Want to Recover files from backup created on a different computer
I have two computers, call them A and B. My A computer is permanently out of service, but I have file backups available from A on my NAS via a mapped drive - call one of them 'Computer A File Backup.tib'. Note that the most recent is an incremental backup. I would like to recover some of the files and folders from 'Computer A File Backup.tib'. onto Computer B. I got advice from Acronis Tech Support that I should go to Windows File Explorer on computer B and double click on the .tib file from which I want to recover. However, when I do that, File Explorer hangs (round circle shows and stays for hours) and doesn't open. I have tried to validate 'Computer A File Backup.tib' file but it won't validate. However, I have tried to validate .tib files on created by Computer B and while they won't validate either, they recover without problem. So even though the .tib files won't validate, I believe they are OK. I have gone around a few times with Acronis Tech Support and am hoping someone on this forum can help. I have tried a few things on Computer B and am stumped. Can someone advise? Note that I am using the most current version of ATI2020. Thanks Bob
Bob,
Is it possible for you to copy the tib backup file(s) you need to open to a different location such as an internal or external disk? If you can I would suggest doing that then use File Explorer to open the backups as directed by support to access your files.
Steve Smith wrote:Bob, the advice to try using Windows Explorer to open the .tib file on your NAS is valid but there are other factors that can come into play here!
What is the size of your 'Computer A File Backup.tib' backup version chain, i.e. all the files that share the same _b?_ value in their names, so an initial _full_b?_ plus all the subsequent _inc_B?_ files for that backup chain?
How are you accessing the NAS on your network?
If these backup .tib files are failing validation, then that is a concern as it suggests there may have been changes to the files after they were created?
Steve, the entire chain is about 115GB.
Not sure what you mean by how I access the NAS. I can access it multiple ways but I assume you are asking how I access it in ATI. In that case, when I look at how it is designated on parameters for all of my backups, it shows as \\NASName\FolderOnNAS
I can't imagine that any of the .tib files were changed after creation unless it was ATI that did something to them. I have in the past had no problem recovering Image backups and folder backups from the same computer but this is the first time I have tried to recover files from a different computer's backups. Every backup I tries to validate failed, and as a test I tried to recover files from one of the tib files that failed validation and the recovered files were recovered without problem.
At some time I will have to replace the broken computer - it looks like it can't be fixed. I will replace it with a similarly-configured computer and will hopefully be able to recover the most recent image from the broken computer, so until I replace it I really need to recover some files from the broken computer. I have little data on that computer (I try to keep most of my data on my NAS) but what I have is important to me. I appreciate your continuing advice to get me through this.
Bob
Steve, the entire chain is about 115GB.
Not sure what you mean by how I access the NAS
Bob, 115GB is still a large amount of data to process for validation or recovery, so the following question is still relevant. What I mean by this question, is the network connection type? Are you on a wired network connection, or using a wireless connection to the NAS?
Validation has to process the whole backup chain of 115GB where it has to read this data into memory across the network and recalculate checksum values for each segment of the chain and compare these with values that are embedded within the files at different 'points in time'.
A wired network connection should normally prove to be more reliable in these circumstances, especially if needing to do a full disk recovery, where you do not want this to be interrupted for any reason.
At some time I will have to replace the broken computer - it looks like it can't be fixed. I will replace it with a similarly-configured computer and will hopefully be able to recover the most recent image from the broken computer
If you are recovering a full disk backup from your broken computer to a different computer, then there are multiple factors that you will need to consider.
The BIOS boot mode of both computers, i.e. are both UEFI / GPT computers, or was the broken computer an older Legacy / MBR computer and the new one UEFI / GPT?
What version & edition of Windows OS was on the broken computer?
To be able to recover earlier versions of Windows such as 7 will require the use of Acronis Universal Recovery to prepare the OS to work on the new hardware in the new computer.
If both computers are Windows 10, then AUR may not be needed but Windows activation may be an issue if the new computer does not come activated for the same Win 10 edition, i.e. both machines activated for Windows 10 Home and 64-bit.
What type of disk drives are involved in the old and new computers. Ideally, you should be looking to keep to the same drive connection type as much as possible until you get the restored OS working without any issues, i.e. both using SATA internal drives, not mixing SATA and NVMe type drives.
Finally, when recovering user files, you will need to do so without recovering the original permissions or security settings for those files, as regardless of creating a new user account with the exact same name and credentials as the old computer, that user will never be considered to be the same as the old user. This also applies to restoring files from PC A to PC B.
Enchantech wrote:Bob,
Is it possible for you to copy the tib backup file(s) you need to open to a different location such as an internal or external disk? If you can I would suggest doing that then use File Explorer to open the backups as directed by support to access your files.
Enchantech, yes I can copy the .tib files and will try if the steps noted in the following paragraph don't work.
I am still trying and following is where I am right now.
I figured that I should be able to access a backup from broken Computer A using the ATI program from Computer B. In the Backup window, I select the Recovery option but I don't find a way to look at a backup version other than the one I was in when I selected Recovery. Add Backup doesn't seem to do it. I am also trying to Add Existing Backup and I can find the desired Computer A backup. I am now trying via the Add Existing Backup option and it added the backup after a while and then loaded the contents of the backup. I was able to find the folder I want to recover. I can now browse for the folder and files I want to restore and select the destination. If I let the recovery proceed, will ATI overwrite what is in the recovery location or will it just add the folder I selected to recover from Computer A to the target folder I select from Computer B?
Thanks
Bob
As long as you are performing simple file recovery to a new location/folder you will not loose any data contained in that location. If you intend to recover the complete disk then you face having data overwritten.
I would recommend creating a new folder in a location of your choice on your working PC and point the recovery of files/folders to that location.
Best to recover to a temp location first and then copy that to the final destination instead of overwriting and recovering in one swoop. Better to be safe than sorry.
Don't forget that 2020 seems to validate all chains for a backup now too instead of just the current one. This could be causing a lot of additional network bandwidth from the NAS and just adding time to the process. I hope this is a bug and will be fixed because I tested this in Acronis Backup 12.5 with .tibx and it only validated the current chain, as expected.
Guys, based on y'alls advice I have succeeded in my basic objective. While I have not been successful in restoration from File Explorer, I have succeeded via ATI by adding the backup chain from Computer A in ATI on Computer B. The only weakness I currently see is that when I add a backup, I can only add a single backup chain from a given series at a time. For example, if I have a backup configure named 'Computer A Outlook data backup', I can only add one chain at a time on Computer B. I know I can add multiple chains by adding each chain one at a time but it would be more efficient if I could so multiple chains at once. Is there a way to do that?
Again, thanks for your help
Bob
Bob,
Unfortunately multiple selection of existing backups is not possible in the product.