Backing up to different hard drive each week

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by RTAdams89, Apr 9, 2009.

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  1. RTAdams89

    RTAdams89 Registered Member

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    I'm considering by Acronis True Image for SBS to install and use on our Small Business Server 2003 machine. What I would like to do is setup an automatic nightly backup to an external drive. However, I have 2 external drives, and want to swap them every week (on Friday). This way, one of the drives (with a backup no more than 5 business days old) is always off site.

    As long as I remember to switch the drives each Friday before the backup is scheduled to run, will I have any issues getting True Image to do this?

    Additionally, is it possible to setup True Image for SBS so that it makes 4 incremental backups, then does a full backup (this is possible in True Image Home)?
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2009
  2. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello RTAdams89,

    Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

    There can be issues if you create one schedule task for 2 external drives. To eliminate possible issues create two schedule tasks, one for each external drive.

    Regarding 4 incremental backups, yes you can set it in consolidation option.

    I would recommend you download free trial version from our web site and test it. Use the following link

    Best regards,
    --
    Dmitry Nikolaev
     
  3. RTAdams89

    RTAdams89 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the response. I have downloaded the trial. To clarify two points:

    1) I don't see a consolidation options when configuring a scheduled backup. I'm familiar with the option in the True Image Home version, but again, can't find it in the Small Business Server version.

    2) If I create 2 separate scheduled tasks (one to backup up Monday-Friday of week 1, the other to backup Monday-Friday of week 2), what happens if someone forgets to swap the drives? That is, what happens if the task for week 2 is scheduled to run, but only the external drive for week 1 is connected to the computer?
     
  4. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello RTAdams89,

    Thank you for your interest in Acronis Corporate Products

    The consolidation is available for Acronis True Image for Microsoft Small Business Server when you install Acronis Backup Server and place the archives into it. You can set limitations to disk space and storage period for the location, according to the selected policy. The maximum backup location size can be set to the storage drive capacity minus the estimated size of the largest backup (some space must be reserved for the temporary file created at consolidation).

    See article 2.3.3 Acronis Backup Server installation and setup available on our web site in user Guide for Acronis True Image for Microsoft Small Business Server her for more information.

    The program will fail to detect the external drive for week 1 as a storage for the task execution. The task will fail.

    Thank you.

    --
    Oleg Lee
     
  5. bmiller

    bmiller Registered Member

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    Acronis Support, Could you tell me what issues could possibly arise from having one differential image task and swapping external drives (that use the same drive letter) nightly? I could understand issues with Incremental backups on swapped drives, but differential? How exactly does the program differentiate what has changed on the drive since the full backup it finds on the drive? I need to have the day's backup taken off-site, and would prefer to not have to copy one to the other at the end of the day, and like RTAdams89, I can't be sure the operators will swap the drives correctly to use 2 separate tasks.
     
  6. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello bmiller,

    Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image
    An incremental backup contains all changes that have been made since the latest incremental or full backup was created. If one full backup and several incremental were created, all of these backups must be saved in the same folder so that you will be able to restore the data. If one of incremental backups or a full backup is deleted, there is no way to restore the set, since all backups are dependent on each other.
    A differential backup contains all changes that have been made after the full backup creation. To restore a differential backup, Acronis True Image must match the differential backup with the original one.
    So, If your objective is to reduce backup size and backup time, then the best strategy would be to create incremental backups. On the other hand, if you want to increase backup reliability, by not having to rely on a chain of incremental backups, then differential backups would be the best solution.

    Here is a graphical representation of the differences between full, incremental and differential backups.

    An incremental or differential backup created after the disk is defragmented might be considerably larger than usual. This is because the defragmentation program changes file locations on the disk and backups reflect these changes. Therefore, it is recommended that you re-create a full backup after disk defragmentation.

    Best regards,
    --
    Dmitry Nikolaev
     
  7. bmiller

    bmiller Registered Member

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    Thank you for your reply, but it didn't quite answer my question. If I have a differential backup set up and I swap 2 drives nightly using the same drive letter, how I think it should work is TI will compare the current files to those on the full backup it finds on the drive that's connected and make a differential based on that difference, so it shouldn't matter which drive is connected. Am I correct, or is there something I'm not considering?
     
  8. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello bmiller,

    Thank you for using Acronis True Image

    Please re-read post #2, the answer has been provided. This is true for differential backups also. The task can fail, because the program will fail to recognize the swapped hard drive.

    Thank you.

    --
    Oleg Lee
     
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