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Unable to restore images

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Hi - have a problem restoring images.  

I have a variety of images from a laptop split between an external HDD [a Samsung T7 SSD], a Synology NAS and 'locally' on a partition on the laptop itself.
 

All those images have been validated.  The images cover the C: [OS and programmes] and D: [User Files] 'drives'.
 

If I try and restore any image from the NAS or the external HDD - the backup fails with the message shown on the attached screengrab/photo.

The network location of the NAS [including password and credentials] are all checked and active.  The external HDD is functional and is giving no errors when scanned.

A quick check online [KB and other sources] doesn't give me an obvious solution.

However, if I try a restore an image from a partition [E: drive] on the HDD on the laptop - it works.

I have tried copying/moving this image to the external HDD and the NAS and the backup fails again - with the same message.  This includes revalidating and then trying in a variety of combinations.

I have tried upgrading from TI 2020 to TI 2021.  Again no joy.
 

You might ask why not just use the image on the partition that works - but due to size - I only have room to store one or two incremental copies.  Hence to need to use and be able to restore from - the NAS and the external HDD.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

Thanks.

 

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Image Fail Report.JPG 91.15 KB
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How are you performing the restore operation here?

Are you doing this starting from Windows and the Acronis GUI or are you booting the laptop from Acronis rescue media?

What type of network connection are you using between the laptop and the NAS?

The error message suggests that the network connection may have been lost or timed out making the file being restored lost to the operation.

Does your NAS allow for a direct USB connection that could be used (my own Synology NAS doesn't allow for this, only external USB devices such as disks or printers)?

Hi Steve - many thanks for your response.

The failure is also regardless of whether we try and restore using the Acronis GUI or using Acronis Rescue Media.

The restore fails from Images on both the NAS and an external HDD - so it cannot be the network connection.  We get the same error message regardless.

But just be absolutely clear, we've attempted the restore from the NAS via both Wifi [AX standard router] and via Cat6 cable.  Obviously different network adapters in use here. 

Failure to restore from the external HDD is irrespective of whether we use a USB 3.1, USB C or Thunderbolt 4 connection to the laptop.

It will only succeed if the image is on a partition on the internal HDD of the Laptop we're trying to restore. 

It's an odd one.  The only solution we think might hold water could be to do with whether the laptop is somehow blocking access to external resources [network and USB] during boot - preventing Acronis from accessing those images.  Just a whacky theory.  Not even sure what to look for to see if that might be true.

Again - any thoughts?

Bunzena,

Do you have individual backup tasks created to each of these locations or are you copying the backup files from your internal drive E: to the NAS and the external drive?

The application tracks backup files using hardware ID so if you have copied backups somehow to these other locations trying to access them afterwards will fail.

If you have individual tasks for the backups can you click-select a task then, right click on that task and select Open location, does that work for you or do you get the same error?

Some comments:

If you are restoring a disk image from within Windows then Acronis will restart the laptop into a temporary Linux based recovery environment which has a number of limitations and may not have the required device drivers needed to your storage location.

If you are restoring a disk image from the offline environment after booting from Acronis rescue media, then the same limitations will apply if using Linux based rescue media.  Ideally, you should create the 'Simple' WinPE version of rescue media which is created from the Windows Recovery Environment where it can pick up device drivers for your installed hardware devices.  This may be needed given you are using USB 3.1, C or Thunderbolt 4 connections which are unlikely to be available in Linux media.

Thanks again Steve - I will try the WinPE idea and report back.  That sounds a very plausible reason.

Enchantec - also thank you. 

It's a good question.  Some Images have been copied over.  For example - an image originally made to a location on the NAS and then copied over to an external HDD.  But each copy has then been 'added' back into the TI backup list.  So each location is correctly displayed.  

I wasn't aware that this could cause problems if done in this way.

In any case, not all the images I'm trying to restore are copies.  Even an 'original' image created on the NAS will not restore back to the laptop.

Bunzena,

The issue is that all backup files created from a single task have a dependency on each other.  If one of the backup files is missing then that corrupts the chain of files and renders all of the files made by the task unrecoverable.

This applies to all backup types, full, incremental, and differential.  So the golden rule when creating backups is that you create a backup task for each desired backup result and if you want to keep addition copies of those backups at several locations then you need to create an individual task for each location.

Any task created begins with a Full backup.  Full in this context means all data selected for backup.  If the backup task is setup as an incremental method backup then incremental files are created based on that original full backup.  At some point in time based on the task configuration a new full backup will be created.  This new full also becomes a part of the backup chain and is dependent on all the other files that the backup task has created.

If you setup automatic cleanup in a backup task, when the task runs that cleanup, a small 12KB file is created which contains metadata describing where all the files in the chain are located.  This 12KB file also carries dependency with all the other files.  Bottom line is that all files created by a backup task must remain in the same location to which they were originally created or else problems like yours occur.

If you need to copy or move backup files only do so from within the application.  Do not use File Explorer to manage backup files as that is a recipe for disaster. 

Thanks Enchantech - really helpful to have that level of detail.  I wasn't aware of this.

I'm going to experiment later by trying to restore from a pristine image created - and not moved to - external media.

I'm also going to look at using a simple WinPe restoration.

I will report back.  Fingers crossed.

Quick update.  I think as Steve, you have suggested, it's a driver issue that's causing the problem.

If I copy the back-ups from the Synology NAS to an external HDD that is USB 3.0 'native' - then the restore progresses to a completion.

If I copy the backups to an external HDD that is USB-C 'native' [so uses a cable that is USB 3.0 at one end - but plugs into the external HDD via USB-C] - then the restore fails.

The laptop I'm trying to restore does not have a wired network connector.  Instead, I have been using a Thunderbolt/USB-C Dock from Pluggable that has a wired Gigabit network port on it.

Restores from the NAS through this port on the dock also fail.

However, if I use a LAN to USB 3.0 connector - and plug that directly into the Laptop, then I can restore from the NAS to completion.

So my conclusion is that a restore from an external HDD that is a native USB-C source or from a NAS connected in via the Pluggable dock, probably fails due to lack of the relevant Linux drivers for USB-C/Thunderbolt and the Pluggable Dock.

Ever so slightly disappointed that TI baulks at a restore based on the above - but realise that this is complex issue and not all bases can be covered.

Not sure if there is anything else to consider - and whether I might have missed something.

Thanks to both Steve and Enchantech for your help and advice.