Full System Backup to two different Network locations ?
I'm having trouble setting up two separate locations to do a Full System Backup Set to. I already had a backup at one location and tried to Browse for the other, an earlier backup that I put at a different Network Share on my home network. (I'm trying to do this for redundancy and data security, in case one backup fails the other is unlikely to also fail at the same time). BUT, the problem has been, everytime I browse for the other backup, ATI 2017 assumes it is the SAME "Entire PC" backup and does not create a separate entry for that backup location - if ATI created a separate entry I could then reconfigure the backup as 'incremental', give it a Schedule, etc., then make manual and/or automatic backups to the new Network Share that remained separate from the backups to the first Network Share. How do I do this? I had no problem doing this with ATI 2013 and 2014. Thx for any help and insight anyone can offer.
Don't use an "entire PC" backup. Instead, please use "Disks and paritions" for your backup type and then pick the entire disk for the hard drive(s) you plan to backup. Entire PC is a terrible default option that I wish would be changed. If you intend to backup a particular hard drive (or at least the same hard drives), always use the "disks and paritions" backup option and specifically select the disks you want to backup. Entire PC is designed to backup any attached drive and as drives may be taken offline, substituted, changed, etc, this can cause unnecessary headaches for you, the end-user.
That is what I did, I setup a new backup job as "disks and partitions". I noted when I made that choice that, by default, it had selected my small, hidden, unmounted System Reserve and Boot partitions in this Windows 10 system: so that, the restored image would be bootable, correct? There is of course no point in making an image of your system unless it is bootable, once restored. No, I did not plan to run the two backups at the same time. I only wanted the added data security of backing up to two separate Network Shares, since the odds of both systems hosting the shares failing at the same time, are small.
Apparently, when you choose the default "Entire PC", that job-I.D. gets written into the image somehow - so that, when you try to add in another image file with the same job-I.D., even if it is from a different network share, Acronis assumes it is the SAME backup job and refuses to create a separate entry for it! (Strange). Your workaround, to choose "disks and partitions" backup job with a different name, seems to work. Thx much for your swift response, Bobbo; these Acronis forums seem to be active, attended to, and well moderated.
Randy,
Backup with True Image is Task based. What that means is that each backup task is treated as a lone backup as the task is created. The unique naming of each task is necessary in order to allow the backup task database within the application to remember and administer each task via a task script which is user created when a backup task is configured.
The default Entire PC naming convention is automatically set by the application to simplify the process but is misleading in that each new task created gets the default name Entire PC unless the user chooses a disk/partition style backup or sets the name of task manually as the first step in backup task creation. Another feature of the Entire PC concept is that all disks and data is automatically selected for backup by default. This is by design to allow for ease of use to backup an entire PC as it were.
For the majority of users this approach works well. As you want to be more proactive with backups that demands more configuration of the backup task (unique task naming and individual tasks for each backup need).
For the majority of users this approach works well. As you want to be more proactive with backups that demands more configuration of the backup task (unique task naming and individual tasks for each backup need).
THANK YOU, Enchantech, Bobby too, for your replies. Much appreciated. Seems to me, a relatively new poster here at the forums, that the ATI 2013-2014 graphical interface was a bit easier to work with. This "Entire PC" default was introduced with the 2015 version if I recall correctly - it may play well with the absolute newbie who wants a set-and-forget image backup job for only one PC. But it lacks flexibility and is confusing: I would not have known to choose the disk/partition style backup, and set the task name manually, had I not posted here at the Acronis Forums. Thanks much.
Oh, I assume the answer to my question about whether a restored image will be bootable using this method, is a 'yes'. I checked and it did seem to automatically choose the small System Reserved and hidden/unmounted boot partitions, along with the C: drive, when I manually chose to do a disk/partition style backup. That seemed to be the case with these earlier versions of ATI (2013-2014) as well. As you know, the restored image of your System Partition (drive C:) must be bootable or it is not of much use.
Yes, if you check the checkbox for the entire disk, it will select all included partitions. When doing a full system disk restore to a replacement drive, such as in an emergency after drive failure, you would also select to restore the Disk Signature. Many applications use the disk signature to identify the hardware where the licence is installed.