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Backup guide

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Hello, i have a question about what back up to use because i am confused..

 

I have a 1 tb nas disk.

In my main disk i work with some logistic programs that gather data with daily changes from an sql database and some folders that i make changes every day.

What is the best option to back up those files because their are large? their size is 200gb.. I already made the first back up and i configured it to run daily simple  full back up of those files at 1:00 am but i dont know if this is the best option for that size of disk  and back up speed.. (the first one took 5 hours so i quess every back up with those settings will take 5 hours)... Thank you very much..

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Konstantinos, welcome to these User Forums.

If your source backup data size is around 200GB then you won't be able to store many backups on your 1TB NAS drive if using only Full backups, i.e. perhas a maximum of 4 or 5 backups unless the data will compress to a much smaller size?

Any backup of an active SQL Database may also present a challenge depending on how it handles being touched by the Microsoft VSS snapshot service to capture the data for the backup?

If your SQL application provides a method of making your own backups of the database, then this would be the recommended method to use, then use Acronis to backup the SQL backup files to your NAS rather than doing the backup of the SQL database.

Konstantinos, welcome to these User Forums.

Since you are running the backups at 1:00 AM, my assumption is that the SQL database apps are not running.  Therefore, the backups should capture your SQL database properly.  If the SQL database app is running, then, as Steve notes, the SQL data may not be captured properly.

I recommend that you download the user document and read up on incremental backups and differential backups.  In your situation, either of these methods would be preferable to doing only full backups.

You should also read up on how ATI can perform automatic cleanup.  This can be found in paragraph 4.5.2.3 on page 57 of the user manual.

Regards,

FtrPilot

Nice to meet you Steve and FtrPilot,

Thank you for your reply,

The database works as this way: when you close the logistic program, it saves all the changes automatically in an sql database folder. I have the option to  auto back up from the logistic program but this one stores only the data till the previous day so that doesnt suit my needs. 

The back up from Acronis runs at 1:00 at morning because the sql has already saved all the last changes .

I choosed specific folders and files  from Acronis to back up.  (those are 200gb and stays like that. In those 200gb only the data changes not the size).

I changed the existing back up plan settings from Acronis (still uses the folders from the first backup).

Daily at 1:00 am Incremental  with 3 incremental files and an autoclean up " store no more than 2 version chains"  like Steve has suggested in other topics, and auto validation at 4 am. Is that ok? Or should i just do a simple single full back up of those folders with overwrite each time?

Also i plan to do an Internal backup of those files from the NAS device password protected settings every second day ( to hide the other disk from the network and prevent ransomware attack in this second disk)..

Konstantinos,

I don't fully understand how SQL databases store their files.  So, you will have to do some testing and analysis to find your best solution.

I believe that your backup setting you have listed above (1 full...3 incremental...autoclean store no more than 2 version chains) would meet your needs.  

One of the biggest concerns is running out of disk space.  Under your backup setting, the size of the incremental files might be an issue.  So initially, you should monitor your NAS disk space to make sure that 1TB is sufficient to run the whole cycle.

Currently, I backup a laptop with approx 450 Gb.  A full backup .tib file is about 420 Gb and a typical incremental backup is 1Gb (not many changes on a daily basis).  So, incremental size is not a concern for me.

However, if your SQL databases have a lot of changes on a daily basis, then the size of the incremental files could be very large and you could run out of NAS disk space before the cleanup kicks in.  For example, if your full backup is 200Gb and your incremental is 50Gb then one version chain would be 350 Gb.  So, you will have to keep an eye on your backups until you are confident you won't run out of disk space.

I recommend that you download the Log Viewer at the link below.  The ti_demon logs contain good information, especially if a backup fails.

https://kb.acronis.com/content/59335?build=10640&edition=16&gaID=351452…

Concerning auto validation...personally, I don't validate the backups.  Some do, some don't.  You can use the log viewer to see how long the validation takes.  If it takes several hours, you may want to do periodic validations, not every day.

Concerning a second backup...excellent idea.  I consider ransomware to be my biggest threat.

Regards,

FtrPilot

 

Thank you very much for the answer you covered me :) . I will use the log just in case. Do you know if the second NAS disk (not attached in the network it is just in the nas box and getting INTERNAL back ups every second day from the networked disk) theoritically will be safe?

Some NAS recommendations:

NAS shared folder should not be mapped to a drive letter (if possible) for that is how malware & ransomware can attack the NAS and delete files on the NAS.  True Image does not need the NAS to be mapped to a drive letter.

NAS should have multiple accounts.  The NAS account used for True Image backups should only have user (not Admin) privileges.  This account should only have access to the one shared folder where the backups reside.

Do not use NT credentials for logging onto a NAS.

Do not store your NAS credentials in an unencrypted file.

 

A NAS adds a layer of protection against malware & ransomware.  Nothing is 100% safe, but your second backup NAS adds an additional layer of protection.