The last backup has failed. Failed to exclusively access <path to an other backup location>... during consolidation". :-((
I am again having an issue with Acronis TI 2016! All attempts to run a backup keep failing on me with the message "The last backup has failed. Failed to exclusively access <path to an other backup location>... during consolidation".
WTF has this beast to consolidate here? Why does it need to access one of my other backup locations during this process? These other locations are of course always disconnected when I do a backup (and that's on purpose, so that no encryption virus or such can access them all at once).
Last time this happened Acronis support told me that this means that its internally used DB is corrupted and I had to clear and redefine all my backup settings. I am NOT willing to repeat this over and over again! IMHO it as simply not acceptable that such a product keeps corrupting its DB again and again!
So, how do I rectify this (and prevent it from happening again)? What is this "consolidation" actually doing anyway?
In case this help: my setup is as follows:
I have defined 3 different backups defined:
The first is a backup to my NAS that runs automatically once per week over night.
A second goes to a USB disk drives that I occasionally (i.e. maybe every other week) attach to make a copy to a different location.
And a third backup setting goes to a second USB disk that I keep in our weekend home so that I also have a backup at a completely different location in case something bad happens to our main home (like a fire).
These three backups are in my opinion completely distinct, there is (or at least there should be) absolutely no connection or dependency among them!
BTW: I tried to report this to Acronis support by email but they didn't even react! I consider it more than a shame that the capability to open a support ticket expires 3 months after purchase/registration. Exactly in such cases, where some issue surfaces only over time (but then again and again) one is left out in the rain. Doesn't exactly speak for the product nor its support!


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I have done a "submit feedback" including system info right after another failed backup.
Since these "failed backup .... during consolidation" happen sincde months and you are still "investigating" I have conclude that you have no clue, yet, what and why it is failing here, let alone a fix.
Since I have no successful backups now for almost three weeks and there is no hint, what I could do to get this fixed: it seems I have to abandon TI and search for a different, reliably working backup solution. Or what else are your suggestions?
Michael
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Steve Smith wrote:..............
Hello All,......
................ The database is not necessarily corrupted, it may contain invalid values in its tables, or there might be an issue with mechanics of handling those tables.......
Regards,
Slava
lol Im sorry but sounds like the definition of a corupt file.
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Yes, indeed! So the next natural question would be :
Has TI made a backup of that file? Could I restore it? Which file(s) would I need to restore to get going again?
M. :-(
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I am having the exact same problem (TI 2016). Also using different internal and external backups to have copies. This happened before under the previous version too. I am getting really sick of this. Under the previous version I did have to finally wiped the DB and reconstruct all my backups.
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So I give up. I deleted ALL jobs, created a new one (different name than any others I deleted). Ran the backup and got the same error! It is still looking for some old disconnected job. If you search the forums there are tons of people having this issue. Why is this not fixed by now! I guess now I'm off to look at how to clear / reset the database - as deleting the jobs doesn't seem to do it!
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Martin, you mention "Also using different internal and external backups to have copies. "
Does this mean, you've been swapping drives under the same backup? if so, that is a likely issue as backup jobs are based upon thhe original drive they were setup with and not the drive name or drive letter assigned in Windows. It's the hardware UUID that Acronis flags for each backup so swapping drives for a single backup task is bound to cause issues.
1) Stop all Acornis services in computer management
2) Run schedule manager with task zap. Your backup scripts / tasks will still exist, but you'll need to re-pick the source and destination in each one.
3) Navigate to the hidden folder C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Database and rename it to database.old or something else. Acronis will recreate this automatically and it will still have your backup scripts as well. However, you'll need to go into each existing backup task and re-pick the source/destination again. You'll also need to re-pick your "default" items again.
4) Reboot the system. You could just restart the services, but a reboot won't hurt and is likely to be better for any other background services that may have dependencies.
5) Launch Acronis after reboot. Hopefully, you're back in business.
Michael,
Acronis backups should include all of the contents in this folde ras well. If you start from scratch or want to move tasks to a new system, ou can copy the "scripts" folder from C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\ and replace the default one that is created after a clean install or new install of Acronis. You'll also need to stop Acronis services before you'll be able to paste this folder as it will be "in use" if the services are not stopped.
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Thank you much for the reply Bobbo. As to the multiple external copies, they are actually all different drive letters (there are only two, and the internal backup drive is always online). This has happened to me before, under a different version.
Thank you for the steps to fix, I have since deleted the database directory, uninstalled and reinstalled the product. I'm trying to get back to zero.
You know I only want to do the simplest of things and it just keeps getting harder with each release. Maybe it is me, buy this should be so easy, other than maybe the internal backup.
1) I have an internal backup drive. I want it to do incermental's, create two complete sets/versions and auto cleanup. Doing the incermentals and creating two versions seems to always work as designed. As soon as I turn on auto-clean things go south (such as the error message in this thread, or never doing the cleanup or always getting some error trying to clean up - I know vague references, but I have never been successful at just adding auto-cleanup)
2) From time to time, I simply want to make a full image backup. I don't need Acronis to remember what drive, track where the backup is connected, or try to dial my smart phone. I just want to start the software, plug in a USB drive and tell the software - save an image over there...
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I've been there too. The later versions of 2016 seemed to be more resilient and 2017 has been rock solid with the database (so far). Prior to 2017, I would find that updating major Acronis versions or having Acronis installed before a major Windows upgrade (every Windows 10 upgrade is major now), could cause stability issues down the road. As a result, I got in the habit of doing a fresh install of Acronis before any major version upgrades (2015 to 2016, 2016 to 2017). I went from 2016 v6571 to 2017 beta 1, beta 2, 1st release and current release as upgrades and no issues so far though. If there are stability issues, and you do need to start from scratch, using the cleanup tool may be the key to truly starting from scratch.
https://forum.acronis.com/forum/126092#comment-391779
As for the #2 - have you considered taking a full offline backup from time to time? In my opinion, this is the bread and butter of Acronis and all of these backups have been 100% rock solid for me. There is no database involved, nothing. You create the backup, put it on a drive and you can use it anytime you want (with rescue media for full recoveries is just as easy). It just works and I personally feel that these backups are the most reliable since they happen completely outside of Windows where OS issues, third party applications, malware, antivirus, or even Acronis bugs can play a role. All of those are by-passed when you use your offline recovery media to take and restore full disk backups. Plus, if you do this to an external drive that only ever connects to the system for the purpose of this task, you can also distance your backups from potential malware or ransomware that can only run when the Windows OS is active.
I'd highly encourage you to try the offline recovery media for offline backups. You can build recue media to usb flash drive, CD/DVD, .iso, or .wim file directly from within Acronis (I recommend a usb Flash drive 3.0 if you have one and have 3.0 ports - it's faster).
Also, we've built an MVP WinPE creator that can help you build really nice customized WinPE rescue media which has better driver support than the default Linux rescue media. The downside is you have to install Windows ADK first and it's big, but in my opinion, well worth it. You can get the MVP winPE creator here: https://forum.acronis.com/forum/127282 and you can download the Windows 10 ADK (use Windows 10 ADK if you have Windows 7 or newer on your system) from my links below.
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Hey Bobbo - that is a great suggestion! I've used the rescue media numerous times over the years to recover (and I have to say Acronis has always worked to pull me out of the fire), but I have never given thought to using it to do these single image backups. I agree with all you points for doing it that way. While WinPE might be overkill foy my needs, using the rescue media to pull an image backup is perfect for doing these one-off full images. Thanks!
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