installation troubles
I didn't get a good install of TrueImage 2018. I can run TrueImage.exe but not the Launcher. Running Windows 7, all up to date.
I had obtained TrueImage 2013 from a Western Digital hard drive purchase. It worked well, but there was no limit to annoying bugs and things not working properly. That finally prompted me to upgrade to a newer version. It's of little value to describe past problems, so I'll move on to today's install.
The problem likely dates from a recent update to the program. I purchased the software and downloaded the install file. When I went to install, it told me there was a new version and asked if I wanted to upgrade, so I said yes. It downloaded the upgrade and then prompted me for a directory but gave me no clue what would be put there and why it wanted to know. It defaulted to my top level user directory, so I clicked on that. That was not where my original install file was, nor was it where my older version was. Whatever was going on at that point is likely to have been the root of my current problems.
Things went without incident until the install completed, then I got a box with a Start Application button. Nothing happened when I clicked. That didn't worry me much, and I tried to start it from the desktop icon and but that didn't work. I don't recall everything that went on until I finally just ran the TrueImage.exe, but I did that and opened what looks like a functional application. My existing backups were mis-scheduled and running the wrong backup schemes, and a backup I created yesterday was missing but that's all fixed now. The next scheduled backup is a weekly that runs tonight, so I'll see how that goes.
But when I try to run TrueImageLauncher, it says Acronis True Image is not installed. The Knowledge Base gives instructions on how to repair an installation by running the install file and selecting Repair. When I run the install, it says the latest version is installed, but I'm faced with that non-functioning Start Application button again. There is no Repair, Uninstall or any other button.
There are other issues with non-responsive prompts and the entire program seems sluggish by a factor of ten, but as long as it works, I can adjust and adapt for long enough to decide if it's actually a problem.
In reply to Don, welcome to these User… by truwrikodrorow…
I upgraded directly from the 2013 software. If I should have uninstalled, it should have said so.
I looked at the link you supplied, and I'm leery. It tells me that "This should delete all Acronis scheduled tasks". I have 30TB and almost two years worth of previous backups. One reason I upgraded was because I have had numerous problems with TrueImage not cleaning up old backups or not seeing them when I wanted to restore. Virtually every validation I run complains of being unable to find one backup or another.
If deleting all scheduled tasks breaks the links to the pre-existing backups then I've wasted my time with this software. Before I do anything rash, I want to see whether tonight's scheduled backup works, and whether I can restore from backups created from the previous version. If I can't see the older stuff, then I have no choice but to press forward with the uninstall.
EDIT: pursuing further, there are no entries in Windows, Control Panel | Programs and Features for any Acronis programs and I see no evidence of TrueImage. For processes, I have mms_mini.exe running, and tib_mounter_monitor.exe. For services, Managed Machine Service Mini, Nonstop Backup, Scheduler2 and Sync Agent are running. Active Protection is not. Mobile Backup or Mobile Backup Status aren't running either, but I'm not backing up any phones or tablets, so that's likely normal.
Don, in the FAQ document for the previous ATI 2017 version, it stated very clearly that any versions of ATI older than 2014 had to be removed before installing the new version.
Acronis didn't put similar information in the ATI 2018 FAQ document, instead they put this in a separate KB 60122: How to upgrade to Acronis True Image 2018 where it states:
Upgrade procedure
An upgrade license can only be used with a full license of a previous version as a base.
If your current version of Acronis True Image is Acronis True Image 2017 or Acronis True Image 2016, the new version will simply update it; there is no need to remove the old version and reinstall the software. If your current version is older, we recommend that you remove the current version, first.
You can try saving your backup task configuration by making a copy of the C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts folder contents - or if you can launch the main ATI 2018 GUI, then try using the new option shown on the Settings page for Backup settings transfer by using the Save settings to file... button and later the corresponding Import settings from file... after doing a clean install.
In reply to Don, in the FAQ document for… by truwrikodrorow…
Yeah, that's adorable. I didn't have the 2017 version and I didn't read through every document on the website to see if there were any caveats. I had an old version, and I bought a new version because I thought the company deserved my money instead of cruising on a promo from 2013. Every other piece of software I've used that has this advice put up a screen before installing to say "your version is too old, please uninstall before installing a new version". The install procedure offered the opportunity to read the release notes before installing. I did. Perhaps next time they can link to the FAQ for the prior three versions so I can make venn diagrams if the installation process.
I will take your advice for making a copy of the task configuration after tonight's backup. I don't want to be left without a system disk backup while I sort out the issues with this install. If I attempt anything first, I may not be able to get things in order and be left with nothing. I normally have a daily system disk backup as well, but can manage with just the weekly one for a couple of days. Thanks for your suggestion.
Well it did the backup OK but failed the Validate because of a file from June 2017 that it couldn't open. I ran into this all the time with the 2013 version and it's one of the things I'd hoped would be improved. It's worse.
I was told to find the file or rename it. then retry, else Ignore. I was also told it could just be corrupted. Well, the file is there, so we'll assume corrupted. OK, fine. But there is no Ignore button. Just Retry and Cancel. So I cancelled.
Having proven that backup worked, I tried a file restore. This used to be two separate operations, one for files one for disks. I see only recovery, so I assume it's just one now. I click Recovery, and there's that error message again. This time, the choices are Knowledge Base (which has no information) or Ignore. If I ignore, I'm booted back to the menu and I can't do any recovery at all. It used to just ignore the error and get on with my recovery.
So I have 710 backups that I can't access because 1 backup is corrupt.
"So I have 710 backups that I can't access because 1 backup is corrupt."
This should not happen. If I understand you correctly, you identified the 'corrupt' file and then renamed it or moved it to another location, then ran the validation. I suspect the problem is an incomplete incremental backup chain due to your removing the corrupt file. You will need to remove all the subsequent incremental backups in that chain before doing the validation.
How many incremental backups are made before a full backup and new chain commenced? Owing to the disastrous consequences of a corrupt incremental update, it is recommended that a max of 5 incremental backups be made before a full backup is scheduled. While I have instance where a chain with 60+ incremental backups worked (created with ATI 2014) that was pure luck on my part
Don, too little information being provided here for us to know exactly what issue you are seeing but given that this started out as an installation issue / question, and you have confirmed that you updated directly from the OEM WD ATI 2013 to ATI 2018, then this can give an unknown range of potential issues, hence why Acronis have recommended removing such older versions first per the KB document I referenced.
I would recommend making screen shots of your task settings for reference / to use for setting up the same again if needed, including doing the backup of the task settings if available or saving the contents of the Scripts folder otherwise. Then doing a clean install of ATI 2018 after first following the steps outlined in the item below:
In reply to "So I have 710 backups that… by truwrikodrorow…
No, I did not delete or rename the file. It remains where it always was. The Validation procedure calls it out as missing or corrupted and tells me to Ignore or Retry. But it doesn't give me an Ignore option, only Retry and Cancel. Retry is unsuccessful and I have to cancel the validation.
The Recovery procedure does give me an Ignore option, but it cancels the restore procedure rather than ignoring the error.
OK, so I did a clean install and have my daily backup running although I had to recreate all of the backups from scratch. I had used the Save Settings in the tools menu but that did nothing except to save the names. Minor problem.
The cleanup instructions sucked badly, leaving out things like "do you want to remove extended capacity disks?" and the fact that when you edit the registry, there may be 24 entries with that name. In my case, only three of the twenty-four referred to the keys in question, but then I had to go through the 122 sub-folders to make sure that nothing else had been missed. Delete ProgramData/Acronis? Sorry missy, you need SYSTEM to do that.
So only annoyances to this point. Clicking on the icon opens the application which did not happen before, and the Start Application button worked when the install completed, which it did not do before. I did not update because no one has explained why it asks for a directory and what directory I'm supposed to supply. One step at a time. Make sure things work before taking the next step.
Now I want to access my existing backups. Recovery says none exist. I go to the Backup screen and select Add Existing Backups. Now I can see my old backups but when I try to add all of them, I get the same corrupted error as previously. As before, hitting Ignore cancels the operation where it used to actually ignore in the 2013 program.
Once again, one step at a time. Maybe I've done something wrong. So I try to add the most recent backup, assuming that it's good. It adds the file just fine, but creates an entirely new backup instead of linking to my existing scheme. Every new file I add makes a new backup. This is a problem, as I have 710 backup files and they are not separate backups, they are part of existing schemes. On the positive side, it appears that I don't have to add all 710 files individually but can do that all at once. No word yet how I avoid that one corrupt file, but I'll cross that bridge when I've solved the current trouble.
As I said earlier, I have a backup running, so I closed that window and did other things. When I reopen the window, I've got several more backups listed. Ones that I did not add, but which are legitimate backup files.
The backup is still running and there's nothing I need to do here, so I close the window again. No new files when I reopen.
So, how do I get rid of these "Others" and associate them with my backup schemes?
Don, ref the cleanup instructions:
Extended Capacity Disks are a throw back to Windows XP & older OS running on older hardware where this lacked the ability to support the new larger disk drives that were becoming more common around that time, but before Windows Vista and later versions provided native support for such larger drives. Hence it is most unlikely that any users will actually be using this Extended Capacity Disks support, and this support was removed back in ATI 2014 IIRC.
As to the registry entries, I personally have never needed to clean any of these when using the Acronis Cleanup Tool, but the advice is given for completeness for those situations where it may be necessary to go that deep!
When you use the option to Add Existing Backups, you only need to add the latest .tib file for any version chains that all have the same stem name, ATI will walk the chain to find all other associated files for that backup.
Once you have added an existing backup, then you still will need to Reconfigure this backup and also rename it to remove any extra characters such _full_b9_s1_v1 from the task name.
On first install / execution of ATI, it will automatically look for any other Backup files that can be added automatically to the GUI list of tasks. If you want to get rid of any of these extra tasks shown in the Other section of the GUI, use the option in the task menu (click on the carat V) to the right of the task name, then on Delete, but only select to Remove the task, not to Delete everything.
In reply to Don, ref the cleanup… by truwrikodrorow…
> When you use the option to Add Existing Backups, you only need to add the latest .tib file for any version chains that all have the same stem name,
I don't quite understand this instruction. What would classify as the stem name? Is "SYSBAK_full_b6_" the stem? Or is it just "SYSBAK_" What happens when the chain goes like this?
That's supposed to be one full followed by five incrementals, but TrueImage is always doing this crap to me, hence my inability to forecast disk space and my desire to be able to delete obsolete chains on the fly. It switched to _b9_ the following week. Is what I've posted one version chain or four?
Also, bear in mind that I have dozens of version chains dating back two years all from the same pair of weekly backups.
>Once you have added an existing backup, then you still will need to Reconfigure this backup and also rename it to remove any extra characters such _full_b9_s1_v1 from the task name.
This will give me fifty each of the same exact backups. I already have that pair of backups scheduled. Why do I want or need the additional copies on my screen? Having been discovered and listed, will the program retain that memory so that I can delete them as I "discover" them? is that what you're communicating in this paragraph?
>If you want to get rid of any of these extra tasks shown in the Other section of the GUI, use the option in the task menu (click on the carat V) to the right of the task name, then on Delete, but only select to Remove the task, not to Delete everything.
You mention that the first execution will automatically look for pre-existing files. It has not done this
>On first install / execution of ATI, it will automatically look for any other Backup files that can be added automatically to the GUI list of tasks.
That ability is somewhat compromised by the fact that all of my backup disks are offline and locked in storage until required. But I have brought them online while other backups are running and they have not gone searching. I'm OK with that. I can add the last of each chain manually once I've firmed up what it is that I'm adding.
Don, the root part of your backup file name would be SYSBAK based on your list of file names.
Looking at the file listing, the reason you are seeing problems here is that you have restarted the backup at least 2 or more times when there were existing files in your destination folder using the same names, hence why you are seeing duplicate file names identified by having v1-2, v1-3 and v1-4 shown in the list.
See the ATI 2018 User Guide: Backup file naming which states the following:
If you are creating a new backup, and there is already a file with the same name, the program does not delete the old file, but adds to the new file the "-number" suffix, for example, my_documents_inc_b2_s2_v1-2.tib.
The question here is why this is happening?
The most common cause is if you have done a restore back to an earlier time where say your _b8_ version chain hadn't yet been created and you then continued the same SYSBAK task storing .tib files in the same destination folder which already held _b8_ files from before you did the restore or which you restored from.
You appear to have done this on 11th June, 2nd July and the 3rd Sept as shown in the file listing image.
I would recommend that when you do a Restore back to an earlier point, that you use the option to 'Clone settings' for your SYSBAK task which will create a new (1) SYSBAK task using the same configuration. Remove the original SYSBAK task (leaving the files alone) then rename (1) SYSBAK to something like SYSBAK-1, so that any new files created will show the difference immediately and not clash with the older files from the original task. Alternatively, keep the same task name and change the Destination folder to start a fresh set of version chain files there.
I didn't restart anything. Those are individual files, each from a different date. Nor have I ever restored more than a few files at any one time. That's Acronis, not me. Acronis (at least the 2013 promo version) is very poorly written.
It appears that the 2018 version has better tools, and it should be easier to work with the files and backup tasks.
Playing around with some of this year's files, I was able to get access to all of the files from 11th June to 9th September, and Nov 19 to 25th. That added four backups to the "Others" section that are duplicates of my main SYSBAK. I don't like that, but removing them makes the files disappear from Recovery so I'll put up with it until everything is from the 2018 program, which presumably doesn't add backups that exist already.
I was missing the all of the backups from 16th Sept to 12th Nov but playing around got them also. Those files were kept under my existing SYSBAK and did not create a new backup under "Others". I tried the chain for May and there's apparently a corrupted file there. I can deal with that. Those and any earlier System disk files are so old that they aren't useful any more so I didn't press further.
It's essential that I be able to recover from all of my data disk backups but those are locked away for now and I can't try them. Now that I know how things work, I'm more confident in getting access. I'm going to have a very messy viewpane if all of them add backups to the "Others" section though. I'm not sure how many separate chains there are, probably fifteen to twenty-five. My chains got longer as more storage was added.
Don, my key point from looking at your file listing is that you looked to have restored your system to an earlier point on the 3 dates indicated. This is the most obvious explanation for why there are duplicate files shown and hence why ATI created the newer files by adding -2, 3, 4 to the end of the version part of the file names.
There may be other explanations but if so, I am not aware of them and I have never seen this pattern of behaviour other than from the above activity.
Note: your WD version of ATI 2013 was not a promo version - it was an OEM product bundled by WD with their hardware product, and as such may have had some limited functionality.