Backup Operations Menu

Gary, if you are only seeing those 2 options in the menu, then this is because ATI thinks that the task hasn't been run yet, thus no other options would be relevant.

Steve,

That is interesting and scary because this backup has been running for months.  There are 24 .tibx files in the folder.  The PC that showed the Clone and Delete options isn't the one where I plan to do the move.  This PC backs up to a NAS.  Could that be the reason I only get two options.  I'll check the other PC later to see what it shows.

Gary, click on the Recovery tab for your task and check if this says whether any backup data is found or not?

If not, then try using the 'Add existing backup' option and selecting one of the .tibx files for this task to see if that corrects it?

Steve, the Recovery tab says there is no backup data.  When I try to add existing backup, Network under the tree of places to look for backups only expands to display my wife's PC.  It doesn't display my Synology NAS where the backup files are located.  Interesting that I can select the Synology NAS as a destination for a backup and cannot access to find recovery files.

GaryG45,

Seems that connection to your NAS may have become broken for some reason.  Have you attempted to run a validation on the backup?  That process, if successful at locating the backup, may take a long time to complete since there are so many file involved.

If you plan to move all these backup files to another computer then I would suggest that you do so using Explorer to copy all the files, including any small files to the new location on the desired computer.  Then you can return to the computer you are currently working with and Remove the task using the Delete option.  Once that is done you can Add the existing backups back into the application by choosing that option and navigating to the files new location.  Once you have added them back then the app will prompt you to Reconfigure the backup where you can define the backup settings as you desire.

Enchantech, I'm not trying to move to another computer.  Let me try to clarify what I'm trying to do.  I recently found that some shared folders on my Synology NAS didn't have some options enabled that I'd like to use, and I cannot enable them after the shared folder was defined.  I decided to create new shared folders with the options and move the Acronis backups to them.  I wanted to test this using an HP PC, but it wasn't in the house.  Doing some research I found the Move option, and decided to see what it looked like on my ASUS PC.  When I didn't find it on my ASUS PC, I opened this issue.

From what you have said, for the HP PC I can copy the Acronis backup files from the current shared folder to the new one using Explorer then add the backups in their new location to the HP backup.  Is this correct?

If the ASUS cannot access the Synology NAS to add the existing backup files, I'm concerned that the HP will have the same problem.  I may have to fix the ASUS problem before doing anything on the HP PC.

I'm beginning to wonder if the best option would be to create the new shared folder and create a new backup for the HP PC using that shared folder.

I found why I don't see any backups in the Recovery tab.  See the following issue.

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2020-forum/error-501…

When redefining the destination, I received the message "Are you sure you want to change the destination?".  There is a warning that states "Previously created backup versions will not be shown in the Recovery tab of this backup.  To recover them, first add them as an existing backup"  I never tried to add them as an existing backup.  Because I didn't add them I guess all subsequent backups don't display in the Recovery tab.

Now the question is how do I get ATI to find my Synology NAS when I try to add an existing backup?

GaryG45 wrote:

Now the question is how do I get ATI to find my Synology NAS when I try to add an existing backup?

 

I have gone through this exercise, but with ATI 2021 rather than 2020. I use device name for the NAS rather than its IP address (avoids issues of chaged IP). So in the search I just type \\DISKSTATION\ from then it is easy.

DISKSTATION is the default devise name, so unless you have changed it it should work.

Ian

Ian,

I had tried that, but I used capitals in my device name.  After I corrected it, it was able to find the files.  I've selected one, and it appears to be working on it.

Gkad you managed to get where you wanted to be ...

Ian

Doing some research I found the Move option, and decided to see what it looked like on my ASUS PC.  When I didn't find it on my ASUS PC, I opened this issue.

 You will only find the Move option on the computer where your backup task was created. 

So far we have an HP PC, an ASUS PC, and an NAS, is that all that is involved here?

Presuming your backup task that you use to create the backups is on your ASUS PC, the issue is that you do not find the Move option in the right click context menu of the backup task, is that correct?

Assuming that is correct, does the task still work, does it still create backup files on your NAS?

If the task still works are your backups full disk backups that use the .tibx format?  If they are then you are facing a limitation of the 2020 product in that the move option for the new backup format were not available.  This feature returned in the 2021 product.

In this case you would need to create a new task pointed at the new shared folder.

EDIT:  Just now saw the above posts.  Things are looking up it seems?  I am trying to remember if Move was ever added to the 2020 product but I simply do not recall.

Bob, my recollection that Move of *.tibx backups was added in ATI 2021. There is a problem, what it does it copies the files, then deletes the originals - how a move usually works - in doing so changes the date stamp of all the *.tibx files. It is also rather slow. When reoganising the backups on my NAS I found it easier (and much quicker) to remove the task from ATI, then move the files using my preferred file manager (Directory Opus), then add them back again. Had suspend active protection first.

Ian

Ian,

Thanks for refreshing my memory.  I had thought that to be correct.

I've attached a screenshot for the current status of the ASUS PC.  The highlighted backup, pointed to by the red arrow, now has a populated Recovery tab.  The highlighted backup was created when I performed the "Add existing backup".  After the process was done I saw a "Reconfigure" button and clicked on it.  Something occurred quickly, but I don't what it was.  I have noticed that the highlighted ASUS Differential backup is set to do an Incremental backup and has other options that are different from what I usually use.

My current plan is to update the options in the highlighted backup and then delete the ASUS Differential backup with the green checkmark because that one still has nothing in the Recovery tab.  Are these the correct next steps?  If not, let me know what to do.

Enchantech,

To answer some of your questions.   I don't have one PC control the backups of the others, so each PC has a copy of Acronis and has a backup for that PC. 

The HP PC is a little used spare PC where I run full backups about once a month.  It never had network issues, so the Recovery tab is good.

The ASUS PC is the one where we are currently fixing the Recovery tab.  My wife's Dell PC also has the Recovery tab issue and will be fixed after the ASUS is done.

I want to get the ASUS and Dell PCs straightened out before I go back to adding a new shared folder.

My current plan is to update the options in the highlighted backup and then delete the ASUS Differential backup with the green checkmark because that one still has nothing in the Recovery tab.  Are these the correct next steps?  If not, let me know what to do.

Gary, what options are shown for that highlighted task in your image, also what do you see if you Disks or Partitions or Files in the Recovery panel?

The fact that you have 2 tasks with the same name and destination (DS918) suggests that the files for these tasks are stored in separate / different folders.  If not, then there can be all sorts of other issues caused by having duplicate task names creating files in the same destination!

Steve, the options for the highlighted task are: Validate, Clean up versions, Clone settings, Delete, Open location, and Search files.

In the Recovery tab Disks and Partitions display the same thing.  There is my Samsung SSD and under it is a EFI System Partition, 2 Recovery Partitions, and the C drive.  For Files I see all the folders on my C drive.  If I click on one of the small folders, it displays the files and folders within it.  I think everything looks good.

I'm confused by the two tasks with the same name and destination too.  The highlighted one was created when I performed the "Add existing backup".  Maybe ATI detected some error during the Add backup process and created the new task.  I don't want to delete the original task(top one with green check) until I know it is good to do so.

Gary, try using the 'Open Location' option for each task and check whether they are both looking at the same location or not?

Also take a look at the 'Clean up versions' option for each task to see how many files (backup slices) are found for each task?

Steve, The task with the green checkmark still only has options Clone settings and Delete.  For the highlighted task 'Open location' shows all 24 .tibx files in the correct folder.  'Clean up versions' displays the current version and 3 others, which is accurate.

Looks like ATI created the highlighted task in order to replace the original one.

Gary, I would suggest keeping the task that has all the expected set of options and deleting the other with just the clone & delete options.

Note: you always have the option on the Settings page (at the bottom) to export your backup configuration settings to a zip file!

Steve, That is where I thought we were headed, and thanks for the hint about exporting the settings.

Thanks to everyone who helped with this problem.

Gary, when doing the task delete, ensure you only take the option to remove just the settings and not to delete everything!

Steve, I manually updated the options in the highlighted task, deleted the old task, and ran a backup using the highlighted task.  It ran fine.  The Recovery tab shows last night's backup version with all of the others, and the other options for the Recovery tab, Disks, Partitions, and Files all look good.

The next step is to follow the same process for my wife's Dell PC.  After that is complete I'll consider moving everything to a new shared folder.  I'm beginning to rethink the new shared folder.  I wanted to enable "data checksum for advanced data integrity" in the new shared folder on my Synology NAS, but I'm not sure I need that for data that is always going to change because of daily backups.  I need to do a little more research.

Good to read of a positive result Gary.  Have to admit that my own Synology NAS is using the defaults for my own backup folders with my focus having been on securing the NAS via 2 factor authentication etc.  The NAS is a few years old now but has been totally reliable to date with its 2 x 3TB WD drives using SHR that allows for recovery from a single drive failure.  Have been considering getting some larger drives but so far have been put off by some of the reviews I have read of both the WD and Seagate offerings!  So have been doing more housekeeping instead!

Steve, thanks again for all of your help.  I have the Synology DS918+ with four 4TB WD drives.  I've had it for almost 2 years and have no problems.  If you haven't already seen it, Backblaze produces a report about drive reliability that might be helpful if you decide to upgrade your drives.  A friend with a DS918+ upgraded from 4 3TB drives to 6TB drives, and said the process was pretty easy. 

There are 2 HDD types produced currently.  They are:

CMR - Conventional Magnetic Recording

SMR - Shingled Magnetic Recording

There are two recording technologies but currently only one of these is in production.  They are:

PMR - Perpendicular Magnetic Recording - Used currently

LMR - Longitudinal Magnetic Recording - No longer in production

The following is recommended usage for these drive types:

SMR hard disks are a good choice if they are primarily used as pure data storage or if a large hard disk is to be used for a PC on which data is stored. They offer more storage capacity and are more energy efficient than CMR, which makes them ideal for archiving tasks. Basically, SMR hard disks are not particularly well suited if the hard disk is to be constantly and permanently doing write operations, as this can lead to a cache overflow. In this case, a hard disk with a CMR recording method should definitely be used.
CMR hard disks are a good choice when data is to be stored at high transfer rates or particularly large amounts of data. This includes a large number of activities from music streaming and image processing to use for NAS servers.

CMR drives have the advantages of larger write cache sizes, higher MTBF ratings, higher rotation speeds in some cases and longer warranty periods (typically 5 years)

SMR drives have smaller write cache sizes, lower MTBF ratings, slower rotational speeds in some cases and shorter warranty periods (typically 3 years)

My preference for NAS (Network Attached Storage) are CMR drives because typically these devices are on 24/7/365.  Look to WD RED drives 6TB or larger for entry level and WD Gold for Enterprise class.  WD Black drives can be used in this category as well

For Seagate look to Ironwolf for entry level drives a EXOS for Enterprise level drives.

I have and use all 4 types with great results.

I suspect that the time take to migrate to a new drive depends on the existing configuration, the relative size of the new drive, and system resources. In my case, I have a Synology DS414 NAS 4 x 4TB WD Red HDD, which has a rather anemic ARM processor, and it took about a day to rebuild when I replaced 1 WD Black 1 TB drive with the fourth WD Red HDD. I have had the NAS since February 2015, and three of the drives date to then - more than 6 years.

Ian