restoring files
Please be gentle...
I was using True Image 2009 Home to back up my Windows Vista PC to an external hard drive (.tib files). I think they were incremental backups. The external hard drive is fine.
My PC's hard drive failed, so I had a new internal hard drive installed on the same PC, and also installed Windows 7.
I only want the data files from the Acronis backups. I don't want to restore the old operating system and I don't need to restore any of the old program files. Is there a way to do this? If not, what should I do?
Thanks! Does it take a long time for the files to display from the external hard drive? I clicked on the Explore command, and it opened a Windows Explorer window with the name of the drive and the backup at the top in the green area, but no files are displayed yet.
Assuming you have installed True Image on the new Win 7 drive, just treat the backup file (.tib) like a folder and double click it to open it. Then you have to know where your data files are located (usually the My Documents folder), so keep double clicking the folders until you drill down to the My Documents folder.
Okay, my next challenge was a message that the file was corrupted. Heart be still...
Anyway, I copied the very first backup from the external drive to the PC internal drive. Voila! My files are there! Intact! Now I can drag and drop.
My next question.. I haven't tried copying the incremental backups yet to the internal hard drive. Will the incremental .tibs only contain files that changed? Can I still do drag and drop?
NO it doesn't work the way you mentioned.
When you double click an incr file acronis needs the original full, and all the intermediate INCR files.
With all these files acronis will present you your disk exactly as it looked on that day.
for example assume you did a full backup on sunday and an incr backup each day afterward.
Sunday - full backup - filename is "mybackup-.tib"
Monday - incr backup - filename is "mybackup-2.tib"
Tuesday - incr backup - filename is "mybackup-3.tib"
Wednesday - incr backup - filename is "mybackup-4.tib"
Thursday - incr backup - filename is "mybackup-5.tib"
If you try and open "mybackup-4.tib" acronis will present you your drive exactly as it looked like on Wednesday.
To do this majic acronis needed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday's files as well, if ANY of those files are missing or corrupt then the Wednesday file is worthless as well as all incr files taken after it in this example the Thursday file is would also be worthless.
Any Incr file taken by itself without a full has no value.
Any incr files after a corrupted incr have no value.
Any incr file wihtout a full, or without ALL the incr files preceeding it have no value.
If you get a "corrupt" message when trying to use your latest file, try backing up one until you get one that validates/works.
This will be the most current data that you can restore. However yes, you can drag/drop from this "file" exactly like you have already done with the full.
GroverH, DwnNDrty and oracledba, thank you, you have all been very helpful. It looks like I lost some data because of missing or corrupted backups, but at least many files were saved.
I would like to get a better understanding of what would be best practices going forward. The documentation doesn't really help; it tells you what you "can" do, but not what you "should" do, if that makes sense. I'm wondering if those of you who have experience and opinions about backing up data using Acronis can give me a few summarized pointers.
One of the problems I was having, even with the incremental backups, was that my 500 GB external drive filled up. Should I be doing a different type of backup, such as backing up the whole drive every week and overwriting the previous backup? Or, can you just back up data files, and if so, how?
First, it would help to know how much used disk space is involved. Acronis only needs to backup space that is in use. How frequently are you backing up now and how often does your data change?
Look at item 7H and all of 12 inside my signature index. Chain2Gen (signature index) can assist in handling your backup needs.
You really need to consider a second or even a third external drive. Spread the risk so if one fails, you have an safety valve. Many of us to full backups to alternating external drives. Maybe have Santa put a present under the tree for yourself.
If you want to backup only data, as opposed to the installed software and OS, many here use either Karen's Replicator or Microsoft's Sync Toy - both are free. These keep the backup in native format instead of a proprietary format like True Image does. Although True Image does have the feature for backing up data files in .zip format.
For backup of the entire hard drive True Image is very good if it works with your hardware.
If your 500Gb drive is almost full and you don't want to delete any files, you should start saving for a 1Tb drive. In fact the best price point for a hard drive is now at the 1.5Tb size and maybe even 2Tb if you catch the right sale.
Hi Carol
Good to see you got most of your data back.
IN my view -for what its worth- you need to think about what level of risk you are prepared to take and then put in place a backup strategy to that level.
Here are some thoughts on the matter.
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1383642&postcount=13
I am a great fan of Karen' Replicator for critical data and True Image for OS and installed programs