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back-up vs sync ???

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Ladies and Gents,

Thanks for looking in. Basic question here using Home Office product. 

ONE PC W10 => data up to cloud only.  No multiple computers requiring the same image or 'syncing' between them.  I follow simple rule.  C: (System Drive and Programs) & F: (Data Files).  Back up both to L: (local HD Back-up Drive).  Then back-up L: to Z: (Removable external HD).  Now off-site back-up becomes critical.  Cannot loose anything.  So, in Home Office I

1st, Created full back-up of two drives to cloud.

2nd, Now need to make decision and can't find info on technical differences between using "back-up" of folders daily or "sync"ing folders daily.

The goal is to have one full, complete and up-to-date back-up in the cloud for off-site back-up and disaster recovery.

It would seem that if I just sync files and folders, only the changed files will be uploaded to cloud and I will have an up-to-date full drive back-up in the cloud.  Only require syncing FROM PC SOURCE to Cloud; nothing in reverse syncing.  In case of disaster, simply want to download what's saved in the cloud.

Can someone address this issue in the manner of best practice or point me to detailed info regarding differences in syncing and back-up

Thanks,  Much Appreciated.

0 Users found this helpful

Michael, welcome to these public User Forums.

The key difference between Backup and Sync are in the scope of source data included and in the frequency of data capture.

Backup is a scheduled activity, i.e. runs at a set time each day, week or month and captures all changes to source data since the previous run time according to the backup scheme chosen.

Sync is a continuous activity, i.e. runs every few minutes as changes are detected and will upload changed data allowing the capture of multiple versions of changed files according to the available storage space you have in the Acronis Cloud.

There is also a key difference between Local backups and those going to the Acronis Cloud servers.

Local backups work to a specified scheme, i.e. will include a Full and a number of either Incremental or Differential archive files (known as 'Slices' in Acronis speak!), before this is repeated with a further new Full and Inc or Diff slices.  The number of Inc or Diff slices before a Full is created is configured on the Backup Scheme options page under the Automatic Cleanup settings.

Backups to the Acronis Cloud will only ever create an initial Full backup image which is then uploaded to the Cloud servers, thereafter only changed data is uploaded and you can set options for how many versions of data is kept, and the retention period for that data.  The settings normally default to a retention period of 6 months and 20 versions by default (if I remember correctly).

Changed data in the Cloud will be consolidated into the stored Full backup image to avoid the need to upload any further Full image as retention and versions are met.

Thinking forward to any need to perform a Recovery of your system, then the fastest method will always be from your local backup storage, i.e. external USB drives, then from any network storage devices, and the slowest will be from the Acronis Cloud, so is essentially your off-site recovery option should you suffer a local disaster such as fire, flood, theft etc.