TI 2018 differencies between Entrire PC and Disk options

Vitali, welcome to these User Forums.

Entire PC will include all / any disks & partitions connected to the computer at the time the backup task is created and configured, so will include your Windows OS partition.

Personally, I do not use Entire PC as my preference is to have more control by using the Disks & Partitions source selection option and to select the specific disk & partitions to include, especially on systems with multiple disk drives connected.

The key factor in being able to recover your OS backup is to ensure that you have included all required partitions as shown by clicking on the 'Full partition list' option, so that such as the EFI or Microsoft System Reserved partitions are selected in the backup and can be recovered along with the Windows OS partition.

Thank you Steve for extended answer :) !

So the correct strategy is to backup system through Disk option and exclude non system data from image and backup (more frequently) non system data through Files option?

Oh and just forgot: Can I select for backup multiple destinations? It would be very time effective. For example I want to backup system partition to multiple places 1. External HDD 2. Cloud 3.FTP. So the source parameters are the same but destinations are different. Right now I must create 3 tasks and my PC should make the same backup 3 times not very good for my hard drives. 

So the correct strategy is to backup system through Disk option and exclude non system data from image and backup (more frequently) non system data through Files option?

This depends on where your non system data is stored?

Personally, I try to keep my documents, pictures etc on a separate partition to my OS to make my backups easier to organise, so when I backup the OS partition (or drive) this will include all my applications etc, but not my user data other than those settings stored in the User appdata folders etc.

It also depends on the size of that non system data?  If this is relatively small, then including it in the Disk backup should not be a problem, but if you have large volumes of user data, then separating this out and backing it up separately and perhaps more frequently would be recommended.

Can I select for backup multiple destinations? It would be very time effective. For example I want to backup system partition to multiple places 1. External HDD 2. Cloud 3.FTP. So the source parameters are the same but destinations are different. Right now I must create 3 tasks and my PC should make the same backup 3 times not very good for my hard drives. 

Sorry but the answer here is still no.  You can use the option in the Advanced tab for making a Backup reserve copy but this will always be a Full backup as described in the linked user guide section pages.

There is no option to save the backup to multiple places as you asked about, you would still need to create 3 separate tasks, one for each destination or use a different approach, such as to copy the completed backup to the other locations using a utility like Robocopy which could be put in a Post Command so that you are only creating the one backup image.

Hello Steve, I have always benefited from your advice for years:) My situation will be similar to yours. I plan to keep the OS on one drive (Samsung 960 Pro, NVMe) and my Libraries on another drive (Samsung 850 Pro, SSD, SATA/AHCI). In Windows 10 Pro I will create a logical mapping from User Libraries on the OS drive (NVMe) to their physical locations on the "Library" drive (SSD SATA). Now, what is the best strategy for making Acronis backups? Should I create two independent backup tasks, one for each of the NVMe and SSD drives, backing up to two separate locations on the archive drive? Or should I make one backup task to back up both drives to a single location (or two locations?) on the target drive. BTW, the target archive drive will be a WD 4TB HD, internally connected SATA. I will eventually add external backups at less frequent intervals. Thank you! Others feel free to add your own advice.

Welcome to these User Forums, and thank you for the kind words!

In terms of strategy, a lot really depends on the size of data involved?

You may want to go for a hybrid approach, make a full backup that includes both drives (NVMe and SSD) and either set this to be run manually or on a longer schedule, i.e. monthly?

Make a separate task for each individual drive that is scheduled more regularly according to the frequency of changes you see for these drives.

As your target drive is going to be permanently connected internally, I would recommend having Acronis Active Protection enabled for protection against any attempts by malware etc to attack your backup files.  You may also like to look at the MVP User Tools and Tutorials link in the forum 'Useful Links' section, where there is a document and zip file to help automatically disconnect / reconnect the backup drive as part of the backup task operation.

Thank you again for useful advice. If you don't mind, I have a couple of follow-on questions then.

(1) I will create independent backup tasks for each of the OS and user data drives, with their own directories in the target drive.  I plan to automatically schedule this for once per week. However, I have only scheduled single tasks in the past. Is there a way to schedule both tasks so that the second backup task will run upon completion of the first task? Or do I simply schedule both to start at the same time and Acronis will cue them up to keep the tasks from interfering with each other or bogging down the target drive with non-sequential write demands?

(2) I understand what you are saying regarding enabling Acronis Active Protection to keep the internally connected target drive from being encrypted or otherwise corrupted by malware. I do worry however about conflicts between Acronis Active Protection and my AV program, which is Windows Defender right now, and McAfee in a couple of weeks. It is common advice to not run two AV programs at one time because conflicts can actually increase system vulnerability. Do you know if this cannot be a problem with Acronis for any reason?  Because of the possibility of a malware attack on my internal backup drive, I make external backups about once per month (full backups only), and unplug the USB port when they are finished. I will also have to look at the tools you mentioned for disconnecting or dismounting a permanently connected SATA drive in order to protect them. Is it done manually, or with a PowerShell script or something like that?

THANKS!.

ATI will only allow one backup task to be active at any one time, so if you schedule your two weekly tasks to run say with 5 minutes inbetween, then the first will run on schedule and the second will be queued until the first has completed before then running.

There should be no issue with running AAP alongside other security software.  I have two computers that have AAP running alongside Windows Defender on Windows 10 and others where the software is Comodo Internet Security, where all has been fine.

See KB 60193: Acronis True Image 2018: Active Protection blocks legitimate applications for information on how to whitelist applications if needed.

See forum topic: How to automatically connect and disconnect an external hard drive before and after a backup for more information on this subject - the process is handled via a VBS script that is used in the Pre / Post Commands configuration of the backup task.  So in this context, you could connect to the backup drive in the first task and then disconnect it again when the second task completes.  The process works for both internal and external drives.

Thanks again for the great information!