Differential Backups - New User

Hello to all. This is my first post. I am having the hardest time figuring out how to do Differential Backups after doing an initial Full Backup. I have looked at the Backup polices and I am definitely missing something. Again, I do a full back up. I then schedule a Differential backup using the wizard. What seems to be happening is that this backup must be doing a full backup instead of a Differential. I am thinking this because it takes 10-12 hours (500 GB) of data and the backup is about the same size as the Full backup.

What am I doing wrong. I have spent hours trying to figure this out.

Thanks in advance for your input!
J. Paul

 

Hello J. Paul,

Can you confirm that when you created your schedule for the differential, you selected the original full image file to append the differential to?

Regards

 

Yes, I can because it is the only file I have.
Thanks,
J. Paul

 

O.K. Thanks for that.

It would also help if you provided a few more details e.g.

- TI Version and Build
- Type of full image (Disk/Partition or Files and Folders)
- Type of differential image (Disk/Partition or Files and Folders)
- Where are you imaging to (Acronis Secure Zone, Acronis Backup Location, Hard Drive or DVD)
- Was the source drive defragmented between the full and differential images

Regards

 

Thanks for trying to help me with this. I hope I can answer your questions accurately. I am using TI version 10 build 4871 - Type of Full Image is Disk/Partition - Type of differential image is Disk/Partition - I am imaging to an external hard drive, and finally I didn't defrag between full and differential images.

Let me know if I left out any information or you need more.
Thanks!
J. Paul

 

From what you have said so far, I see no logical reason why the differential should be almost as large as the full image. As to why it's taking 10 to 12 hours to back up 500GB of (used ?) disk space, it could be that your external USB HD is operating in USB 1.1 mode rather than USB 2 Hi-Speed.

I think it best that you raise a tech query as per the instructions contained in this forum sticky titled <PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST>. Let us know how you get on.

Regards

Edited to removed e-mail address, see the reason in the post below. - Acronis Support

 

Thanks for trying to help. I will let you know how things turn out.
Best,
J. Paul

 

Hello jpaulmoore,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Please note that if you use backup locations to store the image archive you do not need to provide the name for the backup file and also you do not need to select the initial full backup to create incremental/differential backup as Menorcaman mentioned. The file name will be generated automatically according to the backup location naming rules. You need to select the initial full backup if you schedule task to the location that is not Acronis Secure Zone or backup location.

Please also note that if you scheduled a backup task to create incremental/differential backup and there is no full backup to append changes to the full backup will be created.

If it is not the case and you do not use backup location to store the image archive, please explain your step-by-step actions which you took to create a scheduled task. Please also create a screen shots of your consequent steps taken during the task creation, if possible. Collect the log file from Acronis True Image 10.0 Home that contains the information about that differential backup creation. In order to do so please do the following:

- run the program;

- select Show log on the toolbar or from the Tools menu;

- select the log with error messages;

- click "Save the log entry to file" (the diskette icon)

Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

P.S. Please be aware that as I mentioned in this previous post we no longer accept new requests by e-mail. All requests should be submitted via your account on Acronis web site.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov