Error restoring Windows XP image created in earlier TI on TI 2013 running on Windows 7
I've been unable to mount or restore a backup image created with an earlier version of True Image running on a Windows XP system. I am using a Windows 7 machine running the 2013 Trial (the registered 2012 executable did not work, either). I got the cryptic "Operation failed." and here is the log from TI 2013.
I have scanned the disk and there does not appear to be any issues with the hard drive. The backup was split in 700 MB sections and was password-protected. Any suggestions on how to recover this data would be most appreciated.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
You must first unlock the external drive by entering your password. ATI cannot do that on its own.
Is this a Western Digital or Seagate drive, using their own proprietary drive lock/encryption?
I don't think there's any hard drive level password involved. It is just an IDE hard drive in an external USB enclosure. The backup has a password, but not the hard drive. In any event, I can copy the files to my Windows 7 computer's hard drive and see if I get the same error there.
Thanks!
Ah, sorry, I thought the drive was password-protected, but I reread your post and see that the archive was password-protected.
Run the tests and ensure a good connection, as I explained.
After 46 minutes copying the 86 GB to my local hard drive, I browsed for the backup and entered the password. Shortly thereafter, it comes of with a message:
Cannot find version 127. You may have moved it or deleted it. Please click Browse and specify its location or ignore it.
Is it complaining about file 127? I see the file JP121002_127.tib right next to JP121002_126.tib and JP121002_128.tib in my explorer window.
Anyway, I browsed and pointed it to the 127 file and entered the password for 127 and 128, the last two file splits in the archive and it ran for about 5 minutes or so. Then it terminated with "Operation failed." again. I have attached the entire set of logs, but it seems like it was the same thing I was seeing before.
Please let me know if you have any ideas. Note: I will be out of touch for a while and it will be Monday before I can check back here, but I'll be ready to take a fresh stab at this again.
Try using the bootable CD for recovery and use the same version that the backup was made with.
Try restoring the your preferred slice first. If that contains to fail, try selecting the 126.
Are we to interpret that you have 128 backup files made from the one full backup?
It is a single backup. I tend to split my backups into 700 MB chunks to make it easier to move them around or back them up to CD or DVD.
I wasn't favoring a particular file-- I usually pick the first split file in the backup set, but it doesn't seem to make a difference which one I choose.
I'm working on getting another PC to work with either the boot CD or installing TI 2012 on Windows XP. I want the files on the backup, but I do not intend to replace the Windows 7 operating system with the backup. I would like to restore just the files either to a subfolder or to a separate drive where I can copy the files over to a subfolder on the Windows 7 system. Given the uncertainty of this operation, I have a completely blank hard drive I will extract the backup to.
I keep harping on getting another Windows XP environment because it seems as though my issues are somehow related to attempting to restore files backed up under Windows XP under Windows 7. It might not entirely make sense, but searching through the old forum posts seems to point to some areas where earlier versions of TI did not play well with Windows 7. I will try some of these alternate approaches and tell you how it goes.
Joseph,
Try to validate your backup. The error suggests that the split backup is corrupted.
I get a validation error. I've attached the log, but the obvious bits are here.
Failed to prepare operations. Error code: 10 'File system error is found' with extended code: 458,755 'Read error'"
"Read error" "The specified file does not exist."
The system cannot find the file specified"
"Operation has completed with errors."
Those are the same messages as I had in the log I posted above. Assuming it really is corrupt, what are my recovery options?
Is it possible that the file is from an incompatible version of True Image? I have licenses from about 8 or 9 separate products and I'm not 100% exactly which product-- True Image Home or True Image Workstation created the backup, or precisely which version, either. Both programs output *.tib files, so I can't really tell from that. Is there a way to determine the source program and version?
OK, I'm not sure why the log has last Thursday's date. That's what came out when I extracted the log after the validation failed.
Are you able to double-click on your backup archive and see any files?
No, I can't mount the image to see the individual files from TI 2013. When I try, it thinks for a bit and reports "Operation failed."
Joseph:
This is just semantics, but "mounting" and "double-clicking" are two different operations in TI. Double-clicking opens a Windows Explorer window and allows you to browse through the archive. Mounting connects the archive as a virtual disk drive.
If double-clicking is what you meant in your last reply then I apologize for the sidetrack.
Joseph,
If double click or mounting doesn't succeed, before we give up on the archive, did you try to validate from the recovery CD?
If yes, run chkdsk /F on the backup disk. Maybe there is a file system error that pertubates ATI. If validation still fails after chkdsk /F, let's try chkdsk /R. If validation still fails after this, your last trial will be to move the backup files to another disk and see if that solves it. If not, your backup is lost.
Actually, I've been working with copies of the backup. I'm doing a file compare on the 85 GB of files back to the originals right now. It doesn't seem like a file corruption issue to me, but perhaps one of my earlier attempts with one of the other versions messed something up somehow. I was really hoping there would be meta-information regarding what exact program and version created it in the file header.
I wasn't sure where you were suggesting double-clicking. When I am on the recovery screen and I double-click the archive name, it behaves just the same as if I click on the Recovery option to the right of it. Mind you, this is TI 2013, not 2012.
Joseph:
Using Windows Explorer, browse to your archive and double-click on it. Don't open TI to do this.
That gives an error message saying it could be corruption, permissions, or file in use, but it appears even before asking for the archive password.
I ran a full image restore after booting from a rescue CD. I initially selected "Validate archive before restoring," but an hour or so through, it said something about "please insert the volume containing file number 99" and the only options were retry (same message) or cancel. So I canceled and now I'm restoring without validating. I'll let it run overnight and see how it goes.
It is rare that the recovery works if the validation fails, but not it is impossible.
The recovery failed at 75% with the same error. However, once in a while, error messages can actually be what they say. It appears that when I made the copy of the backup files, I missed volume 99. That's easy enough to fix.
I'm restarting the restore operation with the missing file included. I'll know more in ~3 hours.
It appears that when I made the copy of the backup files, I missed volume 99.
This would explain that :-)
Running a validation helps identify the problem without impacting the disks. Trying to restore and having the restore fails actually impacts the target disk.
OK, that completed smoothly. Thanks for your help and encouragement.
Lessons learned:
1) Apparently new releases of TI may not necessarily be backwardly compatible with archives created under earlier versions.
2) In the future, I should record the TI version in the description when the archive is first created.