Scheduled Backup Strategy

Hi, I've been reading many of the forum notes on Backup / Restore and use of the TI Scheduler, and have also been practicing backups & restores and use of the Secure Zone (Sz).

I currently have a 3 disk system with one of those being a large external Firewire drive for performing the backups to. Disk 1 is Sata partititions C,D,E,F,G,H and Disk 2 is Sata partition M. Disk 3 (the external) is a UDMA 133 drive. All drives are utilizing NTFS and the system is running XP Pro.

Right now, (using the scheduler) I have attempted to have it run a Fullback of Disk 1 & 2 montly with each having their own separate images and files being stored to external partitions N, O respectively with slightly staggered times to avoid conflict. Additionally I have incrementals set to be created weekly for Disk 1 and 2 as well - both targeting the proper partitions containing the full images on parts N, and O.

I will note that initially I tried using the Secure Zone to do my backups. But as I recall it acted very strange and after the SZ was created whenever a backup attempted to write to the space it gave a error for disk full...very odd.

Eventually I decided I could live without the SZ which is a bit disappointing because conceptually I would think this could have protected the always connected images from being infected by viruses.

It is my belief from what I have read that once a month is up, then TI should delete my Full Backup and all the corresponding incrementals and then create a new Full Backup. Is this correct, and does it require the files to be in an SZ in order to perform the proper deletes? Why do I see posts by people providing file deletion scripts? It was my impression that TI will do this for you automatically if you configure correctly - right?

Next, I really would like to set up a backup configuration that would always provide 2 months of images. That would be a full back created every month, and still weekly incrementals. How can this be accomplished? I note that the scheduler only allows the option to run monthly - not every other, or every 2 months. What could I do to accomplish this goal?

Finally, I might mention that everyone (including myself) seems a bit confused about strategies on backup, and how (in detail) the TI program works, it's options, and what you can do with it. I've checked the User Guide, the online site, and now the forums but a comprehensive procedural explanation and documentation does not exist. In my opinion this is a problem that needs to be corrected by Acronis. If we all have the doco, and can easily read it up front then there will be fewer posts of confusion about this issue, and fewer support questions for Acronis support. It really seems from what I've tried that you have to perform both the backups and restores in a test situation to assure that your solution will work.

I'd appreciate some feedback on this topic from members and Acronis Support. Thanks very much and good luck to you all.

Bill

 

Why no replys to my forum post? Looks like there has been a ton of activity on posts made after mine. Also, why do some posts show up with a bold title whereas mine does not. Do I have to join to get any respect here?

Bill

 

Hi, Planet-bill

What do you mean by bold titles.

Take Care,
TheQuest

 

I just noticed that a lot of the forum posts subject lines were bold. However I noticed after I posted to my own post that mine was then bold also. So I suppose it just has to do with a new post added or something.

Bill

 

Strategy? Any ideas?

 

Wanted to say that my second month in my backup strategy has started and TI just did my second full backup of disk 1 (partitions C,D,E,F,G,H) and stored as image on external drive 3 partition N.

I was curious if TI would automatically kill all of the old incrementals when it replaced the monthly full backup with a new one. It did not. It did however replace the old full backup with a new one.

So, I guess I need some way to auto kill all of the old associated incrementals (since they are worthless without the old full backup). I also still need a way to create a second full so that I can keep two months of backups on hand.

I'm surprised that TI doesn't support this, and why would it keep the old incrementals around. Does it do this if I maintain an SZ? I tried to create one and it was corrupted and when the backup tried to write to it it said the disk was full even though there was nothing in that location.

Any ideas here? Thanks

Bill

 

Hello Bill,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/).

First of all, I want to say that I did understand your strategy and it is really good.

I will try to answer all your questions below:

1) Regarding Acronis Secure Zone.

Acronis Secure Zone rules for managing backups:

If there is not enough free space in Acronis Secure Zone to create a backup (either full or incremental), then Acronis True Image deletes the oldest full backup with all subsequent incremental backups.

If there is only one full backup (with subsequent incremental backups) left and full backup is in progress, then this only full backup (with subsequent incremental backup images) is deleted.

Otherwise (only one full backup left, and incremental backup is in progress) you will get out of space error. In this case you will have to either create full backup or increase the Acronis Secure Zone size.

You can always check how much free space left in Acronis Secure Zone on the second page of the Manage Acronis Secure Zone wizard.

2) "It is my belief from what I have read that once a month is up, then TI should delete my Full Backup and all the corresponding incrementals and then create a new Full Backup. Is this correct, and does it require the files to be in an SZ in order to perform the proper deletes? Why do I see posts by people providing file deletion scripts? It was my impression that TI will do this for you automatically if you configure correctly - right?"

"I was curious if TI would automatically kill all of the old incrementals when it replaced the monthly full backup with a new one. It did not. It did however replace the old full backup with a new one."

If you have setup Acronis True Image to save backups into location different from Acronis Secure Zone then it will rewrite already existed files. For instance, if you have scheduled a full monthly backup and an incremental weekly backup then after one month passes you will have four or five files (one full backup and several incrementals). The next month Acronis True Image will rewrite these files one by one. It will rewrtite the full backup image the first week and then it will rewrite all the incremental images one by one.

3) "Finally, I might mention that everyone (including myself) seems a bit confused about strategies on backup, and how (in detail) the TI program works, it's options, and what you can do with it. I've checked the User Guide, the online site, and now the forums but a comprehensive procedural explanation and documentation does not exist. In my opinion this is a problem that needs to be corrected by Acronis. If we all have the doco, and can easily read it up front then there will be fewer posts of confusion about this issue, and fewer support questions for Acronis support. It really seems from what I've tried that you have to perform both the backups and restores in a test situation to assure that your solution will work."

We are constantly working on manuals and it is certainly our goal to make Acronis True Image easier and more convenient to use.

Hopefully answered all your questions well. If you have further issues, please feel free to ask at your earliest convenience.

Thank you.

--
Best regards,
Andrew Berezovsky

 

Hello Bill,

I've got good news for you. Finally I have managed to devise the schedule to accomplish your goal.

You need to set up 8 tasks (for 8 weeks):
1) Please create a task to make a full backup (let the name of these backup be "backup1.tib") weekly every 8 weeks;
2) When one week passes you should create a task to make an incremental backup (weekly every 8 weeks) to the "backup1.tib";
3) When two weeks passes from the moment you have created the "backup1.tib" you should create a task analogous to the previous one;
4) The same as 3, when four weeks passes;
5) Please create a task to make a full backup (let the name of these backup be "backup2.tib") weekly every 8 weeks;
6, 7, - analogous to the 2, 3, 4) points.

Hopefully this helps.

Thank you.

--
Best regards,
Andrew Berezovsky