I make separate images of the C: drive to an internal SSD and an internal HDD in the PC and then I make copies of those images to two separate external hard drives which are only connected for that copy process and for any restore event that is needed.

Today I fat-fingered one of my image copies and started to copy an image file from the E: internal drive back to the same folder on the E: internal drive instead of to the F: external drive.

When I realized my mistake I quickly aborted the file copy and I ended up with a partial image file in the same folder as the original image with 'Copy' inserted into the filename.

So now on the E: drive, in the same folder, I have two files like this:

Name                                                     Size

40791BCD18ADD2C3-00-00.mrimg           26.5GB (original image file)

40791BCD18ADD2C3-00-00 - Copy.mrimg  1.90GB (aborted copy)

Without thinking I tried to delete the 'Copy' file with my third party file manager and of course MIG blocked that. Then I went into MR, Restore, Other Tasks, but the 'Copy' file is not listed there even though it really is there along with the original image file which IS listed.

I noticed a Load Errors warning icon so I clicked on that and this is what it said:

****
File is corrupt: E:\directory_name\40791BCD18ADD2C3-00-00 - Copy.mrimg
Error: Invalid File

File(s) found with an IMAGEID that exist in another folder
    E:\directory_name\4C35360A7979AA09-00-00.mrimg
Use 'Folders To Search' and exclude the folder with the duplicate image set

Error opening directory: F:\directory_name\
Error: The system cannot find the path specified.
****

I'm pretty sure I had disconnected the external F: drive before trying to delete the 'Copy' file from the E: drive, but either way the directory name it was looking for on the F: drive does in fact not exist there. I give the folder different names on the external HDDs in my attempt to try to help avoiding confusing them with the internal drives.

So, what is the best way to delete this aborted 'Copy' file so that I don't end up with potentially orphaned child backup files?

Thanks!

The Restore tab will only show backups from folders that are in the "Folders to search" list.  But Macrium has also said that Reflect should not display identical copies of the same backups at the same time.  I can't remember the reason why.  So in your case I would simply disable Image Guardian temporarily, which you do under the Other Tasks menu.

+x

 

jphughan - 2 April 2021 9:18 PM

The Restore tab will only show backups from folders that are in the "Folders to search" list.  But Macrium has also said that Reflect should not display identical copies of the same backups at the same time.  I can't remember the reason why.  So in your case I would simply disable Image Guardian temporarily, which you do under the Other Tasks menu.

Thanks jph. Done, file deleted.

Image Guardian sure works!  However, in order to save a little bit of computer usage, I removed both CBT and IG.  I had CBT on just to watch the changes - I was surprised at just how busy Windows 7 is reading/writing/modifying a bunch of files!  I chose to remove IG because my backups, full images on dedicated ext usb 1tb HDDs, are stored in a tiny floor safe.  Ransomware cannot reach into that tiny floor safe 

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee."  Ben Franklin revisited.

+x

 

Roland Stoller - 9 April 2021 9:07 PM

Image Guardian sure works!  However, in order to save a little bit of computer usage, I removed both CBT and IG.  I had CBT on just to watch the changes - I was surprised at just how busy Windows 7 is reading/writing/modifying a bunch of files!  I chose to remove IG because my backups, full images on dedicated ext usb 1tb HDDs, are stored in a tiny floor safe.  Ransomware cannot reach into that tiny floor safe 

Offline storage is certainly a better option, but unless you rotate your destination disks very frequently or don't capture backups very often, then offline storage is unlikely to have your very latest backups at any given time.  Those might be located on a disk that is online until its rotation period elapses.  In that case, Image Guardian can add value by protecting that disk and therefore the most recent backups you have.