Using Acronis for backing up a Raid 0 Array
I have a PC workstation that is used for editing video. All video work is stored on a RAID 0 array that consists of two 1 TB harddrives that are striped (RAID 0) to look like one 2 TB harddrive to Windows. I have always used the 'clone' feature within Acronis to make a copy of a harddrive onto an external harddrive. The 'clone' feature will not work with any type of RAID. I don't anticipate making any use of scheduled backups as I would most likely want to initiate a manual backup at my discretion. I want to use incremental backups and full backups on this array. I would start with a full backup and then do incremental backups at my discretion. Then, at some point, weekly, every two weeks or even monthly, do another full backup. I am assuming that once the second full backup is taken, all the prior incremental backups since the first backup could be deleted. I don't know for sure if this is true or smart to do this. I anticipate keeping no more than 2 to 4 full backups and then the oldest full backup could be deleted. In between the full backups I would be taking incremental backups that could be deleted once the next full backup has occurred.
Can anyone tell me if my backup philosophy is correct or is there a better way? Also, how do I go about setting this up within Acronis True Image 2016. I do not want to use the scheduler as I want to do all backups manually (at least I think I do). All backups will be directed to an external hard drive enclosure that will have two 2 TB hard drives set up as JBOD and thus will look like 4 TB of space to the OS.
I have a PC workstation that is used for editing video. All video work is stored on a RAID 0 array that consists of two 1 TB harddrives that are striped (RAID 0) to look like one 2 TB harddrive to Windows. I have always used the 'clone' feature within Acronis to make a copy of a harddrive onto an external harddrive. The 'clone' feature will not work with any type of RAID. I don't anticipate making any use of scheduled backups as I would most likely want to initiate a manual backup at my discretion. I want to use incremental backups and full backups on this array. I would start with a full backup and then do incremental backups at my discretion. Then, at some point, weekly, every two weeks or even monthly, do another full backup. I am assuming that once the second full backup is taken, all the prior incremental backups since the first backup could be deleted. I don't know for sure if this is true or smart to do this. I anticipate keeping no more than 2 to 4 full backups and then the oldest full backup could be deleted. In between the full backups I would be taking incremental backups that could be deleted once the next full backup has occurred.
Can anyone tell me if my backup philosophy is correct or is there a better way? Also, how do I go about setting this up within Acronis True Image 2016. I do not want to use the scheduler as I want to do all backups manually (at least I think I do). All backups will be directed to an external hard drive enclosure that will have two 2 TB hard drives set up as JBOD and thus will look like 4 TB of space to the OS.
ThreeD, I believe your logic is correct, but also agree with Enchantech to read up on the limitations of dynamic disks in regards to backups.
You do not have to use the scheduler to run backups at set times, you can simply set them to "manual" and launch them when you want. HOWEVER, manually deleting the old backups is no longer supported. Technically you can delete them, then pretend to do a recovery and it will warn you that the files are missing and ask if you want to ignore those files or locate them. You would then have to click through and ignore all of the files it prompts you with and when the warnings are done, things should be good to go again. Just be warned this is kind of a work-a-round and eventually, the historical backup database may get corrupted, in which case, you would just create a new backup job and move on.
Alternatively, even though you wouldn't use the scheduling option so that you could manually kick off backups, you would probably still want to configure an "Old Version Cleanup Rule" under the type of backup scheme when you set that part up. That way, the grooming process of the older backup jobs is a bit more automated and clean and will hopefully result in better maintenance of the backup database down the road.
Custome Schemes and Automatic Cleanup
Can anyone tell me if my backup philosophy is correct or is there a better way?
3D...we have similar philosophies. Initially, I was performing my backups exactly as you describe. However, I would often go several days without performing a backup, simply because I forgot to do one.
Now, I am scheduling backups (Create only incremental versions after the initial full version). Picture 1 below. Then schedule the backups daily. Picture 2 below. With this setup, you can initiate a backup at anytime...just hit the backup now button. This way, you will always get a minimum daily backup. With this scheme, ATI will contiinue to make incremental backups until you tell it to stop.
Hope this helps,
FtrPilot
