Unable to Restore Disk From Image

It looks like you have 44 incrementals at this point of time, but for some reason, it is choking on #10.  When you go to the backup files in Windows explorer, do you see the one with s10-v1?  Is there an S10-v1_1 ? You can try to right click on S10-V1 and "validate" that particular backup and see what happens.

I know Acronis allows you to create a backup scheme with incrementals forever, but I find this to be very risky since each incremental in the chain relies on all of the ones before them.  All it take is one bad file to render the ones after it unusable.  I would suggest that you create a backup task with only a handful of incrementals and an occasional full - perhaps 1 full with 13 daily incrementals and 3 version chains of retention, or something like that. 

Hopefully, your existing backup is still usable and perhaps the validation of the file will help.

As for the serial #, contact Acronis technical support.  If your account is showing the serial # is invalid, they should be able to help sort you out. Perhaps it was never registered online before (was it a box license purchase or directly from Acronis).  If it was a box version, you have to register it online and should be able to do so still.  

I Thank you for your reply Bobbo 3C0X1.

I went to the folder and there are two files labeled S10-v1 and S10v1-2 dated 11/23/15 and 12/7/16. This is probably where the "confusion" is at. I currently perform a backup and validation weekly.

I changed my backup options to create a full backup after 5 incremenmtals and to delete files over 45 days old.

I will delete all old files and start again.

The program is currently up to date with build 6571 but I will consider contacting tech support about the serial number issue.

Thanks again for your help.

Dave

Sounds like a plan.  I think that you may still have usable backups with a manual validation of the file, but really can't say.

As for your new backup plan, I think it is a moe sound approach.  Worse case, if you have issues with an incremental, you'll have a full to fall back on that is not far out of date.

FYI... 45 days will apply to each version chain after the next full.  So, your first backup is 1 full + 5 incremental.  The start of the next chain is the completion of the next full.  Once that next full is done, then the 45 day countdown begins.  Personally, I don't use the days in the cleanup, but just the # of backup chains to retain (say 4 or 5 if you want about a month in this case). That way, regardless of time frame, backup versiosn will only be retained for the number you set. This is completely personal preference though and understand that each person will have their own opinion on this setting, but just wanted to make you aware of how the time frame works.

Thanks again for taking the time to help me. I've used this program for many years but never ran into a problem. One can get "in trouble" with larger drive space fpor backups! LOL

I just finished creating a new full backup, after deleting everything in the backup folder.

Testing worked great as I was able to get to the proceed screen.

I will removed that 45 day cleanup, as this confused me, and stick with the 5 incrementals.

Thanks again.

Dave

Sounds good. I might suggest keeping 1 version chain in your cleanup scheme so that you have a little history to restore from after each cleanup and not just the new full. Really up to you though and will depend on if you need that safety buffer and/or have the space on your backup disk.

Not sure what you mean by keeping a version chain in cleanup.

My understanding of the scheme I set up is that I will have one full backup on week #1. Weeks 2-5 will be incremental. Week six will start with another full backup. Are you saying that the previous backups will be deleted when the full is created?

I should have plentyof space since I'm using a 500GB drive for my backups.

Dave

Hi David,  If you don't have any cleanup scheme, the disk will eventually run out of space as it will fill up at some point.  Since there is really no way to manually delete backup files outside of Acronis (ok, there is, but not in the application which is where you want to do this), using a cleanup scchedule is a good idea.  You can keep as many versions as you want or as your disk will hold, but consider turning on the cleanup so you don't eventually run out of space.  Just a recommendation, but up to you.

Attached is my daily backup screenshot (capture1) to a local hard drive.  It includes 1 full + 6 incremetnals - each backup occurs daily for a total of 1 week.  I keep 4 version chains (4 weeks = 1 month).  Upon completion of the 5th full, all of the 1st week version chain is automatically deleted, leaving me 3 weeks of daily backups plus the full that was just taken.  Essentially, I have a month of backups to go back to at any point in time.  

I also do another backup to different network attached storage device which uses less frequent differentials and retains those backups for 2 months.  

On top of that, I also do another backup to the Cloud for offsite storage, which takes weekly backups and maintains 6 months of those or the last 20 (since 20 is the max # of retained backups in the cloud)

Everyone will have their own backup scheme though based on available storage space and the length of retention desired.  I just don't recommend letting the disk fill up without a cleanup schedule, nor, would i recommend having to short of a retention schedule (like only keeping one backup chain), if that time frame is relatively short and there's space on the drive to hold more.  

I don't mean to be a pain and I really do appreciate you taking the time.

Couldn't find your attachment however, I do understand the reason(s) for a cleaning schedule.

This is what I set up (my backups occur once a week):

The scheme is custom

The backup method is incremental

Create a full version after 5 incremental versions

Store no more than 5 version chains

Do not delete 1st version backup box is checked

Again thanks for all your help and patience!

Dave

Sorry missed the screenshot before.  Your backup scheme is good.  You have 1 weekly backup and 5 incrementals (with each backup occuring once per week so that = 6 weeks of backups in one chain).  You keep 5 version chains = 30 weeks (about 6 months worth).  Then clean occurs after that point.  Seems like a decently backup plan for a single weekly backup.

Thanks again for all your help

Dave