Disk rotation scheme
I use Acronis True Image (ATI) 2014 with version chain. I have it scheduled to run every night. I have two USB 3.0 hard drives that I want to use in a rotation schedule.
1) Should I have both drives mounted with the same drive letter, or does it really matter? I presume that if different drive letters are used then I'd have to change my backup configuration each time I switch external drives.
2) When I switch external drives, is there a "best" practice to do this? In other words, do I simply dismount the "old" drive, mount the "new" drive, and let ATI figure out what it needs to do?
3) If I simply switch external drives, would ATI 2014 figure out that it needs to start with a Full backup?
Any guidance on best practice would be appreciated, either through answering this forum, or pointing me to KB articles, etc. I did search the KB and saw nothing of use, or at least nothing that seemed useful.
By the way, rotating backup devices SHOULD be something that everyone does, so I'm either missing something that exists or it doesn't exist and it should.
Thanks in advance
1. Using two disks but one backup task will not work correctly with TI. TI tracks the source and target disk ID as part of the backup specs so when the alternate disk is inserted, it will want to either start the task over with a new full when the correct backup file name is not found, etc, or it will error out and refuse to run the task at all.
Note: even if you were to have two different disks with the same format serial id, TI would still see the difference as the stored backup would be lacking the last backup which was recorded in the TI data base but is stored on the other disk. Off hand, I see no way of using only one backup task which will produce correct predictable results.
---------------------------------------------------------
A better solution would be to use two tasks with a two disks rotated (with occasional specified exceptions). When creating each task, the correct disk must be attached during the creation time in order for the task to be find the correct target disk.
Schedule Option 1:
Task one (disk 1) would scheduled Weekly with 4 days checked M, W, F, Sun checked
Task two (disk 2) would scheduled Weekly with 3 days checked Tu, Th, Sa checked
Each week, same disk may need to be inserted two days in row at week changeover time.
Schedule Option 2:
Task 1 (disk 1) would be schedule Monthly with each odd day checked
Task 2 (disk 2) would be schedule Monthly with each even day checked
On some months, same disk may need to be inserted two days in row at month changeover time.
--------------------------------------
As for disk lettering, if using two tasks, it would not matter whether same or different lettering as it would be matching to the external disk which was attached at task creation time.
I would suggest a high letter (x or y or z, etc) so the insertion of a flash drive or printer would not cause a letter change to the external.
--------
As disk insertion could be confusing or error prone, consider using my Desktop Reminder to attach a specific storage disk prior to backup. to help keep your disk insertion always on course with the correct disk.
Thanks Pat and Grover. The intent was to keep one disk offsite and one plugged in. I didn't make that very clear. I have a RAIDed system and all important files are also in the cloud, so I'm not concerned about disk failure, but am concerned about catastrophic loss (e.g., flood, fire) recovery.
I want to have one external drive plugged in for period X (day, week, month, whatever) then swap drives, putting the 2nd drive in the computer and the 1st drive offsite. The problems listed of confusing TI with swapping drives is something I've seen already, so, if I correctly understand from your feedback, I will be:
1) creating two tasks, identical except for name and receiving drive letter (e.g., Backup Even Red, Backup Odd Blue) - I have a red drive and a blue drive
2) relabeling my two external drives so one is "X" and one is "Y", or whatever
However, if both tasks are running, one will fail and one will succeed. Is there a way to turn off / disable a task when it isn't needed?
David,
If the schedule is on, You can turn off the scheduler directly from within the task without using the edit settings option.
http://forum.acronis.com/system/files/turn-off-scheduler.jpg
If the Schedule is off, You can access the scheduler from within the task and then reset the desired schedule
http://forum.acronis.com/system/files/turn-on-or-change-scheduler.jpg
Neither of the above requires using the edit settings option which many of us consider editing a task to change configurations to be a "no no".
When the task is off and you need to re-enable a specific schedule, you will need to reset the scheulde each time to your desires as the opening the schedule sets to a default schedule--not the schedule you want to use. Understand that turning the scheduler on is activatating a default schedule so each time you turn on the scheduler because of switching disks, you will need to change the default date/time of the default schedule to that of your desires. All of the above done directly from within the task and WITHOUT editing the Settings options.