What's this: "Please locate the last volume of the backup" ?
TI 2021 build 35860, Windows 10
Got a new PC and started a new backup chain with a new name. There are now 3 "tibx" files showing in the directory of the backup drive.
In Windows Explorer, clicking on the first, I quickly see a list of all the backups from the first to the most recent, which was kind of surprising.
But clicking on the second, I get a popup dialog asking me to "Please locate the last volume of the backup." The only item in the dialog that's active is the "File name:" entry at the bottom, pre-loaded with the name of the second TIBX file. The dropdown in that entry is otherwise empty. Hitting the "Open" button for that entry apparently satisfies it, and it then shows exactly the same list of all the backups from the first to the most recent.
Clicking on the third item in the list brings up the same popup, with the name of the third TIBX file pre-loaded.
I can repeat this, apparently in any order, and get the same results. I didn't see this at all until build 35860.
I tried the same thing on my older PC, and see the same effect. I only got TIBX working on that PC two days ago, but have a handful of backups I made just to make sure things were actually working.
Searching for this problem to see if it's already been reported, I found one very old one that suggested doing a repair install of TI, but that didn't change anything. The search mechanism in the forums leaves a bit to be desired.
I can confirm Steve's findings.
Probably buried in my excessive attempt at being complete, I did a repair install to no effect.
Also, clicking on all 3 TIBX files does display the complete list of backups, I think. It just requires responding to the popup dialog and waiting a few seconds.
The fact that all three TIBX files show exactly the same list of backups, from the first one on December 12 through last nights on December 24 seems strange to me, but maybe that's just how TIBX files work.
I see the same effect on both of my PCs running build 35860.
Maybe an uninstall and clean re-install might be something to try?
Bert,
The new tibx format does work in the manner in which you describe. Not matter which backup you double click, all backups of the backup chain are shown. What you need to be aware of is that if you do not have automatic cleanup rules in place then that allows the backup chain to grow to large proportions. That can and does impact performance and is discussed here in the Forum at length.
What is out of the ordinary is the popup you mention neither I not Steve see this behavior.
I'm not seeing the popup you describe either when I double click my .tibx backup files. These are incremental backups with a new full backup after 5 incrementals and "store no more than 2 current versions" set for the cleanup rule.
If I can throw in an observation:
I just created a tibx backup using the default name "My partitions,tibx". When I tried to open this, I was presented with the "Please locate the last volume of the backup" popup every time I tried to drill down the backup directories. (hitting OK (or Open or whatever) to accept the presented name of "My partitions.tibx, placated it until I tried another sub-directory)
I then tried renaming the tibx file to "Mypartitions.tibx" (ie remove the space), and now the annoying popup doesn't appear.
Maybe spaces are not handled very well...
Andrew,
When you say you renamed the TIBX file, did you just take the Windows File Explorer (or something like it) and rename the existing file from an earlier backup, or start a new backup chain with the new filename convention?
From what I understand about the innards of TI, you can't just change the name of existing backup files and expect future backups chain orrectly.
Anyway, none of my files have spaces, so that's not the issue.
On the other hand, while I was writing this, I was looking at my backups and going through the sequences that produced the problem I was having, just to make sure I was explaining it correctly, and it's not happening right now.
Should be interesting to see if the problem has somehow cured itself or if it will pop up again later. But as long as the backups can be used for recovery, I really don't care very much about this little inconvenience, especially since I'd almost never have to look at the backup files outside of the TI program.
Bert
just to answer your question, I renamed the tibx file via explorer. This was only a one off backup of an old laptop disk which I will be re-purposing, so there won't be a chain.
I think you're right that a rename like this would upset a backup chain.
Anyway, I put a space back in the filename and retried opening the file, and the annoying popup asking me to locate the last volume returned, so I'm guessing it's a bug in ATI.