Want to make sure before purchase.

Marc, welcome to these User Forums.

The term 'dissimilar hardware' means to a new or different computer than the one from which a backup image was originally created.  This can be due to having changed the motherboard of the computer thus giving it a new CPU and internal adapters, or it can a totally different make, model, type of computer.

To recover a backup to such different hardware would require the use of Acronis Universal Restore in most case, as this tool is needed to prepare the recovered Windows OS to work with the new hardware components / devices found in this new system.

With the advent of Windows 10, there is much greater tolerance for changed hardware and it is often possible to restore a backup of Windows 10 to new hardware and be able to boot that OS and let Windows detect new hardware and install the necessary device drivers etc.

With regards to testing your ATI 2018 bootable Rescue Media USB stick, the simplest approach for doing this is to try booting your computer from that USB stick (using the same boot mode as your Windows OS uses) then check that you are able to see all your disk drives that are needed to perform a recovery, and can explore the backup image you have on your external drive to simulate the actions necessary to either recover some files or folders etc, but without actually needing to complete the recovery.

If you want a real test of the recovery process, the obtain a spare disk drive of the same capacity and type as your main OS drive, and test the recovery using that.  Ideally disconnect the actual working OS drive during such a test to avoid any accidents or mistakes! 

OK, so if I have a new computer that comes with Windows 10 installed, and I recover to it from my current computer, which copy of Windows will I have then:The one that came with the new computer, or the restored one? I am thinking the new and the old would have different serial numbers, but would that really matter?

Second, if I think it will be more likely that I will be restoring to a new computer that to the current one, should I use the "Advanced" version of the Backup Media Builder? and if so, should I use the plain "Windows Recovery Environment" selection, or the one that downloads "Windows ADK"? The Rescue Media I have currently was created with the "Simple" option.

Sorry if these questions make me appear "dense" (I am, but I hate to appear that way. ;) ) but the terminology in the documentation is, in many cases, new to me and I want to make sure I am interpreting it correctly. I know from painful experience that during the restore process is not the time to discover that you have the wrong kind of backup!

Thank you,

Marc

Marc, if you get a new computer with Windows 10 pre-installed then restore your backup of Windows 10 from a different computer, you end up with the other copy of Windows 10.

This in itself does have to be an issue provided that both copies of Windows 10 are for the same version, i.e. Home, Pro etc.  If they are the same version, then Windows will recognise that the new hardware has a valid licence for that version and will activate.  If not the same version, then you will get an activation challenge to provide a new licence serial or purchase one.

See KB 60091: Acronis True Image 2018: how Simple bootable media creation mode works for detailed information on how this works and how decisions are made about which particular version of the rescue media will be created.

The Simple Rescue Media created from the Windows Recovery Environment should be fine in almost all circumstances.  The only issue that may arise is if there is substantial hardware differences between the old and new hardware that requires additional device drivers to be installed, but this is the province of the Acronis Universal Restore media.

There is no such thing as a 'dense' question - it is far more sensible to ask all your questions up front and well before you get to a point of no return!  We would have less upset customers in these forums if only some had asked questions before embarking on potentially disastrous actions, especially in doing cloning without having adequate backups first!

Thank you for all your help! I do have one more issue that I need help with. I have set up a backup scheme that does a full back up after 5 differential backups. I have also specified that I would like all backup chains older than 4 days to be deleted. The backup part is working fine, but backup chains older than 4 days are not being deleted. Consequently, I am having to manually delete them to avoid running out of room on the backup drive. Any ideas on what could cause this?

Thanks again,

Marc

Marc,

<I have set up a backup scheme that does a full back up after 5 differential backups. I have also specified that I would like all backup chains older than 4 days to be deleted.>

The age of your backup version chains is not counted until the next chain has been started by creating a new full backup image file.

Automatic cleanup only works on 'completed version chains' so will not cleanup any older differential backups as these are all part of a single version chain which has to be handled as a complete chain.

My own preference is to use the 'Store no more than X recent version chains' rather than going by the age in days of a chain.  I find this both easier to understand and also to calculate the space needed on my backup drive.

Whatever method you use, you need to include a further new Full backup image file (size) in your calculations as cleanup only runs after making such a new file.  This is to prevent the loss of a vital backup by deleting the existing chain then failing to make a new backup, leaving you with nothing!

I will give that a try.

Thanks,

Marc

OK, I reset the backup scheme, but the software does not seem to be using the new parameters. For example, I set it make a full backup after 3 differential backups. Last night it made the 4th differential backup in the chain. Is there something else I need to do make the software follow the new rules?  I am considering uninstalling the Acronis software, deleting all backups, then reinstalling the software and setting up the custom scheme, but am I thinking there must be an easier way. Any suggestions?

Marc, the best way forward is to just create a new backup task with a unique name and storing the backup to a new folder on your backup drive.  You can save a little time by using the Clone settings option for the current task to copy all the current settings, then make any further changes to the cloned task, including keeping the name unique etc.  Once the new / cloned task is as you want it, then either remove all scheduling from the original task or remove the settings for that original task.

I ended up removing Acronis, reformatting the hard drive I was using for a backup drive, reinstalling Acronis, and then setting up a backup scheme using what I have learned about this software. The scheme calls for a full backup after 5 differential backups and limits backups stored to 1. This ran fine until last night. The 5th differential backup had run the night before so I thought last night's run should have made a full backup, then removed the previous chain, leaving the current full backup on the disk. However, this morning I found that the backup had run about 3 minutes then gave the following error message.

"Failed to open information about volume 6 diff file, File my be missing or corrupted."

"More information about this error and solutions may be available online in the Acronis Knowledge Base.
To access the online resource manually, enter the event code at: http://kb.acronis.com/errorcode/
Event code: 0x000B0080+0x0004000B+0x0000FFF0+0x80070015"

Checked the "activity" tab it said

"Backup failed: Write error."

There was also a message saying something like make sure the f: drive was attached. Well I could see the f: drive, the full backup, and all differential backups listed in Windows Explorer, and there was no other indication that it was not accessible. There was also plenty of unused space on the drive as well. I can see how anything was different last night than any other night when the backup ran successfully. Any ideas?

Marc, please can you attach a copy of the ti_demon log file for your backup task that gave the error you describe above.  Use the MVP Log Viewer tool to access the logs if you have it, else download it from the Community Tools link in my signature.

OK, here it is.

The log file shows that the destination drive was not ready.  Could be that the drive was powered down in a sleep state and would not awake.  You might look at the power settings for the drive and insure the drive has power at backup time.

It is possible, I suppose, however, the backup routine has run every night (1 am) for the last 20 or so nights and has never encountered this problem before. Power setting for the PC is set to "Never."  I have not found a way to control the power state of individual hard drives. Can you tell me where I might look for that?

One other thing to note is, that after clearing the error state and making sure the drive was accessible this morning, I tried to manually restart the backup and it came back with the same error. I have attached that log to this message.

Thank you for your input,

Marc

Still shows drive not ready,  I suggest that you download the VSS Doctor tool and run the tool on your PC to check for VSS errors.  You can find the tool HERE

Report back with any errors found by the tool.  The tool will display google links to articles for errors if they exist, clicking on those can lead to solutions as well.

You might also have a look at Windows Services (type Services in the Search box) for VSS and make sure that it is set to Automatic.  If you find it is not.change it to Automatic then close the services screen and restart your PC.  This sometimes will fix such errors.

I am hoping that this will wrap up this conversation. I used the VSS Doctor tool and it showed no VSS errors. Checked for VSS (Called Virtual Shadow Copy on the Services list) and found that it was set to Manual. Changed that to Automatic. Looked at events for the hard drive itself and found some not terribly clear messages there. One was about something called Dell Data Vault Collector that had terminated unexpectedly around the time of the error, and another message that seemed to indicate that the drive was in a powered down state and whatever was trying to use it did not have permission to power it back up. Anyway, it looked like the error was indeed some kind of system thing unrelated to the Acronis software. I think the most likely thing is that the drive was in some sort of low power state and that the Acronis software did not have permission to change that. How that didn't happen before is still a mystery to me. I am hoping the change to VSS in Services will keep that from happening again.

In any event, I was up using the computer later than usual last night and the ATI backup started automatically. I let it run and since it had not encountered any problems after half an hour or so, I went to bed. This morning the backup ended having successfully made a new full backup and deleting the previous full backup and its 5 associated differential backups. Consequently, I will now be purchasing the software. I am doing so even though I have found the software itself less than "user friendly," however, the speed and quality of the help I have received in the process of learning how to use it has been amazing. This is customer service of the highest order and all this before I have spent any money whatsoever on the product! The software is good, but the support I have gotten from the providers has really made the sale.

Thank you,

Marc Lyman

Marc, thanks for the update above.  Is your backup drive a USB external drive?  If so, check your Power settings for whether USB selective suspend is enabled or not, as this may have been in play here?

Marc, it is normal for the Virtual Shadow Copy service to be set to Manual. I don't think changing it to Automatic would be useful.

I have an old Dell laptop and I know that there can be a lot of bloatware with Dell computers. I always try to clear out as much of that as I can. A quick search on the Dell Data Vault Collector shows others reporting problems with it (e.g. burning up lots of CPU time). It is a daunting process to clean a system of all the unimportant or unnecessary services, etc., but it can make for a much better operating computer.

Steve,

I have checked the power settings and do not see anything about USB selective suspend, or how to change its settings. Can you tell me how to find that?

BrunoC,

Thanks, I have made some progress in clearing out the unnecessary services, but there is probably more to be done. I'll see what I can do about the DDVC - and I decided quite a while back that my next computer will NOT be a Dell.

I'll keep an eye on the VSS as well. I'm not really sure what it does, but it the fact that it was not running seemed to be implicated in the errors I encountered. However, I can't say I really understood much of the info provided by the event log.

Thanks for you help,

Marc

Marc, open the Control Panel > Power Options then edit the settings for your chosen power plan and look at the Advanced settings panel.  The image below is from my Dell laptop.

OK, I found it, but should it be enabled or disabled? It is currently enabled. I would think being disabled would keep the drive powered up all the time, but maybe it's the opposite?

Marc, if this feature is enabled then it means it can be suspended when Windows thinks it is idle which may not be actually the true state.

It should be easy to test whether this is a factor or not, whether the problem occurs when it is disabled and comes back when enabled again?  Most modern drives go into a low power mode when not in use.