TI 2014 not 'seeing' 4tb GPT drive where backups are stored
Hi everyone
I'm hoping I can get some guidance on an issue I'm having. Sorry if some of these details are a little obscure (e.g. error codes) - I'm at work right now, but can always updated this with more details later if necessary. Anyway... I've been using TI in it's various forms for years. I've got TI 2014 premium on my home PC and it works a treat. But I'm having trouble restoring backups on another machine, where the backups are stored on a 4tb GPT HDD.
The machine is a NAS built using an HP N54L Proliant Microserver. It's running Windows 7 x64. The 4tb HDD mentioned was installed specifically to hold Acronis backups of both the OS and the media on this NAS. When I bought the parts for this machine I also got a free serial for Acronis TI 2014, although it seems to be a limited version with a few of the more fancy features missing (I can't remember the edition name right now).
Within Windows everything works fine - I can back up to the 4tb HDD without trouble. I can validate the backups. I can also instigate a restore from within Windows. But at the point where the machine reboots I then get an Acronis message after boot stating that the backup is 'preparing', before an error message states that Acronis couldn't open the back up. Windows then boots up when I close this error message.
Following this I had a try using my Acronis recovery CD. After booting into the Acronis environment I found that the 4TB HDD isn't 'seen'. This, I think, is likely why it failed above too - it's as though Acronis itself just can't recognise the drive, although it's all fine within Windows.
Can anyone shed any light on this? Is it to do with it being a GPT disk? Is it possibly because this isn't the premium version of TI 2014?
Thanks
Mike
P.S. - By the way, i have seen this - kb.acronis.com/content/44348... but thought it still worth asking, since I'm not sure if this covers everything about GPT support in TI 2014.


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Hi Pat, thanks for the input.
Ok, well I've got an Ubuntu CD... I'll try booting into that on the same machine and see if that can mount the same HDD. If Ubuntu can see it then I guess there's no reason why Acronis' Linux based system can't? But the idea of a Linux OS not being able to 'see' this specific HDD is just odd to me anyway. Worth a look though.
I'll post screen caps of the messages I'm getting once I've had a chance to try the restore again. But for now I can at least confirm that the edition is Acronis True Image HD, build 4601.
EDIT - forgot to mention, it's an internally installed SATA HDD. It's a HGST 'Deskstar' model.
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I think your issue is twofold, one is that the connection to your NAS is lost after a reboot from within Windows and second, when attempting to access the backup using the recovery CD there possibly is not support for dynamic disks since you are using a scaled down version of TI. The question is whether or not you can restore a backup with your currently installed version.
I would suggest, if possible for you, to copy the backup file to another location preferably to an internal or next best to an USB external attached drive and attempt to recover from there. You can attempt recovery either from within Windows and/or from the recovery CD to test what works. If the backup is a full disk mode backup, which I suspect it is seeing how there is a reboot required when attempting restore from within Windows, then it would be my recommendation that the restore be done using the recovery CD as there is less chance for something to go wrong that way. At any rate a little testing should at least yield new results.
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Hi Enchantech
Thanks for the advice, but I think there's a little confusion over what I've got set up - likely due to me whittling on at the start :)
Firstly, what I'm trying to restore is a full disk backup, the HDD with the OS on it specifically. Second, The machine in question is an HP Proliant Microserver. Where I mentioned the machine being a NAS, that's just what I'm utilising it as - I'm running Plex media server to stream films and TV shows from it. It's essentially just a PC running W7 Ultimate x64. It has 4x internal SATA HDDs:
1. 1x 500gb with 100GB partitiooned off for the OS, the rest currently just spare space.
2. 1x 4TB HGST Deskstar 4TB - This is dedicated to holding my backups, I installed it with this intention.
3. 2x 3TB configured in a hardware RAID1 - this is where all of my media is stored.
So, to clarify, the backups are not located away from this machine on a NAS.
The 4TB HDD which holds my Acronis backups is also not a dynamic disk. The partition style is GPT (due to the size), and it's a typical 'basic' disk.
A brief summary of the machine spec - AMD Turion 2 Neo (dual core 2.2Ghz) + 16gb DDR3 memory.
All of this is illustrated in the attached screen cap and photo showing the microserver itself. There are essentially no problems with this device at all in day-to-day use. Acronis can back up to the 4TB drive without issue and can read and validate the backups from within Windows. The only issue here seems to be when the machine boots into Acronis' Linux based environment it either tells me it failed to find the back up (if I instigated the restore from within Windows), or from the Acronis CD it simply doesn't offer the HDD as a storage location for me to choose my backup from.
I'll try booting into Ubuntu on the same machine and see if I can mount the drive in there. But then... I'm not actually sure what that will prove having thought about it. I'm wondering if the Acronis environment just doesn't contain a specific driver the HDD demands. And if Ubuntu works, that might simply show that Ubuntu does have the necessary driver. Does that sound like a possibility?
I know this could all be because of the stripped back version of TI 2014 I've installed (True Image 2014 HD), but it would be useful to have someone give a more solid yes or no in regard to that edition. But... the Acronis recovery CD I attempted to restore via... was built a while back on my main PC using TI 2014 premium.
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I see, I was clearly mistaken of your configuration. Not so anymore, nice clean build by the way. I am wondering if maybe you have some outdated drive controller drivers? Or, maybe your mobo bios needs updated? Sans that it may just be the version of ATIH that you are using, seems like it shouldn't be but I have found stranger things!
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