Can't import most backups
In order to install the 6559 release, Acronis tech support had to scrape everything off my system and reinstall it. The program found the jobs for my cloud backup and current local backup. (I had to tweak them, but they were there.)
Both backups run properly. The local backup took up right where it left off, continuing the incremental chain. The problem is that it doesn't see previous generations of this backup.
I tried importing the older backups, but it will only import some of them. All of these backups were created by the same job. I was able to import the very oldest ones, but not the newer ones. I don't get an error message, or any message.
Whether or not they were made by the "same" task is hard to say. After the reinstallation of ATI, my tasks were still there; but they needed to be tweaked a bit. Some of the information, such as the email notification settings and the interval between full backups had to be re-entered or changed.
Nonetheless, I figured out what happened.
The same directory holds
- xxxx_full_b1_s_s1_v1
- xxxx_full_b2_s_s1_v1
- ...
- xxxx_full_b7_s_s1_v1
- xxxx_full_b8_s_s1_v1
- xxxx_full_b9_s_s1_v1 (and its associated incrementals)
- xxxx_full_b10_s_s1_v1 (and its associated incrementals) <== current set, started after re-installation
I've added b7, b8, and b9. When I try to import b1, b2, etc., nothing happens. What's happening is simple, if not easy to spot: b7 actually includes all of the previous versions! I figured that out just now, when I went to document the problem more exactly.
It's unfortunate that b10, which is (as I said) from a task that ATI somehow or other found even after the cleaning and re-installation, didn't suck in the previous ones. I have no particular explanation for why b9 didn't include b8, b7, and so forth.
Hello Jerry,
Could you remember the order of your actions for adding and tweaking backups? We will try to replicate your steps on our side and see if the same issue reproduces. Is the following order correct?
1) clean installation of Acronis True Image 2016 with help of Acronis technical support
2) b10 was automatically discovered and added to the list of backups. (By the way, have you opened the list of recovery points or how did you figure out that it includes all the incrementals and corresponding full b10 backup?)
3) you have tweaked backup settings for that automatically added backup
4) you have manually added b7 set of full and incrementals (Did you select b7 full or last b7 incremental when adding them to the list?)
5) the same step as 4) for b8 full and incrementals
6) the same step as 4) for b9 full and incrementals
Thank you,
Slava
Unfortunately, I didn't document my steps as I went along; but I think you have it right. I figured out that b10 included the incrementals by going into the restore section. That showed me all of the recovery points. That's also how I verified that b8 and b9 were on their own, and the b7 included b6, b5, and so forth.
There were no incrementals for b1 through b8. I had previously deleted them. Once a backup is a few months old, I only want to keep the first (full) in the chain. I used to do this with the "consolidate" operation, which is gone. I've been manually deleting the files, and then starting (but not finishing) a restore to get ATI to remove the incrementals from its database. (I have to click the "Ignore" button 30 times for each backup chain.)
I just don't have the space to keep a year's worth of incrementals around.
The basic question is why the discovery didn't tie together b9, b8, and b7. I'm pretty sure I didn't make any changes to the task during that time.
Hello Jerry,
Thank you for the answers.
Currently the program can recognize several sets (1 full backup with a number of dependent incrementals or differentials) as one single backup only if the folder C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Database has been intact since the very first backup was taken. This means that if you add existing backups on a new computer or after manual cleanup (like in your case), the program would link together automatically only 1 set of a full and dependent incrementals/differentials. However, as you continue adding sets manually, they would be added as recovery points to the initially added set.
The reason why b7 included all the previous backups is unknown.
You have mentioned that you were deleting backups manually. If you meant deleting .tib files in Windows Explorer, that must have lead to the original problem, after which complete reinstallation would be needed. Deleting .tib files makes paths in the program`s database (catalog) invalid which provokes errors later.
In order to avoid similar issues in the future I recommend you creating 2 different backup tasks: one would your long-term backups (full only) that you store for a long time. You can define a cleanup rule based on a number of backups or their age; and the second backup task would be backups for your everyday needs: daily incrementals or differentials with a short retention period, for example a week or two. This way you would avoid manual deletion of .tib files and will not have problems with storage cleanup.
Regards,
Slava
That would work, I guess.
We all seem to miss the consolidation feature.
That would work, I guess.
We all seem to miss the consolidation feature.
Agreed. Although consolidation didn't always work for me in the past either. I'd still like to see it back again though. Please do submit feedback in the app as a feature request and reference this post as well. It will get registered officially that way... not guaranteed to result in a change unless enough people register feedback as well, but it certainly won't ever happen if no one requests it.