New user question on incremental backups

Every ATI backup creates a .tib image file. You may think of each as a snapshot of your system/files at a point in time. As long as you preserve those .tib images, you can always "reference" those "previous versions of files" as you put it.

A task for Incremental or Differential will always begin with a full backup. That is necessary, as that becomes the baseline.

For an Incremental task, after the first full backup, subsequent backups will be incremental, each one based on changes since the previous Incremental backup, all the way back to the second backup being incremental based on changes since the full backup. As such, you need all links in the chain, all incremental backups right back to and including the first full backup, in order to Restore.

For a Differential task, after the first full backup, subsequent backups will be differential, each one based on changes since the first full backup. To restore, you would need just any Differential and the Full backup on which it is based.

You should not allow an incremental chain to become too long. An incremental restore depends upon every incremental in the chain being valid, including the original full. It's better to limit each chain to just a few incrementals, followed by a fresh full backup to start a new chain.

You should validate backups periodically. That would alert you much if the full backup were missing or unreadable.

imacken, welcome to these user forums.

Are you using the Windows version of ATIH 2017 (trial) or the Mac version?  This particular forum is focussed on the Windows platform but there is a separate Acronis True Image for MAC Forum if you need it.

ATIH incremental backups work differently to how you described for Carbon Copy Cloner - it uses a proprietary image file format for starters, so there is no archive type folder, rather you need to have multiple incremental backups or backup version chains created, then Acronis will allow you to recover files and folders based on the date & time when those backups were created.

So, for example, you created backups (any type) on days 1,2,3,4,5 etc, then want to recover a particular file that was changed on day 4, you would use the option in the main ATIH GUI to select the task that created the backup files, then click on the option to Recover files, then finally select the specific backup version based on the Date & Time to recover the files from.

Hi guys, thanks for that.

No, I am using the Windows version.  You've answered my question. I didn't notice the 'Backup version' box. All sorted!

Thanks for the feedback and glad to know the question is answered.

Another question!  My backup is not waking my computer from sleep despite the fact that I have it set to 'wake up the sleeping/hibernating computer'.

Any ideas?

Take a look at your computer Power options, in the Advanced settings, check what you have under Sleep then for Allow wake timers?

Thanks, 'Allow Wake Timers' is enabled.

Which option do you have set for the wake timers, is it actually Enable or is it Important Wake Timers Only?

In addition to checking the wake timers (which should be checked under both AC and battery power if using a laptop), a good test would be to create your own scheduled task to wake the PC and see if that works.  Create the task in Windows to run in about 5 minutes, manually put the computer to sleep and then see if your new task wakes it up.

http://www.howtogeek.com/119028/how-to-make-your-pc-wake-from-sleep-automatically/

If it does, then change the Acronis backup time to five minutes from now and put the computer to sleep and see if it wakes up then.

If it does in both scenarios, but not after hours, your computer may be going into hibernation instead of sleep (after a period of time) and would require physical input to wake up (mouse shake, keyboard press, or in some cases a quick press of the power button). 

Steve Smith wrote:

Which option do you have set for the wake timers, is it actually Enable or is it Important Wake Timers Only?

Steve, it is actually Enable.

I know it's working as Windows did an update during the night, waking up the computer.

Bobbo_3C0X1 wrote:

In addition to checking the wake timers (which should be checked under both AC and battery power if using a laptop), a good test would be to create your own scheduled task to wake the PC and see if that works.  Create the task in Windows to run in about 5 minutes, manually put the computer to sleep and then see if your new task wakes it up.

http://www.howtogeek.com/119028/how-to-make-your-pc-wake-from-sleep-automatically/

If it does, then change the Acronis backup time to five minutes from now and put the computer to sleep and see if it wakes up then.

If it does in both scenarios, but not after hours, your computer may be going into hibernation instead of sleep (after a period of time) and would require physical input to wake up (mouse shake, keyboard press, or in some cases a quick press of the power button). 

Thanks a lot.

Both the task and Acronis worked as you suggested.  You say the computer must therefore be hibernating, but in Power Options, Hibernate is set to 'Never'.

What do you have in Power Options under Sleep, i.e. do you have Hybrid Sleep enabled?

Windows 8 - 10 default to using Hybrid Sleep which in essence puts the system into a hibernation state when you shutdown in order to perform a Windows Fast Start when you restart again - the state of the system in restored from the hibernation file to make the start appear a lot quicker than would be the case otherwise.

'Hybrid Slee'p is 'On', Hibernate is 'Never' and 'Allow Wake Timers' is 'Enabled'.

Do others have trouble with True Image and the default Power settings?

It varies from system to system, power settings, wether the system is on AC or battery power, etc. There are different levels of sleep based upon passed type when hybrid sleep is enabled.  Ultimately though, hybrid sleep is a lot like hibernation though and is probably the reason the system is not waking up unless physical input is applied.  https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/meaning-of-hybrid-sleep/85dd1c53-ad9c-4430-8de7-4c85701b0f5a

To put this theory to the test you can try...

Disable the Acronis schedule task and create a Windows sheduled task like the one you created in your 5 minute test.  It should include something that will leave a record that the machine actually woke up to make it easier to verify.  For instance, one that calls on a .bat file that simply includes:   

echo This is my wakeup test > C:\wakeuptest.txt

...which would create a wakeuptest.txt on the root of C: drive and in it should read "this is my wakeup test".

If Windows can't wake itself up, Acronis won't be able to either.

If that does work though (make sure it's set to run when the Acronis backup normally would have so the conditions and length of time waiting between the backup is similar), then you could create a windows scheduled task to wake up the computer a minute before the Acronis task is scheduled to run so it's already awake when it's time for the scheduled backup to run. 

Not really sure what the particular issue is in your case, but could be an easier solution than hunting out the culprit, but I'm still inclined to think hybrid sleep is part of the issue.  

Thanks again.

The wake up test worked, but also, Acronis is now working fine in the middle of the night, so I have no idea what was going on!

Thanks for all your help, guys.

Main thing is it's working!  If the problem comes back for whatever reason, maybe put the windows wake-up as a Windows schedule task a minute before the Acronis time and that should work as long as the system is able to wake up one way or the other.   

You're welcome, and take care.