Hi,

Am having the following below, while ordering a "create incremental" backup
Not sure why is happening, don't think I've changed anything.

Any tips gratefully received.

Cheers

Image ID - AE6B734E173DB586

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Imaging Summary


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Auto Verify: N
Maximum File Size: Automatic
Compression: Medium
Password: N
Intelligent Copy: Y
Power Saving: N
Email On Success: N
Email On Failure: N


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Total Selected: 0 B


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Backup Aborted! - At least one partition in the Image to append to cannot be found


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First, you should edit your post above to remove the last line you pasted, since you just posted your Reflect license key to a publicly viewable forum.

In terms of your issue, it sounds like Reflect isn't finding a Full backup at the destination that it can append to.  Did you recently upgrade to Windows 10 1809, perhaps?  If so, it might have created a new partition on your hard drive, in which case the partitions selected for backup on your system may have changed, which can obviously have some nasty consequences if you're no longer backing up the data you think you are.  I would edit your definition file to make sure that you're still backing up the partitions you mean to be.  If so, you may still need to create a new Full backup due to some partition configuration changes that can happen as part of a Windows upgrade.  From that point on, you should be able to create Incrementals.

If you're not using a definition file, which it sounds like you might not be based on you saying you clicked "Create Incremental" -- under the Restore tab? -- then you might want to think about creating one.  It's an easy way to save the desired settings, and then at any given time you can right-click the definition file under the Backup Definition Files tab, select Run Now, and choose the desired type of backup, including a Full.  Under your method, when you want a Full you have to step through the entire wizard again, which is tedious and error-prone especially if you want to make customizations to the Advanced Options.  To make a definition file, just step through the wizard and keep the "Create an XML file" option checked in the dialog that appears after you click Finish.  Then you can access it under the aforementioned Backup Definition Files tab.

+x

 

jphughan - 12 October 2018 5:42 PM

First, you should edit your post above to remove the last line you pasted, since you just posted your Reflect license key to a publicly viewable forum.

In terms of your issue, it sounds like Reflect isn't finding a Full backup at the destination that it can append to.  Did you recently upgrade to Windows 10 1809, perhaps?  If so, it might have created a new partition on your hard drive, in which case the partitions selected for backup on your system may have changed, which can obviously have some nasty consequences if you're no longer backing up the data you think you are.  I would edit your definition file to make sure that you're still backing up the partitions you mean to be.  If so, you may still need to create a new Full backup due to some partition configuration changes that can happen as part of a Windows upgrade.  From that point on, you should be able to create Incrementals.

If you're not using a definition file, which it sounds like you might not be based on you saying you clicked "Create Incremental" -- under the Restore tab? -- then you might want to think about creating one.  It's an easy way to save the desired settings, and then at any given time you can right-click the definition file under the Backup Definition Files tab, select Run Now, and choose the desired type of backup, including a Full.  Under your method, when you want a Full you have to step through the entire wizard again, which is tedious and error-prone especially if you want to make customizations to the Advanced Options.  To make a definition file, just step through the wizard and keep the "Create an XML file" option checked in the dialog that appears after you click Finish.  Then you can access it under the aforementioned Backup Definition Files tab.

I am on 1809 now.
There are 3 hidden little partitions. Not sure how many there were originally.
How will a definition file solve this issue? Or future issues?
Many thanks for prompt reply

A definition file won’t solve this directly, but if you had a definition file and chose to create an Incremental and circumstances prevented that for some reason (no matching backup due to a partition map change, no existing Full, etc.), Reflect would automatically fall back to creating a Full and note the reason for this in the log. But as I said above, it’s mostly for convenience and consistency so that whenever you want to create a Full, you won’t have to step through the wizard and select all your settings every time. Having a definition file would also allow you to have Reflect create a desktop shortcut that directly runs your backup job (you can have the shortcut automatically run a specific type of backup, such as Incremental, or prompt you each time) and it’s required if you ever want to use scheduled backups. There’s really no downside.

I had exactly the same problem under Reflect 8.0.6392
The cause of the problem was:
If the source disk was connected directly to the mainboard via SATA during the first full backup, it must also be connected in this way for every diff or inc backup based on it.

I had probably connected the source disk directly to the mainboard via SATA during the first full backup. After a few months, I connected the disk externally via USB and received exactly this error message:

Backup Aborted! - At least one partition in the Image to append to cannot be found

Then I shut down, connected it again to the mainboard directly via SATA and the diff backup was created successfully.

Regards

By the way, the same problem occurs when you change the partition style of the source drive from MBR to GPT after the first full backup. The conversion is so quick and easy that you don't remember it and don't think it's possible that Macrium doesn't recognise it.

On another note, I suggest that the error message be expanded:

"Backup Aborted! - At least one partition in the Image to append to cannot be found"

It would be better to inform that the problem has to do with the source drive and nothing at all with the destination drive. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

I can’t conveniently test the scenario of moving a disk from internal to external, but that on its own would not pose a problem. Reflect identifies source disks by their signature (MBR) or GUID (GPT), which you can see in its XML files, and those attributes would not change based on the connection method. Very old releases relied on the ordinal disk number, which can change, but that hasn’t been the case for quite a while. Even Reflect V6, since you resurrected this 4-year-old thread from the V6 section of the forum, uses signature/GUID identification.

Switching a disk from MBR to GPT will of course change that identifier though, and in that case if you attempt to reuse a definition file created while that disk was MBR, you will get an error about the source disk not being found, rather similar to the error you proposed. In that case you need to edit your definition file to re-select your disk (and new partitions if you performed that conversion on a Windows OS disk.)

But neither of those will cause the particular error you’re describing. The way THAT error occurs is when you aren’t careful about which disks/partitions you do and do not want to include in the scope of an image backup job, and/or aren’t careful about your destination path. The only possible way I could see either of your scenarios causing that error message would be if drive letters moved around such that suddenly your default destination path pointed to a source partition rather than where it normally did.