Can someone explain non-stop backup to me?
I'm trialling 2010 to see if it's worth upgrading from 2009, and one of the things that attracted me was non-stop backup (NSB).
Although it seems to work in a sense, it doesn't do what it says it does, i.e. an incremental backup every 5 minutes.
For example, my PC has been on since around 8am today, and I have NSB increments from 9:16 and 9:21 only.
I have added music and documents since then and nothing has appeared on the Time Explorer bar.
Am I misunderstanding something here?
Peter, I'm glad I'm not alone.
I'm giving up on this product. NSB just doesn't work as it's supposed to, and we don't seem to get any response from Acronis. (Nothing unusual there.)
If I'm allowed to say here, look at Geniesoft's Timeline. It's the closest thing to Time Machine that I can see for PC - and it seems to work.
Hello Iain,
I bought the product because it is the best imaging programme out there, IMHO. NSB was just a bonus. I hope it does eventually work.
You might want to have a look at Rebit.
Seamless real time back up for up to six machines
Never used restore but it seems to work well.
Less than pleased with shakey slowness of TI 2010
I have Non-Stop backup running, I downloaded email today at 3.00 pm, as of this time 18.50 pm the View Versions button only shows a backup at 3.12 pm. I have downloaded several emails since but they are not reflected in the time of the backup. Also I opted to receive email when my question was answered but this is not working.
I noted this to Acronis in some very early versions of 2010.
I've never had NSB run every 5 minutes, and if you think about it you might not want it doing it that frequently. Anyhow, I've come to the conclusion that there is a 'gap in translation' in the wording of NSB. It may well CHECK your selected drives/partitions every 5 minutes, but I think it only performs one major update at log on, and then subsequently if a large amount of changes occur on the selected drives.
NSB is all very technical -- so technical, in fact, that it has been official designated by the IOU (International Obfuscers United) as a MRBA or "merba" (Must be Referred to By Acronym). The NSB MRBA is basically a type of DPOIBUP (Discontinuous Process Of Intermittently Backing Up). This particular DPOIBUP backs up on your PC at times dictated by user-set rules in combination with TGMOL (the great mysteries of life)-- this is also known as backing up in surreal time. Sometimes it's mistakenly described as real-time backup but it's real time only in the sense that Reality TV has anything to do with reality.
Basically, the NSB MRBA falls into the category of NRFPT or "nerfpit" features (not ready for prime time) aka NRFR or "nerfer (not ready for release). It may eventually become a WOF (Worked Out Feature) just as soon at the programmers get a chance to FOWACI "fow-whackie" (Figure Out What All this Code Is) the program but that probably won't show fruit until some future version ASUD (at some unknown date). But ATI does offer free trials and a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, so if you discover how NSB APs (Actually Performs) you can be in a LONOMO GOG situation (LOst NO MOney -- Gained Only Grief).
This might not seem to make a lot of sense as a normal business enterprise but that's only because it's all so very technical.
I've been trying to get Nonstop Backup in Acronis TrueImage Home 2010 to work reliably for the past two days with no success. It appears to be completely useless. I'm going to give Geniesoft Timeline a try. Rebit doesn't seem to be quite the same thing as it looks like you have to purchase their USB drive.
I have to agree with all the negative comments related to THI NSB. I'm running it in a Toshiba Satellite 2GH 4GB 500GB SATA with the back residing in a 200GB secondary local drive. There is a horrifingly negative impact to the system after start up when NBS is running. I don't see an every 5 minute process taking place either. It doesn't always run. There appears to be no way of turning it off. There is a Stop function but the service remains active.
I want to remove Acronis NSB and go back to my Norton 360 backup option.
Hello all!
Thank you for your comments and for sharing your concerns. I apologize for the inconvenience you have faced with the software.
It looks like there is some misunderstanding of NSB functionality - let me clarify the situation:
I can see that most of you are concerned about the time the "incremental backup is created". The thing is that Non-stop backup works a bit differently: it is not the full and a chain of incremental backups, but continuously updated full image. GUI shows it as several folders, but in reality - that is one full archive.
When we first create the backup, software takes the snapshot, which is used to verify the data changes on the hard drive. Snapshot is something like a picture of the drive, thus we are able to analyze what sectors were changed and back this changes up. NSB splits the snapshot to several parts. Each part has its own hash value (check sum). After that NSB starts to create new snapshot every 5 minutes and compares every new snapshot with previous one. Should it find any changes in the new snapshot hash the image will be updated. So any minor changes are backed up quietly without even being noticed.
There is certainly a gap in the documentation on the topic, I will submit a request to our Tech Writers for improvement.
Meanwhile I would like to thank you for the comments - we really appreciate any feedback, it really helps us to drive improvements. So should you have any concerns, suggestions, ideas or questions - feel free to share it with us.
Thank you!
__________________
Yana Savchenko
Acronis Customer Central | Acronis Backup Software
For more answers to your questions, try our Knowledge Base
Hello all!
Thank you for your comments and for sharing your concerns. I am very sorry for the inconvenience you have faced with the software.
It looks like there is an inconvenience with understanding the NSB occurred - let me clarify the situation:
I can see that most of you are concerned about the time the "incremental backup is created". The thing is that Non-stop backup has a bit different structure: it is not the full and incrementals, but continuously updated full backup. In GUI you can see it to be several folders, but on practice - that is one full archive.
When we firstly create the backup, we take the snapshot, with which the product verifies the data on the hard drive. Snapshot is something like a picture of the drive, thus we are able to analyze what sectors were changed and back this changes up. In NSB the snapshot is splitted to several parts. To each of this part hash value (check sum) is assigned. When the 5 minutes pass, NSB creates not the new backup, but the new snapshot - and verifies the snapshot with the hash value saved. Should the checksum for the HDD sector in the new snapshot differ from the checksum of the previous one - it is backed up and added to the backup created.
So should minor changes take place - you will not notice they are backed up. It is just quietly added to the existing archive.
it is surely a gap in explanation in documentation, I will request the improvement.
Meanwhile I would like to thank you for the comments - we really appreciate any feedback, including negative: bothhelp us to improve. So should you have any concerns, suggestions, ideas or questions - feel free to share it with us.
Thank you!
I started NSB on 28 December 2009. I am puzzled by several things:
(a) When I check the status of the latest 'image' known to NSB, using Disk and Partition Recovery, it seems at first that the only full image I have is still the one created when I started NSB.[*] How long before I shall see a more up-to-date image? I note however (see next item) that a 'recovery point' is offered up to the latest backup that is also mentioned on the alternative view used for file recovery. But that is still five days out of date, and does not reflect backup files written since that date. Does this mean I cannot recover a full disk image more recent than than the five-day old one? If so, when can I expect this to be updated?
[*] I do understand that with NSB there is no single image file, but an image is built on request from the accumulated backup files.
(b) When I look at the backups using Recovery/Time Explorer in Nonstop Backup Mode, the latest snapshot reported in the timeline below today's date is one taken at 14.53 five days ago. But when I look at the updating files on the backup partition, I see 10 files added after that one. Why do these two records not match? (And, as per previous question, does this mean the updating backups over the past five days are [so far] useless?)
(c) When I visit the Nonstop Backup status page, I usually find that 'Nonstop Backup is off'. When I see that, I turn it on. But within minutes it is 'off' again. What's going on here? NSB still does some backing up (I am seeing new 'cdp##.data' files in the backup folder) even when apparently it is turned off.
(d) With regular .tib backups it is possible to validate the backup. So far I have not found any way to validate NSB backups. How can this be done? (And if it cannot, how can I be confident that NSB is delivering a valid backup?)
I am using Acronis True Image 2010, Build 6,053, with XP Pro SP3.
All suggestions (including links to other posts/articles) will be gratefully received.