backing up and restoring
I have a 250 GB Samsung SSD which is my c: drive, currently using about 92GB (OS+everything else). I wish to back this up weekly to E: drive, of 1 TB capacity (internal drive). To this end, I thought I set ATI 2015 to do this, backing up the entire c: drive each time. Every so often, after accumulating 7 or 8 backup versions, I would delete the two or three oldest versions off the E: drive, thereby freeing up about 290GB of diskspace. Last week, I had occasion to restore a version about two weeks old, but could not.
After fooling around for 2 days reading forums, user manuals, etc., I finally was able to contact a techie at Acronis chat to help me resolve this problem. He was unable to restore that 2 week old "backup" because I had deleted all those "old versions" and he informed me that they were somehow all linked and I needed them all to restore one of them ( the one I wanted). In any event, not a disaster because my "C" drive was still OK, but he then set up ATI 2015 to do what I wanted. I checked the settings later, and he had set me up to do incremental backups, creating a full version every 1 incremental version and storing no more than 1 recent version chains. I don't think this is what I want, and don't understand why he didn't use "Full" in the backup method.
My questions are, will ATI 2015 allow me to save backups the way I described in para 1? This used to work in older versions I think, and I would always have 10 or 12 self standing versions, each one capable to being restored. Am I correct in concluding that what he had set up for me will not deliver what I want? How do I need to set the back up scheme and method to achieve this?
Thanks Bobbo for your excellent explanation. Tried to attach a screenshot to this comment but unable to see where/how to do that. In any event, I will experiment and hopefully get what I want. It appears from your explanation my error was simply that I cannot "blow away" obsolete versions of backups; I must allow Acronis to do this by setting backup scheme appropriately. By the way, if I reset my backup scheme to do FULL (disk) backups, can I safely manually delete the backup I made yesterday using the Aconis techies scheme without affecting the NEW full backups I make with my own (new) scheme, or need I allow Acronis to delete it?
Hi again Marty. You can't put a screenshot directly in the post, but below the message content and above the submit button, there should be an option for "file attachment" that will allow you to upload screenshots and/or files in your post.
Yeah, the application needs to be able to track the changes that are made so it bawks when expected files are missing. You can simply delete the "settings" only and reimport your remaining backup .tibs again if you want them to be in the console correctly. Or, if you manually move/delete files, do a "restore" and it will prompt you that files are missing and ask you to locate them or "ignore" them. Ignore all of the missing files and that will update the database. It's a work-a-round, but may cause issues with the database down the road.
As a supplement to the good information already provided:
RE: Backup schemes
Here are some examples of setting up backup schemes which the program will perform their own cleanup (deletion of oldest file). You can set the "store no more than X recent version chains to whatever number of full backups you wish to keep. When you have reached your store number number, the next backup will cause your quota to be exceeded and will delete the oldest full backup. Once the deletion process starts, each subsequent new backup will cause the oldlest full to be deleted each time
Create Custom Full Backup Scheme w/auto cleanup. Keep 4 FULL then add new and delete old
You mayi also want to keep the very first full and not have it subject to auto deletion. If yes, then check the "do not delete" original, and it will be retained indefinitely.
Custom Backup Schemes-how to's & much more.
64640: Do's & Don'ts--Hints to help prevent issues with your TIB backup files creation.
A user explanation of how to configure backup schemes.
Each task must be a configured as a standalone task with the task name and storage folder name different from any other name, or no dupicate tasks with the same names and storage location.
Editing an existing task is not recommended. Rarely does an edited task perform to user expectations. It is usually better to start with a new task using a new non-identical task name and point to a new storage sub-folder so each task has it own storage folder/sub-folder. Old task can be stopped or deleted from the task listings.
When you perform edits on an existing task which has already been used for backups, the editing or changing of the configuration is the same as "shooting yourself in the foot."
Don't use the edit function to change an existing task to create a different goal. Instead, either start over fresh with all new, or,
use the task clone settings and clone an existing task. However, if you use the task clone function, then additionally before using, you will need to edit the clone and change the name of the clone,
change the target folder name, and confirm each setting within the clone that each configuration setting is as you would have created it as an original.
Each new task should be set up as automatic cleanup so the program does the deletes and so manual deletes by the user is not necessary.
You may also want to create two somewhat identical tasks set up on alternate days so your backups are spread between two differeent tasks.
Thank you Marty for bringing the topich up. I have done almoust the same "error" as you did. Backup/ restore is not easy.
rgds
Overall, the process really isn't that bad, but you should read the user manual to become familiar with the options, choices etc. If you expect to just jump in without reading the documentation or experimenting with different settings and the outcome, plus also verifying and testing a backup and recovery, you will most likely run into issues. There are a lot of featuers/options/custimazations available to make it tailored for individual preferences/needs.
ATIH 2016 User Guide (see my signature below for 2015)
There are also online video tutorials - youtube has many of them: