Different backup versions
I currently have TrueImage 10, Home 2010 and Home 2011. Thus I have backups from all 3 versions. Since each Acronis backup product only recognizes its own backup files (and one previous version), and since no product recognizes any subsequent backup files, I sometimes have a problem knowing which version of Acronis to use to retrieve data or do a restore. Thus my 2011 product does not understand my TI 10 backup files and, when I buy 2012, it will not understand either the TI 10 or 2010 files.
My question is - is there any way to determine which Acronis backup version a particular backup file was produced by? None of my products actually tells me that it does not understand a backup file (even when doing a verify), so often find out I am using the wrong product to do a restore when the restore fails in the middle of doing the restoration.
Thanks for any help.
Thanks for the information.
Since I found out about this issue about 6 months ago I now try to place backups in external drive folders indicating what Acronis version was used to creating them, but I still have (and still sometimes have to access) older backups that were done prior to creating this kind of folder structure. And, sometimes I forget.
This came up because of a restore I had to do on my wife's computer. I was sure the backup was TrueImage10 (I was wrong) and that was where it was stored, but the restore failed in the middle because it was really a 2010 backup and, of course, TI10 does not understand 2010 format. After losing half a day I tried 2010 and, of course, it worked properly.
> With the release of the 2011 and 2012 version, both have indicated they would restore both the 2009 and 2010, v11 and v10, etc.
I did not know that, but I will try to not forget it. I really like the Acronis software, but it does not seem difficult to me for them to tag each created backup with an indicator as to what version created it and then create a tool that allow users to identify the version.
Thank you again for the reply.
I also have a "versions" question but in a different context. Last Saturday I did my usual weekly backup which produced two different versions -- one numbered 7 and the other 11. I don't understand the differences and why this would have happened, although a guess might be a scheduled backup and a manual backup (which was activated/requested when the scheduled backup seemed not to be happening or maybe an earlier version 7 was being finished). I wonder whether one or the other version can be deleted or if it would be worthwhile deleting all backups from the external 2TB drive and starting again with first a full backup then followed by weekly incremental backups.
Here is what happened last Saturday looking at the double entry for 9/21/2013, which also appears in the Acronis True Image 2014 program itself (screen captures attached). Many thanks for any suggestions. Regards, Stephen
My partitions_inc_b1_s7 _v1.tib 8/3/2013 8:33 AM Acronis True Image Backup Archive 10,153 KB
My partitions_inc_b1_s7 _v1-2.tib 9/21/2013 10:29 AM Acronis True Image Backup Archive 20,580,735 KB
My partitions_inc_b1_s8_v1.tib 8/10/2013 9:52 AM Acronis True Image Backup Archive 62,826,288 KB
My partitions_inc_b1_s9_v1.tib 8/17/2013 8:43 AM Acronis True Image Backup Archive 9,888,87 4 KB
My partitions_inc_b1_s10_v1.tib 8/24/2013 8:41 AM Acronis True Image Backup Archive 6,162,983 KB
My partitions_inc_b1_s11_v1.tib 9/21/2013 9:43 AM Acronis True Image Backup Archive 29,622,112 KB
Stephen,
1. You have several issues and it is not clear exactly what happened. The bottom line is that there is no fix or need to continue the first two tasks. I would change them to "Do not schedule" and cease to use them. You can keep the actual backups until you need the storage space. Never delete a backup unless it is absolutely necessary. You just never know when it might be needed.
Your first two tasks should be only 1 task. I do not know why there are two with the same name.
Possible explanations that might cause your circumstances are
a. Editing the task and making changes to the task configuration.
b. Updating TI and attempting to continue an old task.
c. Restoring a registry checkpoint causing duplication in backups.
D. Restore a backup and continuing to use existing tasks.
e. Creating a 2nd task with the same name as the first task.
2. My personal recommendations--not necessarily those of Acronis
a. Each task should point to its own storage folder. Do not use the same folder for mixed tasks. If you wish, all can be stored in a main My Backups folder but each task backups would be stored in its own sub-folder such as
MyBackups/Custom Task1
MyBackups/Custom Task2
MyBackups/Custom Task3
One folder per task makes for simplicity and reduces confusion and provides clarity as to what is happening with each task.
b. Click on link #2 below and look at illustration figure 11-Inc. This illustrates a custom backup scheme based on keeping x number of recent version chains. Given the limitation of incrmentals (all the oldest must be present and readable in order to restore a recent incremental). I would suggest you do full backups at least monthly or at least every 2 months based on your desire for weekly incrementals. Thus, your custom scheme would be based on 1 full plus 4 inc; or 1 full plus 8 or 9 inc. The keep x number of recent version chains would be based on how many chains (Full + x inc) you wish to store. Once you reach your x amount of chains, the older chains (1 Full + ? inc) would be deleted as each new full is added.
c. Do not edit a task. If changes need, start a new task pointing to a new sub-folder.
d. Any restore of a backup (or registry restore of a registry checkpoint)should result in your starting over with all new tasks and ceasing to add any new backups to the old tasks.
e. Whenever you upgrade to a completely new version of TrueImage such as from 2013 to 2014, cease to use the old tasks and start over with all new tasks pointing to a new empty sub-folder.
3. When uploading attachments to the forum, the creation of a pdf is not necessary. You can directly upload a jpg file in the same manner you uploaded the pdf file.
4. As part of your review of link #2 below, also look at illustration figure 8. This shows how to custom name each task backup file. The name assigned to the task can be named just prior to saving the task. Task name and backup file name are two separate entities as discussed in figure 8.
5. Additional non-scheduled backups can be added to an existing task simply by clicking the "Backup Now" option whenever a non-scheduled backups is desired. A new task is not necessary.
If you should want duplication of backups, then create additional tasks with their own unique names and point the new tasks to other new empty storage sub-folders.
6. I recommend your backup type be "disk mode" backups as per beginning part of link 2 below.
7. Here is one example of a custom backups scheme like the 11-Inc
