.tib-files (Acronis True Image)

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anon
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.tib-files (Acronis True Image)

Post by anon »

Is there a method to display .tib-files (True Image Archives) in xplorer²?

When I double click a .tib-file in Windows Explorer, a password prompt is displayed, and when I enter the correct password the .tib-file is replaced inside Windows Explorer with a virtual folder structure (with all the backups and files in subfolders).

In xplorer² I get only a beep when I double-click a .tib-file (and no virtual folder structure).
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nikos
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Post by nikos »

i don't know, have you found any 3rd party file managers that work with such files? Looks like this scheme is targeting only windows explorer
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Post by anon »

nikos wrote:have you found any 3rd party file managers that work with such files?
No, I stopped searching for 3rd party file managers after I have discovered the powerful and seamless Windows Explorer replacement xplorer²  :wink:. I was just curios if there was somewhere a hidden switch. (Btw. I have forgotten to mention that I am using the 64-bit version on Vista64.)
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Post by Kilmatead »

Curious, this.  Redirecting the association of .tib files directly to windows explorer doesn't work either... True Image has it's own mounter which is meant to be invoked, though it definitely doesn't like X2 - again, direct association with the mounter fails as well (x86 & x64 versions).

Even using the dedicated context menu 'Mount' on a .tib is banjanxed - the mounter invokes, but coughs on assigning a drive letter.  This, however, is not related to X2 as it happens directly from Explorer as well - seems Acronis's own x64 shell extension (tishellx64.dll) is emotionally unstable.

Seems the only simple solution is to use the 'Explore' context menu every time.

An issue best taken up on Acronis' own forum methinks.

P.S. And if anyone is keeping track of these things, True Image does NOT work on Windows 7 so don't pull your hair out trying to sort it.  Windows 7 can be imaged by using the boot-disc created from another Vista installation, if need be.
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Acronis True Image Home 2009

Post by uradodah »

Is there a method to display .tib-files (True Image Archives) in xplorer²?
I recognize this doesn't directly help you but, just yesterday, I backed up my OS partition to an external hard drive using Acronis True Image Home 2009.  It was the first time I had used their software.

I was able to open the .tib file and was also able to explore the folder structure (the backed up partition files) without any problems using xplorer2.  

I'm not sure why you would be having issues but I thought I'd let you know that at least one other person was able to access the .tib file just like any other file/folder when using xplorer2.

Since it works for me, I doubt it's an issue with the Acronis software.  Could it be some sort of file association problem specific to your system?  Keep in mind - I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about and could very well be way of base.   :crazy:

I hope you're able to resolve the issue soon.
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Post by Kilmatead »

'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English)

(Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Ch 2)
uradodah wrote:It was the first time I had used their software.
The operative phrase being "first time", I dutifully checked Acronis for updates, and as of Jan 23 build #9709 of TI 2009 was released (previous/first-release build was #9646).  Somewhat ironically released 5 days after the original post.

Under Vista x64 (either x2 x86 or x64) the direct left-click invocation still fails (unless explicitly assigned via "Open With" Explorer), however, the right-click context menu "Mount" does now execute properly, though it still automatically calls the Explorer window itself (and no, the registry fixes to bypass Explorer do not seem to apply).

Which is at least halfway there.  Thanks for the reminder to check updates.
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Post by jgt1942 »

Any update on this? I'm using Win7 x64 and xplorer2 pro will not open the files whereas windows explorer will open the file. I've looked in the Acronis forum and cannot find anything related to xplorer2.
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Post by nikos »

if you want to make me stressed about this one tell me about another 3rd party file manager that works properly!

in other case i would tell you that the problem is with acronis not xplorer2 :)
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Post by jgt1942 »

OK I understand - I've also posted in the Acronis forum. I think they have been hit hard and are slow to respond. Several users of Acronis Trueimage are rather ticked off and a bit vocal. The have no concept of the development issues and complete testing which is impossible.

I'll post my findings, assuming I find a solution. I can live with opening the TIB file in WE. I don't often use WE but sometimes it is the tool.

Tks....  :lol:
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Post by Kilmatead »

jgt1942 wrote:Several users of Acronis Trueimage are rather ticked off and a bit vocal. The[y] have no concept of the development issues and complete testing which is impossible.
Speaking as one of those apostate Acronis users (I recently switched to a - in my opinion - superior product) - the question was not a minor one of development issues and a few details missed in testing, it's one of a company/product that was once trusted and accomplished, and then fell into the trap of releasing annual "upgrades" of inferior products (forced, I might add, in the case of Window 7).

I don't know what business model inspires that sort of ("let's ignore Darwinian Theory") approach, but they fell victim to it, and given the nature of their product and what it's supposed to do - and long-time paid-users' justified expectation of "support" when the rains come - Acronis has become the poster-child of how to commit suicide in an e-commerce environment.

This thread is obviously not the place for me to go completely off-topic and bad-mouth them, so that's all I have to say on the subject, but I did want to clarify your (seeming) defence of them as being "merely" developmentally misunderstood.

Like I said, I no longer use their product so have little to add to the subject of opening .tib files - except to say that in my exploration of other products to replace them, whether the backup format be proprietary or Windows-based, I never ran into one which, as Nikos points out, was widely 3rd-party supported.

It's just the nature of mounting Images (or even simply "exploring" them) which lends companies to default to WE support-only - and for that I don't really fault any company, given the wide-ranging user-base hardware they have to contend with.  It isn't simply a matter of WE or x2 (or any other) file manager's ability to open said archives (which to work-a-day users would seem "obvious"), it's how those archives are designed for access in the first place.

If it's any help, I believe the current release version of TI has the option to store archives in the .zip format as well as .tib, but I know not the functionality of that feature, nor it's completeness... but as x2 can deal easily with .zip's you might explore that prospect.

Outside of that, consider me one of those "ticked-off" (former) users who won't be going near, or recommending, them again.  :D  And I do know a little something about software's cranky developmental-side, and have been known to show great tolerance for such things in the past.  But no longer with them.

(My tuppence-worth, and sorry for the rant.)
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Re: .tib-files (Acronis True Image)

Post by jgt1942 »

Just going through old post and I noticed that you mentioned you switched from TI to another produce which you like much better. What did you switch to? I'm still using TI and so far it has served me well but I'm always looking for a better solution. :D
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Re: .tib-files (Acronis True Image)

Post by Kilmatead »

jgt1942 wrote:What did you switch to? I'm still using TI and so far it has served me well but I'm always looking for a better solution.
See this series of recent posts.

If TI serves you well, then it's difficult to judge imaging products by "features", as - much like File Managers - they effectively do all the same things at the end of the day, so it's a matter of taste. If an imaging system didn't "do what it says on the tin" then it would pretty much die overnight as a going concern. :shrug: My decision was more or less made according to Macrium's approach as a company (meaning "attentiveness to forums" and listening/responding to users concerns or requests) - something that TI failed miserably at. :wink: Perhaps they've cleaned up their act since - I wouldn't know. Too little too late.

I like Macrium simply because it's never once given me any trouble, while remaining as flexible as I would want when I need it to be. To be fair, I'm not the most demanding user - 99% of the time it's just "incremental and forget", as I already know how my hardware works, so nothing funny comes up (and could handle it myself if it ever did anyway) and I only ever need to open the main interface to update it, never to actually use it. Me being me, I've automated everything else (x2 integrated multi-image-mounting, etc) via scripting.

The thing that swayed me was just reading the responses of the dev's on the forum - they always give the impression of "knowing their stuff" without flaunting it, and the confidence that exudes when dealing with some of the surprisingly complex (hardware-related) difficulties users have found themselves in. Acronis - on the odd chance they actually said anything at all - always came across as schoolboys trying to explain why Madden 2005 was better than Madden 2004 and why you should get it even though it has nothing to do with your immediate problem. They somehow managed to turn into the Norton of the imaging world - too big to even know how to do anything except sell stuff to people who mistakenly think that "well-known" automatically means "well-respected".
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Re: .tib-files (Acronis True Image)

Post by drac »

I just want to add Amen to Kilmatead's comments on Macrium Reflect. As I said in the link he provided in his last post, it is not much different than other backup programs in features, but the COMPANY is WAY more responsive. They occasionally come out with an update which has some issues for a FEW users. Typically they have the issues fixed and a new version available within a few days. Their support people are on their support forum at least 6 days a week (unfortunately there is no phone support but since they are located in England and I am in the USA I would not be calling anyway) and provide great help - often in areas not directly related to their software. As Kilmatead said they are very knowledgeable in all disk and backup related topics and I have even seen them give programming advice to the occasional technical user.
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Re: .tib-files (Acronis True Image)

Post by MKairys »

This is a slight hijack of this thread but I'm delighted to find a discussion concerning ATI. I've used it since 2006 and it has been a wild ride. Every new release was guaranteed to introduce both regressions and new bugs, and the online community (self included) would spend hours and hours analyzing and debugging, donating large amounts of high-quality QA work to a company that couldn't manage to do their own. It was just stunning sometimes. Most users would eventually pick a version and refuse to upgrade further; I stalled out at 2010. But the fact is that (for me) the core functionality has always worked flawlessly. I can incremental my 1TB data disk or restore my system partition from an image in ten minutes. I keep incrementals for months and can search them for multiple past versions of a document, etc.

And here is my thin excuse for unburdening myself here: I find the presence of large numbers of .tib files on a given disk makes xplorer2 *very* slow in dealing with that disk, particularly the first time it is accessed in a login session. I believe it is the fault of the ATI Explorer plugin or whatever you call it, that discovers or indexes or whatever all the .tib files it finds. But worse than slow is this: going to a folder on that disk, it fills in the folder but then takes a good 5-7 seconds to fill in the file pane, giving quite an inaccurate picture:
x2.png
Also, any mouse clicks on the file pane while in this "indeterminate state" are passed through to what "will be" there when it fills in, if you follow me... I wish X2 could recognize this condition and discard mouse clicks before the pane is filled in. And when the pane finally fills in it is still partly unresponsive: each time I try to move the scrollbar to reveal more files I get 3-4 seconds of wait cursor. This all happens only to the disk where my .tib files are, and If I remove all the .tib files the effects go away.

I don't see these effects in Windows Explorer. It lags slightly the first time I go to that disk but it's hardly noticeable.
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Re: .tib-files (Acronis True Image)

Post by Kilmatead »

MKairys wrote:I believe it is the fault of the ATI Explorer plugin or whatever you call it, that discovers or indexes or whatever all the .tib files it finds.
The technical term is Naughty Shell Extension. In particular experiment with ShellExView until you find the offending element. (Anything disabled may be as easily enabled again, should you choose to "live with it", if you think that ATI requires it for normal operation.)

Are these folders in mounted drives (as in mounted TIB images) that are displaying incomplete data, or just normal storage folders? What happens if you try View -> Raw Contents or, for that matter, try a different view other than "Details"?
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