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difficult recovery- lesson learned

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So, something went wrong with my Win8.1 on my Dell XPS 870 desktop. My Outlook program's tabs were messed up and some programs wouldn't load.

Since I have numerous ATI 2015 backups, I presumed it would be easy to recover the boot drive. It wasn't.

The latest full disk backup recovered but had the same system problems. I had thought that that backup was made before the problems- so that freaked me out.

I then tried the 2nd oldest disk backup. After the recovery was attempted- I got a screen which indicated it just didn't succeed with various error messages- which I failed to make note of.

I then tried the 3rd oldest disk backup and that worked. My heart started beating again. It was a few weeks old- but that's fine- I just had to update my AV files, etc.

One thing I noticed though was that this full disk recovery had lost all of the Win 8.1 RESTORE files. Before I tried the ATI recovery, I had tried the 2 RESTORE files but both failed. But after the ATI recovery- why whould those RESTORE files be missing? Probably just as well- so I created a new one right away.

I now recall that the other 2-3 times I had to do a boot disk recovery, same thing- the OS RESTORE files were missing- and the boot drive RESTORE process was actually turned off. Very strange indeed.

Since I have all disk backups validated when made, I was surprised that 2 failed.

Lesson learned- maintain many backups. I make them both on a 2nd internal drive and an external drive.

Joe

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Joe, when you say that the Windows 8.1 RESTORE files were missing, do you mean the System Restore Point files?

If so, then this is because, by default, the System Volume Information files / folders are excluded in the Backup options.

The screen capture attached is taken from ATIH 2016 but I believe the same applies to ATIH 2015 too.

System Restore Information is stored in the System Volume Information file structure hence when your recovered your system these folders / files were no longer present as not included in your backup image being restored.

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Steve, right- the system RESTORE files. Thanks for that answer. I never would have figured that out. Is there any good reason to NOT want those System Volume Information files/folders to be recovered by ATI? When there is a OS system problem as I had, is it possible that the problem could be in there, thus by default ATI don't back them up? After a full disk recovery, does the OS then have to recreated those files/folders? I have no idea what's in those files.

thanks!

Joe

Hi Joe, I would think that the main reason for excluding the System Volume Information files / folders is purely one of the space these can consume on most systems, i.e. depending on the hard drive size, System Restore tends to take a set percentage of the drive which can be a significant size if set to the maximum value.

You can check your current settings by looking at the Properties of 'This PC' (Windows 10) then looking at the System Protection information - see attached screen capture from my laptop would take just under 4GB at 5% of my drive or just under 90GB at the maximum setting.

You have the choice of changing the Backup task Exclusions to not exclude this System Restore information but also consider that this could potentially significantly increase the size of your backup image too.

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Steve, that all makes sense. However, I have a 4T external drive which no matter what I put on it always seems almost empty.

A problem with not backing up those files is that System Restore is turned off if not recovered. So, for those who don't check it- they may not realize it's off. Perhaps those files should not be in the default list established by Acronis. The manual could then explain that if it's necessary to keep the backup as small as possible- to add them to the exclusion list. I'd hate to think about the person who later needs System Restore only to find out it has been turned off. I first noticed that after my first system recovery.

One thing I don't understand about System Restore- is that though I have it set rather larger- something like 15 GB- I never see more than 2-3 Restore files. It always throws out the oldest before coming close to filling that space. I wish it would hold more since sometimes one won't work- so to me, the more the better. This is one reason of many that I'm going to upgrade my SSD boot drive from 256 to almost double that- then I can increase the space available for System Restore. Also, since I intend to upgrade to W10, it's probably best to have a lot of space on that drive.

Just curiouis, but do you know what else is in the System Volume Information files / folders? I'll research this a bit. It would be helpful to know what else is lost by not backing up this stuff.

thanks,

Joe

Hi Joe, as far as I know it is only System Restore that uses the System Volume Information folders - Microsoft published a knowledgebase article on it for Windows XP which I doubt has changed very much with subsequent versions of Windows in principle.

See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/309531

I would recommend using the Feedback option (found under the Help option) to pass your concerns over including these folders by default and maybe suggest that a clearer statement be made as to the implications of doing so for those who wish to retain the ability to perform System Restore.

I just did a new backup and this time I deleted System Volume Information from the exclusion section. However, it took me a while to delete it. I clicked on that item then hit my delete key and assumed it would go- but it didn't. After some frustration, I checked the help file and it said to look for the little x at the end of the item. I then noticed it. But, I have the program in a full sized window on a very large desktop monitor. That x is hardly visible way over to the right- last place i would have looked. I think this is an example of a bad GUI design. Once you click on the item and it changes color, it should be deletable with the keyboard delete key.

I seriously dislike the UI that started with ATI2015 (or was it 2014 which I skipped?). I still have ATI 2013 on one system and I find it much preferable. I know that many people in this forum like the new UI and some hate it- and that Acronis isn't going back to the old one- but at least they should be reminded by those who don't like it that they don't like it!

Oh, and I took your suggestion, Steve, to send Acronis an email suggesting that the SVI should not be in the exclusion list by default- since it will lose the System Restore files and even turn it off. I wouldn't be surprised that most users don't know this until they need System Restore and find no Restore points.

Joe