How to prevent overwriting backups

I scheduled Acronis to do a daily backup and I put the limit as 3 backups. But the daily backup just seems to overwrite the previous day's one. How can I set it so that there are always 2 validated backups?

 

In the latest build of V2009 you can add one or more incremental images to the mix. This will leave you with more than one recoverable backup.
However when your assigned backup area is full you will have to manually remove the oldest backup before you run the next one.
Hardly an elegant solution but it is workable.

Xpilot

 

Do you mean there is no way to schedule a Full Backup every day without Acronis overwriting the previous day's file?

 

Hi,
Of course it's possible.
Just read the instructions on this text file which was given to me by a member of this Forum when I faced the same problem.
Sorry, but I don't remember the name of that distinguished member.

 

That file is about creating Full and Incremental backups over the course of a week. I don't want any Incrementals, just a Full Backup every day, and to always have 2 Full Backups (2 .tib files) in case one fails.

I'm starting to think that the only way to do it is to make 2 scheduled tasks, each one scheduled for every second day, starting on alternate days.

What's the point of the limit archive function if Acronis just overwrites everything anyway?

 

Hi,
If you follow these instructions, you will end up with what you're looking for.
Please read them, proceed and go.Forget the incremental elements.

It works for me (2 full backups a week) and if you're a good Jack, it's gonna work for you too.

 

I'm not sure what version is being talked about. There are provisions for backup locations in version 11 but not 12/2009.

I reverted to version 11 for this very reason. Still waiting for my refund Acronis.

OTC

 

You can do it in the latest build of ATI2009 (9646) but it is not intuitive. You set the scheduled task to do an incremental or differential backup and then tell it to create a new full backup after 0 incremental or differential backups. As silly as that sounds it works. In automatic consolidation set it to 2 backups. Unfortunately it will consolidate instead of delete the oldest backup but it does work.

 

Here's what I did.

Yesterday I scheduled a Full Backup to run every 2 days. This started automatically yesterday. Today I scheduled another Full Backup, also to run every 2 days, starting today. Looking at the calender in Tasks, there is now a Full Backup scheduled for every day (by 2 alternating Scheduled tasks), and if it works, each daily backup will overwrite the one from 2 days ago, but leave yesterday's intact. So even if something goes wrong, there should still be a backup remaining. I suppose I should do a test Restore after a week or so to see if those backups are ok. I hope it works because it would remove the need for Incrementals and\or consolidation. I just want 2 Full backup files, ready to go should the worst happen.

I'll post here again when I know if this method works or doesn't.

 

Hi,
I fail to understand why you're not trying it the way it says in the text file I provided you with.
That's what I do twice a week, so as to always have 2 full backups on hand in case one would not work.

Please have a look at this screenshot showing my 2 full backups on my USB drive.When it's run ,the oldest one is automatically deleted.Is it not what you want

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/7276/acronis2backupslw0.jpg

 

The method in that text file has up to 6 backup files at any one time, right? That includes Full Backups and Incrementals. How much space does that take up? My storage space is limited so I decided that 2 Full Backups would be better, eliminating Incrementals. Besides, that method is complicated. If my method doesn't work, I'll use it. But it's so far so good for now.

 

Hi,
With that method ,you set up yourself the number of full backups you want ,through the backup location space you have previously determined.If you don't want incrementals, just ignore them when you mount your scheduled task and pick up ''full backup'' instead.

I think you find this complicated because you don't quite understand the whole process.

 

Furthermore, as was pointed out in another thread, you can set your incremental task to make a new full backup after zero incrementals and get essentially a full backup task.

P.S. when you manually delete your older archives make sure you do it via the TI GUI rather than just deleting the .tib files in Explorer.

 

That's using ATI 10 or 11, yes? Not ATI12/2009 which doesn't use Backup Locations and can't provide the automatic deletion of old fulls while maintain more than one full in a specific location.

 

Yes, I'm using the new version. That's why I changed the method. However, setting the Incrementals to 0 also works well apparently.

 

See post 4 in this thread. Vlad V has found a way to fool ATI12/2009 into making only fulls of a user specified number and then autodeleting the oldest when the number of files exceeds the user set limit.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=228046