How do I tell how big are my backups (.tib files)?
I'm using the Secure Zone. I wanted to do a full backup on Monday with a differential on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (today). The backup job ran on each day which specifies to do a differential backup with the Nth one a full backup. Obviously the first one so far had to be a full backup since differentials are based off a full backup.
I noticed in the logs for Tuesday-Thursday (which were supposed to be differentials) the warning below:
The initial full backup version is not accessible at the moment.
Yet the backup job said it completed successfully. However, that doesn't let me know if the backup job did a full or differential backup. If the full backup wasn't available (for a reason that it does not identify) then a differential backup would be forced to be a full backup. That means I've not got 4 full backups instead of 1 full followed by 3 differentials.
I can't see where in ATI2012 that I can look at the size of each backup. The only indicator within ATI2012 that I've found so far is the time to complete the backup. The full took 22 minutes while the next 3 took 3 minutes. So, yeah, it looks like differentials got done on the following 3 days but the error message informs otherwise.
When the backup completes okay, I see in the log:
The following backups have been successfully created:
"atis:///asz?"
That tells me NOTHING about what TYPE of backup got completed.
By the way,
What does the little green checkmark icon mean that is displayed next to a month day when looking at the logs? If it means a backup got completed that day, why is there a checkmark missing on one of the days where the log says the backup completed successfully?
UPDATE
Well, I found a way to see the backups where differentials (instead of getting misled by the error message in the log for backup up). If I go to mount the image then I see a tree list for the full backup followed by 3 differential backups.
So what we have is yet another bogus warning in the logs, this time for "The initial full backup version is not accessible at the moment." If the full backup was truly not available at that moment but the backup proceeded okay and because the backup was indeed a differential backup then obviously the full backup did become available later but the log doesn't show that.
6154. That was the latest build 4 days ago. Does the latest build actually address this log entry (that looks to be bogus)? What feature got modified or added to let me see the sizes of the backup files in the Secure Zone?
There have been notices that a newer release is available but I'm in the middle of trialing this product and don't need changes right now. Plus I don't see a Changes doc telling what has changed in the latest version. Is there one? There is no point and it is a waste of my time to simply apply upgrades if they don't address my issues. That's just wild shotgun troubleshooting and hoping the changes happen to address your problem. I've been run through that hope mill too many times, especially by tech reps that really don't know if the new release addresses my problem but figure they can push me off and if the problem still exists then some other tech will get stuck with my call back. Unless the new release actually has changes that it says address my problem, it's rare that a new version does address my problem. Also, whenever upgrading, you trade the hope of fixing some bugs for the introduction of new ones. You could be in worse shape after an upgrade. If there is a Changes doc then I'll see if it addresses this problem.
The notice from within ATI2012 about a new release has me apply the new release. It doesn't look like it takes me to a web page describing it and what changes or fixes it professes to contain.
UPDATE
Ah, I found a web page with release notes by clicking the Product Updates link at the bottom of their web pages. That page is:
http://www.acronis.com/support/updates/
It says the latest release is build 7119. I clicked on the "Release Notes". While it notes that the bogus ""No Windows libraries" log entry for Windows XP has been fixed (HURRAY!), it doesn't specify that this bogus log entry "initial full backup version is not accessible" has been fixed. Looks like I'll wait until the release notes show this bogus log entry has been addressed.
Thanks for participating.
I don't know if it fixes your specific problem, but often the fix for one item in a new build fixes other problems as well. There is also the bonus that in most cases (not all) any registry and database corruptions get ironed out in due to the new build number and updated component parts.
There has been an update in the most important ancillary part of TIH 2012 which is the virtual disk manager, as there have been some fixes to the logging operation they may also include your problem.
Acronis prefer to support the current build partly for this reason unless there is a specific case where upgrading breaks something on a particular system that they know about.
Using the ASZ is not quite the same as using an external or other internal drive, it is intended to basically be automatic and require little user input. It isn't a good idea to use the SZ as the main repository for images as a drive failure will take your images with it. It was originally intended to be useful for laptops and works in a similar way to the inbuilt manufacturers return to first use state except that it would be a current use state in the case of the ASZ contents.
You can temporarily give the partition a drive letter using Windows Disk Manager which will allow you to explore it through your file manager, the drive letter must be removed in order for the ASZ task to run.
You could also attempt a recovery in which case you should see a list of images available,obviously only go as far as the available images list before cancelling the task.
There has been an update in the most important ancillary part of TIH 2012 which is the virtual disk manager, as there have been some fixes to the logging operation they may also include your problem.
I've had crashes of trueimage.exe when in Try&Decide mode. I still seem to be virtualized but have to reload the Try&Decide dialog to use it. So I'll be moving to the latest release to see if the new fixes address this crashing.
Using the ASZ is not quite the same as using an external or other internal drive, it is intended to basically be automatic and require little user input.
Another reason why I like using it. Although I can specify a max version count regarding how many backup sets or chains get saved, the secure zone also has its own management. Plus I don't have to figure out filenames.
It isn't a good idea to use the SZ as the main repository for images as a drive failure will take your images with it.
Same is true with whatever device you use for storage. An external USB-attached hard disk can fail, too. Removable media (CD-R, DVD-R) is too small considering how much space is consumed on the hard disks to get backed up even when considering compression of the backup file. Everything mechanical fails eventually. That's why I put the backup location (and the secure zone) on a *different* device than the one where is the OS. If the OS dies, I replace that hard disk and restore from the backup hard disk. If the backup hard disk fails, my OS continues running while I replace the backup hard disk and restart the backup schedule. Even if not using the Secure Zone, I'd be saving my backups on a different hard disk to have hardware recovery. I use USB flash drives for storing copies of my data files. I even have an free aDrive account with 50GB of storage where I upload (like once a year because of slow upload bandwidth) a copy of a full backup. Yet I still want backups of my OS hard disk for immediate *system* recovery either due to corruption of the OS or failure of its hard disk.
It was originally intended to be useful for laptops and works in a similar way to the inbuilt manufacturers return to first use state except that it would be a current use state in the case of the ASZ contents.
I've yet to see Acronis making that claim regarding their intended purpose for the Secure Zone. What Acronis says is "You can also use the Secure Zone function to create a secure disk partition on your internal drive. That way you can recover your system easily at any moment, even if your Operating System has failed." By having the Secure Zone on another hard disk (something obviously allowed), not only can I recover if the OS has failed but I can also recover if the hard disk for the OS has failed. Even if it was Acronis' intent to use the Secure Zone on the same hard disk as the OS despite they let you put it elsewhere, I've improved on the ability to recover by putting the Secure Zone somewhere other than the hard disk for the OS.
You can temporarily give the partition a drive letter using Windows Disk Manager which will allow you to explore it through your file manager, the drive letter must be removed in order for the ASZ task to run.
True but, as I recall, I also need to use a partition table editor to change the Acronis-unique partition type (BC) to a standard partition type (07) so Windows knows how to access that partition. Or has that changed so just assigning a drive letter lets me browse around the Secure Zone's partition using, say, Windows Explorer? With a standard partition type, I can use diskpart.exe to select the hard disk, select the partition, and assign a drive letter. That doesn't work with the non-standard partition type: after selecting the disk and partition (the 2nd one for the logical drive), the drive letter assignment fails. It says I need to also assign a volume to the selected disk and partition (not necessary for a standard partition type). I really don't want to get into using the Create command to define a volume since that could screw up the backup hard disk or other volume definitions. If you use the graphical diskmgmt.msc utility, you would've noticed that you cannot right-click on the partition for Acronis Secure Zone to change its drive letter. That option is disabled (because the partition type is non-standard). Have you tried assigning a drive letter to the Acronis Secure Zone? Doesn't work for me.