backup questions

Just when I thought I had a fair understanding of the Aconis imaging thing, I find out everything I thought I knew wasn't valid.

1/9 , I did a full hard drive image backup to my external USB drive.

Yesterday, I did an incremental hard drive backup to my external USB drive.

There are two backup files on my external USB drive. One says "My Backup", dated 1/9. The other says "My Backup (1)", dated 1/13.

The "My Backup" (original full hard drive image) file is smaller than the "My Backup (1)" incremental backup file.

What gives here? Can I delete the 1/9 file without causing any restore problem?

Is the 1/13 file complete enough for a restore action?

Should I do only full hard drive images?

What kind of a backup strategy is optimal for always being ready to have to run a restore action?

 

I only make full images for the reasons you give. Otherwise things get too complicated. I know that each image contains all that I need to restore my system. Are you making images of your system partition and your data partition or simply of your complete hard drive ? You might be better off partitioning your drive>

 

If you did a defrag before the incremental then the incremental will be large, do a search on this forum and you will find detailed explanations

 

Didn't run any defrag stuff, so that's not part of what's going on.

}}} Are you making images of your system partition and your data partition or simply of your complete hard drive ? You might be better off partitioning your drive {{{

Don't know the answer to that. I'm using TI 8.0, and clicking on the "Create Image" button. It takes me through a wizard, which is where I opt to make a complete hard drive image.

Up until recently, what I've done is make successive hard drive image backups, while deleting the previous one.

 

I'm with LongView on this - only complete whole disc Backups. And in addition, you should test the Restore process on a spare drive to make sure it will work when you really need to have it work. Also you should make the bootable Rescue CD and test that too since you will need this if your drive bites the dust.

 

Right you guys are. That's going to be exactly what I do from here on. Only full, complete hard drive images. None of the incremental stuff.

 

Ralphie -

If I run a test restore to an external USB hard drive, can I in any way damage my current system? I've read in other posts (relating to cloning I believe) that if a user has two drives designated as system drives that the system can be "confused". I'd like to test a restore running from the rescue cd - it would not be my intention to attempt to boot from that external drive - just to verify that the restore works.

 

Just don't have the external plugged in when you next boot and I can't see any problem. Just in case I'm wrong suggest you wait for a few more replies.

 

Will it reboot automatically - or attempt to reboot automatically after the restore is complete? Is that something I would have to watch to turn off the computer before the reboot occurs?

 

Hello rbig,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Based on this (on the backup archive file names you have provided) I can conclude that both backup archives are full backups, since incremental/differential backup names according to the scheme provided in this previous post of mine.

Therefore, the answer to the questions below is "yes".

I would recommend that you find the detailed instructions on how to use Acronis True Image in the respective User's Guide. Also this article providing the illustrated instructions on Acronis True Image 9.0 Home installation and usage might be useful.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Hello rbig,

Assuming you didn't rename any of the .tib image files then a note of caution is warranted here.

If your 1/13 file is labelled "My Backup (1).tib" then, yes, Acronis Support is correct - it would be another full image which means you could delete the 1/9 "My Backup.tib" file. However, if its actually called "My Backup1.tib" then it would signify it's an incremental of "My Backup.tib" dated 1/9, which means you will need both files in order to validate/restore the image.

Regards

 

Got it. Thanks.

I finally figured out the difference between a full backup and a clone action---I think.

My guess is that a cloned drive can be read and written to by the primary, directly, and that it can even be designated the primary.

Whereas a full backup file can not be read by the pc hard drive Windows, nor written to.

Is this right?

 

Hello rbig,

We are sorry for the delayed response.

First, let me correct Menorcaman's reply a little.

As I stated in this previous post the first differential/incremental backup will be named "My Backup2.tib". Namely, will end with "2", not "1".

Almost correct. Cloned disk is the exact copy of source disk drive on the destination drive. Image archive is a file, which contains all the information stored on the disk/partition: the operating system, registry, drivers, software applications and data files, as well as system areas hidden from the user.

Please take a look at this FAQ article explaining the difference between Clone Disk and Backup approaches in more detail.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Thanks. I think I've got it sorted out now re cloning and image file.

Now, the $64,000 question: I've got a USB external hard drive bigger than the hard drive in my desktop. I use it only for backup. So, would I be better off cloning to it every few days (eliminating the previous cloning once the new one is done) rather than making the complete desktop hard drive image for backup, like I've been doing?

With the cloned backup, I don't have to go through Acronis to access, read, and or copy stuff (I'm having problems {operator trouble} in going into the image backup file and finding individual documents to restore. The cloning would work around that.

 

You can do that but remember that when you Clone, it wipes out everything on the Destination drive. If you do Whole Disk Images, you can keep adding many Images on the external up to its capacity.
Also if you Clone the external, and then want to test it, you have to remove the drive from the enclosure and put it in the system in order to boot.

 

}}} when you Clone, it wipes out everything on the Destination drive. If you do Whole Disk Images, you can keep adding many Images on the external up to its capacity. {{{

Good point! I didn't realize that. Still a very useable concept, but have to bear this in mind.

}}} if you Clone the external, and then want to test it, you have to remove the drive from the enclosure and put it in the system in order to boot {{{

I thought you could use the clone as is in the event of your main pc hard drive failure. true?

If so, the clone would have acronis on it, and you could clone right back to a good pc hard drive.

 

Well yes you could clone right back to a good internal drive IF you could boot Windows from the drive while in the external enclosure. But I haven't come across a motherboard that would let you do that - I would love to find one.
But you could still do what you want (clone right back to a good drive) by using the bootable Rescue CD. If you haven't done so yet, while you have Acronis installed on a working drive, make that CD asap and when you do, boot with it to make sure it sees your external drive.
BTW, if that external is large enough you could "have your cake and eat it" sotospeak. After cloning it you could also put Images on it, until you run out of space. BUT if you want to do another clone and if you want to save those backup images on it, you would first have to move those images off the external.

 

One of the first things I did when I installed Acronis was make the boot/rescue disk.

I am a total nebbish when it comes to computer stuff. But, I look at the clone capability in Acronis, and think that a clone to an external USB drive includes the installed Acronis program.

If the pc hard drive was blank and formatted, it seems to me like Acronis in the cloned content of the external usb drive would recognize C drive and be able to clone back into it.

I religiously run the checksum counter validation each time I make any kind of image with Acronis. If you're doing the image (vs cloning), my understanding is it uses compression. If so, how does it do a comparative count

 

I never do validation because there are too many false positives and negatives. But I do test my images by Restoring.