Restoring a Full Back Up when version 1 is missing

You should be able to go through the prompts to try and locate each version it is asking for (and ignoring or cancelling the request for each missing version) and it will eventually find the one you have left.

To prevent this issue in the future, you should only delete the backup files from the True Image Backup and Recovery screen by selecting the Gear Icon on the associated task, and selecting Recover files. After the bottom of the "Recover Files" window is a timeline of all the backups associated with the task. You can right-click on each one, and delete the full backups you no longer wish to keep.

Jsquareg,

It sounds like you want to use full backups only, if true

Look at figure 11-Full at the link below. This will illustrate how to have the program maintain only the number of backups that you want to keep.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/28705

You can get set your storage location to wherever you want first time.
Look at figure 8 at the same link. The Figure 8 will show you how and where to set you task storage folder so you backups task will point to a folder of your designation.

Editing an existing task is not recommended so my suggestion would be to create a new task with the settings you want and point the storage location to a new sub-folder in whatever folder or location you want to use for storage.

I also have a complete disk backup followed by 6 incremental backups. I cannot restore it because prioe Versions are missing. I deleted them to conserve disk space. Yes, I now know that Acronis function is supposed to be used to delete older unwanted versions. It is nice to know that, but right now I an DOWN and have been for 5 days.

Acronis support has twice remotely connected to my PC and could not restore the absolutely valid dusk backup. Yesterday, the support rep simply said "cannot be restored because previous versions have been deleted", and disconnected. Your response to this situation is to ignore (cancel, because there is no ignore button) each message until you eventually find the one you have left --- well after approximately a dozen attempte, including the remotely connected support rep 'Neeraj''s effort.

I have 0ver 5 years od data, including Client data, in the backup file. HDD crashed. No concern because I had Acronis backup. Well, yes, I have the backup, but Acronis software will not recover it because of some 'technicians' wildhair idea that previous versions must also be accessible. By-the-way; if a user has to read the complete documentation to use a product, then the product is too complex. In today's world, computer literate users are 'intuitive' enought to use the product. Nowhere have I read that backups cannot be manually deleted. There is even a link to 'turn off' auto deletion.

"What I tell my Customers:
Whatever the problem is, we can fix it."

OK -- I have a valid Acronis full disk backup; I want my data restored! Who must I contact to make this happen?

Joe,

Let me try to help clarify what is needed.

When dealing with incremental type backups, each is dependent upon the other as the inc type backup only includes the changes made sinde the last inc.

Let me use as an example.
You have the first full and made incrementals numbered from 1-30 and you need to restore #30 which is the most recent.

If you have all the 30 files available and readable, then the restore will begin and restore first the full and then each successive backup file. If however, you have deleted any single incrmental backup, then the chain is been broken and any file newer from the deleted file newer is useless.

If the file whch you deleted was the initial full, then no restore is possible.
if the file which you deleted was the first few incrementals and you still have the initial full, then you should be able to restore the single full backup but none of the incrmentals.

If you have the full, then use the CD to validate the full backup. If it validates, it can be restored.
If it validates, should should be able to contact Acronis support and ask for recovery assistance but understand what is recoverable is only that portion of backup files which remain which were created prio to your deletion and the full must be part of what was saved.

The person assisting in post #1 is a volunteer--which I am as well. He nor I are associated with Acronis.

Thank you Grover. Your explanation was complete and well articulated. The situation is exactly as I understood it to be. I agree, the FULL version should be recoverable; and in this case, none of the incrementals have been deleted, the entire version should be recoverable.

There are 7 file backups; 1 FULL, followed by 6 incremental backups; same version. NONE of this version have been deleted. Yes, I have been manually deleting older versions because Acronis gave me that option (turn off auto delete -- or something like that), and I have not seen any warning about manually deleting versions.

In any event, I did call Acronis support and the Rep remotely connected to my system, tried to recover the FULL version, but was not successful. The 'missing version' warning message allows for ignoring the warning, but does not provide an ignore 'button'. The Support Rep , "Neeraj Sharma", sent the following message to me.

FROM ACRONIS SUPPORT;
----- Original Message -----
From: "Neeraj Sharma"
To:
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2014 12:45 PM
Subject: [02155438] Unable to recover [ ref:_00D30Zcb._50050RthHG:ref ]
> *** Please do not change the subject line of this email; otherwise, your
> response will not be received. ***
> Hello Joe,
> Thank you for contacting Acronis Customer Central. My name is Neeraj.
> This is a follow up email to the chat conversation regarding case #
> 02155438.
>
> You contacted us as you were not able to recover the backups as it was
> giving you the error that the version one of the backup is missing. We
> initiated the remote session and checked the status and found that the
> backups are missing. You deleted the backups manually which is not
> recommended.
>
> We guided you to move the full backup that you have to a new location and
> right click on it and try to recover it. It is not possible to recover the
> archive because the backups from the chain are missing. We tried every
> possibility as exploring the backups and mounting the backups but it was
> giving the same error.

The copy/recovery did not work --

Joe,
Can you post a screen captre of your storage folder showing the full names, etc of the 7 files in queston.

I will try to find that data. The ill-fated recovery process has resulted in files being removed to eliminate the 'version x' message, and to support backup of the corrupted disk sector-by- sector. I am afraid the original Acronis archive files are gone. A local PC Technical Store has the disk; trying to recover data.

File names were;
Dell2_Backup_full_b1_s1_v1.tib
Dell2_Backup_Inc_b1_s2_v1.tib
Dell2_Backup_Inc_b1_s3_v1.tib
Dell2_Backup_Inc_b1_s4_v1.tib
Dell2_Backup_Inc_b1_s5_v1.tib
Dell2_Backup_Inc_b1_s6_v1.tib
Dell2_Backup_Inc_b1_s7_v1.tib

While it is possible that some or all of the files are corrupt, there can be no mistake that the files are intact and any deletion of other backups would have no bearing on the use of the above files.

If the files are or were available, I would use the CD and validate starting with S7 which would validate all files. If that failed to validate, then I would validate S6 which would validate all files prior to S6.
I would keep attempting to validate a lessor number until something passes. Whatever you find that would pass should be restorable..

Sometimes, they fail for some unknown reasons such as the usb3 too fast, or a poor connection--use a different cable but I would attempt the restore using seveal methods.

Good luck.

Again, I very much appreciate your responses, and your sharing recovery scenarios. But I have had enough of Acronis. I have 13 registered Acronis products beginning with True Image 9. It has worked well until Version 2014 which is simply too complicated for the typical user. Acronis has become a 'nest' of technicians with no apparent knowledge of a 'user' environment. My past recommendations for potential users has been that Acronis was comprehensive, but NOT user friendly. If manually deleting old backup versions would negate recovery, then that fact should have been clearly and frequently communicated. If an experienced IT user has to read the complete manual for a utility type application, then the application is too complex. Working well for months/years is meaningless when the rare occasion for recovery does not work; that is what Acronis is all about -- dependable confident recovery. It failed because I did what any experienced IT person would logically have done; I deleted old backups which were no longer needed.

Each one of my backups (4:00 AM every day) were validated as part of the process. Yes, I am bitter. I have Clients who now question my credibility and/or intelligence because I have lost data belonging to them. It is costing several $100 dollars to recover (try to recover) data from the damaged hard drive; data that was supposedly safely stored in a recoverable backup.

Acronis support was a total failure. My incremental backup version was perfectly intact, including validation, but while remotely connected to my system, the 'Expert' as he described himself, said 'it cannot be recovered because you manually deleted prior backup versions (paraphrased)'. After 40+ years of IT experience, I have learned to be tolerant of technical issues. But this one crossed the line. Acronis failed the very reason for its existence; recovery. And its highly touted support was useless.

I will find another solution because I cannot afford the risk presented by Acronis True Image. I must qualify this post as being a 'statement of my opinion'; others may have different opinions.

Regards, and may Acronis demonstrate that my opinion is flawed.

Hello Joe,

it is really sad to know that you found Acronis True Image 2014 complicated and wasn't satisfied with our support.

I know how frustrating this experience of the unrecoverable backup can be.

However, the way which was suggested in Neeraj's email is valid and if you haven't tried it, please check if it helps. And using the recovery CD can be helpful as well.

Manual deletion of backup versions through Windows Explorer is not recommended, because it can lead to archive database corruption. However it shouldn't affect the full backup.

Please know that the support case is still open and we will do our best to help you!

Grover, thank you very much for helping!

Per your response ---
"However, the way which was suggested in Neeraj's email is valid and if you haven't tried it, please check if it helps"
I did, and results were the same; can't find Version 1
--------------------
"And using the recovery CD can be helpful as well"
I did use it; every time I attempted to recover (5 days)
--------------------
Anna, I appreciate your response and your responsibility, but there is a vast difference between "can be helpful" or "check if it helps" and "will resolve the problem".
--------------------
I have consistently used Acronis since TrueImage 9. I have never seen even a warning about manually deleting old backup versions. I have successfully restored a few times using earlier versions. This is the first restore I have needed since TI 2012. In any event, I had a complete incremental version, starting with the required 'Full' backup.

After several discussions with Acronis support; sending copies of Acronis logs; and twice having support reps remotely connect to my system, your 'Expert (self described)' remotely connected to my system and concluded that my backup could not be restored because I had manually deleted old backups. The safe, secure, dependable Acronis backup was useless because the Acronis restore code is flawed. I have converted to the old tried & proven method of the backup function provided in Windows.

I spent most of today removing Acronis from my 3 systems. Acronis 'permeates' the system, and uninstall does not remove all elements. Specifically, it does not remove items in the Windows 'Startup' list, which creates an error when booting. Not a huge problem because it can be easily fixed (if you know how). After uninstalling, multiple entries remained in the Registry and on the 'menu' of 'right click' functions. Thoroughly editing the register resolved these issues.

The single reason for using Acronis is to recover data. True Image 2014 totally failed this single objective. The product has become 'technically' overloaded with no apparent perspective of the User's enviroment and/or technical expertise. After 40 years in all phases of IT, I am qualified to pass judgment on the product's level of 'User Friendly'.

That's the bottom line -------

Unfortunately I experienced exact the same issue here.
Made a FULL backup with Acronis 2013 and now in august 2015 we needed an urgent restore (True Image 2014) from this carefully preserved backup.
This because of the delicate licensed software on it.
Only 3 .tib files (total 10GB) were made as a FULL backup set, but nor validating nor to restore and following is the error "Version 1 is missing...."
Very annoying, because we made a full backup for the license, not for the data. The data is securely stored on a seperated NAS.
But without the programitself completely worthless. No deletion of old backup files was ever executed.
When I read the above posts, I presume there is no solution possible?

Mike,
If the missing file was a FULL backup and the files which still exist are also FULL backups, the remaining should still be recoverable.

Use TrueImage (CD or windows version) and validation what is remaining.

Repond ignore to all the error messages prompts.

When valiation completed, the remaining should be recoverable--still assuming that what is left is full backups.

I THINK i HAVE FIGURED IT OUT :-)

The backup set on DVD is numbered (check the file names - they all end with a "v" (for version) followed by a number (v1,v2 etc.), so disk one is v1, if you have 9 DVDs the last one is v9, when it asks for a version you need to put in the CD with the matching number and it's not necessarily in numerical order, you always have to put the last one in first (v9 my case) first and then v1, after that you may need to put the DVDS in whatever order it requests. Basically when it is asking for version 1 it means the first DVD in the backup set. Version 2 isthe second DVD and so on, a rather strange system. If all the files were on a single media (external Hard Drive for example), I'm guessing this DVD swapping could be avoided.

NOTE:
When swapping DVDs you have to allow a few seconds for it to spin up before retry will work and find the file.

Another update - I was unable to recover using my DVDs, I got to about 65% and then it could not find the file on one of the DVDs (the same one it happily found earlier on), it seems the program booted od CD has bugs, I also noticed that sometimes it calls "version" "volume", now that would make more sense, I suspect it should actualy be asking for a "volume" and not a "version", I also noticed that at one point it actually asked for the full name of the file on the last DVD. The other issue I have with being unable to continue seems to be a flakey cdrom drive, the drive has a tendency to "disappear" so it can't be accessed. It seems it would be best if all the files of the recovery set were on an external USB drive rather than DVDs, I wil try this way later.