Limiting Backups in the Secure Zone

Hi folks,

A quick question if I may: Is it possible to limit the number of incremantal backups in the Secure Zone (and if so, how)?

I have recently installed TI 11, and have set it to store my backups in the Secure Zone which i have setup on an additional internal hard drive (drive E). I can see an option for limiting the number of backups when setting up a "backup location", but can't see any options for setting this in the Secure Zone. I have allocated 300GB for the Secure Zone (to allow plenty of space for "try & decide"), but don'y particularly want any more than 3 or 4 incremantal backups before running a full backup.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Have a look at the scheduling options. One for full images and another for incrementals would do it on a weekly basis quite easily.
My own method is even more simple One schedule for daily full images....All I had to do was install a large enough backup drive .

Xpilot

 

Wouldn't you just create a Backup Location in the Secure Zone? (Sorry, I can't test it as I don't use Secure Zone.)

 

No it does not work like that. A secure zone has its own simple FIFO rules and that is why I stick with it.

Xpilot

 

Thanks for the responses - I'll see what's possible with schedule settings. What I'm aiming for is to backup each Saturday morning, with every 4th (or so) backup a full one.

Whilst on the subject, what is meant by "FIFO"?

 

First In, First Out

 

Thank you!

 

HMMMM - another question:

How do I delete Backups in the Secure Zone?

With 300 GB available in my Secure Zone, there will be far too many backups to manage before the space runs out, so I would want to throw out the older ones from time to time.

 

It is odd that you see this as a problem. The secure zone manages its archives automatically on a First In First Out basis so it never runs out of space. If 300 GB is too big or too small it can always be resized and space be used or taken from elsewhere.
As long as the zone is fed with full images from time to time there is no management to do. The archives are listed in date/ time order so it is simple to pick the one you want to restore.

Used either with a single scheduled full task or a combination of full and incrementals it can truly be a "fit and forget" backup method.

But I am biased because I have used a secure zone without problems for years.
Have a look at the advantages and disadvantages that come with the territory and make your own choices. After all a secure zone is not mandatory and there are plenty of other ways to organise your archives I just prefer the simple approach that the SZ provides.

Xpilot

 

Hi Xpilot,

When you manually select Backup or Restore, and then select the SZ as the location, isn't there a red X for delete as well as the new folder icon above the list of backups?

I don't use the SZ, so I can't take a look at that, but that's what I see when I choose my ordinary folder for backups.

That allows me to delete backups that I don't need that I didn't delete earlier.

 

That sums me up nicely

I guess I'm just a little paranoid about handing over control to something that I personally don't yet fully understand. The way you describe it sounds great, but how does that sit with the "Try & Decide" feature? Would this not eventually stop working because the Secure Zone is full of backup files? Is it perhaps the case that the Secure Zone can be used for backup management or "Try & Decide", but not both?

So many questions - thanks for your patience!

No - it doesn't work like that. You can't create any folders in the Secure Zone, and you don't even specify the backup file name - it's automatically allocated by TI. Similarly, there are no options to delete files etc.

 

I had to open the TI GUI to have a look and the answer is no.
Normally because my backups just run automatically I never have to open TI at all. Of course a manual backup folder will need managing but with a secure zone it is done for you.
All my restores are done from the TI recovery CD so I still do not open the Windows GUI.

At one time I had many more full backup images than I would ever need however instead of shrinking the secure zone I decided to change to no compression instead of normal compression.
This reduced the image count from 11 to 9 and had the added advantage of shortening both the imaging and restore time by quite a margin.

Xpilot

 

Well, maybe, maybe not.
I have a separate full backup scheduled for each morning. I don’t need to manage anything at all. All seven files sit in a 'manual backup folder' and do quite well on their own.

 

You've managed the scheduling well.

If you just made image and stored them there, you'd have to delete some periodically unless you chose to overwrite older ones as your scheduling can do.

 

Teflon and Xpilot,

Thanks for letting me know that the delete option isn't available for the SZ window. As a non-SZ user, it was a lot easier having you both check it for me.

 

Good questions! I'm new to ASZ myself, but according to the manual Try & Decide will never overwrite your images, it will simply stop working (after warning you there's not enough space left). Soooo, without the ability to manually delete backups, at some point it appears T&D will stop working w/no (easy) recourse to fix? Hopefully someone from Acronis will read this & respond. But here's a workaround:

I like to be "in control" myself, and have discovered that the only way it seems to go-in to the ASZ and manipulate those files (copy or delete) is to use a Partition Manager like Acronis Disk Director to temporarily change the partition type. ASZ is type 0xBC, and you can change this to 0x0C (FAT32 LBA) and then you can effectively un-hide it by assigning a drive letter to it. But then you have to remove the letter assignment and re-assert the 0xBC partition type to restore ASZ operation.

If you try this let us know how it works for you!

 

Some previous poster came up with the idea of gaining access to a secure zone by assigning a drive letter using a partitioning program.
It may well work and it may also give the possibility to lose ones backup history. In any event I would not consider doing it as I am content with the completely automated control of backup images provided by a secure zone.

As to T&D well in my book that is a totally unecessary frippery, anything placed in T&D will not survive a re-boot apart from the fact that existing backups may well get in the way .
True Image already has the ultimate Try & Decide facility. I use it from time to time. All I have to do is install whatever I want to try out. If I like it I keep it. If I want to remove it a restore of one of my automatically created daily backups makes a completely clean sweep.
That is what I did to go back to Version 10 and get rid of Version 11. In fact I was in a bit of a rush and it was even quicker to swap in the previous day's HDD.

Xpilot

 

Well, the OP said up-front:

so as he clearly wants to try it and that's his decision to make. And he's right that at 300Gb it's going to hold a lot of backup images. I guess until Acronis tells us there's some way around his issue we can only hope they enhance ATI with some backup-number-or-size-limitation option in the future.

As for changing the partition type to make it visible that is something found here.

EDIT: OK, the wikipedia entry above is *wrong*--the partition type is not 0x0B, but rather 0x0C (FAT32 LBA-mapped, extended INT-13 equivalent of 0B) which, interestingly, is not selectable using Acronis Disk Director Suite 10. Acronis may have some code in ADDS10 that refuses to expose the ACRONIS SZ. But I used a different tool to change the ACRONIZ SZ partition to 0x0C and it shows up OK, with backups shown like this:

AAA1.TIB
AAA2.TIB
etc.

Of course, since it's a FAT32 partition all backups > 4Gb will be segmented 1, 2, 3, etc.

Since the wiki was wrong about the partition type, it could be wrong about other assumptions so Teflon take great care if you attempt any deletions--there may be a catastrophic result. I'd make sure I had another backup somewhere...