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Differential Backups at times of my choosing

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Hi

I have 2 questions and should be most appreciative of advice.

I have 6 Acronis licences dating back to 2006.

Over the years, I have often found the product & its documentation difficult to use but, always, when a problem has arisen a solution has been found. At times of very occasional crisis the support staff have been most helpful.

I have recently purchased the 2016 version (3 licences - Three computers (A PC & two laptops) - with three different operating systems which I may harmonize in due course).

Question 1

One of these machines uses Windows Vista which earlier versions of Acronis supported. I have downloaded the 2016 version to this machine and have done a backup (but not yet a Restore). I now read that Acronis 2016 does not support Vista - but there seems to be some contradictory views on this.

Could I get a definitive position on the use of Acronis 2016 on my Vista laptop??

Question 2

Hitherto I have kept my backup methodology very simple, doing a full image from time to time and in between times I have backed up my most important and active files independently of Acronis more frequently. The method has worked but now I contemplate using Acronis more fully using differential backups onto removable media (I may get to use Cloud backups in due course).

I wish, at this point, to keep personal control over the timing of backups and not to have one initiated simply because I have plugged a device into a USB socket. So the question is - Can I initiate any next backup in the differential backup sequencenot immediately after I have plugged the device in but only after I personally initiate the backup.

I thank you in anticipation of your response(s)

David

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David Powell wrote:

Question 1

One of these machines uses Windows Vista which earlier versions of Acronis supported. I have downloaded the 2016 version to this machine and have done a backup (but not yet a Restore). I now read that Acronis 2016 does not support Vista - but there seems to be some contradictory views on this.

Could I get a definitive position on the use of Acronis 2016 on my Vista laptop??

Question 2

I wish, at this point, to keep personal control over the timing of backups and not to have one initiated simply because I have plugged a device into a USB socket. So the question is - Can I initiate any next backup in the differential backup sequencenot immediately after I have plugged the device in but only after I personally initiate the backup.

Answer 1

https://kb.acronis.com/content/5651 shows the list of supported OS for ATIH 2016 which omits Vista.  When I have asked about this in the MVP forums previously, the reason was because the product hadn't been tested on Vista but it should be OK though with no guarantees!  

I have successfully restored a backup of my Vista dual-boot laptop (Vista / 10) using ATIH 2016.  Plus, the Acronis Rescue Media really doesn't care what the OS is and works at a sector level.  I have used it to backup my Ubuntu linux computer which it just defaulted to doing so sector by sector as it didn't recognise the EXT3 partition system.

Answer 2 

There are settings on the Schedule options page tab, in the Advanced section at the bottom, which would allow you to configure to run a backup when a specific USB device is plugged in, but IIRC this is not selected by default.

If you want absolute control over when backups are executed, then you have the option to NOT schedule anything and initiate all backups manually, I tend to do this on my laptop as I don't want it trying to backup to my NAS when I am not on my home network etc.

You should take a look at the Best Practices Forum which has lots of great advice on backup practices etc.    

 

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David,

Steve's answer 2 is spot on.... exactly as I do also.

I set my backups to be "NOT SCHEDULED" and Differential.

I have tested and re-tested recovery to the same computer, to different hardware and everything works like a charm.

The only time I had a recovery problem was when I had an unknown disk problem.  It was unreported in windows and nothing seems to be out of sorts.

The truth came out when I tried to "Recover" an OS partition.  TIH would NOT allow me to select the SOURCE Image.  After some assistance from the fantastic MVP's here in the forum, we discovered a disk fault that had contaminated the backup image, ran a disk fix and repair with the /f and /r options from a command prompt.

After that was done, I recreated the image, re-tested the recovery and the recovery was perfect.  

So now I run a chkdsk /f at least once a month and maintain 2 backup image routines (Routine_A and Routine_B) under manual control.

AND, I test once a quarter with a test disk....

That method has saved my bacon several times....

Regards,

Steve F.

 

Thank you Steve. Thank you Perdido Beach.

 

It would seem, from your input, that I should be able to achieve my objective.

 

I shall follow your advice.

 

Most grateful

 

David