General True Image questions

Group,

I have a couple of questions I would like to get answered about how ATI works, based on some observations I've had initally using it.

Recently I started backing up folder structures from C: (selected folders and files) onto my external HD. What I have noticed it that the first image was HUGE -- a big blob of stuff. That was to be expected. Generally speaking, the subsequent incremental changes have been smaller, but are still large. I have not been making a lot of changes to the existing files, but what I have been trying to do is progressively clean up my C: drive and purposely deleted and shred a lot of files that I no longer need. My guess is that they are still being stored in the incremental nightly backups, which is fine for now.

But what I really want to know is, is there a way that I can eventually get it so Acronis doesn't store all these changes? Should I just finish the cleanup and THEN start a fresh base backup?

Part of the problem with trying to do this now is that since the earliest backup files ("My Backup1", "My Backup2", etc.) are so HUGE, WinXP craps on me when I try to delete them, and forget PGP or SFS shredding the files. So now I have these huge files that I no longer want or need but can't get rid of without severe performance degradation.

Also, can Acronis TI be "told" to "wrap" backups, say, after a week or something like that? In other words, as I progressively clean my system up, eventually my external HD is going to contain a record of all my changes, including file deletion, that I really don't need to keep. Can I tell it to "wrap around" and start a new base backup or something after a specified time has elapsed?

Thanks for any help you can provide. Please help me understand how to use this a little bit better.

Mike

 

I think Acronis is going to store any HD sectors that have been changed, so a file that is relocated will have changed sectors even if the file isn't changed.

That's a disadvantage to how ATI works. Otoh, the advantage is that it can work in background even while you are writing to one of the files you are backing up.

If you defrag, you could get every sector written to and therefore picked up by ATI in a incremental or differential image.

sh

 

Hello Zerex71,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Please notice that if you are doing file backups (not disk images), they can be rather large and weight more.

In your case, when system is being actively cleaned/changed, we could recommend you creating full images every time. The main purpose of incremental backups is the ability to have several points in time to return to.
There is no option to merge older backups into newer ones. If you want us to change the behavior of Acronis True Image in any way or add some new features to this product, please feel free to post any of your suggestions in Acronis True Image WISH-LIST thread.

Thank you.
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Marat Setdikov