Cloud backup query
Hello
I have bought the option to back up to the cloud, but I am wondering whether anyone else ever does this? I only ask because I have initiated a full system backup and it advises that the estimated time to completion is 15 days (yes, that is days).
Perhaps I am only supposed to use this facility to backup a few selected files?
Can I assume that if I need to restore from this backup (assuming I let it run to completion) then I should expect it to take about 15 days to complete the restore?
I have taken a separate backup to a USB drive, because I could not wait 15 days, but I thought I would ask the question anyway.
Thanks
Hi - thanks for that - makes sense.
I have a follow-up question. Bit lazy, this, as I am sure that the answer would be in the manual or FAQ if I took the trouble to look, but just in case someone takes pity and responds ...:
If you start a full system backup to the cloud at (say) day 0, and it takes 15 days to complete, and during that 15 day period you make a load of changes to your source drive, adding and deleting files, and installing and uninstalling applications, then what actually ends up in the backup?
I mean for example, say you run a full system backup to the cloud
At day zero (backup launch) you have (amongst others) a particular application installed and a load of data files.
At day 5 the above app and data files have been backed up but the total backup process is incomplete.
At day 6 you uninstall that application and delete the data files referenced above.
At day 7 you install a new program.
At day 8 you run Windows update comprising important or critical system updates.
At day 15 the cloud update "completes".
If I later do a full system restore from this data, would the newly restored hard-drive (a) include as installed the program that I uninstalled at day 6 (and the data that I deleted on that day)? or (b) include the new program installed at day 7? or (c) include the Windows updates run at day 8?
Thanks
Your answer is A.
When you start the backup process True Image takes a snapshot of the contents of the data you have chosen to backup. This process goes fairly quickly usually just a matter of less than a minute for an entire disk. The backup then is created from that snapshot. Any changes in data after the snapshot is taken will not be backed up. The logic here is to allow the user to have use of the PC while the backup runs to completion.
Cloud backup is limited to your internet service plan and the upload speed of that plan. If your backup takes 15 days you must have either a slow upload allotment, a very large amount of data to backup, or some problem with your internet connection.
You can increase the speed of a Cloud backup by choosing the Optimal Performance setting in the backup options prior to starting the backup task. Once you choose what to backup click on the Options button at the bottom of GUI screen. Click on and look under the Advanced tab at the top of GUI screen and look for the performance section. Expand that section by clicking on the down arrow on the far right side of the performance section. Select Optimal to enable the feature.
This is an experimental feature and in BETA did not seem to have any effect on backup speed. In the released versions this has improved significantly however. I am fortunate to have a 10Mbps upload plan with my ISP. By enabling the Optimal setting I have seen my upload speeds double and better of what my service provides regular seeing 20 to 27Mbps and short bursts of almost 50Mbps. Now that is not fast so to speak but is much better than the 10Mbps I would get under the default setting.
To address your concern with the significant amount of time it takes to backup a full system disk here is a suggestion for you. Create your backups on local storage media first. After you have created a backup locally you can then run a Cloud based backup of the folder where you created this local backup. If you breakup your backups into more manageable chunks you can better utilize the Cloud based backup feature. For example, if you choose to backup a full system disk and you exclude your user data from that backup you typically should reduce the size of the backup by quite a bit. You can then backup what you excluded from the system disk backup and run that as a separate independent backup to a local destination. Now you can make 2 separate Cloud backups at your desire and split the total time involved between the 2 cloud backup tasks. If you have a large amount of user data you could break that down even further into specific categories such as movies, music, photos, documents and so on and create backups of each category.
Using the default Normal compression setting will also decrease total time involved in the backup task. You can also choose to validate your backups during the local backup phase and not during the Cloud backup process which would decrease the total time involved.
Formulate a backup plan, do some experimentation and post back your results.
Most, if not all, internet connections are duplex, with upload speeds being slower than download speeds. I have cable internet with 100/10 MBs speed. I backed up a system HDD and it took a day and a half; recovering from the cloud took less than 10% of that time. At most it would have been half the speed of doing the recovery from an internal HDD.
You should be selective in what you backup to the cloud; I backup my system disk (about 50gigs when compressed by Acronis) and data disk (about 70 gigs). I do not back-up video to the cloud; I have a NAS that I uses for such backups.
Ian
Thanks for all these pointers - am getting more the hang of it. Still some points I don't get, though:
It takes an initial snapshot of what to backup. So far so good.
I delete some files and uninstall some programs in the interval between commencement and completion of backup. Critically those deletions and uninstallations take place BEFORE acronis has got around to backing up those files. So clearly these files are in the list of things to be backed up but not available to backup. Clearly these files will not get backed up, but I am unconvinced that this will not cause some problems down the line. I fondly remember the days of Windows 3.1 when you could isolate individual programs within folders and there was no such thing as a registry. These days when you install a program it leaves traces all over the place. Uninstalling them seldom leaves the system in the state that it was before installation.
Likewise when you run Windows backups, I am unconvinced that all it does is add files. What if it makes changes to an existing file? What if that file has already been backed up by then? What if it has not? One of the files that will inevitably be backed up will be the Windows Registry. Is that the last file to get backed up? Because it will certainly be a different file from what it was at the beginning of the backup process, and indeed it will have gone through several changes in the entire period of the backup.
When backup is of a system disk and that backup is restored the restored image will be the same as what it was at the time of backup. Any changes made after the time of backup will not be included in this restored image. That includes the registry, driver files, updates etc.
I think we are having a communication problem. If the "time of the backup" is a single instant (as opposed to a period), then first we have to define when that instant falls, in the 15 day period from commencement to completion of the backup. My reading of the earlier response is that this "time" is the point of commencement of the process.
The fact that the backup takes a 15 day period to complete is a reflection that not all files can be backed up in a single instant, at the "time of the backup". I cannot escape the worry that the point at which those files, drivers, updates etc are due to be backed up within that 15 day period, they may no longer exist, or may not be the same as they were at the "time of the backup", or "t zero". If those files cannot be backed up, because they no longer exist or have changed, then neither can they be restored. That includes the registry, driver files, updates etc.
It must be faster to re-install the whole system from scratch in case of a system crash such as a HDD crash than to wait for 15 days to upload and then a couple of days to download the backup. (Or what am i missing?)
Your fears are warranted, after the snapshot is taken any changes after that will be included in the current running backup task. That is why I encourage local backup first, separate backup for system, user data,etc. Then cloud backup of the backups created last.
It must be faster to re-install the whole system from scratch in case of a system crash such as a HDD crash than to wait for 15 days to upload and then a couple of days to download the backup. (Or what am i missing?)
Thanks - yes I have given up on the 15 day system backup. The remaining thread was mainly to satisfy my curiosity about how it works.
The remaining thread was mainly to satisfy my curiosity about how it works.
Got it! :)
Yes, cloud backup is the 'last resort'. Local backups are the most important ones to manage properly. Cloud backups are mainly directed to the ultimate catastrophe - destruction of the local backups.
I back up all my installation files (for must have programs) to the Cloud, plus all of my documents and personal photos. I do not backup up videos (too many of them). My primary backup is my NAS, supplemented by USB 3 HDDs.
Ian