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Need Expert Opinion of New Installation Plan

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I'm running Windows 7 (64). I currently have Acronis True Image 2013 installed. I have it configured to do a daily full system backup (all disks) with a repeating scheme of a full backup, followed by five daily incremental backups before the next full backup. The backup is written to an external hard drive. Typical size of a full backup set is 570GB.

For offsite data backup in the event of a local disaster, I currently use MozyHome which has become comparitively expensive. Mozy runs every 12 hours. Because of the cost, I only back up selected data files. I am near my limit of 125GB.

I am considering using Acronis True Image (ATI) as my combined local and cloud backup solution. I still want a local backup to the external drive for quick recovery access, plus a backup to the cloud for recovery from a local disaster.

Here are my questions:

1. Am I correct in understanding that ATI 2017 with 1TB of cloud storage is a subscription-only license? The software runs until I no longer wish to update my annual subscription. At that time, it will no longer do backups. Right?

2. If I uninstall ATI 2013, install ATI 2017 (subscription) and down the road decide that I want to go back to ATI 2013 as a local backup solution (and use something else for cloud backup) can I just uninstall ATI 2017, reinstall ATI 2013 (perpetual license), and run a new backup set and resume the process I had before ATI 2017?

3. I can never be sure where programs will store data or downloads, so I will configure ATI 2017 to do a full system backup (all disks) instead of selected folders. Can I configure ATI 2017 to do full system backups both to an external drive and the cloud? If so, does it do both at the same time, or do I have to set up two separate backup jobs with one having an external drive as the destination and the other having the cloud as the destination?

4. Is there anything else I should know or is there any other information you need to better advise me?

Thanks!

 

0 Users found this helpful

Welcome to these user forums.

1.  Yes, I believe you are correct that the ATIH 2017 offering with 1TB cloud storage is subscription only, and may also be for the New Generation product version which includes additions function such as Ransomware protection etc.  You should confirm this directly with Acronis Support by using the Contact link (in my signature below) and using the PreSales / Licensing option.

2. Yes, you should be able to uninstall ATIH 2017 and revert back to ATIH 2013 provided you are running a supported version of Windows for that product.  One issue that you may face in doing this is that any backups created with ATIH 2017 may contain options that were not available in the older 2013 version, therefore you would be recommended to use the Acronis Cleanup Tool to completely remove the 2017 software, settings, tasks etc, and make a clean start again with the 2013 version.

3.  A full system backup will always be required if you ever need to do a 'bare-metal' recovery.  If you only have a Files & Folders backup then you would need to reinstall the Windows OS and all programs again before you could restore your files and folders.

You can configure ATIH 2017 to backup to both local, external, network or Cloud locations but this should be done using different backup tasks for each different backup location.  It is recommended that you have multiple different backups stored in different locations, including an offline backup that cannot be attacked by malware etc.

Thanks for your helpful reply. I will follow your advice. This user forum is one of the reasons I am choosing to upgrade to ATI 2017.

Prior to deciding on using Acronis to replace MozyHome, I read many professional reviews of online backup solutions and even though Acronis didn't always make the top of the list, it had the best actual user comments. Other programs, like Crashplan and Backblaze, may have been rated higher in the professional reviews, but user reviews were very negative. Since I have had no problems at all with ATI 2013, I am hoping that my experience with ATI 2017, especially the cloud backups, will be as good. For what it's worth, MozyHome ran flawlessly for years. It is just too expensive to continue using it as my backup size grows.

By the way, I noted that you abbreviate Acronis True Image 2017 as ATIH 2017. What does the H stand for? Home?

Yes, "H" stand for home. It is my understanding that you can add Cloud storage to ATIH 2017 (perpetual licence). Instructions for doing so can be found here. Cloud storage once purchased can be used by any PC/MAC on which you have either ATIH 2015, 2016 or 2017 (stanard or NG).

If that does not work, there is a work-around that does.

Just had a look and with new purchases you are not given the optioin of cloud subsription for perpetual licence; there is a subscription version of ATIH 2017 standard, which come with the option for cloud storage. They keep on changing things and it is hard to keep track of what is going on.

Ian