@Gork, I think there's a communication issue with @Admin. Let me restate my test results, which have absolutely nothing to do with the LAST image in the chain.
I have a (6) image chain (FULL, DIFF & <4>INCs). I remove image #4 (INC #2) then run a manual INC (#7) against that chain (which is now broken) and the INC runs successfully against the broken chain... the reason, #7's PARENT (#6) is still in place even though the chain is now broken at image #4. As long as INCs are taken against that chain they will be successful UNTIL... a restoration is attempted to any time point in the chain. At that point an error is indicated during the restoration concerning the broken chain.
The problem with this is that the user has no idea his image chain was ever broken, and won't find out until he needs to do a restore... which is the worst time to discover such an anomaly, at that point that knowledge is past the critical stage. In fact, if a Partition Restore is attempted to an earlier time point in the chain that isn't broken, the user still receives a restore error... all the way back to and including the FULL.
This is not a good time to find out your chain is broken... and I don't see a reason why the software should throw an error when referencing a time point before the break in the chain. This is what my testing has shown...
I have a (6) image chain (FULL, DIFF & <4>INCs). I remove image #4 (INC #2) then run a manual INC (#7) against that chain (which is now broken) and the INC runs successfully against the broken chain... the reason, #7's PARENT (#6) is still in place even though the chain is now broken at image #4. As long as INCs are taken against that chain they will be successful UNTIL... a restoration is attempted to any time point in the chain. At that point an error is indicated during the restoration concerning the broken chain.
The problem with this is that the user has no idea his image chain was ever broken, and won't find out until he needs to do a restore... which is the worst time to discover such an anomaly, at that point that knowledge is past the critical stage. In fact, if a Partition Restore is attempted to an earlier time point in the chain that isn't broken, the user still receives a restore error... all the way back to and including the FULL.
This is not a good time to find out your chain is broken... and I don't see a reason why the software should throw an error when referencing a time point before the break in the chain. This is what my testing has shown...