How can Restoration work with preset online incremental backups while Cleanup Settings delete older incremental backups?
I bought a new computer from Best Buy with its Geek Squad Service which includes Bitdefender and Acronis 2019 with 1TB online backup scheme - set to twice per week User Guide explains Full vs Incremental vs Differential backups and the necessity, for Recovery purposes, of keeping ALL backup versions if using the Incremental Method Guide also indicates that online backups are preset to Incremental versions and that the Default Scheme is set to create a Full backup after every 5 incremental backups However, in checking the Activity list, it shows all backups as being Incremental (ie no Full backups) The settings for Acronis Cloud Cleanup provides for the deletion of older past backups In summary – My Acronis backs up Incrementally, identifies backup Activities as being done only by the Incremental Method (showing no periodic Full Backups), and deletes older backups Questions How can Acronis provide a full Recovery if it produces only Incremental backups but allows for deletions of some of them? Are these supposedly periodic Full Backups (every 6th backup) actually being done but are simply not visible to users who want to understand and verify that all proper backups are being done? Befuddled user is looking for guidance - thanks
Thanks Steve
So would I be correct (perhaps not using precise technical language) in understanding Acronis as follows:
1 – the first backup creates a single Full Backup of all my files in a Folder which I will call Folder(time t=1)
2 – the next backup uploads only incremental changes called, say, Incr#1 and adds this new information to the original Folder(t=1) folder – and the content of this revised single folder which I will call Folder(t=2) equals (Folder(t=1) + Incr#1)
3 – the result of the above is that there is still only a single folder stored in Acronis, being Folder(t=2)
4 – all additional backups carry on as above - continuing to result in only a single Folder(t=n) which contains the original full backup information plus all the incremental information from all subsequent incremental backups
5 – Question - if the incremental backup contains a file with revised content (i.e. it is not a new file) – can I assume that this revised file will actually replace the older file?
6 – a problem with the above description is that there are no older Folders to delete under a Cleanup process – UNLESS either (a) the deletions relate only to the Incremental backups which are perhaps also temporarily saved individually in the Cloud or (b) Acronis Cloud periodically creates new Full Folders from time to time which can then be deleted when they become “stale dated”
How close am I to understanding the Acronis Cloud System?
Don, unfortunately there is no published clear description of exactly how the Acronis Cloud feature works or how cleanup applies to it.
To try to describe my own understanding of how my Cloud backups work....
Full backup created / uploaded.
Changes identified and uploaded. Repeated for further changes.
If file A has been changed. Then up to the maximum number of changed copies of file A are stored, but when that number is exceeded, the oldest file is discarded when a further change is identied.
This applies to any other files too.
The further retention element is by date / age. So again, older copies of file A will be discarded based on age, assuming that new versions of the file have been uploaded and the file has not been deleted from the source location at a point older than the retention period.
Thanks again Steve - things are becoming much more clearer
I now understand the concept of retaining only a limited number of versions of individual files which have been repeatedly changed over time
However I am not sure how to interpret your last paragraph above dealing with deletion decisions based on date/age - which brings up the question of what happens in Acronis when a file, say File A, is eventually deleted in the source location. Does Acronis keep its last version of File A indefinitely?
If so and a Restoration is ever required, I assume the client would have to go through the process of purging previously unwanted, deleted files - right?
Also if so, if a user has deleted many many files which he does not want to go through another deletion process if a Full Restoration is unfortunately ever required, could the user force another original Full Backup in Acronis in order to start the backup processes all over again with "clean" source files?
If so, does the new Full Backup replace all prior backups or does it start a second backup series?
Don, to try to answer your questions.
what happens in Acronis when a file, say File A, is eventually deleted in the source location. Does Acronis keep its last version of File A indefinitely?
No. Assuming you keep backing up the same source to the Cloud, then eventually the deleted file A will be cleaned from the backup in the Cloud when all versions pass their retention age.
If so and a Restoration is ever required, I assume the client would have to go through the process of purging previously unwanted, deleted files - right?
No. Any recovery / restore will be actioned based on a specific date / time and the state of all files will be restored to how they were at that point in time. This depends on the type of recovery you are doing, i.e. if you are recovering the whole backup. If you are only recovering particular files and/or folders, then those will reflect the state they held when that backup date/time was created.
If you make significant changes to the Source, i.e. such as upgrade from Windows 7 to 10, then it would always be recommended to make a new backup rather than continue one with such amount of changes involved.