What settings can safely be edited on existing backup?
After being burned a few times I am now completely spooked about trying any editing of an existing backup even if it looks like it should work according to the user manual.
I have an existing files backup but I would like to change the schedule of when the backup runs. I know, again after already being burned once, that when you try to change any settings on an existing backup the location for some strange reason defaults not to the existing destination location of the backup but to c:\My backups (I'd really like to know who in Acronis decided on that gem) and so you have to change that back, but what else do I have to reset? Can I even safely change the schedule and have it all still work as I have created it or is this another situation that I need to delete the entire backup and start from scratch?
This entire area of editing existing backup settings seems to really need some work from Acronis. I'm hoping some more experienced users can tell me where the problem areas are. The manual, it seems, can not be relied upon to reflect what really works and what does not.
wags1,
I am not aware of any publication by Acronis as to what can be safely edited. Their documenation does not indicate any limits.
My experiece has been that the schedule can be modified (stop-start-change) without any issues. Any other changes I avoid or wil not do. Most certainly, no change of backup type or number of files to be retained should be made-in my opinion and expect it to follow your wishes. No edits to configurations is my practice.
My practice is that any new task points to a new storage folder or sub-folder with no intermixing of backup files. Each storage folder is unique to that specific task.
Decided to cross my fingers and try the following experiment. On the Backup and recovery tab I clicked on the backup in question, which is a files backup. Rather than clicking on "settings" in the lower right and then changing the schedule thru those dialogs, which I know has issues, I instead clicked on the schedule itself (middle left just under "Type" and then changed the time to the time I wanted it to run. It "appears" like that just changes the schedule of when the backup will run. I will know later today if it was successful and will report my findings.
Update. Changing the schedule as described above does work with no problems. There is a specific bug that I found in editing settings that I have described in post 45235: Bug Report - User Caution.
To be on the safe side, I wouldn't edit any settings, except the schedule. Editing back scheme, retention rules, name or destination is supported but can lead to confusing results at restore time. A validation can find about issues. The risks are much lower after you have a new full backup, moving forward. Changing encryption settings is not possible. I am not sure about advanced tab settings, compression and priority settings: I have never tried that. I'd guess you can...
To be on the safe side, I wouldn't edit any settings, except the schedule. Editing back scheme, retention rules, name or destination is supported but can lead to confusing results at restore time. A validation can find about issues. The risks are much lower after you have a new full backup, moving forward. Changing encryption settings is not possible. I am not sure about advanced tab settings, compression and priority settings: I have never tried that. I'd guess you can...
Curious as to why none of this is provided as guidance/caution in the users guide or help material? Something that would be very helpful for users from Acronis would be some best practices documentation. Trial and error by the end user is a very frustrating and inefficient way to find out what can/cannot or should/should not be done.
I have the same problem. Why allow Edit Settings > Backup Scheme if it doesn't work? It is very misleading. It appears to save the new settings, but doesn't follow either the old or new settings.
Fred