New disk/system, how to build on the old backup
Hello,
I'm using a new disk, new system. I want to build on the old backup instead of recovering it and starting afresh.
The old backup (a disk backup) is big (+80 GB), split by Acronis into 1 GB files under incremental scheme (and only incremental versions after the initial full version).
The problem is Acronis recovers only the files and puts them in the new partition, without the old settings. So, when I try to make a new backup, the old settings are gone and even if I use the old settings, it starts backing up afresh, instead of continuing on the old files and adding only the recent changes.
This is what I have in the external drive I'm trying to recover.
- file name (drive letter)_full_b1_s1_v78
this is the last in the series of split files; the others are the same name but between ...v1 and ...v77(all same date/backup)
- file name (drive letter)_inc_b1_s2_v1 (next backup in line)
At this point, I try to recover. What I want is to build on these files so that the recent changes after the recovery made under the new disk/system are in one file (if smaller than 1GB (split settings) as follows: file name (drive letter)_inc_b1_s3_v1
What Acronis does is starting from scratch, that is, recovers the files and start making new backup files, ignoring the old ones: file name (drive letter)_full_b1_s1_v1 ....
Building on the old files is very important to me because I already uploaded them to a cloud (+80 GB) and this took me a very long time given my Internet speed. I want in the future to keep uploading only recent changes. I can't imagine re-uploading everything and doing this whenever I recover.
Note: The backup was originally a disk backup, but since I'm using now a bigger partition, I recovered the files as files not a disk, otherwise Acronis takes this new partition and remakes it so that it is exactly like the backed up one. (new one 400 gb, the backed up one 200 gb; if i recover as a disk backup, it turns the 400 gb into 200 gb and the rest becomes unallocated space). I haven't checked if it will build on the old files if I recover the files as a disk. If this is a must, then I would rather recover it as a disk. This possibility just appeared to me while writing this post.
Sorry for the long post. Thank you very much.
En réponse à Kini, welcome to these User… par truwrikodrorow…
Thank you for the reply Mr Steve Smith.
"If the size of the original backup was around 80GB, then what was included in that backup, was it only files and folders even though you backed it up as a Disk & Partitions backup?"
No, not just the files and folders. There are also these files that are usually hidden in the partition. Acronis lists them when it gives me the option to choose what to recover. I'm not seeing now, but I remember seeing folders related to the recycle bin and system information and others, all of which I deselected.
"What is the size of the files when you have restored them from the above backup on the new system?"
I deleted the files to retry as a disk while also selecting the hidden folders, and can't do it now. But, I can say that when I choose recovery as a disk it is around 90 GB, so bigger.
"Even if you restore the backup to your new system as a Disk restore, regardless of whether this is restored at the original 200GB size or is expanded to fill the 400GB space available, this will still be treated as a new backup by Acronis True Image, because the backup task is created on a new computer with no memory of having any previous task of the same name. "
Are you saying no matter what I do I can never build on the previous backup, like nothing happened? If so, I think this is a significant shortcoming in Acronis. Can't it store such information within the backup files so that the new system recognizes what happened before and give the user the option to either continue with the old backup or start afresh?
Thank you very much.
Kini, the reason for asking what else was included in your Disk backup was really to check that this was not a Windows OS drive that you had backed up. If it was only a separate disk drive to store your Files & Folders that also had the System Volume Information hidden folders and Recycle Bin, then that shouldn't be an issue if you restored the backup as a Disk to the new larger drive.
The only method that I can think of that 'may' work for you would be as follows:
Restore the full disk backup to your new larger 400GB drive. If you find that it does not automatically resize to fit that drive, then use a Partition Manager tool such as the MiniTool Partition Wizard Free program to resize the restored partition to the full size available.
Next, use the option to Add Existing Backup and add in the latest .tib file from your backup that you have just used to restore from. You only need to select the one latest .tib file, ATI will identify all the other files which comprise the complete backup version chain.
The above assumes that you have ATI 2017? installed already on this computer.
Reconfigure the added existing backup - change the name to match how it was previously, i.e. remove any extra characters from the task name shown in the GUI (_inc_b...)
Reselect both the Source and Destination data to match how they were previously, then on the Backup Scheme options page, set this as Incremental for the Backup Method, and then use the default settings for "Create only incremental versions after the initial full version" then on the Advanced page, set the Backup splitting as Custom and to the size you need this to be, i.e. 1GB.
At this point, save the task configuration changes by using the Backup Now / Later / in X hours option and check your backup destination drive to see if it will try to create a new full backup or try to continue the Incremental chain?
If this had been on the original system where the restored backup was created, then there would be a very good chance of the above working, but given that you have ATI running on a new system, then it will have no backup history data stored in its Database files.
If you have a backup of your original system which includes the C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\ folder structure (assuming Windows Vista or later OS) then you may be able to restore the Database folder files from that backup. Note: you will need to copy this to a temporary location first then copy to the Database folder when no Acronis Services or Programs are active.
En réponse à Kini, the reason for asking… par truwrikodrorow…
Thank you for the informative reply, Mr Smith.
"If you have a backup of your original system which includes the C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\ folder structure (assuming Windows Vista or later OS) then you may be able to restore the Database folder files from that backup. Note: you will need to copy this to a temporary location first then copy to the Database folder when no Acronis Services or Programs are active."
Unfortunately, I did not make a system backup, so, as you expected, it didn't build on the old one.
I have one last question about the the statement above. If I start from scratch (for long-term investment in this partition backup), and keep taking a new copy of this Database folder whenever I add a new incremental backup version (better than making a whole new system image each time a new version of the incremental backup is made), will I be able to build on the old backup in the event the system is lost and I want to build on the old backup under a new system following the steps above? Based on what you said above, it should in principle work. I will try although I have to go through the whole process (backup, format, new system, recovery). I just want your confirmation if possible. Thank you.
Kini, if you are going to backup the Database folder, then I would suggest including the whole C:\ProgramData\Acronis\ folder structure rather than just the database contents, this will also include your Scripts folder plus other folders used within the application to keep everything in sync together. On my computer this whole folder structure is less than 40MB in size, which includes all the backup log files etc.
Thank you very much, Mr Smith.