Acronis True Image 2020 Backup archive compatibility

Yes, create a new one.  Recovery media created under ATI 2019 will be able to recover from the old format (.tib) backup files created by ATI 2020 but will not be able to read the new .tibx format.

Thank you very much, Patric

It is a clear answer to my second question. 

And what about a first one: "A question is, how Acronis True Image 2020  will combine its new backup format files with old ones during a verification process?"

Did you check it during a beta?

Regards,

Valery

I'm sorry, one more question.

I'm using Acronis Log Viewer version 2.1

Will it continue to support 2020 log files? I mean, does 2020 log files has the same structure?

Valery

Hello Valery,

The backups you created with Acronis True Image 2019 will remain in the old format. 

New backups that you will create in Acronis True Image 2020 (via "Add backup" and a new backup plan creation) will be in .tibx.

So there will be no need to combine anything during validation. 

Acronis Log Viewer should work, there were no major changes to log structure.

Hi, Renata

Thank you for a fast reply. I'm very sorry, but now I'm totally confused :-( 

I do not plan to add any new backup plan in addition to ones I'm running now: Daily incremental with validation, Full user disk (once a month) with validation and twice a month Full system disk with validation.

I understand, that backups, created with Acronis True Image 2019 will remain in the old format, because this time no conversion of files in old format is included into update (upgrade) installation.

My question looked simple, but there is some depth in it :-)

I'm asking about a daily incremental backup. After I'll upgrade 2019 to 2020, a nearest incremental backup will be created in a new format. It's clear. Thus, there will be a situation (during two month, till all backups in old format will be cleaned out), when I'll have a backup chain,that includes a last full backup and all incremental backups in two different formats: old and new.

My question was, what will happen during daily backup validation process? Daily validation process, running after every daily incremental backup, as you know, includes a last full backup (old format) and a whole chain of incremental daily backups (partly in old and partly in a new format).

Valery

Valery, 

Your existing backups will not be created in a new format. If the backup was started as a .tib, it will be continued in .tib.

Thanks, it was not so obvious!

But now all this mess is very clear for me :-)

Thus, Patrick's recommendation is right, but I'll not need a new recovery CD till I'll add some new backup job. Meanwhile I can use CD, created with 2019. Definitely, I'll prepare a new one under 2020 to be ready.

Patrick wrote:

"Yes, create a new one.  Recovery media created under ATI 2019 will be able to recover from the old format (.tib) backup files created by ATI 2020 but will not be able to read the new .tibx format."

One more time, thank you very much. It was a real pleasure to work with you

Have a nice weekend,

Valery

Renata Gubaydullina wrote:

Acronis Log Viewer should work, there were no major changes to log structure.

While this is technically true, some important diagnostic information has been moved from the ti_demon log into a new log that is not (currently) processed by the Log Viewer.

Some scripts for extracting data are being worked on by some of the MVP team.  I don't know the status of these scripts at the moment.  I don't think there is currently a plan to add this to the Log Viewer, but I could be wrong.  So far they are additional, stand-alone tools.

Thank you, Patrick.

I'll follow https://kb.acronis.com/content/59335 to look for an updated version.

Regards,

Valery

I'm not sure when or if the scripts will be posted there.  I think they are in early development.

Thanks!

It's only beginning - 2020 has been released this week after Beta.

"After all, tomorrow is another day!" (Margaret Mitchell, Gone With The Wind)

Have a nice weekend,

Valery

Patrick O'Keefe wrote:

Renata Gubaydullina wrote:

Acronis Log Viewer should work, there were no major changes to log structure.

While this is technically true, some important diagnostic information has been moved from the ti_demon log into a new log that is not (currently) processed by the Log Viewer.

Some scripts for extracting data are being worked on by some of the MVP team.  I don't know the status of these scripts at the moment.  I don't think there is currently a plan to add this to the Log Viewer, but I could be wrong.  So far they are additional, stand-alone tools.

Patrick, I am not aware of any actions that would lead to a new version of the MVP Log Viewer - this was created by FtrPilot (Randy) who has been inactive in the forums for some time now!

I have posted some PowerShell scripts in the private MVP forum that will process the new Backup_Worker logs where the detailed information now lives for .tibx backups.

Ideally, I would like Acronis to take ownership of any log viewer tools and re-integrate these into the product as they were in older versions (2014 & previous).

Steve,

Nice to meet you here one more time!

Thanks for your comments. I'm still working with old file formats, so I can wait.

As I understood, even though it looks weird, Acronis True Image 2020 will not begin to work automatically with a new file format (.tibx). As Acronis wrote, a work with a new format might be 50% faster (but they did not explain, if it is about create, verify or restore. May be all of them?), so I would, at least, add two features to a new release:

- to move to a new format immediately after installation and to make it possible to work with two file formats the same time - a new and an old one .It is not so complicate from a technical point of view - just some kind of translation preprocessor

- a second option might be a feature (utility) for mass conversion from an old to a new format. If a total backups volume is not huge, for example, at home, it might be nice to convert old format files to a new format, so making a work with Acronis 50% (?) faster

But who I am to think about all this ...

Valery

Valery,  if you want to start using the new format (for Disk and Partitions backups), create a new backup task with the same characteristics as the old one.  The new task will use the new format.  You will have to manually manage deletion of  old backup chains since ATI won't the old and new chains.

You can certainly submit a Feedback requesting the combined support for .tib and .tibx backups, but I wouldn't expect a rapid response (unless such a function enhances the rollout of .tibx support).  I suspect the development and programming teams are very busy trying add the missing (and very much needed) functions to the .tibx support and in extending the .tibx capability to all types of backups.  They still have a lot of work.

Hi,

Regarding a new format, I understood it from Renata's answer from Fri, 08/23/2019 - 12:12

Using two different formats and a need to re-create all backup jobs, if one want to use a new format, was not so obvious for me. But, to tell you a truth, I did not read 2020 manual. I'll do, and I'm sure they explain all this mess there. 

Definitely, I will not send any "development request"! Personally for me, it will be not a big problem to move to a new format. But before this, I'll do some experiments to be sure a work with a new format is really 50% faster. As I rote, I did not understand what exactly will be 50% faster - backup, restore or verification.

Now, let you think for a moment, let us say, about rolling out a new version of Oracle DB with changed DB format (in order to improve performance in 50%!) without automatic or manual converting tools? Especially, if some of existing add-on utilities and all future development will not support an old DB format? It would be impossible.

Sure, Acronis is not Oracle and it was only an example. And that's why I wrote "But who I am (even) to think about all this ..." :-)

Have a very nice weekend,

Valery

Valery, the .tibx new file format is only really new to Acronis True Image - it has been in use with Acronis Backup business product versions for some long time, so in reality, Acronis is moving to a more consolidated file format platform.

That said, Acronis have not published any compatibility information for .tibx format files between the Acronis Backup and True Image product ranges.

Dear Steve,

Let Acronis move to its favorit direction and let him not to publish his secrets. It does not matter for us, users. 

I just mentioned, that it would be cute, if Acronis took care in advance to create translating tools: automatically , manually or both. But we - users, can manage it as is. The most easier solution will be to continue to work with 2019 version, and to move to 2020 only when other users will prove, that 2020 boosts performance in 50%.

After this very beneficial discussion, I know all I need to, in order to decide when (and if at all) to move to 2020. As I wrote, when I'll have enough free I time I'll check different kinds of backups and restores to measure 2020 performance under a real conditions.

And yes, I understand that sometimes in the future I will have to move to a new format in order to upgrade to future Acronis versions with possibly useful features

Best regards,

Valery