Acronis True Image Server for Windows

I am not an IT guy but an office manager for a one doctor office. We have a Windows 2000 server and 8 desktops. We run a medical records program that uses SQL. I installed True Image Server and made a complete backup on a Western Digital external hard drive. I loaded that backup into a new Dell Poweredge Server with different hardware and it worked perfectly. I could go back and forth between both servers and they were identical.

The only problem I am having is when I try to make an incremental backup of the changes since my complete backup, I can't seem to get the incremental to work correctly. I get error messages and it doesn't "update" the new changes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciate.

At this point, I suspect I will have to do a "complete" backup once a week to keep the 2 servers identical. I should mention that having a second server is in case of complete server failure. We need the medical records up to date and available every work day. The complete backup takes several hours but I can do the back up on weekends remotely. Anyway, Acronis promised that the program would copy my server and restore to a new server even if it had different hardware. And they were correct.

 

Can anyone give me some pointers on how to do an Incremental Backup? The problem I am having appears to be that I cannot figure out how to load the Incremental backup into my new server. Thank you.

 

Hi, could you tell us what the error message is and which version and build of TI Server you have.

I take it it is the restoration of the incremental that doesn't work, you can actually make an incremental image?

Colin

 

Let me approach my questions a different way. Since I am not an "expert" with Servers or IT issues, I can't remember what error message I got so I'll need to try it again to find out.

But in the meantime, is there a disadvantage besides the time it takes to make a full, complete backup of my present server every night after work hours?

Here's our situation. We use a Dell Poweredge Server daily in the office seeing patients. We bought a second Dell Poweredge Server just in case the #1 server crashes. Our #2 server is loaded with our #1 server backup and it works perfectly. So, I am thinking I might just make complete backups and forget Incremental backups........any thoughts? Thank you very much for reading my posts. If you can offer me any advice, I thank you even more.

 

My two cents..
If time is not a problem and disk space for the backups is not a problem, then FULL backups are the way to go. I only do FULL.
You will also want to have a process to retain multiple full images.
Do not simply overwrite yesterdays image with todays.
I have a external USB hard drive for each day of the week.

 

I sincerely thank you for making your points in a very easy-to-understand fashion. Your opinion makes good sense to me because I would have a full and complete backup every time I back up. I do have the time since the office closes at 5:30 PM and re-opens at 8:30 AM. Currently my #1 server size is 58.8 GB and that includes the Operating System, all programs, all files, and everything else. It takes about 6 to 8 hours to make the backup and 12 hours to restore it to the #2 server.

I have 3 external drives that I rotate now so I might consider 2 more and use one each day. Thank you again.

 

Hmm, my Intel server (single processor Xeon 5130 / SATA 3.0 RAID 6 / W2K3 standard) backup is 32.2gb with backup and verify being done in 17 minutes.
My backup is being done from within Windows (as opposed to using the recovery CD)
Compressed image size is just a tad under 7GB.
Not using SQL and almost all the data is text.
TI Server for Windows, v9.1 b3832

Are your external drives USB 2.0 ?
Under Backup options, Backup Priority, have you increased the priority?
What version and build of TI are you using?
When you restore are you using an Acronis recovery CD that you made?

 

Now you will see how low level I am. According to my teenage son, I have Western Digital External drives using USB Mini thru a USB Hub which he tells me is the slowest method I could use. So, my speed is poor due to those two aspects I suspect.

Second, I'm sorry that I don't know what Backup Priority actually is at this point. If I have one complaint with Acronis, it would be that you must download and pay for the software on the Internet. As a result, you don't get any "real" instructions you can read. I wish they would send you a Acronis Backup Manual for Dummies. That's what I need.

I have a Dell Poweredge 1600SC Xeon 2.0 GHz Server running Windows 2000 with a RAID setup. The entire server, including everything, is just under 60 GB.

 

Can you get a make/model number for the WD drives, and the USB HUB?

There is help available from within True Image that is pretty good, though it lacks an easy way to get a printed copy.
I too liked the 'good old days' when you always got a manual, nowadays if you get something printed it is normally a useless getting started card.

What part of the country are you in? Perhaps there is a TI reseller near you that can help you get through the learning curve.

 

Hello PEPS,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Server Disk Backup Software.

Please notice that you can find detailed instructions on how to use Acronis True Image Server for Windows in the respective User's Guide.

Please make sure you use the latest build of the respective version of Acronis True Image. To get access to updates you should first register your software. You can find the full version name and build number by going to Help -> About... menu in the main program window.

Thank you.
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Marat Setdikov