Recovering Pictures

Why can't I get any comments on this?

Have you also looked in C:\Users\Public for the folders/pictures?

Have you actually restored or copied the files from the backup to another location or are you just trying to access them from Exploring or Mounting the backup?

Can a photo program successfully open any of the photos that crash Windows Explorer?

Nikilet,
Any progress?

Is your backup a backup of everything on the disk (disk option backup) or is the backup a "Files and Folders" backup just of your pictures?

If the backup included all partitons, then all your pictures should be there but you may have to search for them as they could be stored under different user groups as mentioned above.

Let us know.

I did find a folder of my pictures in the path you gave. Don't understand why they would be split up. Anyway, same thing. There were several pictures I could just drag off to the desktop from this folder, but most of them would give me a window (see snapshot #1).

If I tried to open them Windows Explorer stopped working.

This makes absolutely no sense! All my pictures were stored in Windows Photo Gallery, yet they ended up in different places on this Acronis backup -- and I'm still missing my 2008 vacation folder, and possibly some earlier holiday photos too. Do you have any idea where I could go to look for the missing ones?

In two of the folders I've found I copied them from the Acronis backup slice on my external hard drive and pasted them on my desktop and I can open all photos. On the other two folders, some I can slide out of the folder and onto my desktop; the biggest share I get the window about not enough storage.

No, I can not open any of the files with either Ashampoo or Adobe PhotoShop. I have tried dragging them into both programs and they won't even drag. I get the black circle with a line through it. On the two folders for which I can't open some of the pictures, I can't even copy that folder (like I did the other two) and paste it to my desktop. I get that same warning about not enough storage.

My backups were disk option -- everything. And I did a validation every time I backed up.

And I have to tell you that I am really upset about this mouse deal I experienced. Somehow I feel that Acronis should have made sure all customers were aware that this problem could be a possibility.

If this were happening to me, my next steip would be to restore your disk image onto a different (old or new) hard drive as a disk option restore.

Then I would attach the disk externally to your Vista system and attempt to read it like any other data disk.

Was any of your validations ever done when booted from the Rescue CD. It sounds like you have data corruption of your backup or maybe bad disk sectors. Whatever problems you had with your mouse may have been solvable by using a different/alternate Rescue CD.

Do you have more than one backup image--either old or new of your pictures?

Nikilet,
There are several of us trying to help you. Note our names. All of your responses is not coming from one individual.

I don't have an old hard drive and can't afford to buy a new one.
I'm not sure what you are asking me on the validation issue. I validated my backup each time after it was done. It was not done form a rescue CD. If I have corruption on my backup then Acronis validation doesn't work. I had several rescue CDs. But too late for all that now.

Can you offer any places I can look for the pics that are still missing?

The mouse problem in Linux is a well known problem and not limited to Acronis (as already mentioned on the Paragon forum). BartPE and/or WinPE builds should work if this is a constant problem on the system. Personally, I would not have let a mouse problem stand between me and restoring my data.

What version and build of TI are you using? It's possible that another version (especially if it's newer) would be able to better access the backup. This is something that would have to be tried to find out.

The pictures being in different folders on the system has nothing to do with Acronis. Often times Windows places things not where one would think. The public folders is one such area. I rarely use the Documents and Public folders. I usually create my own folders and store everything there. I would recommend that you browse each folder and sub-folder or run a search for JPG files (or whatever format your photos are in). You could also try Mounting the backup and browsing it. It sounds like you've only been Exploring it. One method may work better than the other (they are not the same).

As for restoring the photos, I would try actually restoring the folders (not via Explore or Mount). Actually restore them to another location on the drive (a different folder) and see if they can then be accessed. This should give you direct access to the files. TI can restored files/folders from a backup image so you don't need another drive or space for the entire image, just enough space for the restored files.

The mouse problem might be well known to techie people, but I'll bet it's not to home users like me and there are a lot of us dummies out here! If I couldn't select Recovery and get it to run I don't know how I would restore my data. Too bad I couldn't have waited until morning and then run it down to the computer shop, but that was 100 miles away. Since Windows would not boot, except into the Advanced Boot Options screen by using F8 --- and I couldn't control the mouse in Acronis to make a selection ... If I could have gotten my computer going I could have posted in here, but that wasn't an option.

You say TI can restore files/folders from a backup image. How? What is the process?

Are you still using TI 10 (build 4,942)?

Yes

I've received countless emails to upgrade, but I've been doing some reading in the forum, etc, and have not lilked some of the things I've read about the newer version.

Recovering Files

1. Start TI.
2. On the main TI screen, click on Recovery.
3. Click Next on the Restore Data Wizard screen.
4. Browse to the backup image file (the TIB) and select it. Then click Next.
5. On the Restoration Type Selection screen, select the Restore specified files or folders option and click Next.
6. Select the Restore to a new place option and click Next.
7. Browse to the folder to receive the restored files (you can create a new one if you need to) and then click Next.
8. Browse through the tree on the left side and check the files/folders you wish to restore. You may want to "uncheck" the top-level image file if everything is selected by default. Click Next when ready.
9. On the next screen, just click Next (using default options is usually fine).
10. On the next screen, just click Next (Overwrite existing file is selected by default and is fine).
11. Finally, on the last screen, click the Proceed button to do the restore.
12. When finished, use Windows Explorer to browse to the folder you selected to restore to and see if you can open your files.

Nikilet,
Pay close attention to the #8 instruction and be sure that you uncheck any of the pre-selected partitons. Then you can click on the approprite drive or partition and select your specific folders which you want restored.

Before you start, you may want to decide where you want the duplcated folders to be restored and create a new folder to contain the duplicate folders. Then, when you get to #8 and de-select the pre-selected targets, you can then browse to your new folder as the target for your folder duplication.

Thank you for these instructions. I guess I can give this a try, although I'm not really sure which files/folders I should choose to restore. I know I want to restore the Users/My Name/Pictures and the Public/Pictures. But I have no idea where the other photos which I still can't find are and really not much of an idea what the possibilities are. I will try though.

The backup is on my external hard drive. Could I just created a folder on that external for the restore destination?

Yes, TI should allow you to place the new folders on your external drive. If you have the room on the external, why not restore the entire pictures folder.

Another possibility to find out where your picture files are located would be to perform a search inside the backup archive.

Use the normal Windows Explorer and browse to the folder containing your backups.

1. RIGHT click on the *.tib file and choose option "OPEN"
2. Hightlight the *.tib file and dbl click on the SEARCH option at the top of the window.
3. This should open up a window similar to the attachment below.
4. What is the file type for the missing pictures? Is it PSD or JPG, etc. Use your file type.
If the file type is PSD, then type in
*.PSD
and click Search.
5. Note the circled items. Note the search is being performed on the backup archive. If your archive file name does not appear here, then repeat the procedure until the backup name does appear in the search target.

6. This should produce a display showing where all the *.PSD files are being stored. With this information, maybe you can then attempt the restore again with your new location data.

My Windows Explorer looks nothing like this.

Sorry. My display is from XP Pro. Yours will be different but the contents must be the same so that item being searched is the backup file.

I don't care what I click on, it comes up showing no items matched my search. See snapshot. I've clicked on just My Backup 30, and then the correct slice, and right on down the line. I've searched each time so I guess there are no .JPGs on my backup, which we both know is false. I give up. I will try that Recovering Files option that MudCrab gave and see if that works.

Hello Nikilet, GroverH and MudCrab!

Thank you for finding time to report about the issue and your comments!

GroverH, MudCrab, thank you for your kind assistance.

Nikilet, I entirely understand your concern and I'm really sorry for you've faced this inconvenience. I will be glad to help you with the case.

Please note that Acronis True Image Home 10 is an outdated product and officially it doesn't support Vista OS, thus we cannot guarantee the safety of the data and the backup. This product was outdated on the moment of Vista release, thus it was never updated to support this OS.

MudCrab and GroverH are absolutely right, I just wanted to add, that you can also use mounting of the backup as a workaround (as it was already mentioned). When mounted, the backup appears in the system as another drive with its own letter. This will allow you to search directly in the archive as in any other folder on your computer. You can find the instructions in the Chapter 12.2 Mounting an image p.69 of the User's Guide. After you've found all the needed files, you can unmount the image and it will appear.

You can also try restoring the folder with the help of the bootable media. Basing on this your thread I can see that you haven't burnt the ISO onto the CD and wanted to offer you these instructions: choose the best option and follow the step-by-step screenshots. In case the mouse still won't be working, you can use the keyboard: Tab can help to switch the buttons (buttons will get highlighted and all you will need is to press Enter).

Should you need anything else or have any further questions - feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience, we will be happy to help you!

Thank you!

This just gets deeper and deeper. I had Vista when I purchased this program, and at that time it was NOT outdated. Now I find out it isn't even compatible with my OS. What a joke on me ... all the way around. I don't think I'm going to worry about this backing up anymore unless I decide to give Paragon a try. I'm going to have all my program keys, drivers, email, registry, favorites, RoboForm AND pictures backed up to my external hard drive so that I have access to crucial info. Hopefully this computer will last awhile yet, but I'll tell you the next time I purchase a computer I am going to demand I be given the OS disk.

I didn't get much help from Acronis until after everything went wrong, and even then only after I prodded people to please answer me. Now, when it is too late, I've gotten all kinds of help. I threw my backup away the other day, after I was trying various things and received a notification of corruption.

Thank you for your offer of help. Thank you also for the information. I intend to uninstall Acronis shortly. No sense having an out-of-date, non-compatible program taking up space.

One thing -- are there any special instructions for uninstalling Acronis? I'd like to at least get this part right so I don't have problems because of removing it. Should it be done in Safe Mode? Is it ok to use Revo? Please, if there are any special tips for getting a clean uninstall, let me know.

Thank you