Restoration and Backups
Following a restoration, is it good practice to continue with the same backup sequence or to start a new one?
Thanks. I found that the next backup chain name my_documents_inc_b1_s1__v2 became my_documents_inc_b1_s1__v2-1. This only happened on the backup chain a restoration was made from - it was a normal my_documents_inc_b1_s1__v3 on another backup I had (I make two independant ones on separate USBHDD's just in case there's a problem with one or the other). I don't think the v2-1 and v3 backups were the same size so I archived the good versions and started again using the Backup Settings Transfer, which is easy enough.
Graying out the tick in 'Search for Backups at startup' seems to work OK so I don't get a load of other backups found.
Good. My experience is that files finishing up with "-1" indicate database corruption and will result in validation issues.
I tried understanding the TI 2013 Help - Backing up data - Backup File Naming, where "-1" is detailed but not for this scenario and as far as I know there is no written advice about creating new backups when a restoration is made. I bet Grover knows!
EDIT: As far as I can ascertain after a restore, TI 2013 will create a new backup "-1" if it sees a backup already exists rather than overwrite it. It is not clear what kind of backup it would be if the last existing one was an incremental backup.
After a restoration, the problem is that your backup storage folder contains backup files which the program does not know about. If you try to continue the task, the program gets confused and does not know what to do because of the presence of unexpected numbers.
After a restoration, my suggestion is that new backup tasks are created with new empty storage folders so there is no mixing of backup files.
In order to keep using the same task, you would need to delete (manually within 'windows explorer) any backup file which has a date and time newer than the file used for the restore. This would enable to keep the tasks in sync with the proper numbers. You want the TrueImage to not know there was a restore so the backups can continue normally. This should work but no guarantee. While I never like deleting backups, the ones being deleted have no value if you try to run tasks overtop them. The deleting of files must occur before any backups are created after the restoration. Once the program becomes confused, you have no choice but to start new tasks with new folders.
For example: if you have backups 2-6 and your restore #2, you would need to delete 3,4,5, 6 so the next backup being created would be numbered 3.
There have been suggestions offered in the past so it is possible there will be a future fix to this dilemma but to me, is really is no problem--just start over with new tasks pointing to new folders. Problem solved and you can keep your old backups--which is the best safety.
Thanks Grover - just seen your response. Per your example, I found that TI doesn't even seem to know about #2 either. I don't recall 2012 doing this.
I just did another restore from a single full backup and the backup task produced another with suffix "v1-2" instead of creating an incremental one. So the restoration file version disappears from the restoration. I haven't discovered if after deleting an incremental backup a restore was made from, TI would recognise the previous one and carry on with the backup task.
Agreed that it is best to put a new backup task in place following a restore.
Curious: Question regarding the single full backup which was used for the restore.
Was the task which created the full configured also for incrementals --which had not been created-- Such as the example below.
Look at figure 11-Inc in this link
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/28705
Was your task configured like this and what were you using instead of the 6 and 4 examples?
My guess is that the ATI database is restored with the information prior to the backup, so when the backup runs again, it creates the next file (which is already existing on the backup disk, but not present yet in the database because the database is older). When ATI detects the file exists already, it doesn't overwrite it and create a -1 copy. At this point, I doubt the database is coherent any longer.
This is why I think you are better off emptying the backup directory before restarting your backups after a restore.
Thanks Grover. When I set up my backup task I try to keep almost everything to default so no changes to the Backup Scheme. In Advanced I just set a password. In Performance I just set Operation Priority to Normal. I did not turn Schedule on. On my main PC I set up 3 backup tasks 'Later' and initially export settings to use again when clearing old tasks out (using 'Remove from list' - 'all backups) and archiving old backups. I have 'Search for backups at start' tick grayed out. I have not altered the registry to disable start up scan. In Figure 21, when I right click a completed task, I only get 'Recover files' not 'Explore and recover'.