Disk and Partition Backup or File Backup

If you are referring to the storage of the tib backups within the External, two partitions are not needed.

One master folder for tib backup but my suggestion is that each backup TASK have its own individual storage sub-folder within the master folder. so youi could have several sub-folders. Each different tib task name should also differ or non-matching.

A review my signature link 2-A could assist.
Also a review of my signature link #1 and within that link, with item AGH1, Item GH11, orf GH12 or GH13 for suggested backup schemes with automatic cleanup.

I know it's been a while. Let me clarify as, after rereading my post I can see I wasn't very clear.

The drive inside my computer contains 3 partitions, all of which are being backed up as a single backup, using the partition method. Hopefully, if I need to recover that drive all three partitions will be recovered.

Additionally, I have 3 external USB drives. One contains my data files, documents, pictures, etc. The second contains the backup of my data files. The third one contains the backup of my internal drive

Since each source drive backs up to its own backup drive there's no need to create separate folders.

My question concerns backing up the data drive (2). Would it be wiser to use a file and folder backup with the root selected as the backup folder. OR backup using the partition method?

With respect to your data drive (2), the choice is really user preference. There is really no wiser choice because it really depends on the data being backed up and again the preference of the user.

If your data files do not change a great deal over time then periodic backup of those that have changed suggest that a file and folder backup would be smart and storage space efficient. If your data as a whole incur many changes and change frequently then a full partition backup may be a necessity.

If you have a user file or files that change regularly you can schedule a backup of just those files on a frequent basis such as daily if necessary using the file and folder method. It is easy to choose individual files or entire folders for such backup as needed from within the files and folders backup screen. See the attached illustration link for a view of folder structure and how to choose what to backup.

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATIH2014/index.html#…

As for your internal system drive using the Disk and Partition method is best. When doing so once in the Disk and Partition Backup screen choose the "Switch to disk mode" toggle option to then choose an entire disk which includes all partitions on the disk for backup. Doing so will insure that all partitions contained on the disk will be included in the backup thus insuring that all necessary data is backed up so that you can restore a bootable disk. See the attached illustration link and note the "Partition/disk mode switcher" notation.

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATIH2014/index.html#…

You mention also that you have a second disk that contains data files. I presume that you mean some other form of data files other than USER data. Can you elaborate a bit on what this data is exactly and why you choose to store it on an external disk?

First, thank you for your answer. It's greatly appreciated.

There is no second data drive. The drives are as follows:
1 - OS, Recovery, System
2 - User files (Libraries)
3 - User files backup
4 - OS, Recovery, System backup

Now, if I can only get the drive backup of disk 1 to stop failing everything would be fine.

Thanks again.

How does the backup of disk 1 fail? Do you get an error message? If so what is the message?

Disk 1 is set up as follows:

Source Disk Hitachi xxxxxxx (Disks and partitions)
Destination: Custom destination
Schedule: Daily @ 4:00 AM
Advanced: Wake up sleeping/hibernating computer, Prevent going to sleep/hibernate, run missed backups at system startup with 10 minute delay
BU Method Incremental
Create a full version after every 7 incremental
Delete version chains older than 60 days
Do not delete first full version

I'm rather obsessive about backing up my hard drive and files so I generally check every day to see the status of my backups. When I see an error has occurred I click on the X in the gui between the source and destination drives. I get a message indicating that the file SystemBackup2015-01-160858_inc_b2_s10_v1 (or something similar) cannot be found. The date of the missing file is always the current date. So, in essence the program is looking for the file that it should be trying to create.

I've looked for more complete reporting but cannot find it. I believe in my previous version I could get to a page that would graphically show me the status of my backups over time. So far in 2015 I've only been able to find a status report for individual days rather than being able to check a period of time, say a month, at a time.

Also, in answer to your question about why I keep my user files on a separate disk. One of the parts in a computer with the oldest technology, from a physical standpoint, is your hard drive. It is still a mechanical part that can easily become unusable, often because the heat of the computer causes the ball bearings to expand and contract making them lose their shape (roundness) to such a degree as to be unable to spin the drive.

Having seen this happen many times I have decided to keep these files on an external drive, which is usually in a cooler environment than the internal drive. In addition, because I am constantly experimenting and trying to figure out how to use different programs, my OS sometimes becomes so corrupted or slow that I decide to do a system recovery (not a restore from backup) and my files are one less thing for me to worry about. I don't need to then restore those files back to the hard drive.

Now to see the extent of my fear of losing files, I also use AllwaySync to sync my document files to a 5th NAS drive that also serves to give me remote access to my files. In addition, AllwaySync will keep a specified number of versions available.

If you've read this far, I'm impressed. I've been told I'm pretty long winded ;)

Roberta

______
PC Specs:
HP Pavilion Elite HPE-410y
Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit
AMD Phenom II X6 1045T 2070 GHz
8.00 GB RAM

Roberta original posting wrote:

Disk 0 contains 3 partitions: System, C, D (recovery). I am using disk and partition backup to backup up all three partitions as a single backup.

Many of us recommend that the type of backup be the "disk image" or "disk mode when the intent of the backup is to be able to create a replacement disk---should there be a need. Disk Image backups contain all partitions within the disk, and are capable of restoring the entire disk, or a single or multiple partitions or restroring single folders or single files. It is the most preferred of the backup types when disk restoration or disk creation is the goal. Refer to the first 4 pictues of my signature link 2A below as an example for users of TI 2014.
For users of 2015, this next link will illustrate. https://kb.acronis.com/content/48404

GH58. Difference between Partition Mode & Select Disk Mode backups.

----------------------------------------

Roberta post #6 wrote:

BU Method Incremental
Create a full version after every 7 incremental
Delete version chains older than 60 days
Do not delete first full version

Just an FYI Informational:
Chain length=8 files (Full + 7 incremental) Each full on a different week day.

The 60 elapsed days option begins ticking elapsed day 1 after the Full B3 occurs or backup day 10.
The Full B1 will be the permanent keep.
The Full B2_S1; Inc S2-S8 will be the 7 incremental or 8 or the first recent verson chain.
The Full B3_S1 completion will begin "elapsed day 1"

60 days of backups will accrue ( 9 chains of 8 TIB files per chain)

So your full backup will reach Full B10 (possibly B11) before the first deletion of Chain B2 occurs.

This is perfectly acceptable and my comment was just to make sure you are expecting and have the storage room for that number of backups.

If you wanted the FULL TO occur on the same day each week, the number of "Full after 7 inc" should read "Full after 6 inc" (chain length=7 Files).
The first 2 backups will both the full backup (do not delete first full) so you if you want all FULL to be on a specific same day, you would need to run backup 1 and 2 on the same desired day.
-----------------------

I am unsure about the error you receive. It sounds like an inc backup has failed somewhere in the chain, are you certain this is the backup for the day in question? I understand it being difficult to know. Have you tried using the Backup Explorer to view your backups? This link may help:

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATIH2014/#7957.html

Thanks for clarifying your data backup and I understand your theory behind that.

Grover, thank you so much. You've cleared up some questions I've had. I used Norton Ghost for many years and only recently switched to ATI. For some reason I found the product easier to use but completely unstable, as, imho, are all the Symantec/Norton products. Even though I only purchased ATI 2014 in June of last year I opted to "upgrade" to ATI 2015 last month and I am not that happy with it. While the gui is much cleaner looking it seems to be harder to find features. For instance, I cannot for the life of me find the report that documents the status of your existing backups (succeeded, failed, error msgs, etc.). Also, when I tried to follow your advice above about using disk image as opposed to partition mode I found that 2015 lumps the two options together and leaves it to you to pick the right partitions to include in the disk backup. (See attached screen shot)

At this point I think I'm just going to uninstall 2015 and go back to 2014. Ugly as it is, its features are findable.

Thanks again for your help.
Roberta

Enchantech, Thanks for your reply. I'm as sure as I can be that the error message refers to a file that carries the date it should be creating. For instance, on March 4th the backup tried to run and generated an error message indicating that it could not find M:\SystemBackup-2015-03-04xxxx_b2_inc_b2_v1.tib

As I mentioned to Grover above, the upgrade to ATI 2015 has proved to be a mistake.

I'm going to take a quick breather over night and uninstall 2015 and reinstall2014.

Thanks again.