Disk Recovery Isn't Restoring Everything
I'm trying to restore my primary hard disk from the most recent Acronis backup (recorded just a few hours ago), but when the operation completes, things aren't 100% restored. For example, some documents contain updates made to them after the backup and, more importantly, Windows is still exhibiting critical problems caused by the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, which was installed after the backup. I'm trying to restore in order to get rid of that Windows update - it all but ruined my computer.
Here's what I did:
- Pressed the Recover Now button
- Chose Disks button (default)
- Chose the Backup (my primary hard drive - "Intel Raid 1 Volume 1.0")
- Chose the Recover To destination (same drive - "Intel Raid 1 Volume 1.0")
- Chose the most recent Backup Version (this was the default and is labeled "at 12:50 PM")
- The restore operation took about 2 hours to complete.
For the record, my backups are stored on a separate 5 TB hard drive. My last full backup was taken on 1/31. Differential backups were taken every day since.
How do I get Acronis to restore my hard drive to 100% the way it was when the most recent backup was taken?
Any assistance is greatly appreciated.


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Sorry, another note - sounds like you're trying to start the restore from Windows? If so, plesae don't. Instead, use your recovery media. I'f you're using the default Linux recovery media, or starting it from Windows, I'm suprised it works at all since you are using RAID as the defalt Linux recovery environment usually doesn't detect RAID controllers - not even Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) in most cases.
I would really like to recommend that you build WinPE rescue media and add your RAID controller drivers to it and then do a restore with the WinPE rescue media and try selecting a yesterdays differential, instead of todays.
To build winpe rescue media..
1) download and install the Windows 10 ADK (1511 - it's linked below and direct from Microsoft). Select the top 3 items during the install which will equal 3.4Gb.
2) Once installed, reboot for good measure
3) Download and run the MVP winPE rescue media builder. it will add the IRST drivers automatically for you. If you have a special RAID controller (LSI or somethign), you can download the drivers and put them in the correct folder before building the WinPE and then they will be included as well. The MVP WinPE builder is linked below as well).
4) Now, restore your image again, but be sure to use yesterdays differential instead of today's - just in case today's actually has the anniversary update included in it.
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Bobbo_3C0X1 wrote:That would be 12:50 PM today, I'm assuming. If that's the case, when did you actually install the Windows 10 anniversary update? After 12:50PM today, or before 12:50PM today?
The Windows 10 Anniversary Update was installed at around 6:30 PM, well after my last Acronis backup.
But I think I may have stumbled upon the answer to all of this. It looks like Acronis did its job admirably after all. But the problems caused by the Windows 10 Anniversary update were duplicated by the Acronis restore operation. Specifically, the Windows update created a problem with Windows 10's System Restore. This, in turn, created problems in various applications on my computer that were immediately apparent. Coincidentally, restoring a full backup to a hard drive can also cause problems with System Restore. Consequently, I was getting the exact same failures after Acronis restored my hard drive, leading me to believe that Acronis didn't succeed in removing the Windows 10 Anniversary update. When I applied the recommended corrections to System Restore, everything returned to normal.
Browsing my computer, it now appears that the other failures caused by the Windows Anniversary update are gone (so far). The only oddity is a Windows notification saying "Updates were installed" with a time stamp of 9:42 PM, when Acronis finished the restoration and rebooted Windows. Clicking on the notification offers no details. Weird.
Finally, I since realized that the documents that weren't restored properly were, in fact, located in Dropbox folders. "D'oh!!!" Cripes, I can be an idiot sometimes.
Thank you for your assistance (and your patience).
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Hey, you got it figured out and that's the most important. Those updates may be Windows Defender or drivers. You might be able to check the update history from the Windows 10 settings / update and security / update history to see if there is another clue about those.
I think Windows disables system protection (or there won't be any turned on) if your backups are excluding them from teh app - they are ecluded by default in Acronis. Also, each Windows 10 "upgrade" has the same behavior of turning it off and usually needs to be enabled after an upgrade to a newer major version of Windows 10.
I had to laugh when you mentioned Dropbox :) Yeah, anything stored in teh cloud and set to automatically synch will find it's way back on your computer in pretty short order.
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Bobbo_3C0X1 wrote:Sorry, another note - sounds like you're trying to start the restore from Windows? If so, plesae don't. Instead, use your recovery media. I'f you're using the default Linux recovery media, or starting it from Windows, I'm suprised it works at all since you are using RAID as the defalt Linux recovery environment usually doesn't detect RAID controllers - not even Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) in most cases.
Thank you for this recommendation. RAID or not, I really should've created the recommended recovery media already.
For what it's worth, Acronis performed the restore operation without a hickup. I'm using the built-in RAID on an Asus P9X79 LE motherboard. In BIOS, the configuration parameter looks like this: "SATA Mode: RAID Mode (RSTe)."
Does that do anything to explain why it didn't blow up?
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Yes, your motherboard specifically has IRST drivers at the bios level - that's good news as the bios has them built in. Custom boards (Gigabyte, ASUS, ASROCK, etc.) will often have this feature, but most OEM systems (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. do not).
On my Gigabyte board though, if the SATA mode is RAID and I'm only using one drive (PCIE NVME drive) - the default Linux rescue media works because the bios has the IRST drivers. However, when I make an actual RAID 0 or 1 set, the Linux media fails for me, because it can't see the dynamic RAID set with multiple disks on this particular hardware (unless I have the WinPE rescue media with the IRST drivers included in it).
Ultimately, the rescue media is the way to go, not matter what, for a full system restore/recovery or clone process.
A full disk backup is also recommended before doing any type of disk/partiton recovery or clone.
After the backup, if the default Linux rescue media works on your system (it can find all drives - even those in RAID0), that's great - feel free to use it. If it can't detect the drive(s) or RAID set, then WinPE rescue media with the IRST included drivers (which can be built easilty with the MVP winpe builder) or, adding additional custom RAID controller drivers (like LSI controller drivers) may be needed.
I've foundn that having WinPE rescue media built with the Win10ADK and the latest IRST drivers included, works on just about every computer I've tried it on - only those systems like high-end Dell precisions that use advanced LSI RAID controllers, usually need some additional, custom, RAID drivers.
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Good to know.
Thank you!
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You're welcome! Hope all is well now.
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