True Image cannot backup Onedrive!
According to Acronis support (and despite the documentation saying that you can "uncheck" a setting that excludes online folders, so that backups will include them), Onedrive currently cannot be backed up! See below...
ACRONIS SUPPORT:
I would like to inform you that starting with Acronis True Image 2018 Update 4 (Build 12510) all OneDrive folders are excluded from backups. In version 10.0.17134, Windows added "Files on demand" technology to OneDrive functionality: this technology uses a virtual file system to access files directly from cloud. However, the files are represented by placeholders/links and files themselves are not present on the disk. This setup prevents Acronis True Image from backing up OneDrive folder during backup, resulting in backup failure.
Acronis Development Team is working on solution for backing up OneDrive folders. In the meantime, these folders are excluded from backup to ensure backup consistency (both in new and existing backups). Please be aware that even if OneDrive folders are not listed in the list of exclusions, they are still excluded from backup source.
A good backup strategy includes the ability to recover an earlier version of a file, in the event of virus/ransom/malware, accidental deletion, unwanted change, file corruption etc., that is why e.g. monthly backups should be made, but True Image 2018 cannot do ANY kind of backup of folders like Onedrive.
The risks are NOT minimal, and inability to backup files that are physically on my PC makes the software not "fit for purpose" as a backup solution.
JD
JD, I can only agree with your statements and recommend you to raise this directly with Acronis by using either the Feedback tool or else send a Private Message to Renata Gubaydullina | Product manager, Acronis True Image
I will raise it. (BTW the files in my Onedrive folder are physically on the disk (sync'ed to the Onedrive cloud), not just links - which is the explanation Acronis support has given for the issue).
JD
FYI, My Onedrive is fully downloaded (and synced) and I don't believe that the fact that my folder is also synced is making it still look like a placeholder to True Image 2018 because the "dir /a /l /a" and the sysinternals utilities "findlinks" and "junction" are not showing it or its subdirs as links or junctions. For my problem, it looks like TM is finding my OneDrive folder from its registry specified location in HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Environment and automatically excluding it, because I tested that it will actually backup a folder called OneDrive when I create one in another location on the disk.
JD
Wow. I just realized nothing on my OneDrive was backed up (I could have accidentally overwritten a file), because Acronis decided to add this "feature" in an update, without telling the users about it. Wow. I could have lost my entire thesis a day before the deadline. Wow.
LondonUser wrote:Wow. I just realized nothing on my OneDrive was backed up (I could have accidentally overwritten a file), because Acronis decided to add this "feature" in an update, without telling the users about it. Wow. I could have lost my entire thesis a day before the deadline. Wow.
Hi! Acronis True Image 2019 and later allows to back up contents of OneDrive via special cloud-to-cloud backup. See Acronis True Image 2019: how to back up Office 365 accounts
Here you can find more details on this limitation in Acronis True Image 2018 https://kb.acronis.com/content/61425
Yes, but only if I actually subscribe to a cloud service, and the annual cost for the five computers I licensed is prohibitive. I cannot back up my files on the cloud at all as part of my normal backup - correct?
As I purchased a software which was able to do this - can I download the old version before this "improvement" was made?
You can still backup local OneDrive files & folders if Files on Demand is not being used with ATI 2020 & 2021. The core issue is the reparse points that are used by Files on Demand in OneDrive which ATI cannot handle and causes errors!
Unfortunately, in ATI 2018 Acronis took a sledge hammer approach and disabled all OneDrive backups by excluding anything with that name! This was addressed in later versions to allow local OneDrive files / folders to be backed up, plus provided the option of using a web based backup for users with an Acronis Cloud subscription.
My own local OneDrive files, stored on my D: drive are backed up regularly as part of my disk backup of that drive without any issues using ATI 2021.
Steve, your comment caused me to check what is happening with my Disks and Partitions backup of my OS NVMe. I have files on demand turned off for both OneDrive (Personal) and OneDrive for Business. They are both backed-up using default settings on my main PC. I had assumed that the limitation introduced in later builds of ATI 2018 applied to ATI 2021. The backup was originally created using ATI 2020. It uses *.tibx rather than *.tib backups.
I see that section 4.5.4.1 of the ATI 2021 user guide assumes that OneDrive data can be backed up - it does not mention restriction to cases where files on demand is deactivated. I can find not reference to problems when files on demand is active.
I will need to investigate further to work out what is actually happening.
Update: Did s search of the knowledge base and came across this one which suggests that OneDrive can only be backed up with Advanced or Premium subscription versions of ATI 2021.
Ian
Ian, KB 65641 with the differences / comparisons between CB and TI looks to be focussing on the web based provision for backing up OneDrive via the Dashboard, rather than covering the fact that the local OneDrive folders can be backed up using both Disks & Partitions and Files & Folders tasks provided Files on Demand are not used.
Thanks Steven, thanks Ian for the clarification! So it looks like if I upgrade to the current version and if I do not use files on demand, I should be fine backing up the local folder.
>>Unfortunately, in ATI 2018 Acronis took a sledge hammer approach and disabled all OneDrive backups by excluding anything with that name!
Indeed, this is exactly what I observed. Not only was the local OneDrive folder excluded in every backup setting (I definitely did not put the exclusion there...) - even after deleting this exclusion, OneDrive still did not perform a backup of the local OneDrive directory.
I am storing all the papers I write on OneDrive, and it's absolutely critical to be able to restore a file to a point in time in case a file gets corrupted or accidentally overwritten.
I suppose what Acronis did was extremely unsmart - someone experiencing a data loss because of this deliberate change would probably be able to sue their pants off. I am going to grumble having to pay for an upgrade just to get back functionality I had before, but it's probably not worth the effort migrating to a different backup software because of 69 pounds.
The £69.99 price is the upgrade price for 5 computers to go to ATI 2021 Standard (perpetual) version, you could choose the £27.99 upgrade for a single computer so that you have the OneDrive protection for one PC knowing that the other PC's would be automatically updated by OneDrive if you were to recover files from a backup.
You can also wait until Black Friday when Acronis normally offers discounts on their products, which is coming next month.
Steve Smith wrote:Ian, KB 65641 with the differences / comparisons between CB and TI looks to be focussing on the web based provision for backing up OneDrive via the Dashboard, rather than covering the fact that the local OneDrive folders can be backed up using both Disks & Partitions and Files & Folders tasks provided Files on Demand are not used.
Yes, that is the impression I got as well.
Getting a bit off topic, but I wonder if the same issue arises with the equivalent to files on demand with Dropbox? But, as you suggest, when you have multiple systems you can use files on demand on PCs with limited storage.
Ian