Acronis True Image 2020 downloadable bootable rescue media backup/restore fails
In previous versions the downloadable bootable rescue media worked well (backup and restore possible without major issues). In the 2020 edition it has bugs which prevent users from using the downloadable bootable rescue media in the way they used former editions (I would say it is severely broken).
When you try to backup your hard drive and create a new folder in the backup wizard dialog and use it as target folder the backup ALWAYS fails (tried on different hardware AND with older builds).
The only way to make the backup work is to either have the folder created before (i.e. reboot after creating the folder or use it after the first fail immediately for a second time as a target).
Probably there is some syncing issue between the file system change made by the backup wizard dialog (created new folder) and the True Image worker process which has the file system structure being cached before the backup wizard dialog had been opened (it also could be some kind of missing case-insensitivity, but as neither all-upper nor all-lower names worked, I don't think so).
When you finally have created a working backup (with the workaround mentioned above - either NOT creating a new folder or i.e. have it created before you boot) then you will have the unfortunate experience that recovery isn't working either.
Before recovery I always used "add new drive" to reset the partition table and create an empty GPT/MBR before restoring. In this version recovery FAILS after doing that. If you compare the details of the recovery dialog and the path of the automatically found .tibx files you see in the recovery tab, you can notice that after cleaning the partition table of the target drive Acronis True Image 2020 has reordered the drive letters and thus can't find the recovery files (i.e. the backup drive D: is now C:). Even if you click on "Refresh", it doesn't detect the change. As far as I remember manually selecting the .tibx on the new drive from the file selection dialog doesn't always work (seems to use the old infos pointing to the other drive).
Unfortunately nobody tells you that this bug exists (no known bug entry) or why this happens/how you can workaround that. I tried to contact Acronis support, but I don't want to use the WinPE version they suggested (the Linux version is part of their product, worked in former editions and I think it is safer in case of Windows virus) and they are unhappy with me:
I'm unwilling to do their QA homework and refuse to provide them with data from my computer which I'm pretty sure is not needed as this bug is hardware-independent (thus it likely doesn't work on their QA systems too, if they only tried) and all steps for reproducing this issue had been in the bunch of screenshots uploaded on their support teams server (including how to create a VM to reproduce it there - but they claim that this would be an unsupported configuration and thus refuse to look at this issue).
Maybe some Acronis developer reads this thread and is capable of fixing the issue in a new build?
This issue occurs during full backup (creating a new image from the hard drive).
There are limitations with the Linux based versions of the Rescue Media which have been present across multiple versions of ATI, such as no support for RAID, NVMe M.2 drives etc.
Linux is also known for presenting the drive letters differently than shown in Windows.
This is partially behind the move by Acronis starting from ATI 2018 to move away from the Linux media other than providing it as the only download option. They do not have an agreement with Microsoft to allow the distribution of Windows PE based media to offer it as a download.
The Linux media is based on a very small BusyBox distro and is not being maintained to the same degree as the alternative WinPE options that users can create using the builder tool provided in the GUI.
If you are not willing to provide Acronis Support with the data requested then you are in a catch22 situation as they will respond that they cannot progress the issue without it...!
I had a support case closed last week for a similar reason where I refused to collect data that was completely unnecessary for the issue being reported, for which my survey feedback gave the lowest available ratings!
Probably my comment was too long.
Unfortunately your answer about linux bootable media doesn't explain why clicking on "creating new folder" in the backup wizard dialog causes backups in ATI 2020 linux bootable rescue media to fail everytime while this has never been an issue in previous versions.
The letter reordering issue during recovery also didn't exist in previous versions.
So this is no problem primarily related to Linux (you could tell me such a story when I would be complaining about Optane disks not being accessible), but probably to some missing synchronization code - something got messed up since the last ATI 2019 build.
Regarding data: I didn't mention that I finally had sent them system reports (but only from inside of a virtual machine), but they keep claiming that they need a system report from a real machine. Amusingly the last question from the support was whether my last system report was from a real machine ... if they really would understand the reports, they would be able to read the contained dmidecode and hard disk info. So I have the impression of talking to some call center people stupidly following every step of their call center handbook. Thus I want to speak to real technicans.
I want those regression bugs fixed by capable programmers (it is Acronis' product and they should be interested in fixing their code and making their customers happy (which payed for the product and thus indirectly paid their salary)). As I had sent them system reports, they should have every log available (unfortunately you won't see the synchronization bug in those logs as you would need DEBUG level logs or debug code ...).
Update: I have been contacted by a Support Professional of Acronis who told me that my case is now being analyzed by an Acronis expert group. I have also been contacted by a manager who apologized for my case not being handled up to Acronis' standards and he assured me that the case has been escalated to the Experts Department.
So I'm hopeful that they are going to find the bug and fix it in a new build of ATI 2020.
@Steve Smith: I don't know whether a survey feedback will work and I don't know how important the case was (cosmetical or critical issue). Given the fact that you are a MVP and thus it is very unlikely that you can't distinguish whether some computer data is related to the solution of an issue or not, you might try to report your support case to the manager contact given in the support mails.