Startup loop won't let me get to main menu
Acronis True Image Home 2010
I am trying to check my settings for Acronis; I click on the icon and I get the message:
Specify location of the volume 30.
with the options Browse / Retry / Cancel
If I try to Cancel, the message reappears, and I can't get past it.
Looking at some of the KB and forums, I thought I'd try Browse
I get a dialog titled Browse for Location; it lets me look at all my files
and then specify a file name. But how do I know what is 'volume 30'
from the file names?
On the drive I am using to back up things, I have:
Name Time
System_C_D_E_F_5_31_2010.tib Mon, Aug 02 10 10:33:48
System_C_D_E_F_5_41_20102.tib Mon, May 31 10 17:33
these are visible from Explorer, and that's all.
But when I do a Search on filenames ending in .tib, I find hundreds of files
with names of the form: MyBackup__mm_dd_yyyy.tib and one with a name
of: MyBackup__8_20_2010_0688E5FE-EBD9-46CE-9227-D02DD6D062E21.tib
How does Search find them but not Windows Explorer (I have 'show hidden
files' set)?
[Just now, independent of my search I am getting a dialog that
must have come from choosing the Browse option; it lists all the
System_ ....tib and MyBackup_...tib files and gives the command:
Please locate the last volume of the backup
---------------
So what should I reply?
The 'specify location' message is one of the most cryptic,
user-unfriendly messages I have ever seen. And the
accompanying Browse stuff doesn't make any sense.
Solved. Finally Acronis generated an error, which let me break the cycle.
Now I've re-set my backup strategy. We'll see if it works.
The messaging is still awful. And Acronis should be ashamed they don't
publish a messages guide that describes each message the user might
see and how to respond.
Steve,
Those tib files with GSID type names are temporary files, normally produced when consolidating an archive and should be deleted by the program on exit from the task. Those are the ones that could have been causing TIH's database to lose integrity.
Steve,
I would start over with a new task. Hopefully you are using the last update to the 2010 release.
Usually, it is asking for the user to point to the last backup file for that particular chain which usually means your only means of identification is the date and time of the file backup.
Thanks, Colin and Grover.
I guess I'd like to start fresh (I assume that's what you mean by "start over with
a new task", Grover).
That is, clear out what I've got, take one system backup, then schedule just
monthly system backups. After all, I also have ThinkVantage on my ThinkPad
doing some system backups. And I regularly manually back up the data files
I care about.
I'm getting too much disk space tied up in redundant backups.
So, let me start by finding out what's out there, then determining what can
safely be deleted.
If I look on my backup drive using Windows Explorer, I see:
System_C_D_E_F_5_31_2010.tib last modified 5/31/2010
and
System_C_D_E_F_5_31_2010.2tib last modified 8/2/2010
Furthermore, the first entry has these sub-entries:
System_C_D_E_F_5_31_2010.tib
System_C_D_E_F_5_31_20102
C
D
E
F
System_C_D_E_F_5_31_2010
C
D
E
F
While the second entry has these sub-entries:
System_C_D_E_F_5_31_20102.tib
System_C_D_E_F_5_31_20102
C
D
E
F
System_C_D_E_F_5_31_2010
C
D
E
F
These sub-entries have no size nor dates next to them, although
if I click on any drive letter, it shows me folders and then files
On the other hand, in the Acronis control panel I see:
System Backup
System_C_D_E_F_5_31_20102
System_C_D_E_F
with no other information
Clicking on the first gives me an error message
Clicking on the others gives me Windows Explorer type information,
again without dates.
So how can I tell what dates are included by a given backup? How can I tell what
to delete?
When you give a name to backup tasks, avoid having a numeral or parenthesis at the end of the name. Add some dash or underscore to avoid this.
If you look at the date of the creation of the file you should see the date of the backup. Other ways: the backup log, the backup explorer (click on explore and recover, or explore all versions).