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Acronis TI and Hard Link files when backing up between different hard disks

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There is little information on how Acronis True Image 2017 deals with hard link files.

I know hard links can not be kept between files stored on different HDDs. That is not the point. My question is regarding hard links within the same HDD. In an ideal environment, when I copy these hard links files along with the original files to another HDD, that relationship must be maintained (only the original file eating storage). Normally when copying a Hard Link to another hard drive, the link is broken and a common copy is made (as is the case of copying in Windows File Explorer).

I use hard links in common files, books, video and music (nothing related to system). There are duplicates of hard link files scattered across various folders.

I did a test backup and noticed that the acronis beautifully maintains the hard link between backups stored on different HDDs.

My question: Are there any restrictions regarding the use of hard links with Acronis? Is there a problem or is it safe to use them?

Anyone here with any experience?

Thank you!

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Luiz, I think that this is a question that you would need to test for yourself and then raise a Support Case directly with Acronis if you find that your hard links are not restored correctly in the various test scenarios that you use.

I would expect that if you take a full disk & partitions backup for a disk drive that contains your hard links to items within the same disk, then those links should be preserved if you restore that backup to a different disk and maintain the same partition layout.

If you make a Files & Folders backup where hard links are present, then how these are preserved will depend on whether both the source and target for the links are included in the backup and are both being restored together to permit the link to be satisfied.

If you're talking about "junction's" as hard links, they will not be backed up at the disk/partition backup.  Acronis backs them up as disks/paritions at the bit level.  So, if that hard link (junction) lives on another location, it won't be included, just the link.  I do this for my Outlook profile, itunes database and a few other large files that I don't want in my OS / disk backup (using Junction links where they actually live on another disk).  I then back those folders up using a file/folder backup - however, I also point those directly to where they live on the other disk, not the actual junction from the C: drive.

A file/folder backup should still work though as that is at the file/folder level, even if you use the junction point on C and not the actual location - I haven't tried that though since the simple answer is to just backup the real location instead.

As Steve mentioned though, you should test it out.

 

Thank you very much for your attention, Steve and Bobbo.
I'll try it better. So far the tests I have done were normal. It worked.

I have to copy directory structure from one local NTFS disk to another and preserve hard links that exist within this directory structure. They are common files: books, photos, videos. There are no files or system folders.

So far so good. ATI seems to keep everything.
Thank you.

Luiz, glad to hear that your tests are positive so far.