My desired backup system, please advise if it's doable and critiques welcome.
Hello backup/peace-of-mind friends!
I am going through some computer change ups and updating my backup system.
------
Setup:
Drives
System Drive (1tb) - system drive with files
External Drive (2tb) - storage of files only (less than 1tb of files)
External Backup Drive 1 (2tb)
External Backup Drive 2 (2tb)
External Backup Drive 3 (2tb)
------
What I would like to do:
Partition ALL external drives (including my main storage one) in half and use each for storage. The 2tb external drive will have 1tb of usable storage, and the other will be a backup partition for my main drive. The other three external drives will then be backup destinations for each of my two main drives (system and storage). In the end, each external backup drive will have a backup of my main and external drive in their respective 1tb partitions, and the storage drive will also have a 1tb partition with the system drive as well.
In other words (physical drives are separated by blank spaces for clarity):
System Drive (1tb) - system drive with files
External Drive partition 1 (1tb) - storage of files only
External Drive partition 2 (1tb) - backup of System Drive
External Backup Drive 1 partition 1(1tb) - backup of System Drive
External Backup Drive 1 partition 2(1tb) - backup of External Drive partition 1
External Backup Drive 2 partition 1(1tb) - backup of System Drive
External Backup Drive 2 partition 2(1tb) - backup of External Drive partition 1
External Backup Drive 3 partition 1(1tb) - backup of System Drive
External Backup Drive 3 partition 2(1tb) - backup of External Drive partition 1
------
A few questions:
-What would be the best file system seeing as the backup space per backup destination is identical to the space of the source? I previously used disk cloning that only backed up any differences, so i was used to identical space in source/destination to being ok. From my research, it seems that Single-file backup format (always incremental backup) is the best solution for me.
-Would my backups be "one to all at the same time" (i.e acronis backs up my system drive to all backup destinations at the same time), or "daisy chained" (i.e. acronis backs up to one drive, and then that backup is backed up to the other drive, etc), or one at a time (i.e. acronis backs up to one, then the next, and so on)?
-I read online that you want double the space on a backup destination so that a new backup can be created alongside the previous one as a safegaurd. In case something happens to the current backup, you then have another backup. What would be the best way to go about this assurance in my proposed setup? Can acronis detect when one backup is done and validated before overriding the, likely, single backup in another destination?
Thank you!


- Log in to post comments

Thanks for the response!
I just prefer the method of selecting entire "drives" to backup. As I want my external storage to be limited to 1tb, I partition it in half and use the other partition as the destination drive for my main system backup. In the min external drive i use for storage it makes more sense to me, as I dont want to have an entire backup lingering with the external storage files.
But i can see why partitioning would not be necesarry for the 3 external drives dedicated to backups. So long as I have space, I can back up both there in each drive (which should be the case, as each are limited to 1tb in available size).
For your response to number 1, i was referring to this: https://kb.acronis.com/content/1536#:~:text=Single%2Dfile%20backup%20fo….
- Log in to post comments