Backup target (NAS) has changed after manually copying files to another HDD
ATIH 14 Premium, but probably similar with other versions, Win 10 64 bit.
My backup job with differential backups after full backup goes to a NAS in my home network. I manually make copies of these files to a snap-in SATA HDD in my desktop as a second backup. Since the NAS gets full earlier becaus of other backups stored there, I want to delete from within ATIH differential backups on the NAS. File recovery - shows me all the backups made, but only the latest backup is on my NAS (not yet copied to the HDD) and the other backups suddenly show up as located on the HDD so I assume I would wipe them when I delete these versions.
How could this happen and how can I delete the versions on the NAS and not on the second backup HDD. I of course could manually delete some of the NAS diff backups with Windows Explorer but that ruins the job as I have experienced earlier. Consolidation takes an eternity so is there any way to delete the files on the NAS from within Acronis True Image?
Hi Steve,
I deleted as a try one differential version on the NAS and tried to validate. Validating stopped after a while without offering an "Ignore" choice, just "knowledge base" and ending the validation, which I did. I think I remember that this has happened to me before. Moving all backups of this job from the NAS to the snap-in HDD and creating a clone of the job and start out with a full backup is probably the only solution.
I have copied back the deleted file from the second backup HDD to the NAS into the directory where I had taken it away. Tried validating again. After several hours error message that the validation process cannot find this differential backup file which it still tries to find on HDD H: which is turned off to prevent deletion. No ignore choice. The same file is also in the NAS backup directory and available. Before I really clone the job and start all over - how can I tell the program to accept only the file sequence on the NAS as backups ?
Franz, what actual files are present on your NAS when you are trying to do this validation?
Your screen image shows a file named:
(1)(1)ST2000DX001-1NS164Win10_diff_b1_s4_v1.tib
which suggests that you should have files b1_s1, b1_s2, and b1_s3 in this sequence for validation to walk through.
The fact that ATI is looking for this file on your H: drive suggests that there is information for this backup task in the Acronis Database using the same H:\Backups\ViktorIntell5\HD03\ folder path and using task name: (1)(1)ST2000DX001-1NS164Win10 that the validation process is trying to follow to find all the required files.
These files are present on the NAS, in my opinion a complete sequence of backups. From there I have made a complete copy of all these files on the snap-in SATA-HDD on my desktop, drive H: when active, now turned off. The file (1)(1)ST2000DX001-1NS164Win10_diff_b1_s4_v1.tib was the one I had manually deleted from the NAS before trying to validate and put back when the validation failed.
Franz, I believe that the validation error comes from the information in the Acronis Database. I would suggest renaming the 6 files on your NAS as shown in your image to give these a name that is unknown to the ATI Database, i.e. change the start of the name from (1)(1) to (2)(2), then either validate via the right-click option in Explorer, or else use the option to Add existing backup for the latest .tib file toadd the renamed backup to the GUI then retry the validation of the added task there.
Hi Steve,
Bingo!!! That worked finally. It took about a day but now the validation worked without any refusal of the program. Thanks a lot for the advice. I will record this to my how-tos so I can use it again when the same problem arises next time.
Franz, glad to hear the suggestion worked ok! Always good to be able to resolve these issues, and thanks for your feedback to let us know.
I think the October Windows Update has messed completely the access to my NAS drive with the backups. When trying to delete backups, Acronis gets stuck. I presume I am not the only one.....I should have stayed with Windows 7 ......
Franz, I have been running the October Windows 10 Update 1809 since it first came out (before Microsoft decided to withdraw it then re-release it more recently) and have had no issues with managing my own backups on my NAS.
When you say Acronis gets stuck when trying to delete backups, have you checked what the log for the task has for messages?
Hi Steve,
yes You are correct and I was wrong with my suspicion. The reason for the problem was that the NAS HDDs had run out of space. That caused that I could not delete from within the webinterface to the NAS, not either with Windows Explorer. After a lot of fiddling around I managed to map it as a drive letter, then could access the drive with the Windows CLI and then deleting files worked to create space again. I wiped the older backups, have started a new one and it worked.
A bit off topic, after several years of using various Acronis True Image versions I am still insecure which way to use it, with differential or incremental backups. At first I used incremental as suggested, but loosing one file in the collection will make the whole collection except the full backup useless so I changed to differential backups which take more space but leave me with all other working backup versions if one file vanishes. Any better solution?
Regards Franz47
Franz, take a read of Acronis Article: 'The Ultimate Guide to Computer Backup' which may offer some insights into best practice strategies.
Having multiple backups in different places is the key suggestion, where investing in some larger backup drives would allow you to either keep with differentials, or else store more, smaller incremental chains or even switch to just making full backups (if time is not an issue!).