Automated Backup will not work for Anyone - here's why
Any automated backup MUST be able to Delete previous backups to make space.
This critical feature has NEVER WORKED - the same failure applies to TI Home 2010, 2011, and 2012.
( also see post "Need help getting continuous backup working. . and "Delete previous Backup Archive" not Working
I have tested this numerous times and repeated the tests on 2 different computers - so I want to be clear:
- Acronis WILL DELETE backups of specific Files and specific folders
- Acronis WILL NOT DELETE backups of Disks - which probably applies to 90% of you. The problem applies to backups of Disks on both External USB drives AND internal SATA drives
- if anyone knows this to have been fixed in the latest 2012 Build - PLEASE RESPOND because I returned 2012 and can no longer test this. Also I am on Windows XP, so if you find that deletions with 2012 do work on Windows 7 please let me know that as well and I will edit this Post . . . but after 3 years of waiting . . . I am not gonna hold my breath anymore.
So - after 3 years they still have not fixed this primary and critical function - and I admit I am steamed.
No deletions means no space . . . and no space means no backup.
ALL automated backups require automated deletions - most people configure their backup jobs to delete anything older than 3 to 7 days. This is the primary reason to buy Acronis - to allow you to run daily backups with "Set it and Forget it". If you want to just manually run a backup there are tons of free apps out there.
The cornerstone of the process is the creation of new backups and the deletion of old backups to make space on the drive. This is the same, documented problem that 2010 had and was the ONLY reason I bought 2012.
I must repeat this as it is so critical . . . You CANNOT successfully run an automated backup because your drive will run out of space - and Automated Backups are the PRIMARY REASON FOR ACRONIS ! ! ! Acronis has Automated Deletions listed as a feature in the backup settings . . . but it DOES NOT NOT DELETE PREVIOUS BACKUPS. I have wasted hundreds of hours and lost a huge amount of critical data due to FAILED BACKUPS BECAUSE THERE WAS NO SPACE LEFT. And this all happend because Acronis advertises Automated Deletions of old backups. But it DOES NOT DELETE BACKUPS.
Sorry for all the caps but I do not want anyone else to go through this horrible experience.
Also I am so dissapointed in this company for letting the ball drop and refusing to fix it. The software Engineers at Acronis have been aware of the problem for years now and have done nothing at all to fix it. And they are a Software company - that is all they do - yet they cannot code the deletion of a single file. Unbelievable !!!!!
YOur particular problem is not a general one. If you have this problem with several diff versions, it's most liekly an incompatibility particular to your set up, in which case you should contact chat and have a system reprot in hand -- or it's from user error.
For years I'm using a work around which worked flawlessly. I have a BACKUP directory and a BACKUP.bak directory and put a pre_backup.bat file in de BACKUP.bak directory. I call this pre_backup before the backup, this can be done from the Acronis software.
I keep 3 backup copies, the oldest is shifted out to be replaced by a new backup. The BACKUP and BACKUP.bak folder sit side by side so I can use relative paths. The working directory is the directory where this script is located. Acronis has to wait until the script is finished and only proceed if the script ran successfully.
Here is my pre_backup script:
P.S. I only do full backups since even with incremental backups the in-between versions have to be kept and consolidating versions never worked okay for me (maybe that's fixed by now, this works so I kept his method...). I used to split backups, I don't do it any more but the script still has this functionality...
---------------------------------------------------
@echo off
REM Move old backup
SET BACKUPDIR=BACKUP
REM Test if a backup has to be moved, if not then leave
rem IF NOT EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D2.TIB GOTO leave
IF NOT EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*.TIB GOTO leave
REM Test if set _1 is free
IF NOT EXIST *_1.TIB GOTO isfree
REM Make set _1 free by shifting all sets one position, drop the oldest
IF EXIST *_3.TIB DEL *_3.TIB
IF EXIST *_2.TIB REN *_2.TIB *_3.TIB
IF EXIST *_1.TIB REN *_1.TIB *_2.TIB
:isfree
REM Move the previous backup
IF EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D9.TIB MOVE ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D9.TIB .
IF EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D8.TIB MOVE ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D8.TIB .
IF EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D7.TIB MOVE ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D7.TIB .
IF EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D6.TIB MOVE ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D6.TIB .
IF EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D5.TIB MOVE ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D5.TIB .
IF EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D4.TIB MOVE ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D4.TIB .
IF EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D3.TIB MOVE ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D3.TIB .
IF EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D2.TIB MOVE ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D2.TIB .
IF EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D1.TIB MOVE ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D1.TIB .
IF EXIST ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D.TIB MOVE ..\%BACKUPDIR%\*D.TIB .
REM Rename the previous backup to set _1
IF EXIST *D9.TIB REN *D9.TIB *D9_1.TIB
IF EXIST *D8.TIB REN *D8.TIB *D8_1.TIB
IF EXIST *D7.TIB REN *D7.TIB *D7_1.TIB
IF EXIST *D6.TIB REN *D6.TIB *D6_1.TIB
IF EXIST *D5.TIB REN *D5.TIB *D5_1.TIB
IF EXIST *D4.TIB REN *D4.TIB *D4_1.TIB
IF EXIST *D3.TIB REN *D3.TIB *D3_1.TIB
IF EXIST *D2.TIB REN *D2.TIB *D2_1.TIB
IF EXIST *D1.TIB REN *D1.TIB *D1_1.TIB
IF EXIST *D.TIB REN *D.TIB *D_1.TIB
:leave
I must repeat this as it is so critical . . . You CANNOT successfully run an automated backup because your drive will run out of space
Whew. A lot of rambling there Ken!
Automatic backups work fine for me in 2012. I do full backups for 6 different partitions on varying schedules during the week. I keep two backups at any one time for my C: & D: partions and one backup for eachof the others.
ATI 2012 is working fine auto deleting and creating new backups automatically. Perhaps you need a bigger hard drirve space?