed it separately: this probably a backup file you moved per my instructions when you reinstalled ATI. Then you have other backup files from a task call "my-backups" in the Documents folder (which should be there), finally you have done a reserved copy for that task.
Let's do this:
- click on gear menu of the reserved copy, and choose delete. There is no point having a backup file or backup task in the C:\user\...\documents folder since the C:\ disk is the disk you want to protect,
- delete also the my backups inc b2 S2 v1 "task"
- dele the my partitions full b1 s1 v1 file as well. For some reason, you save the file on the C:\ disk as well, where it is useless.

Until now, we have eliminated the backup files that are stored on the C:\ disk, and we have saved a lot of space :-)
Let's delete the redundant backup task:
- click on the gear menu of the monthly My partitions backup task and let's delete that task also.

Now let's verify that your only backup task left is the right one. Put the mouse on the task and click settings. Verify that *all* partitions of your system disk have been selected. If there are partitions that are left out (except the I:\ disk), close this and delete the task as well. Recreate a disk and partition task that includes all the partitions that are on the same disk as the C:\ partition. To make sure you do that, you can switch to disk mode (blue link in the partition selection frame) and select the entire disk.

Now we have cleaned up your Acronis task.

It looks like you are using the Seagate FreeAgent Pro, and it is not working well. I would suggest you uninstall Seagate software completely. If the problem goes away, you can try to reinstall it. FreeAgent is another backup solution pretty similar to the file backup functionaliy of ATI.

Hello Pat, I am just going to try out your helpful guide. Apologies for delay - life got in the way a bit! ;-) i'll get back with results thanks.

Hello again Pat,
You wrote:
Verify that *all* partitions of your system disk have been selected.

See the screenshot for these partitions, but I have no idea what some of them mean - I am sorry to ask you.

running window 8.1 I started full system backup and walk way for the computer and when I come back it did 3 full system backup..why????

running window 8.1 I started full system backup and walk way for the computer and when I come back it did 3 full system backup..why????

@CassieRey,

On the same window you got a capture of, click on the blue link that says "switch to disk mode". The selection frame on the left will change to a list of physical disks. Hopefully the partition I:\ where you stored these backups is not on the same disk as C:\ and all the other partitions listed above C:\ in your screenshot.
Select the disk containing C:\ and continue your backup setting.

I have noticed that I:\ is showing a 500GB capacity, while C:\ is a 1TB disk that is half full. If this is correct, you will run out of space very quickly on I:\. In general, the backup disk should be at least 3 times bigger than a full backup. A full backup is typically 20% to 40% smaller than the data size that is backed up because ATI compresses the data. If you have a lot of music, video, movies, pictures, however, the compression won't be very effective because these files are already compressed efficiently. So estimate that your full backup will be the same size as the data it contains.
Now, ATI has a mechanism of retention rules. You can instruct the backup task to do a new full backup after X number of incremental or differential backups. You can also instruct ATI to keep only a limited number of backup chains (full + X associated incremental or differential backups = backup chain). Finally, ATI will always complete FIRST a new full backup before deleting any existing chain.
So if you were to go with minimal settings like an incremental backup chain scheme that keeps only one most recent backup chain, your backup space should be:
- 1 full backup size for the full backup
- let's say the equivalent of another full backup size for the set of X incremental or differentials (of course, this will vary quite a bit depending on changes and the amount of partial backups before the new full)
- another full backup size for the new full backup that ATI has to complete before deleting anything
= at a minium 3 times the size of the data you have to backup.

Since you have about 500GB of data you'd need *at least* a 1.5TB backup disk to store your backups comfortably and safely. If you think you are going to flirt with the full capacity of your 1TB system disk, purchase a 3TB disk for backup storage.

Of course, money can be tight. If you don't want to purchase a big USB disk, in this case, you'd hope that your full backup will fit the I:\ disk. Then, before the next backup task run, you would have to delete the TIB file manually on the backup disk, and let ATI automatically create a new full backup.

@Donn,
Can you post a screenshot of your backup settings and of the directory where you store the backups?

Thanks Pat, Other than having a new external drive, couldn't I simply delete or overwrite some backups? I really don't feel that I want or can afford the cost of a new external at present.

I used to have Seagate FreeAgent Pro but no longer have this, although I believe that the HD external is the old Seagate one, which someone wiped and put into a new 'sleeve'.

BTW Yesterday I had set ATI to run a documents backup. It was still running when I went to bed. This morning it was still running and apparently had 29hours to run. Something wrong there somewhere. I stopped the backup.

ATI will always first do a new backup before deleting anything. So there is no "overwriting". More advanced users can write a command line batch file that runs just before ATI does the backup. This batch file can delete the existing backup files. When ATI kicks in, it sees there is no existing backup file and creates a new full.

Could I delete prior to a full back-up Pat? Or move it to a large pen drive?

Yes, you could delete a full backup (and any attached incremental/differential if any) prior to a full backup or prior to an incremental backup (in that case ATI will create a full instead of an incremental, because it won't find an existing full to build upon). Manual deletion of backup files is not recommended because the internal database of ATI will not see the deletion. For example, make sure you don't leave some incremental/differential alone without their root full backup.

You could delete the version from the UI, then trigger the backup operation manually...

Thank you again Pat for your help. I will sort that out, hopefully.;-))