Restored Operating System - Will this recognise the current status of incremental data back-ups
I have recently installed TIH 2014.
My intent is:
(1) To back up my operating system, which is on a dedicated SSD (Drive C, with no personal files, or data) This will be a full backup – A once only event!
(2) To backup my personal files and data, which is also on a dedicated hard drive; namely, drive D!
This will be a full backup, followed, by 27 Incremental backups; an incremental backup being scheduled to be performed daily, 7:30 am! I have selected Delete version chains older than 2 days.
(3) The backups (1) & (2) will be made to an external hard drive, Drive E
(4) On day 1, after creating the back plan, (2) above, I will create a full back up of my operating system!
Let us assume that my computer runs successfully for 20 days, backing up my personal files/data, as (2) above.
What would be the situation, if on the 21 day, I had to restore the image of my operating system?
Would Acronis, in the restored operating system, recognise the current status of the incremental backups; namely, it is day 21, and not day one, and incremental backup, would continue, for a further 6 days!

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Thanks for your comment, GroverH,
Reference, your first suggestion, to keep 4 Chains! The problem with this is, that my 3TB hard drive would get FULL.
My personal data (Photographs, etc.) is very large, in excess of 400 GBs. It takes over 4 hours, with my USB 3 port to perform a full back-up! You can see that keeping more than one chain would soon fill up my drive, especially, as images of my operating system, are also kept on this drive.
Reference, your second suggestion; backing up my operating system as regularly!
Firstly; again, this would contribute to my hard disk reaching the FULL state!
Secondly, I like, every six months, or so (or whenever, I experience a problem, with my operating system), to restore an operating system, which I know is good, and relatively clean. My current operating system back-up, image, dates back to when Windows 8.1 was released, with just my permanent programs and hardware drivers installed. Yes, I have a lot of updating/installation to do, but I am confident that there are no bugs, on board.
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Brian,
In your scenario as you describe if you are asking and I am assuming that the backup of your C: drive made on day 1 includes the installation of ATI along with the OS and 21 days later you wish to restore that image and then expect ATI to pickup where it left off making the incremental backups.
If this is correct then you might be able to use ATI Import Export tool to do this. That tool can be found under the Tools and Utilities in the Menu Bar. Here is a link describing the feature:
http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATIH2014/#10147.html
It would be best to make a test run of you possibly can with this to make certain it works for you and to get familiar with the procedure. The one constant that I can see here is that your full and inc. backups locations would need to remain constant so that your backup settings would correspond accordingly in all cases to get this to work.
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Hi Enchantech;
Thank you for this link; this looks most promising - I shall check it out, and let you know!
Brian
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Brian Taylor wrote:My personal data (Photographs, etc.) is very large, in excess of 400 GBs. It takes over 4 hours, with my USB 3 port to perform a full back-up! You can see that keeping more than one chain would soon fill up my drive, especially, as images of my operating system, are also kept on this drive.
You might consider another backup strategy, which would allow you to make system images more frequently and store more of them, while still protecting your user data files. Do as I do and use two different types of backups: one for system imaging, but excluding large file types; and a file-based backup for the large data files.
For example, in my regular ATI full disk backups I exclude music files: .flac; .mp3; etc. I backup the music files with Robocopy, which creates file-based backups rather than compressed archives. I created a batch file that runs Robocopy, compares my music files with the current mirrored backup and then backs up only those new or changed, and deletes any that I deleted from the source. Robocopy is multi-threaded, and I specify the use of 16 threads, so it's quite fast.
Robocopy is a robust file-based backup tool. Once a Robocopy script is written, I just reuse it by launching a .bat file (which could also be scheduled). I mirror my media partition to external HDs, and Robocopy is fast because it will backup only the changes and it is multi-threaded.
Robocopy is particularly fast on a multi-processor-CPU system when set to mirror, so it backs up only those files that have changed or which are new. My music folder has over 2,400 sub-folders with over 25,000 files, and setting Robocopy to use 16 threads lets it compare everything in very little time.
You could also perform file-based backups using a different task in ATI. I don't have anything against ATI for that, I just happen to use Robocopy instead.
For disk imaging and OS-level backups, I rely on True Image.
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Brian,
Tuttle's advice is sound. I too utilize a similar strategy and it works very well indeed! My response was aimed at answering your questions not so much advice on a backup strategy. You have a number of choices so doing research and trial should get a solution that is right for you.
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Enchantech wrote:My response was aimed at answering your questions not so much advice on a backup strategy.
Absolutely. I wasn't stepping on your reply, Enchantech. You directly answered the OP's question, which I didn't really do. I just wanted to give him something further to consider. :)
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Thanks for all this advice, Guys; I will look into Robocopy, but it looks rather complicated for an old crock, like me (77).
I think my original issue has be solved by Enchantech; thank you!
Interestingly, before I started trialling ATI 2014, for backing up my personal files, I used Genie Backup Manager Pro 9, which worked well!
Prior this time I used ATI 2013, for backing up my operating system - Not installed on my PC, but backing up/recovery using the boot disc!
Genie Backup Manager Pro 9, appeared to have two advantages, over Acronis
(1) It has an index add on, which records the state of back ups, which is included in every back up. If you restore an old version of your operating system, with Acronis, and then restored the Genie Index, the Genie program continues, as previously, as if nothing had changed - I believe Enchantech's solution, provided by the link will do this, with Acronis!
(2) The other facility I like about Genie, is that you can select to verify, just your last back up (Full, incremental, or differential). With ATI 2014, it would appear that you only have the option of validating "All versions of the backup" - That is the whole chain, which can take some considerable time. I appreciate that this latter case is good practice, but in many years of using both programs, I have never experienced a corrupt back-up!
So far, I am impressed with ATI 2014; it appears more stable, and less power hungry! Providing that the verification time does not get too lengthy, as increments build up, I shall use it as an alternative to Genie
Thank you all again, for contributing!
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I have had Acronis for about four years and I've never been able to feel safe when my C Dr. needs to be replaced. So I would do a format of the C Dr. and install all my programs. After reading 64298: Restored Operating System I felt it was time to get down to the fact.
I have two things that I would like to accomplish
1. Create Custom Incremental Backup Scheme. - Assuming I have been back in the my C Dr. every day for the last 30 days, I decide to bring my C Dr. to where it was on the 20th day. When searching and help I cannot find the word "chain". I would like to know what is meant by this. I'm also uncertain to how to get the system to run the 30 days of backups.
2. If I had a full backup of my C Dr. I would like to save it to a newly purchased drive. My thought is that I would then be able to use this drive as my boot, since it is actually a duplication of the original C Dr..
In the past I could pick a file here and there to replace damaged files. I never been successful working with the C Dr.. In the C Dr. is my most demanding drive
Bob
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Amerifax wrote:...
Please don't post the identical information multiple times. I already answered your other thread. Plus, your issue has nothing to do with what's discussed in this thread.
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I understand Tuttle, I did not take offense at your reply at all. My intention was to concur with your response and let the OP know there are options that may better fill his needs.
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Sorry.
And also thinks for the help from the past. I have made some heavy notes on your help. I have a BETTER UNDERSTANDING TODAY.
Bob
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Again I'm sorry. I now save my messages and valued responses in EverNote. Thanks again for your valued help.
Bob
Wow you have a great memory!
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