how to set the backup destination so it is remembered

There is no way to set the "default" backup destination for new tasks. Existing tasks will retain the destination unless you edit them.

ok, so if i am doing a manual backup, it will always pick c:\my backups and there is no way to make it pick y:/acronis/laptopa automatically?

Under most circumstance, you create a task for your backup and inside that task you direct the backup to your custom folder.

To execute the task and create the backup, the first time, you click the BackUp Now.

The next time you want another backup, you simply click the Backup Now option on the task previously created and the task will select the same custom backup location using the same parameters as before. You can also have a desktop shortcut which will enable you to create manual backups of the same task without even opening the program.

The only time you need to select a destination is when you are creating a new task and new task is NOT necessary when creating a repeat backup.

I have the same problem. I have a certain disk for all my backups and this software is not able to remember the backup location - or that you could customize one. It is such a poor software - it is hard to believe... Every time it tries to backup to drive Z - a RAM-disk and complains that it does not have enough space there. I never would backup to this location. But I get asked again and again and...

The same is true for the basic sorting in the backup list. I cannot switch from lower/higher to higher/lower when sorting. This is such a basic coding effort to enable this for the user. Hard to believe that this is not coded. I have been in the software business for decades. If the developer needs help for these few program statements he can contact me.

At least version 2013 does not start like others before to look at all disks for backups. I have several TB and this took endless and for nothing. Because as I said before - all my backups are at 1 single location at a certain disk. To me these concepts seem to be a bit far away from the user to be honest. But okay - in the meantime it got changed because of many complaints.

Have been using 2011 before (and older versions). No need to change to 2013. I do not see any improvement for very basic things that got on my nerves so much. But I start to give up hope to be honest and will have to look for alternatives. What holds me back is that I have been using this software for many years and still have old backup files that I created with TI. But version 2013 showed me there is and will be no change.

HI John,
One difference I have found with 2013 is that the mainenance of backup retention is much improved over prior versions. I can set the keep x number of backups and it will follow my instructions. One rule I practice is no edits and each task has its own folder. I never mix backups of multiple tasks into the same folder. Each storage folder is unque to the specific backup task.

Regarding getting a default location. One workaround would be to create one backup task point to a specific location. Save it as both the default settings and save it as a master task Then use the clone settings function (clone task settings) and clone will carry over whatever location was specified in the master task before being cloned. I also use the "save as default" for whichever options it applies to--especially the email notifiction and backup scheme.

Hi Grover,

Thank you for your response. In respect of the workaround with the master task I am not sure if I understood you correctly. But what I did based on your idea was to create a backup task and schedule it for later. And so I created different backup shells. Now they are in the backup list but not executed yet. Here I clone the task that I need and do my changes (like file name) and start it.

I think this is a very good idea. Thank you for it. I have more than 15 disks (and so many partitions too) and endless TB of storage. This is why I put my files at 1 certain disk (of course with different folders within the backup location to have a structure). Otherwise I would end up with endless different backup locations. But your idea will make my task much easier.

Thanks John for the update. I'm glad it was helpful. Don't forget, be sure the target disk is attached before making the edit or the clone.

Maybe some future version will have the return of our default backup location as a normal option--as it was in some earlier versions.

I guess I was too optimistic. Just had to restore my whole computer and create new backups. Now I am using TI 2011 from the restore again.

When I create sample jobs that point to the desired backup location and save them with backup later then I have them in the backup list. So far so good.

Now I clone them and edit the backup settings - I select a different partition and give it a different backup name - and start the backup with the new settings. It creates a backup file.

BUT this backup file name is the same as from the cloned job. So it will always overwrite the same backup file because even if a different partition got selected and the backup name got changed the backup file name did not change.

So in the end you destroy existing backup files with this workaround (without even realizing it if you do not check - there is no warning, nothing). And if I want to have a different backup file name then I have to do the whole awful procedure with searching the backup directory again. So the workaround does not improve anything.

Did I do anything wrong?

John Monter wrote:

Now I clone them and edit the backup settings - I select a different partition and give it a different backup name - (step omitted here) and start the backup with the new settings.

Did I do anything wrong?

A step was omitted. The missing piece is that the user must also change the name of the badkup file (*.tib) to prevent an overwrite. If you do not want the overwrite, then you must also complete steps 6-7-8 of the clone edit process which is where the name of the backup file is assigned. Remember, the name of the backup task and the name of the backup file are two different entieies. These two names can differ or matcch--user choice.

So, before you complete the editing of the clone task, complete steps 6-7-8 below and assign a new name to the backup file (and if necessary, a new name to the task) before saving the new task.

Figure 6: Select Destination1

Figure 7: Browse for Storage Destination. Each task should have its own unique destination folder. Do not mix backup files from other tasks in same folder.

Failure to click the Browse option will prevent access to assigning custom names to backup files. Click the browse option to continue.

Figure 8: Assign folder name and assign custom backup file name

The names of the backup files can only be changed as in Figure 8; whereas the task name can differ from the backup file name. Task name changed or re-assigned in figure 18,
In 2013, all backup files will have a program added suffix to the *.tib name such as
   user assigned name_FULL_B1_S1_V1.tib
   user assigned name_INC_B1_S2_V1.tib as per this link example
    http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/mvp/user285/guides/test201…
Assigning custom names to storage folders and backup files:
Understand that the backup file name is not task name and the task name is not the backup file name. The task name and the backup file name are two separate entities. They both may or may NOT carry the same name controlable by the user. Backup file name controlled in figure 8. Task name or backup (task) name controlled in figure 18. Avoid the use of parenthesis indicators or periods as part of the backup file name.

You may want to review link 2 below in its entirety.

Hi GroverH,

Thank you very, very much for your detailed explanation.

Yes - what I did wrong was to write a file name when I created the samples. I should have taken @task@ as file name - and perhaps additional @@ things like time/date. I did some basic tests with this new knowledge and so far it seems to work. But always expect the unexpected :-)

I have been using TI 2013 since last January and have suffered the same frustrations about being unable to change the default save folder.

I may have missed a trick somewhere, but by clicking on the location of a previous backup, a drop down menu with the option"recreate backup settings" appears - as in pic 2013-09-15_a.

Click it, and the backup screen appears, ready completed - as in pic 2013-09-15_b. Just change the filename as you want

I hope this helps :)

Howard,
Review post #9 above. One secret to individual folder or file naming is that you have to be in the right location. Once you get to the directory tree as shown in illuatration figure 8 above, you can browse to any folder and create any folder and assign any name to the folder or backup file. After a little practice, it all falls into place as to how to do it. Making changes to an existing task is not recommended but you can clone and change tasks as long as the edits are correctly done to achieve both a new task name plus a new tib file name. The names (task or backu files) can differ or be the same--user controlled.

The first step is to get the desired tib file name assigned. Then, later , just before saving the task, change the task name to whatever you want the task name to be and then click the save task button.

GroverH - you're right - what I have just found is that re-creating just leads to a new version of the original backup, and although the name in the backup dialogue is changed on-screen, the saved name is not, except it has a suffix.

In my case I had c-0020 on screen, which I changed to c-0021, and I thought it was saving the backup as that, but the actual original file was c-0020_full_b1_s1_v1, with the new file c-0020_full_b1_s1_v1-2, despite the on screen name being shown as c-0021.

I like TI - it has got me out of so many scrapes, but there really needs to be some attention given user choice of backup locations, and of preventing it from creating backup folders on any and every drive

I'll settle for the browse option to get the files where I want, at least it works

thanks for your reply