Acronis Secure Zone: Backups failing, cannot use existing ASZ as backup location
I am using TIH 2017 Build 8058 but this problem began under the previous build, 8053.
Installed on Windows 7 Ultimate SP1, 64-bit
I haveTIH set to automatically backup my C: partition to the ASZ, which I created on its own 670Gb partition on 750GB drive independent from C: partition. The backup job was configured to automatically cleanup and purge old backup versions so as to ensure the ASZ did not fill up.
This worked fine for almost 3 months up until a few days ago, when all attempts to backup to the ASZ began to fail; I was alerted by my inbox filling up with error notification emails title "Backup task execution failed - Acronis True Image notification"
The pertinent line in the error message body is as follows:
"2017-06-26 10:14:28:047 1376 E000B03E9: Error 0xb03e9: Cannot open the backup."
Any attempt to access the backups created in the ASZ produced error dialogs stating that TIH could not find the backup sets and the only way to dismiss these dialogs was to select "Ignore". Eventually TIH went through all the backup jobs and declared that none of them exist any more. However, I can mount and browse the ASZ via Windows Explorer, so the backups ARE still there - I just can't get TIH to recognise them.
Trying to administer the ASZ via 'Tools' => 'Acronis Secure Zone' brings up the 'Manage Acronis Secure Zone Wizard' but only with the 'Create ASZ' option available. I can use the wizard to browse to the drive where the existing ASZ is located but it shows it greyed out with 0 bytes free space, and it is not selectable.
This is extremely annoying and frustrating. Although I have continued to manually create backups of my C: partition to other drives I set up the ASZ to provide a continuous backup of my C: partition so that I could feel confident that I would always have a recent (few days old at most) backup to restore from if required.
My questions are as follows:
Is there any way to get TIH to re-recognise the existing ASZ so that I can use it again and retain the existing backup sets stored there or do I have to delete the existing ASZ and create it again from scratch ?
If I do have to wipe and recreate the ASZ can I copy off the existing backups from the ASZ first and then copy them back into the new ASZ ?
You asked: "If I do have to wipe and recreate the ASZ can I copy off the existing backups from the ASZ first and then copy them back into the new ASZ ?"
Yes, that should be possible.
However, I would ask: what benefit do you believe you obtain by using the ASZ? I don't use it myself. I prefer to write my backups to external hard drives, and I don't see the point of adding the complexity of the ASZ.
Thanks for both of your replies.
I have been using TIH since Powerquest Drive Image was taken over and ruined by Symantec and I've always primarily created manual backups to separate drives (both internal and external) using standard Windows partitions etc.
When the ASZ feature was introduced it promised to be a potentially useful automatic "set and forget" secondary line of defence if you will, but it was horribly broken in the 2010 version so I gave up on it then. I tried it out again having recently upgraded to the 2017 version as I am basically just an optimist and hoped Acronis had got it working properly. Obviously not !
Having spent a few hours further digging through multiple forum posts I concur that scrapping the ASZ and creating an ordinary partition to backup to is the only sensible way forward from here. I can't see any point in contacting Acronis Tech Support directly as I don't have much confidence they'll be able to sort the problem, given other people's experiences.
Fortunately I have plenty of other backup versions so wiping the ASZ and starting again from scratch is annoying but not problematic.
Keith, the reality is that ASZ does not really offer any real advantages over having your own partition. ASZ uses FAT32 with the limitations of file size this brings, whereas you can use NTFS for your own partitions.
Having multiple different backup destinations is always good practice, including keeping some offline to avoid any attack from malware / ransomware etc.
AFAIK, the Acronis Secure Zone can work properly. It's just that, IMO, it serves no valid purpose anymore.
When the ASZ was introduced many years ago, I think around version 8 which IIRC was around 13 years ago, there was a purpose. External storage wasn't common and was expensive. Most users had just a single HD in their PCs. The ASZ provided a sort of sandboxed partition to store backups.
Nowadays, when external hard drives are good, reliable and relatively cheap, the ASZ has outlived its usefulness, and so its complexity is no longer a worthwhile cost. Write your backups to external hard drives. If you have critical data or your system state is critical, use multiple backup drives that you periodically rotate. If you want to increase your data security, store one of your backup drives off-site, and every week or so swap it for the one at home.
I agree that Acronis Secure Zone is something that has outlived its usefulness. I used it in the early days but in times of inexpensive large storage (both internal, external and the cloud) it is not the best approach. While I am a advocate of multiple backup strategies, using ASZ is not one that I now include in my listing.
Ian
As already discussed I've not been using ASZ as a primary backup, just a secondary to my usual classic "at least four copies" approach of local, removable, off-site and cloud backup. Having been 7 years since I last tried the ASZ functionality I was merely curious as to whether it (a) now works properly and reliably and (b) is still a relevant and useful feature. Simple answers (for me, YMMV): no and no !
I've now wiped my ASZ partition, created a straightforward NTFS partition and set up a scheduled incremental backup task. As far as I'm concerned this replicates everything the ASZ feature had to offer but has the advantages of being able to apply a meaningful name to the backup and full, direct file access to the backup files.
So, thank you for all the replies, suggestions and opinions on this topic, which for me is now closed !
Keith, thanks for your update / feedback, glad we have been able to help in your quest for information.