Differential Backups at times of my choosing
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,
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.
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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
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