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Restoring registry information, Desktop links from an Incremental backup

Thread needs solution

OS: Windows XP/SP3
Acronis: TRUE IMAGE HOME 2010 (TI2010)
TIB files on an external USB drive.

Issue(s)

1. The incremental backup too a very long time and was huge. After looking around in this forum I understand why but I am not happy about it. Apparently if file locations change on a disk, TI2010 thinks the file has changed and thus it is included in the incremental backup. I am unclear why TI2010 does not use the windows 'archive' bit.

2. I restored two disk partitions from a FULL backup (C,D) and then proceeded to restore C (and then D) from the incremental backup. I was surprised that new software I had installed between the time of the full and incremental backup were not completely represented in my restored drives. The FILES were there, but the registry entries, desktop links, etc were not. I am wondering if I did something wrong, or if this is simply how TI2010 works. If the answer is 'this is how it works', this is a major flaw. I would expect FULL+INCREMENTAL would be a complete restore to when the incremental was done. I mean COMPLETE. Please advise.

3. The time estimates are terrible. This is a minor point, but the algorithm could be improved.

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Did you restore the partition or only select files. If you want to restore system files, your best bet is th do a restoration of thesystem partition, which, of course, requires that you have backupd u the system partition (using disk mode).

I initially was going to restore the partition from the incremental backup until I got to the confirmation step. The summary stated that the software was going to delete my partition prior to the restore. SInce I had just restored from the FULL backup, this made little sense I (honestly) I did not want to take the gamble and start from scratch (the FULL restore took a lot of time).

It is possible I missed it, but I did not find any good instructions in the documentation.

Thanks for the information and your input. I appreciate it.

PS. I have been using Acronis for several years and NOW I REMEMBER why I swore only to do FULL BACKUPS. I am away from home and do not have the computer resources to experiment. In a couple of weeks I will be back and will have two machines, and will be able to experiment. I will keep this forum posted. Thanks again.

Vic S,
True Image does not track archive bit changes. True Image tracks used sectors on the disk. If a file was moved or edited, this means more or less or different sectors used so it will include these changes in the backup. Likewise, if you defrag your disk, each and every change is added to the backup.

When restoring, True Image restores the base plus your selected incremental. So it is not necessary to do two restores. If you want the incremental restored, then you choose that incremental file for restoration. The full base backup, plus any other incrementals between the base your user selected incremental will be included in the single restore. Any restore (full or incremental) will overwrite the existing installation for those partitions restored.

Also note that deleting the existing partition on the target disk means that you can resotre to an existing partiton, which means that it will be deleted and replaced with the restore or you can not delete, in which case you will have to assign unallocated space to the restore, assuming there is any. In most cases, one is intending to replace any existing partition. The first step in the restoration then is to delete the existing partition, so don't do that step unless you have backup to restore and intend to restore.

Scott Hieber wrote:

Also note that deleting the existing partition on the target disk means that you can resotre to an existing partiton, which means that it will be deleted and replaced with the restore or you can not delete, in which case you will have to assign unallocated space to the restore, assuming there is any. In most cases, one is intending to replace any existing partition. The first step in the restoration then is to delete the existing partition, so don't do that step unless you have backup to restore and intend to restore.

This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I can't even guess what it means.