Please take a look at my backup settings..opinions wanted

Looks good.

Hi Pat, Thanks alot for the reply. Much appreciated!

As an alternate suggestion, I would suggest you consider to make one of your backup schemes and methods to differ so you do not have all your eggs in one basket. For one of them, I would suggest that you consider keeping a x number of backup/chains so your retention rule is based on a fixed number of backups.

I would also suggest that you consider doing occasional backups when booted from the TI bootable Rescue CD and include validation as an automatic part of the backup. This backup should be directed to its own individual folder.

If you have not done so, you show test your restoration procedure (without delay) to make sure your recovery from CD will work for you and that all your disks are visible when booted from the Recovery CD.

Edit: Another option would be to use MVP Mudcrab's Drive Notify as a reminder program to attach external disk at the appropriate time--rather than getting an error message or missed task that the disk is not attached, etc. See signature below for link

Disk option backup

Full backup: adjust x number of backups to to meet your needs. Use number rather than space or elapsed time.

Or, Full plus differential backup. To restore, you need a single full plus an optional single differential.

Hi GroverH, Thank you very much for your suggestions and your time. I apologize, all of this is somewhat new for me, so if you are a patient type of person could I ask some questions? I'll start with my primary drive.

I've decided to do the following, create a 24gb working projects partition (F:) on my 120gb SSD drive (C:) as the F: partition gets close to capacity, I will burn the entire partition to a blu-ray disk and then move all the folders and files to an archive on my E: drive (E:\Archives). I'd like to back C: and F: up nightly. Please see the attached image of the program window I see when I click on the "Backup Scheme" link in the Disk Backup menu.

For  C: and F: partitions I select a Disk Backup, Destination: E:\Backups
Backup Schedule: Weekly on Monday-Saturday
Backup Scheme: Custom, store no more than 4 recent versions

Does this look correct? one thing, I have this backup task set to run so that it begins when I start the PC (I'm always home at a certain time, so I have the task setup to run an hour before so it runs as soon as I bootup) there are some days I do not bootup this PC and the task will sometimes run on a Sunday (when I do my Sunday USB backup). Is there a way to make this task start when the OS is booted up, but not if it is missed?

On Sundays, I want to do an external backup to my USB drive, but I'd like to take this one backup task at a time.

Arthur,
I will respond but it may be as late as Tuesday night.

If anyone else wants to respond, please do so.

Thank You for your help Grover. I am more than happy to wait for a reply.

Art

Questions and food for thought?

As expected, I was not able to respond tonight--hopefully Tuesday night.

1. What version of Windows?

2. When you say burn the 24G partition, I assume you are saying you plan to burn all the files to the Blu-ray disc. Does this mean the 24G project area will be empty afterwards? If yes, do you have the project material included in any other backups so you have multiple coverage of the data?

3. Your attachment capture shows that you plan on deleting the backup every 7 days. Is this correct? Do you have alternate coverage for your backup needs?

4. Often times, the need for a old file is not realized until months later. Will you have this potential file in other backups?

5. If should lose (any method) both your Drive G and your drive F only has one weeks backups, how do you plan to recover your data? Do you have other disk storage?

Many photographers use multiple hard drive disks to maintain copies of their professional images. The type data you have mentioned do not blend well to be included in proprietary backups accessed only from within backup programs. Do you have any plain backup copies which can be accessed by your software such as photoshop, etc. without needing TrueImage to restore?

GroverH wrote:

Questions and food for thought?

As expected, I was not able to respond tonight--hopefully Tuesday night.

1. What version of Windows?

2. When you say burn the 24G partition, I assume you are saying you plan to burn all the files to the Blu-ray disc. Does this mean the 24G project area will be empty afterwards? If yes, do you have the project material included in any other backups so you have multiple coverage of the data?

3. Your attachment capture shows that you plan on deleting the backup every 7 days. Is this correct? Do you have alternate coverage for your backup needs?

4. Often times, the need for a old file is not realized until months later. Will you have this potential file in other backups?

5. If should lose (any method) both your Drive G and your drive F only has one weeks backups, how do you plan to recover your data? Do you have other disk storage?

Many photographers use multiple hard drive disks to maintain copies of their professional images. The type data you have mentioned do not blend well to be included in proprietary backups accessed only from within backup programs. Do you have any plain backup copies which can be accessed by your software such as photoshop, etc. without needing TrueImage to restore?

Hi Grover,

No problem. This is a new PC I've been trying to complete for the last year. So it's not so new anymore :) All the hardware is together and this is the last step. I have no schedule for its completion and it's been a "work in progress" that I work on when I can.

1. I'm using Windows 7 64 for the OS. Its an i7-970 with 12 gb memory.

2. I'll explain a bit more about the partition. I'm a part-time graphic artist and I'm working on about 6 new projects a month. The files I will be storing for each project include photo image files, illustrator files, and photoshop files. They can get pretty beefy in size rather quickly. I want to create two work areas on my system, one on the fast SSD drive for all projects I'm working on, (F:), and an archive on my E: drive (E:\archive on my 1TB harddrive) that will store the contents of the working partition after it gets close to capacity. I have a set of default folders that will always be present, so I can simply burn the partition to blu-ray, then drag the entire partition onto the archive on E:, and when everything is moved I start with an empty folder structure on my SSD working partition. So, you are correct. This partition will grow until it has to be moved, then start empty. My plan was to have my data backed up as follows

A. Nightly disk backup of my C: and F: partitions to my E:\backup folder
B. Sunday external backup of C: and F: to an external USB drive
C. When the data is near capacity of the 24gb F: partition, burn it to blu-ray

My idea was to keep the archive constantly growing but never backed up on its own because of the sheer size it will get. By backing up the 24 gb F: partition via nightly/weekly backup and by burning onto blu-ray, I'll have the ease of having the archive online to reference all my old work, and I'll have it always backed up onto blu-ray.

3. I included the screen capture of that panel to show what choices I had available in my version. It looked different from yours. I know you recommended that I store no more than 4 versions so I can use that if you feel it's advantageous.

4. I wanted to have the E:\archive as my ever growing completed work library. I did not want this monster getting backed up as the files already would have been nightly/weekly and they would all have to be burned onto blu-ray before going here. So, I will have the old file in this archive, and it will be on blu-ray

5. Good question. If my SSD (C:) drive tanks, I will have the nightly backup on my spinner drive E:, as well as the weekly backup on my external USB drive. If C: and E: tank, I'm screwed except for the weekly on the external drive. The most valuable data in the system will be the data burned onto blu-ray. The OS, the programs, I can re-install them or buy them again whereas the data on the blu-ray is irreplaceable. I planned on simply dragging the partition over onto the blu-ray drive and letting it burn so that would not require any proprietary software to access.

GroverH wrote:

Questions and food for thought?

As expected, I was not able to respond tonight--hopefully Tuesday night.

1. What version of Windows?

2. When you say burn the 24G partition, I assume you are saying you plan to burn all the files to the Blu-ray disc. Does this mean the 24G project area will be empty afterwards? If yes, do you have the project material included in any other backups so you have multiple coverage of the data?

3. Your attachment capture shows that you plan on deleting the backup every 7 days. Is this correct? Do you have alternate coverage for your backup needs?

4. Often times, the need for a old file is not realized until months later. Will you have this potential file in other backups?

5. If should lose (any method) both your Drive G and your drive F only has one weeks backups, how do you plan to recover your data? Do you have other disk storage?

Many photographers use multiple hard drive disks to maintain copies of their professional images. The type data you have mentioned do not blend well to be included in proprietary backups accessed only from within backup programs. Do you have any plain backup copies which can be accessed by your software such as photoshop, etc. without needing TrueImage to restore?

Grover,

I contacted tech support for the manufacturer of my SSD (OCZ Technology) who was very helpful and he said I should use the disk clone option for backing up my SSD drive, then to test the clone backup, wipe the disk using their tool, and restore the clone. I guess I will have to configure the disk clone as my backup method.

Arthur,

Responding to your question, In order for your attachment to look similar to mine, you must choose the keep "x" number option.

In post #3, note the comments between attachment 1 and 2. You must choose the number of backups appropriate to you. For example, in keeping with your six months deletion, on my full backup scheme, you could change the 4 to 26 so you would have 26 weeks of revolving backups. Then, when week 27 backup was made, the backup for week 1 is deleted. This is the backup scheme I would use for the External drive. I like to assign a specific drive letter to my externals such as x or y or z so the insertion of an eSata or Flash Drive or External drive or Camera, etc does not mess up my backup task.

Weekly full to external-Keep 26 weeks or 26 full backups. After 26, the 26 become a revolving 26.

Daily backup-First backup is a full backup and then the next  6 are either incremental or differential type supplementals. Each week is a repeat  (1+6) of prior week. A revolving 26 full backups are  retained on the internal drive  backup storage area.

The picture below is if you choose incremental type daily backups rather than differential type. Be  sure and understand the difference between the two types.

Note in all  my suggestions, each uses the keep "X" number of fulls. This type retention seems to work the best. Basing what to keep on elapsed days or consumed or remaining disk space has been problematic at best. I recommend that all your backup schemes the the custom type as illustrated here.

I understand you plan on splitting your internal disk so one drive letter will change. The current letter E will be unchanged and when you add the 27GB partition, the new partition drive letter will probably become F.  Everything else will probably be moved up the chain but you can assign different drive letters is you wish.

At this point, I am open to any questions or clarifications

Grover,

Thanks again for all this, as I noted in my post previous to your, the OCZ Technology tech person suggested I should use disk clone as the backup method for my SSD drive. Can disk cloning be done as an automated task?

I contacted tech support for the manufacturer of my SSD (OCZ Technology) who was very helpful and he said I should use the disk clone option for backing up my SSD drive, then to test the clone backup, wipe the disk using their tool, and restore the clone. I guess I will have to configure the disk clone as my backup method.

Arthur,
In my opinion, their comments are being mis-interpreted. In Acronis terminology, you cannot restore a clone as a clone is process or procedure and not a file. I believe he is using "clone" to imply that a copy should be created.

When referring to the TrueImage cloning procedure, this is a specific program function which create a copy of the original but the results of the copy is a 2nd disk identical to the first. You would need two disks (original and blank target) every time you make an Acronis clone. An Acronis cloning results in the user having two identical disks.

In order to create a "clone" file which can be restored, the first thing you must do is to have a "disk option backup." The resulting *.tib file (which is the complete disk contents) could then be restored onto a new or old (blank) disk and the result could be referred to by some as a clone as it is a duplicate of the original.

Most certainly, you need to perform a proofing procedure to your recovery routine and that proofing procedure could involve either performing an Acronis clone (source and target disks needed); or to restore a full backup file where only the single target disk is needed. The storage disk for the backup file could contain many different *.tib files. If desired, you could wipe the target disk prior to an TrueImage clone or a TrueImage disk restore.

You could do what the tech suggested and perform a TrueImage clone on an occasional basis but I do not believe he meant a TrueImage clone as a nightly routine. Another reason why I believe he did not mean the actual cloning process is the risk factor. When performing an actual cloning procedure, the source disk is at risk to a total loss. Without a backup, the user has not way to recover from such a loss. The risk that probably occurs most often is a user mistake whereby the target is cloned onto the source resulting in two blank disks. Or, there is a power surge or program malfunction--either resulting in a lost source disk. So the bottom line is that it is imperative for the user to have a full disk backup (all partitions--all files) if the user is going to recover from a botched clone process. This risk factor is why many either do not use the clone process or they make sure they have the safety valve full disk backup before the clone is performed.

I really believe you are back to your original plan of performing regular backup but you do need to proof your recovery procedures. Far to often, there is a posting by an Acronis TrueImage user whereby they did their backups faithfully but they never tested their recovery procedures to make sure that it really worked. Every posting of a data loss is sad. Just a few days ago on this forum, a person did a clone thinking it was a backup or tried to use the clone feature to copy a single partition. The result was the total loss of the contents of the target disk which were irreplaceable.

Grover,

My feelings exactly. He did use the term "clone" but I really wish he would have been clearer as I was ready to do what he said. I'm glad I asked.. I apologize, I am getting a bit confused as he is saying one thing, here another. I will have to read your post over a few times for it to sink in. Maybe a hard copy for me to read would be the way to go. I'll be back. I appreciate it again!

Hi Grover,

Please see attached scans of my panels for setting up my Weekly SSD -> USB Backup . Two things, I do not have my extra partition created yet on my C: drive, so you will see my selections as being "system reserved" and "C:". Also, I did not have my external drive attached for the destination, but when I set this up for good it will be pointing to my external drive.

Please check my panels and tell me if you see anything wrong. Is there anything I should select in any of the other menus available? For example I see "Advanced" and "Performance".

After I select OK on the "Disk Backup Options" panel, should I "Back Up Now" to create the first full backup?

Thank you. After this I will try the Daily SSD -> HD Backup.

Would you confirm which version of TrueImage. I keep looking and keep missing it.
As for Advanced and Performance settings:
No changes needed in Performance setting. In advanced, there are numerous settings.
Validation: Yes at time of backup
I advocate using a password on your backups.
Also, I assume you use a password to log into your computer --not a blank space.
If you use scheduling, look at the "advanced options" inside that feature. Most do not want the start on boot if backup missed.
---------------------------------------
I would suggest you modify your proposed tasks to a shorter time frame such as x=4 full backups and use this as a temporary test. You do not want to get 26 weeks into your scheme and find you have issues. You want to know now about any potential issues.
Yes, click the backup now after you change the x.. After you test your backup scheme and want to finalize it, then create new tasks with whatever x weeks and point the backup to a new folder or sub-folder.
---------------------------------------
If you need help creating the 24GB partition, let us know. Have you given any thought as to assigning a drive letter D to it and if D is currently the optical device, that letter could be reassigned. Personally, I have Q and P assigned to my cd/dvd writers. If the letter to the optical device is re-assigned, some minor editing of the registry would be advantageous for letter adjustment.

Once you get the 24GB partitions created, I suggest you change the backup task so all partitions on the system disk is included. If you are not ready to create a backup task now, why not use your TI CD and do your backup when booted from the CD.

It is important that your "system reserved" partition is included in some of your backups. Should you need to create a replacement disk, you would need that partition as part of the backup to be restored.

Hi Grover,

Thanks..I am currently researching the most reliable way of creating my 24gb partition from the fine group of enthusiasts over on the OCZ forums. So far, looks like I can do this right from within Windows 7 itself via Disk Management. All I have to do is shrink C: and add the correction partition. I would like very much for my partition to be D: Is there a source of information you can recommend that will walk me through the registry edit and anything else?

Sorry, should have mentioned this at the get-go. I'm using Acronis True Image Home 2011, Update 3 (build 6942).

I'll wait to work on the creation of the partition until I hear from you regarding letter assignment.

Regards,

Art

Attached are links to a couple PDF's which I created for your examples. After you have had a chance to look them over, come back with any additional questions.

Links:
Editing the registry pdf

http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/mvp/user285/arthur/arthur-…

Shrinking the main partition and creating a new partition.

http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/mvp/user285/arthur/arthur-…

The Windows 7 partition creation will create a logical type partition. If you want it to be primary, you will need to use some type partitioning tool afterwards and change the logical to primary. The Acronis Disk Director is one and the free Partition Wizard is easy to use.

Hi Grover, thanks for doing that! Unfortunately when I click on the links I am re-directed to the acronis forum front page. I found this guide online..tell me if you think this will work. Looks fairly cut and dry:

http://www.itechtalk.com/thread3400.html

I might have to update the firmware for my SSD before I proceed. I will be back :)

In post #17, you should have just been able to double click on the links and you should have been offered a chance to download the pdf files. I'm not sure what happened.

The links above and below poiint to custom made pdf's made just for your situation. I believe my pdf files have all you need but get back to me with questions. These links below are the same guides but I uploaded them to a different spot.

Editing the registry pdf
http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2009/11/5940/arthur-…

Shrinking the main partition and creating a new partition.
http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2009/11/5940/arthur-…

Grover..wow thanks alot. Your latest links worked perfectly. The guides are very thorough and easy to understand so I am confident I can do this. I will do this and be back.

Grover, had to update the firmware to my SSD. Will begin with the optical drive re-assignment from D: to P. I will then create the partition D:

Will the OS automatically name the new partition D:?

Also, I've got a blu-ray writer I'm going to install. This should become Q: then automatically correct?

Most likely, the assigning of D will be pre-selected (but not final) but change it if necessary right at the time you create the partition.

Not sure what it will assign Blu-ray--probably next drive letter in the sequence. Immedately change the letter to what you want. If possible, try to do the letter assignment as part of the install but it may have to be afterwards.

So Far so Good Grover! I did the letter reassignment this evening and everything went perfect. Your instructions were spot on. Tomorrow I'll try to get the partition created..

Thank You!

Art

Shrank the partition and created Vertex24_D. All went great..ran into a slight hiccup when I was looking for D: for the partition name. It wasn't in the list. I scratched my head for about 5 seconds then realized I had my Ramdisk running and it was using D: I cancelled the process, and disabled my Ramdisk. Went right back to the start of creating the simple volume, and D was right there. Created partition, re-started Ramdisk who is now happy as F:

So far so good..

Just curious about your Ramdisk. What program do you use to create it and what programs or files do you copy to it.

One of your attachments showed the Ramdisk as F in your basic setup so if it ran before as F, you should not have any issues now as it being F.

Grover, It is by DataRAM The drive assigned itself the same letter, so I wouldn't think there would be any hiccups. The only program I have using it at the moment is Firefox for my cache. It did autoassign itself the D: after I rebooted after I made the change to the letter drive assignments. All I did was disable it, and reboot.  I then created the partition and took the D: and reactivated the RAMDisk and it returned to being F:

Hi Grover,

Sorry for the delay. I began by setting up the weekly SSD -> USB backup task. Please see attached and tell me what you think. I went into the advanced options and selected "Validation at time of backup". One image shows my Disk Backup Options, the other shows my Scheduling Panel. Regarding scheduling, this will be a full backup to the USB drive every Sunday. What I used to do with the old system I'm on now is every Sunday I'd plug in my USB drive, boot up the system, Acronis would fire up right away and backup to the USB and I'd come back after a bit and disconnect the drive. I'd like the process to happen like that so that is why I have the backup scheduled to begin at 7 AM. I'm never on the PC that early on Sunday, so this way the "start on boot if backup missed" kicks in and the backup starts immediately when I start up my PC on Sunday. Will this scheduling not work this way?

The version of Acronis I use on my old system (Acronis True Image Home 2009) will display an icon of a clipboard with an exclamation point in my task bar if the USB drive is for some reason not attached. I can then simply attach the drive and go into Acronis and tell it to continue. Will Acronis 2011 function the same way?

My apologies for the delay--which was caused by an October snow storm. No electricity or telephone for 7 days.

Regarding your scheduling picture, there is nothing wrong with your selection but be aware that if your backup is missed for whatever reasons, you have the option set for the missing backup to be created at startup. This may be fine but it may also be real pain if it interferes with your other planed uses of the computer.

Regarding the selection of partitions to be backed up, you have included all your partitions but my preference would be to click on the disk mode option at the top of that screen and select the disk as one choice rather than have each partition checked individually. Although, I must indicate your choice of all partitions may not be any different than my suggestion the disk be checked.

We do know that the "disk signature" is included if the disk option is selected. So far, we have not been able to get Acronis to tell us if the disk signature is also included when all the individual partitions are checked. This is why I prefer to use the disk option just to make sure we have everything.

The selection to keep 4 chains is fine if that fits your needs. Each week, the number of full backups will increase until the 5th week when the 4 most recent backups will revolve--just like an escalator. The oldest backup will drop off after the current new full is successfully created.

I do suggest that you set up the backup options so that each backup is validated as part of the backup process. If you so that, then there is no real need for additional monthly validations.

Note: in both he 2011 and 2012 versions, when a usb external hard drive (not applicable to flash drives) is actually attached, there is an added option visible within the Advanced settings scheduling options. In addition to the Start missed task on startup, there is also this option relating to the usb target disk. This is an option which is unchecked by default but can be checked if desired.

____Run missed backup when the current open device is attached.

I believe some of your question will be answered only by your actual testing.

Grover, No problem. Hopefully all in your family are safe and damage to your property was minimal.

Please see attached, I changed to "Disk Backup" as per your suggestion. I didn't change any of the disk backup options, but wanted to make sure my validation settings were correct so I attached the image of the "advanced" panel.

Regarding scheduling, I recreated the backup task with the USB drive attached. I went into the advanced settings and have the following selected:

Wake up the sleeping/hibernating computer
Prevent the computer from sleeping during the task execution
Run missed backup at system startup
Run missed backup when the current open device is attached

One odd problem. After I configured the above I clicked on "back up later" to save the task. I go back into advanced scheduling to make sure "Run missed backup when the current open device is attached" is still selected, and the menu item has disappeared. Is this normal?

If the USB disk is not attached, the menu option will not be visible.

Validation is correct.

Couple other items. I would suggest you edit your drive C volume name(Windows Disk Management) and add the _C to its name so to become
Vertex2_C

When creating a name for the backup file, I suggest the last character to be a dash or underscore. Should the program decide to add numbers to your file name, the dash or underscore is a separator.

Your folder name and backup file name are identical. This is fine and presents no problems but you could assign any name to the folder and retain your existing backup file name. If you create other backup tasks, they could point to a sub-folder inside the "MyBackups" folder.

I use a password on all my backups (same password). For some that use a blank password, there have been issues whereby the backup file is not accessible and keeps asking for the non-existant password. So, I make sure I use a password on all my backups.

I had the USB drive attached during the task creation last evening. Odd thing was, the "Run missed backup when the current open device is attached" option was available when I was creating this task. I selected it, went through and configured all the options and then clicked the "Backup Later" button to save the task to my task list. I then went back to look at the advanced options, to verify that the "Run missed backup when the current open device is attached" option was still checked (USB was attached entire time). The option was gone. Don't understand why that happened. Very odd. I verified this and tried several times, but upon saving the task, this option option no longer appeared when I went into the advanced options menu.

Regarding Drive C name, that's a great idea..but can I simply do this via disk management without any affect on anything that might be pointing to the old device name, or do I need to do a registry hack similar to my optical device letter reassignment?

I'll get the backup file rename, backup folder rename, and backup password creation done this evening.

Thank you Grover!

The only way you can change the backup file name is to act as if you are assigning a fresh backup file name working your way down the directory tree thru the browsing to the backup folder. This name change cannot be done by just changing the name of the task on the main page.

The change of volume name should not present a problem as most programs use the disk id or serial and not the volume name for matching identity.

You can change it via disk management or right click on drive C (inside Windows explorer) and choose properties.

My suggestion would be to use only one of two startup options. Try using only the new option and not the piror "run missed backup at system startup" option.

OK, drive C rename complete. As is the backup file rename (I hadn't created a backup yet so I guess this is what your concern was?), backup folder rename, and I've assigned a password to my backup. I've deselected "Run missed backup at system startup" option, and have the "Run missed backup when the current open device is attached" and "Wake up the sleeping/hibernating computer" selected. Now the "Run missed backup when the current open device is attached" button is visible. Weird. Do I need the "Wake up the sleeping/hibernating computer" selected? Now that I think of it, I disabled hibernate on my system.

Attached new images of my disk backup..

Yes, I would leave the wake up option checked--same as before. It looks like you are ready to start the backups.

Here is an alternate method of handling any issues with your Windows 7 computer sleeping during backup. This is one of my guides.

http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/mvp/user285/guides/stop_co…

Thanks Grover, I guess I'm a little nervous to test my backup..not so much backing it up, but restoring it to be sure it will work when/if I need it. Is there anything I can do beforehand to lessen my anxiety? maybe boot using the Acronis DVD and make a backup of the SSD to the spinner before trying my newly created task?

That would be a good place to start. The objective is to make sure your CD will recognize all your drives so you have some comfort feeling that a restore is possible. At the very least, boot from the CD and try restoring a couple files to a NEW folder.

It is always good to have some of your backups stored on varying locations so if you lose one disk, you still have an alternate.

Just a small hiccup..This is what I did to begin my acronis boot cd backup.

1. Plugged in USB drive
2. Booted using the Acronis CD.
2. Selected "Acronis Full" (Full USB Drivers) rather than "Acronis Safe" (No USB Drivers)
2. Clicked on Backup-My Disks.

I was getting ready to back up to my USB drive when I looked at what exactly was going to be backed up. My USB Drive was listed as Disk 1, My SSD Drive was Disk 2, and my spinner was listed as Disk 3. I selected Disk 2, which then selected all the partitions on Disk 2. All the partitions were selected correctly, but they were incorrectly named. I think this might be a problem. They were named the following:

Disk 2
NTFS (System Reserved) (C:)
NTFS (Vertex2_C) (D:)
NTFS (Vertex24_D) (E:)

Can I safely selected Disk 2 or will it munge up something because the device letters are wrong?

You can select safely Disk 2. The version on the CD is a linux version and the drive letters do not correspond the ones you see in Windows very often. There is not need to attempt to correct this either at backup or restore time: the information in the backup is still correct, despite the way the UI shows what is on your computer.

Great! That's good to know. Thanks alot Pat!

OK, having a weird issue..I made my backup to USB, I clicked on a few files to restore to a different directory to verify they will restore. They did restore, but now I can't delete them. I was receiving the TrustedInstaller error. I did some research online and found if I switched the ownership to administrator, I'd be able to delete it. I did, and I still can't. For some reason these restored folders don't recognize me as the administrator, despite everything on my system telling me I am. I enabled the default admin account by following MS instructions:

ou may also try to set the Default Administrator account and check if the issue occurs.

a. Click the Start button and click All programs followed by Accessories
b. In the Accessories menu, Right Click on the Command Prompt option and select'Run as administrator'.
c. If you have the User Account Control (UAC) enabled, you will be asked for authorization prior to the command prompt opening. You may simply need to press the Continue button if you are the administrator or insert the administrator password etc.
d. In the Command Prompt window, type the command net user administrator /active:yes and press Enter.
e. Close the elevated command prompt.
f. Log off (in Start Menu) and you will see your new built-in Administrator account next to your current account(s).
g. Click on the built-in Administrator account display picture icon and log on to it.

Still cannot delete the Acronis restored files

Did some more research into this. I found this thread on a popular Windows 7 forum. There is a registry edit that will allow administrators to take control over a folder that was owned by trustedinstaller. For those following this thread, and want to test their backup without the hassle, test it on something you created like an image file, or an .mp3 file. This way you will have full ownership and full permission to delete them. I found that I had restore a folder containing images for the clock into a test folder on my spinner drive. Because the files were essentially system files, Windows would not let me deleted them as trustedinstaller (windows) had installed them.

Permissions For File Deletion?

I enjoy a learning experience. I will try my sunday backup task soon knowing that my files were backed up adequately using the Acronis boot CD.

OK I attached my USB drive, started up the machine (today is Sunday), and the task did not start :(

I checked all my scheduling settings and everything seems to be set correctly..I don't understand why the task doesn't automatically run?

See attachment for my sunday backup task scheduling window

Arthur,

I interpret that you booted your computer on Sunday sometime after the 7 a. m. and you booted with the external pre-attached?

Did you try rebooting later with the storage drive attached?

Does the drive letter of your external match the drive letter used in creating the task?

Have you looked at the log file?

Hi Grover,

Correct. I wanted the Sunday task to behave like it does on my old system, which is, I am never awake before 7 am on Sunday. When I wake up on Sundays the first thing I do is plug in the USB drive, fire up the computer, and go make coffee and breakfast. By the time I come back, the backup task is long completed. So, I want the task to begin as soon as I turn on the computer. If for some reason I do not have the drive attached, I'd like to have an Acronis error message in my task bar remind me that a task could not run because a device wasn't attached. Or some sort of error message so I can then proceed to slap my head and mutter "D'oh" and attach the drive and restart the task.

I tried this several times yesterday, both with the drive attached and without.

One thing, I haven't manually created my first backup yet with this task. Would that make a difference? see attached for a pic of my backups task list.

I double checked external device, it is G: and the path to the backups folder on G: is correct.

I checked the error log. The only error is that I haven't had the new PC attached to the network and it could not check for updates.

I would edit the task to checkmark the option to keep the computer from sleeping, etc.

A couple things to try.
Try Checkmarking the startup option again. At bootup, This should start you backup if disk attached, if not attached, you should get an error message. Not sure what will happen if you then do attach the usb disk. If backup does not start, then reboot with the usb attached. You might check the user guide for the version you are using relating to the option about what happens when usb attached.

One last resort is to additionally use the Drive Notify.

Doesn't work. I ticked the option "prevent computer from sleeping" and "Run missed backup at system startup" and saved the edit. The "prevent computer from sleeping" will not stay saved, and the task doesn't run automatically. I would guess that even though the missed task is more than a day old, it would still be seen by the program as a missed task and should run. I will try to set the scheduled backup date to today (Tuesday) for a few minutes into the past and see what that does.

EDIT: Doesn't do anything. Nothing happens.

OK so reading about all the other issues people were having with scheduling I re-created my sunday task, but instead I set it for a few minutes into the future for Tuesday (yesterday). I rebooted the system with the USB drive attached. I waited and the task ran. I have no idea what would have happened if the USB drive wouldn't have been atttached, nor do I know what would have happened if the system was not on at the time when the task ran. So, I'm scratching my head at this point. I'm not trusting this program 100% and that leaves an uneasy feeling when it comes to relying on it to provide timely and usable backups. I'm hoping that all the edits to the old sunday task somehow munged it, and that by creating a fresh task with all the correct settings this somehow made it behave correctly, but again, this type of behavior is not reassuring. I would like to hold off creating my daily task until I'm 100% satisfied the Sunday task will run how I want it, and after I test the backup by restoring it to my system.

As an alternative

Have you considered having the program create a desktop shortcut (using task options) and when you want the backup to occur, just click on the desktop shortcut--which could be Sunday 7am or anytime at your discretion. If you use this option, you would need to do some unchecking on the scheduled advanced settings as you would want the control to be the desktop shortcut--of the startup.

Or, you could use MudCrab's Drive Notify to remind you to attach the target drive before it would allow the backup to begin.

Hi Grover,

I really want this program to function the way it is supposed to function. That is, I schedule a task, it runs, that is it. I know you are trying to help and I appreciate it. I get frustrated when dealing with a program like this that requires me to post a mile-long thread for help on a forum. IMHO the program should function like it was advertised or it's bad software and then I wouldn't trust it for anything, much less relying on it to back up my data, error-free.

In my research via the threads in this forum, it seems if you edit the settings once a task is created, this creates problems for the program. Something doesn't get updated correctly. I am going to copy down all the settings of my Sunday task, create a new Sunday task with all of the settings we discussed, save the task, run the first backup, then I will test the scheduling by letting the Sunday task run like how I want it to run. I will plug in the USB drive sometime around 9 or 10 am, and see if the task (which is scheduled for Sunday 7am) runs. I hope it does because I do like the program (when it runs correctly). I will then test my Sunday backup by restoring it to my system, otherwise my feeling of security is wasted if I can't implement it.

Arthur,

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/20871

Here is a link to an earlier discussion about this type problem. Note particularly the comments near the end of the thread. The link comments were using 2011.

What is your current status and what options do you have currently set? Most certainly, editing a task has been known to cause the task to malfunction. Your best chance of success is with a new task.

Keep us posted.