Acronis True Image 2021 - Issues backup up and restoring Windows 10
For some reason, something changed. I think it might be caused by updates in Windows 10, but I can't confirm.
I'm using Acronis True Image 2021 to backup and restore computers. I'm using the ISO file. We have been using True Image since the 2017 version.
Creating a backup of a system appears to go just fine.
I install a computer with Windows 10. I run all the latest Windows updates on the machine. I turn off fast boot, I remove the recovery partition, I make sure that restore points are disabled.
Then I reboot the computer, boot the ISO of Acronis True Image 2021 and create a backup. That works perfectly.
After rebooting, I launch the ISO again and now click restore. I select the ISO file, but instead of it continuing to the next step, it suddenly asks me to select the date. This never happened before. Now this image might actually be restored next year or the year after and you have to select the only possible date, which doesn't make much sense and it was never an issue.
After that it at times asks me to select which disk and which partition it wants to send the data too, but often this doesn't resemble the original partition layout, which means I have to boot a Linux ISO, open Gparted, then manually alter the partitions to make them work with the new image layout. It's not a nice way of doing so. I sadly can't replicate that now, because it now keeps crashing, which is the alternative to that partition layout.
Here is an example of restoring an image:
I select an image.
Recover everything is fine.
Now I have to select a previous point in time. Why? How do I get rid of this? Restore points are already disabled on the computer that I made the image on. I never had any issues with this.
Restore everything. Usually, after this, it starts asking questions about partition layouts, which i can't properly modify within True Image, which means I can't restore the backup.
This usually means the computer crashed. Sometimes, after a few hours, I get to the next screen with the partition layout. The image is on an external SSD. The disk in the laptop is an SSD. It's booted from a fast USB drive.
In the past, with the same ISO file, I had zero problems making backups of Windows 10.
The reason that you see the calendar view when doing a recovery is because there can be more than one backup file or point in time that can be selected for recovery depending on how the backups are created
is there a way to disable that? if it "depends on how the backups are created".
With ATI 2020 and later versions, Incremental backup 'slices' are consolidated within the same initial Full backup .tibx file when creating Disk backup images rather than being created as separate files as was the case for older versions.
I've made images with 2020 that didn't have that issue.
The recommended type of rescue media is that created using the Windows Recovery Environment of the system where it is to be used. This is WinPE media and will include device drivers for the hardware found in the laptop from the WinRE partition.
This is complete overkill for what I'm trying to do. I'm not running into driver issues.
Note: if you are using ATI 2020 in a commercial environment to backup & restore multiple different computers then you are probably in breach of the Acronis licensing terms and conditions! Acronis produce a business product called Snap Deploy 5 which is intended for such purposes.
I have no use, at all, for snap deploy. It's completely outside the scope of what I'm trying to accomplish. If this isn't allowed, then I guess we won't renew our licenses and move towards clonezilla or a similar product. We use Acronis for it's ease of use. It looks windows like, which means everyone can use it. However, 99%+ of our computers run Linux and don't need Acronis as we run an install server for that. We have a handful of computers that we reimage with Windows and Acronis. Setting up something like snap deploy won't happen, because then it's much easier to move away from Acronis. I only use it one machine at a time, by booting it manually from a USB stick. These aren't desktop computers used in an office environment where we constantly use it. It's computers that are used to control machinery which is mostly used in remote places. No internet, nothing. I've talked to multiple people on the Acronis sales team and told them that we use it like this and they had no objections to it. I can't find anything on the website that says I can't use it like this.
Sorry but there is no user method for changing the way the rescue media works to my knowledge.
Acronis are no longer developing or selling True Image and have moved from using perpetual licenses to a subscription only business model and into the Cyber Protection market where they are combining Backup & Recovery with antivirus / antimalware features in their new Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office product version.