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Acronis 2013, Unable to Mount Backup Images

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I currently have Acronis True Image 2013, Build 6514, installed on a 64 bit version of Windows 7, Home Premium, Service Pack 1. Since the program was installed, I have been unable to mount any of several backup images (full, incremental or differential) that have been created. The images are both created and verified by Acronis without issue. However, when I attempt to mount any of them via the Tools and Utilities tab I receive the follow error notice (see attached and below):

Error while opening the archive file. The archive format is not supported by this operation.

The images are being stored in an Acronis Secure Zone on an external HD accessed via a 3.0 USB port. Both the main drive and the external drive are formatted in NTFS.

Surprisingly, if I navigate to the image via Windows Explorer I can view the various files and folders on the image. Unfortunately, this process is so slow as to be essentially worthless. However, it does appear to indicate that the images are both accessible and uncorrupted.

Has anyone else encountered such an issue? And, if so, can you offer any guidance as to how it can be corrected?

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Try double-clicking one of the backups to open it in Windows Explorer.

I advise against creating the Acronis Secure Zone. It's a sub-optimal method of backup intended for people who have no external target to which to backup. If your drive fails, you would lose your system, files, and your Secure Zone backups.

It's much better and safer to make backup images to an external hard drive.

Also, in the past there were occasional reports of the Secure Zone causing problems to the system. When I installed Secure Zone on one PC, it corrupted the hard drive causing data loss and rendering the system unbootable. Perhaps the latest versions of Secure Zone are improved, but that experience coupled with its inherent insecurity and lack of redundancy cause me to be wary of Secure Zone.

I also recommend against the associated Acronis Startup Recovery Manager. If activated, it modifies your system drive Master Boot Record (MBR), which can cause problems with multi-boot managers and other low-level disk utilities. I prefer to use the bootable Rescue Media.