Which files can I delete?

I started using Acronis a few weeks ago. I initially made one full backup on an external hard drive. I assumed this backup would be one file, but Acronis split it up into 20 separate smaller files called Mybackup1 - Mybackup 20. During the following weeks, I did a few Incremental backups, which Acronis split into four files. I just finished another full backup, and I see that I have these files:

Mybackup1 - Mybackup24 (24 files) and

Mybackup(1)1 - Mybackup(1)24 (another 24 files)

Does this mean that I have two complete backups? Can I delete the original Mybackup 1 - Mybackup24 files?

Wouldn't it be easier if my Full Backup was just one file? Then I could tell the full backup from the incremental backups?

 

Yes, you can delete backups that you no longer want.

Your external USB disk is probably formatted FAT32, which has a 4 GB file size limit, so TI must split the backup into 4 GB pieces. If you want to have each backup be one file then you need to format the external disk as NTFS.

 

I reformatted my external hard drive to NTFS and did another full backup. The backup file was indeed only 1 file. Thanks for your help with that. However, I was very surprised at how long the backup took. I did it last night before going to bed, and 45 minutes in, Acronis showed "7 hours remaining". I don't know if it actually took that long, but the same computer only took about 1 and a half hours before.

Is it possible to check how long the backup took?

 

Start TI and examine the log. You should be able to see when the backup task started and when it finished.

The time estimates displayed by TI are notoriously inaccurate at first. After a while the estimated time is more accurate.

 

According to the log, it took about 2 hours and 40 minutes to finish backing up my C Drive, which has about 90 GB of data. Seems quite long, but I don't know if that's about normal or not.

 

jaystack:

With normal compression, about 1 GB/min to a USB 2.0 external hard disk is typical for modern hardware; or about 2 or 3 GB/min if you have a fast internal hard drive for the destination of the backup image file. So your backup should have taken about 1.5 hours.

On a hunch, there is an issue with Vista SP1 and XP SP3 that may be slowing things for you. Try disabling the Windows service Distributed Link Tracking Client per the instructions in post #10 of this thread. It may speed up the time TI spends analyzing partitions at the start of an operation.

 

Thanks, I'll give it a try and let you know . I appreciate the advice.

 

It takes me 22 min. to back up 5.5 G with version 10 with a 3.5 yr. old Inspiron if that helps. Your's might be pretty good at that rate but not sure.

 

No, I have a feeling that something is not right, so I will try disabling the service as suggested. My computer is brand new, and is on the high end of processing power and RAM. The external hard drive is also relatively new, so there should be no hardware related performance issues. But Acronis sometimes takes a long time to start up, just as described in the other thread mentioned above, so I have a feeling it's the same issue. Unfortunately, I can't check it until later on today.

 

Upon closer inspection of the log, the 2 and a half hour time seems to have included Validation time, so it doesn't look like there's anthing wrong there. I'm still having an issue with a slow load up of Acronis, but I will post about that on the other thread ( https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=208493 ) .

Thanks again for your help, I appreciate it.

 

Hello jaystak ,

Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

Some software installed on your computer (e.g. antivirus software) may influence Acronis drivers from proper functionality which can be resulted in long delays of backup creation as in your case or Acronis software may not work at all. In case you want to diagnose the issue we would recommend you submit technical request using the following link http://www.acronis.com/company/contacts/request/index.html?t=2

Attach to your e-mail the following diagnostic information:

1) Could you please do the following?

- Open Start\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Information;
- Choose the "Save" option in the "File" menu (or "Action" menu under Windows 2000), enter the "File name" and set the field "Save as type" to "System Information File (*.NFO)";
- Send us the saved file.

2) Could you please download Acronis Report utility available at http://download.acronis.com/support/AcronisReport.exe and run it, create a report and send it to us? Please compress the Acronis Report output file into an archive (e.g. with WinZip) and attach to your message by browsing for the archive. This would provide us with detailed information on the hard disk partition structure.

3) Device tree information:

For Windows Xp:

- Download and unpack the Device Tree application: http://download.acronis.com/support/devicetree.zip

- Run the application;
- Completely unfold the \Driver\Disk and \Driver\FtDisk branches;
- Move the margin to the right in order to see all the items;
- Make a screen shot and send it to us.

For Windows Vista:

- Download and unpack the Device Tree application:
http://download.acronis.com/support/devicetree_Vista.zip
- Run the application from "i386" folder (run the 64-bit version of Device tree from "x64" folder if you have Windows Vista 64-bit);
- Completely unfold (click on all plus signs) the \Driver\partmgr and \Driver\volmgr branches;
- Move the margin to the right in order to see all the items;
- Make a screen shot and send it to us.


Best regards,
--
Dmitry Nikolaev