How can I get folders previously containing backups to stay deleted once I delete or shred them?
I am using True Image 2014 Premium on Win 7 64 bit. I regularly backup my system with the Single Version Scheme to a second internal hard disk then, as a safety measure, copy the backup folder to an external drive. I retain three backup versions, deleting the folder containing the oldest when a new backup is performed. When I Recover a backup, a couple of dozen of the old, deleted folders which had contained backups reappear - but empty. I am forced to delete them or shred them using the True Image Utility. Yet, the next time I perform a restore, the deleted or shredded folders reappear. As you can guess, the list is long and growing. Though the problem began with the 2014 version, the folder list contains entries created when the previous version of ATI was being used.
Thank you for your prompt response. You've already helped me with a couple of other problems posted by other users. I'll give this a try and let you know how it works.
Thanks for your custom backup scheme, it works just fine. However, the re-appearing file problem is still there. When I performed a test restore, every deleted folder on the backup disk that ever contained a .tib file was restored. Somewhere ATI keeps this list and uses it to repopulate the backup disk when the system disk is restored. I may be missing something but this seems like bizarre behavior. Restoring the system disk shouldn't have any effect at all on any other disks. I suppose this is a better problem than losing files.
Lawrence,
There may be one other possibility. You can delete the history file but that means you will have to recreate your tasks again.
Make sure TI is turned off.
Do a file search for this file which is located inside the Acronis database folder.
ARCHIVES.XML
Rename it to old-ARCHIVES.XML
Restart TrueImage and all tasks and all history will be gone. No effect on the tib files. They were not deleted.
Thanks again for your help. I opened the ARCHIVES.XML file and could see that the folder names are indeed contained there. I renamed the ARCHIVES.XML file as you suggested and it did not work. I.e., after restoring from a backup, the first time I run ATI it repopulates the backup disk with all the backup folders I deleted months ago. I completely removed the file and the same symptoms recur. Obviously, the list of folder names is being maintained somewhere else.
I guess, if one must have a software problem, its better to have stuff reappear than have stuff disappear.
Lawrence,
I believe there is the distinct possibility we have a mis-understanding here. You may be talking apples and we are hearing or understanding oranges. I mention the below just to make you aware of this possibility.
When the program is first installed, one option is easily missed which is located at the very bottom of the installation screen. That option is the "Scan for Backups" and the option is enabled by default unless the user disables this function during the initial installation.
This option by default is enabled so the scan does occur each program start.
What the program does is to scan your disks for old tib backup files and make a listing of those backups appear on your main menu. This can cause you to have any number of old backups be listed--even 30 oir 40 or 50. These all will appear with only the RECOVER option being displayed. The only listings that will be displayed on your screen with the "Backup now" option will be the current task which backup are being performed --either scheduled or non-scheduled.
Unfortunately, most users do not see or understand this option so the option starts out as enabled and this "feature or option" has nothing to do with the Archives.xml problemn we have been discussing.
This may be what has been happening to you. Review this link.
https://forum.acronis.com/forum/54475
If this is the situation, then the first step is to dis-able this function which is located top middle of your main screen under the "Add Backup--AutoSearch at Startup". If enabled, the checkmark will be bright blue. When disabled, the checkmark is almost colorless.
Now, the next step is to remove the unwanted listing of backups all of which have only the Recovery option visible.
The prior reference link shows how to do that, or this next 2 links also explains.
GH19. Remove ALL TASKS from Task Menu Listing
GH20. Remove only Single Task from Task Menu Listing
If this has been your situation, then the only tasks which should appear on your listing are the active tasks of active backups--either scheduled or non-scheduled. All the others can be removed via the Remove from listing option.
The discussion about the Archives.xml file is for when the active backups are mis-behaving --not the appearance of files being put there via the Scan for Backups feature.
The above is the good news. The bad news is that after you get everything all cleared out, there still may be some random instances of the scan listing occuring without any explanation and you have to remove the unwanted again. This happens to me about every couple months when I have about 50 unrequested listings I need to clear--each one individually so as to retain the active tasks.
I’m afraid we may, indeed, be talking apples and oranges. Let me try to restate the problem in a bit more detail and with pictures.
Here’s ATI after this morning’s successful backup.
See Figure 1
Here’s the backup disk after I Recovered the recently taken backup. It is identical to its condition before recovery.
See Figure 2
Here’s ATI after recovery. Note that the green validation stripe is no longer there for the recent backup.
See Figure 3
Here’s the disk after starting ATI on the just-restored system. As you can see, ATI somewhere found a list of more than 30 backup folders and restored them to the backup disk. A complete year’s list would have 100 or more entries. Note that the Date created and Date Modified for all the illegitimate folders are all today’s date at the time ATI was loaded; also, the unwanted folders are all empty.
See Figure 4
Why is ATI modifying the content of the backup disk when it starts for the first time after a restore? If I delete the unwanted folders, subsequent launches of ATI will not repopulate the list. Only the first time ATI runs after recovery.
Where is it getting the list?
Why is a backup, validated at the time the backup was created, no longer showing the validation mark?
Before anything else let me be clear. Grover and the others know A LOT more than I do. I have TI 2013 but the problem you've experienced drove me nuts in the beginning. This is how I stopped it after reading someone's suggestion on the forum. Not sure if this will meet your back-up requirements. But first, I only make full back-ups of my entire C drive, and subsequently delete them from the TI list using the TI program, when I no longer want it (see screen capture A), using remove from the list, and then manually delete the entire back-up folder on my D drive where I stored them, within folders that I created. I don't need or create any incremental or differential files.
First remove ALL back-ups from the back-up list using the TI program. Next, close the TI program. Next delete all back-ups or store them on a remote drive until you see that things are working, then delete them. Insure that system invisible files are visible. Then go to here: C/program data/Acronis/true image home/database/then find two files: "archives" and "mounted."
Move the archives and mounted files out of their folder and off of the C drive, in case you run into troubles, and need to return them. I normally just delete them. When I run a back-up, the program re-creates them, but only shows the new back-up information within the archives file. That should get rid of the prior history. The way that I know that definitely works, is to totally uninstall the program, don't save anything, delete all back-ups and associated folders, and then re-install it. Good luck!!!
Lawrence,
There is so many questions I would like to ask but I will only ask a few unless you give me more permission.
A. figure 3. did you click any of the "Add Backup" options listed on 3? If yes, which ones and why?
B1. Figure 1 Question about task named "Full System". I assume your next backup here will be created next Sunday by the schedule without any intervenion or changes by you???
B2. If you wanted to make another full backup before Sunday, you would do so by putting the mouse pointer inside the "Full system" task and click the "Back Up Now" option. Correct?
B3. And I assume, you will allow the system to continue adding (and perhaps deleting) weekly backups to this task without any changes or intervention on your part. Correct?
B4. What are your backup scheme settings for this scheme?
C. The other two older tasks have no value and if you wish, you can remove them from the listing via the "Remove from list" option. This removal only effects the task list and does not affect the actual tib files. Were these put onto the list by the program after the restore?
GH20. Remove Single Task from Task Menu Listing
D. figure 4. You are correct, the program adding foldlers is not part of the restore process and the program is touching areas where it has no business. This random appearance of old backups has been a problem ever since the Scan for Backup at Startup option was added. I consider the 2 older tasks listed as being put there by the restore. They have improved it but have not fixed the issue of random searchs or what occurs as the result of a restore. A restore should not add any folders or any tasks which was not there when the restore backup was created.
E. Frankly, I believe your illustration should be reported to Acronis as another example of a fix needed before the 2015 version is considered.. I will request that the moderator look at this posting and suggest you do the same as I believe this illustrates an example of the program mis-behaving.
Added:
Following a restore, your restored disk matches prior but the storge disk has backups listed which the program did not know. An example is the backup which was restored. That backup did not exist at time the snapshot was taken and later restored. If you want your current task to continue its numbering sequence following a restore, you will need to delete (or move out of site of the program)_ the backup(s) which did not exist at time the snapshot was taken. For example, if the May 11 backup was restored, the May 11 tib file will need to deleted or hidden in order for your May 11 task numbering not to be out of sync. However, as my restores are not frequent, I prefer to stop using the restored task start a new task with new backups as I do not like the idea of tib backup deletion.
A. I did not select any of the Add backup options. I displayed the drop-down to show that Auto-search is greyed out.
B 1, 2, 3. The answers to questions B1, 2, and 3 are no, no, and no, respectively. Your questions about how I go about doing backups and recoveries sound like a list of the sensible things I should be doing. My methodology has evolved largely through ignorance. Having successfully taken backups and restored them in a crashed system I was in no mood to tempt fate by having the software make decisions for me. Accordingly, every backup task is created from scratch and set to run overnight. As you can see, scheduling is irregular.
B4. The settings are for a weekly backup, single version. I don’t necessarily wish to take the next backup in a week but I don’t know how to schedule a backup task for 4:30 AM tomorrow morning without using weekly.
C. Removing the older tasks from the list makes sense and I‘ll do that. I kept the list for reassurance that both ATI and I recognized three validated backups.
E. I hate to ask, but how do I go about doing this?
Thank you again for your help. I appreciate all the effort you’ve put into helping me with my problem.
Thanks for your suggestions. It appears we both have similar backup methodologies. I’ll try removing everything on the backup disk and starting with a clean slate.
Acting on a previous suggestion, I removed the “Archive” file from the system several days ago. It did nothing to fix the problem. There are no files anywhere on my system named, “mounted.”
I’ll leave reinstallation as a last resort due to the fair number of installation-related problems.
Sorry it didn't help. I do have those files. See attached. I guess a difference between TI 2013 and TI 2014. In the event you do ever find them or equivalents, I forgot to make it clear that you have to move back-ups and those files onto a drive where the program can't find or see them. Like a removed or powered off drive. Even after a clean re-install of the TI program, I once remembered that after activating the program and powering on a USB external hard drive where I stored them, the re-installed program replaced all those empty folders that once contained back-ups. Infuriating!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, good luck.
I just re-checked. “Archive” was removed by me and neither it nor “mounted” exist in my system. It’s still worth a try to get all the .tib files off the system and clean everything up, as you suggested.
I note that GroverH suggests this has been known to be a problem for a while. Operationally, I think you and I view this as more of an irritant than a serious problem. Nonetheless, when ATI makes unbidden changes to the backup storage disk, that is very dangerous behavior.
To remove an unwanted task from the listing of tasks. This does not touch the actual tib backup file.
GH20. Remove Single Task from Task Menu Listing
The answers to B1, b2 and B3 about should have been all yes. Suggest you change your procedures to follow thiose instructions.
Regarding the figure B4 attachement. If you click on some of the older folders which have a may 11 folder creation date, are there any files in these folders or are all empty? Were these new folder of the old names created after you did the recent restore?
All of the unwanted folders are empty. The restore did not create the extra folders (see Figure 2, taken immediately after the restore). Starting ATI created the unwanted folders (see Figure 4, immediately after restore and launching ATI).
I too am having this problem with Acronis TI 2016. I create folders on my backup drives with the backup dates as the name of the folders. Each new backup for a system image then has that date as its name. I then delete the oldest folder when creating a new one. But then every time I start up Acronis I see the old deleted folders (not containing any backups) are recreated. This is very annoying as the list of recreated folders gets large. Please advise on how to address this.
I've absolutely despised that feature with Acronis since day 1!!! I've learned that with Acronis TI 2013, which definitely works for Win 7 and maybe Win 8 also, that you can prevent that from happening. First use the Acronis console to remove all back-ups in the list. In TI 2013, that feature is within the settings wheel as an option, located to the right of Recovery. Next delete the two files listed below before a back-up, which the software creates again. They seem to contain the "metadata" where information is kept about history. Others have written that on TI versions after 2013 that either you can no longer do the deletion or it doesn't work. For that reason I won't purchase any newer versions of TI. See the very top of the attached screen capture for the path to locate both files in Windows 7 Pro. Hidden folders need to made be visible in the OS.
Archives and Mounted
Tommy, if you are deleting these folders from Windows Explorer and then editing your backup task to use a new folder / folder name, then this is why the problem is happening, as the Acronis database for ATIH 2016 still holds references to the deleted backup folders for the task you are using, and hence it also then recreates those folders when you run the task.
The recommendation for what you are doing is to use the Clone Settings option for the backup task in the ATIH 2016 GUI and create a new task where you set the new folder name. Once you have cloned the task, then delete the old task from within the GUI, which will then cleanup the database references to the previous folders you were using, plus if you take the option to delete everything for that task, it will also delete the folders and any contents for you.
@Steve Smith - Will that approach work for mutiple partition backups? I keep 2 or 3 partition backups in separate folders, and then when creating a new partition backup, I delete the oldest folder. Will your suggestion delete the folders of my older backups when creating a new one? I'm on Windows 7 using Acronis TI Home 2016.
@Steve Smith - I tried that and it seems to work. I deleted all but the most recent backup from the list (settings only) and the folders weren't re-created, and my older backups (no longer in the list) are still in their locations. Thanks a lot for the tip. I really appreciate it.