Volume backup shows wrong size for backup and wrong number of versions

No idea what's wrong?

Sigh. I have exactly the same problem. TI has clearly linked in to this backup, backup files belonging to other sets because if I choose the Cleardown option and specify less than the size reported, it then says (on completing the backup) that it cannot find a file that has absolutely nothing to do with this newly created backup (I am guessing it is looking for this file in order to delete it).

Is there anyway to clean up the list of backup files that TI thinks are associated with a backup. This has been an on going problem for many months with different backups and is becoming annoying.

Creating a new backup does not solve the problem - TI immediately reports (after the first backup) that the backup size is 10x the size of the actual backup

Anybody???

Richard,

Which version of TrueImage and which version of Windows?
Is this a files only backup or a backup of the entire partition or entire disk?

First lets start the problem solving with the newest backup which is the wrong size.
Please post a screen capture of
1. Your main GUI showing the task listed on your main screen
2. A picuture of the backup scheme.
3. A picture of the storage folder displayed in DETAIL view mode and sorted by date and time. Example as per attachment.
http://forum.acronis.com/system/files/example-diff-sort.jpg

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Addendum:
It may be impoossible to determine what went wrong before but let discuss the future.

These are the rules in which I invoke on myself and encourage others to do the same.

1. If a task needs changing, I stop using the task and create a new task pointing to a new and empty sub-folder. The only edit I will perform is to stop or change the schedule and that can be done from the main GUI rather than using the Task Edit Settings opiton.
http://forum.acronis.com/system/files/turn-off-scheduler.jpg

http://forum.acronis.com/system/files/turn-on-or-change-scheduler.jpg

The major reason for the no edit rule is that any changes in configuration produces the expected results and an edit usually justs delays the creation of a new task.

2. No mixing of backup files. Each task has its own explicit storage folder sorted for easy examination.

3. Any all deletions of TI backup files is done from within the program using the Acronis Backup Explorer or often referred to as the Time slice
http://forum.acronis.com/system/files/delete-backup-file.jpg

4. Any defrag or automatic defrag can only be done prior to a scheduled full backup. Reason: TrueImage bases its backup inclusions on used disk sectors and the defrag changes file positions which will be cause the changes of location to be included without any actual changes in the file.

5. All backups are validated and if moved, re validated after the move.

6. Perform a disk check for disk and file errors at least every 6 months so errors are not carried into the backup files.

7. When assigning a name to the backup file at task creation time, I add the _@exec@_ to the backup name which is the task run number so each backup has a sequential backup number as part of the file name such as the #28 below.
ST3320620AS_Full_28__diff_b5_s6_v1.tib

It was a new volume backup of my System drive and it is a new external usb drive.
The size of that backup file is 49 GByte, that's normal (see file 01).
True Image Shows me a size of 1,12 TByte and 14 Versions for that (see file 02).

Well sigh, sigh. I think I've got a similar problem. see http://forum.acronis.com/forum/50025

The rules by GroverH are really good for making changes to a task are very helpful. Like adding the _@exec@_ to the file name. Since the file name can change from full to incr or diff, it makes it hard to sort the backups in sequence. I also recently switched to having each backup task in a separate folder.

Does anyone else hate the newer task list as much as I do. Really preferred the old pre 2011/ style. Do like some of the newer features, maybe the newer task list was required to get these features. However, I'm not trusting that the newer task list correctly associates what backup files make up a chain. maybe it is correct, but Acronis is continually surprising me after the fact with what it thinks.

To try and figure out what's going on, I added the following dos cmd script as pre/post commands. Too early to see if it helps but at least I should now what my folder contents were before and after Acronis runs. DataApps is the name of my backup task.

echo Date is %DATE% >> DataApps.log
echo >> DataApps.log

echo Time is %TIME% >> DataApps.log
echo >> DataApps.log

dir >> DataApps.log

Thanks for your reply Grover. To answer your first two questions: Windows 7 and TI 2013 Build 6514.

And I attach two screenshots showing the File Size and File List. The backup files are the only files in the folder which I created for this new backup.

These snapshots were taken before I followed your instructions above and opened the Backup Explorer. When I did this, I got a whole series of error messages saying 'Cannot find Version x' - for which I clicked Ignore. After I did this, the reported backup size reduced to 430.49GB.

And what I can now see in the Backup Browser are four panels (see FileBackupVersions) - three of these are correct and relate to the three backup files but the left most one is incorrect and points to a file associated with a different backup in a different folder.

How does this happen? How can I correct this?

[Aside: As indicated above, I made the mistake of setting a cleardown value by size on this new backup in order to try and solve this misreporting of size. What I found (after I posted the above) was that Acronis had actually deleted virtually all my backups associated with a DIFFERENT backup - there is just one backup left dated 10/12).

This is very very annoying as I like to keep multiple backups. I am at a complete loss to understand why Acronis linked the backups associated with this previous backup to this new backup. The new backup files are in a different folder - which, as it turns out, is what you recommend. I have posted about this problem of Acronis linking in the wrong backups before - see http://forum.acronis.com/forum/44282. I know you are not a TI rep and I am very grateful for the help you provide but TI really does seem to be full of very bad faults which they don't correct. Any observations?]

Thanks for your help. The above instructions were very helpful already.