Workstation Can't Open Acronis .TIB Files

[gofast]

I thought the VMWare Workstation could open Acronis .TIB files. When we try to open one we get the message "Failed to query source for information". Was hoping to use this software to run the image files but it doesn't look like VMWare workstation works with the Acronis files. Funny though as the VMWare documentation states that it does.

[asatoran · Accepted solution]

It has to be True Image 9 or later. If it is, then you can also try Converter 4, which is more recent than the converter built-in to Workstation. You can also just create a new blank virtual machine and restore the image into the virtual machine just like you would a physical machine. After the restore, run Converter 4 and choose "configure machine" in order to inject the proper drivers into the restored image on the virtual machine.

[gofast]

They are mostly Acronis Echo Server/Workstation images with some True Image 9.1 as well, so all are recent. I think that it is the Acronis Echo Server/Workstation images that VMWare can no longer open directly even though they are still .tib files. We were hoping to purchase Workstation to make some basic changes to the image files prior to putting the image back into production but it appears that VMWare Workstation may no longer be compatible. The whole idea of using Workstation was to open the .tib files natively to save time.

[KevinG]

Use the free standalone Converter 4.0

[asatoran]

I haven't used True Image since the company started using Ghost. But I believe True Image went through some file structure changes between versions and between Echo server. (Ghost did similar between version 8 & 9 and with their Ghostcast server.) So like I suggested, you may want to try restoring the images into a blank VM, then using Converter to "configure" the VM. That's what I did with all of my old Ghost images at work. Converter4 standalone is free and the restore and configure doesn't take that much more time than going through Workstation anyway.

[KevinG]

Before you try restoring the image in a VM, use the Converter 4.0 to read the Acronis image and it will make a VM

[gofast]

I didn't want to create VM's or convert or anything just want to be able to open them directly and make some changes and close them again. I think the problem is that VMWare has not updated the software to accomodate the latest .tib files from Acronis. Since the general consensus here seems to be to convert or make VM's first that seems to indicate that VMWare Workstation is not capable of opening the latest Acronis .tib files directly which is what I was trying to determine.

[asatoran]

Not to sound harsh, but you're asking for a function which really should be asked to Acronis. VMWare makes virtualization products. If you don't intend to make and run virtual machines, then none of the VMWare products is a good fit for you. All of VMWare's efforts with working with True Image files will be to utilize them in virtual machines. Does Acronis not have some sort of "mounter" program that can mount the True Image file as a drive letter?

That said, I have done the following with Ghost images and is pretty much what you want to do:

1) Install a second hard drive to a workstation.

2) Restore the image to the second hard drive.

3) Modify the contents of the hard drive as necessary.

4) Reimage the hard drive.

Step 1 can be done with a virtual machine's hard drive instead of an actual physical hard drive. You don't need to actually run the virtual machine. Workstation can mount the virtual hard drive file and you can access it like any other drive letter. So VMWare Workstation can be utilized to do what you want, but it's not straightforward because that is not a feature of VMWare Workstation.

[gofast]

I recall using the VMWare Player to open .tib files natively and be able to run the operating system image. So if you had an image of Windows XP you could run it as it would run normally on a workstation but running from the player. Of course the player wouldn't save any changes. The server would and I had assumed the VMWare Workstation version would as well. That was prior to Acronis Echo Workstation and Echo Server hitting the market. When re-visiting this I was hoping to be able to do some simple software updates on the image file using VMWare Workstation and re-save the image. Doing this using the one tool. I don't have an issue with using the converter or creating VM's etc... but if a product states that is supports a file type then I'm assuming i don't have to do a work-around. So the original post was to simply determine if the software supported .tib files or I was missing something here as it wasn't readily apparent why it was giving the error. A better error message would have been "Unsupported File Version" or similar. I believe you were correct in stating early on that it is a version issue and only certain versions of the Acronis image files are supported.

[asatoran]

...When re-visiting this I was hoping to be able to do some simple software updates on the image file using VMWare Workstation and re-save the image....

You would not have been able to do what you wanted with previous versions either. Opening the image file (Ghost or TrueImage) Player would either be copying the data file to a virtual machine hard disk or making a delta file. The changes you make are to the virtual machine hard drive or delta file, not to the TIB. Thus the reason why the "changes aren't saved." You aren't working with the TIB file. So regardless of whether you could open the TIB in the past or not, you still could not accomplish your goal directly with VMWare's products.

... but if a product states that is supports a file type then I'm assuming i don't have to do a work-around....

That's what the fine print and release notes are all about. Unfortunately, VMWare's been lacking in putting the info about specific versions of Ghost and True Image. However, I'll also put some of the onus on Symantec and Acronis for changes they make to their file format as well. (So hard to keep track of all those version numbers. 😛 ) Thus the recommendations for using Converter4, which is newer, or for just restoring the image file to a physical or virtual hard drive, which will work regardless of version number.