Acronis Archiving

For users like myself who, have ample storage space the ability to store archived data to a local device would be great!  Users should have choice of destination of the Archive with one or more locations selection being possible at the same time.

The idea behind Archiving is good, the reliance on the Cloud however is not.  There are no guarantees that Cloud access will be available on a constant on basis.  Therefore reliance on the solution as it is right now is not good.

If I can give my honest opinion, and no disrespect intended at all... personally, I don't think archiving is going to be a huge hit.  No offense, but I can't trust to send the only copy of my data to the Cloud, have it deleted locally (automatially), and expect to be able to recover it from the Cloud at anytime I need it.  As Enchantech mentioned, the availability of the Cloud may not always be there (local Internet Issues, ISP issues, Acronis storage issues).  If the archive feature didn't automatically delete the original file, I might be more likely to use it, but that's esentially what Acronis Cloud already does in backup .TIB form.  

The other problem with the idea, from a consumer standpoint, is once Acronis has the only copy of my archived data, that requires me to continue to pay for the archival service. Of course, I could download the archived data back before my subscription ends (If I wasn't planning on renewing - I don't use the Cloud services now so this is just theoretical), assuming that is a possibility.  However, if I forget to do that, then I would have no choice but to renew so that I could get the original data back.  For me, this wouldn't be a problem beause I do local backups, but for others that might only archive and not backup, this could lead to a bad situation. (EDIT:  I'd like to note this is not a problem with just this cloud solution, but something that exists in any Cloud Service if users don't take steps to retrieve their data before their service ends or if they don't' have local backups or copies already).

I don't see the benefit of a local archive option (it doesn't sound like it is currently offered, but something that Enchantech mentioned would be useful for his setup).  To me, the idea of a local archive would be the same as me backing up my data to another local storage media (as I currently do with Acronis now), or me moving files from one storage media (locally) to another local media, which I also currently do if necessary.  There are other products that specialize in synchronization between files and folders.  Althought I have had great experience with Acronis products, and stand by the products as they have provided great reliability in backups for me, there are indeed bugs in the existing versions and I would like to see Acronis focus on fixing some of those and building back more of the existing customer confidence before releasing new product features that take time away from being able to do that. 

I would like to add a bit to my comment above.

Archiving can be most beneficial for users whom have large amounts of data that rarely changes such as media files (music, movies, photos).  Such data is usually managed by placing such files in appropriate folders on a second data drive be it internal or external.  There comes a time though when such data needs to be archived as the point is always reached where the user needs to renew or refresh such data, out with the old and in with the new so to speak.  Archiving fits this scenario perfectly as such old data can be moved/saved and the orignal storage space recovered for new media.  The best practice here however is to archive more than 1 copy of the data thus the need for optional storage locations which I mentioned above.  Ideally I think that the Cloud should take on the role of a secondary storage location for archived data and certain other backups.  Local storage should play the primary role in archive/backup so that data is readily available.  Users whom have critical data benefit from a third copy stored off site in another secure location as well which is beyond the purpose of this discussion but is certainly a part of best practice when it comes to safeguarding data.

Encrytion of such data would be a nice add on feature to Archiving and would be easy to implement so I think that is something that should be done.  If users had the discussed options available using the Archiving function that function would I think definately get used more. 

Enchantech wrote:

The best practice here however is to archive more than 1 copy of the data thus the need for optional storage locations which I mentioned above.  Ideally I think that the Cloud should take on the role of a secondary storage location for archived data and certain other backups.  Local storage should play the primary role in archive/backup so that data is readily available.  Users whom have critical data benefit from a third copy stored off site in another secure location as well which is beyond the purpose of this discussion but is certainly a part of best practice when it comes to safeguarding data.

Encrytion of such data would be a nice add on feature to Archiving and would be easy to implement so I think that is something that should be done.  If users had the discussed options available using the Archiving function that function would I think definately get used more. 

I agree with both respones.  Cloud archive and/or backup should be a secondary option - not the sole option.  This should be the standard and users should be warned/advised of this when they create a Cloud archive or backup.  Never put your critical or important data in one place (to include your only backup) and don't wait to try your first recovery until after you've had a critical failure or you might be sorely suprised.  

Encryption would also be very appreciated.  I have just started using Cloud Backups as I wanted a third offsite location for disaster recovery.  I would never have done so without encryption though as I'm  skeptical of sending data to the cloud for security reasons.  I'm I'm slowly coming around though, but still not entirely trusting.  Encryption helps though.

My prolme witht eh archiving feature is that it doesn't allow you to make any filters! It sorts them by SIZE only. So... I want to archive my RAW photo data while keeping my jpgs. I also want to archive the TIFF and DNG files I generate while processing photos. But.. there is no way to do this expcet by spending hours manually picking out the files from a list of thousands of files. This makes this feature useless to me. If Windows Explorer can sort by file type then why would you remove this capabilty from your Archiving product which NEEDS this sort of filtering?

Joseph,

I hadn't thought of filtering but that cetainly would be of great benefit if incorporated into the product.  In fact a robust file manager in the product would be even better allowing users to sort data to specfic folders prior to archiving.  This would give the user an option to save this same data to a secondary location either as is or in compressed backup .tib form.

Great suggestion, thanks for posting.

Is it possible to install Acronis True 2016 Bld 6569 on another Drive and run rather than on Drive C:, and if so how. (Win 10 & Win 7)

Regards,

Ian.

It doesn't do any good to do that. No matter what drive you install it on, the bulk of the program files are installed at C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis.

Mustang,

Thanks for info.

  Ian.

When shuting down my system Acronis whats to do an local Archive, when I shutdown I am in a hurry and can't wait the two minutes, also I have limited local storage and will never use the cloud, how do I disable this feature? 2015

Michael

I love the fact that Acronis added the archiving feature, since I am an Unlimited Acronis Cloud User.  Adding filters before archiving would have been an excellent choice.

May I please ask a question here?  Or may someone direct me to where I can find the answer?...  I archived to Acronis Cloud because I thought it would free-up space on my laptop's hard-drive, having read that deletion of local files would occur once archiving was complete.  What archiving did was create a partition on my laptop's hard-drive.  Is it safe to delete that new partition (since I have no problem relying on Acronis Cloud) to free up space on my laptop's hard-drive??

Let me know if my question's not clear or you need additional clarification to respond.  Thanks!!

Mary

Hello Mary,

I do not think that the Archve feature creates a partition for archived files locally on your hard drive.  It does create an Acronis Archive folder from which you can view and access archived files.  I would not delete that foler as I cannot say what effect it might have on your archived files.  I would test that out for you however at this time I am unable to do so.  I would think one of the other MVP's would step up and do this or possibly already has done this so best to wait and see further responses to your post.

Thanks Enchantech.  I think I see what you mean ... ... after looking at the space on my hard-drive again just now.  (My hard-drive was still full when I looked after the archiving completed a few days ago.  I guess it was still in the process of deleting the archived files from my hard-drive when I last looked, maybe).  The archive icon has a cloud over it, and I now see that archiving opened up 220 gigs of space on my hard-drive.  I am thankful for your comment. 

Have a good day.

I have not used the archive feature so am also not sure if deleting the icon on the system would have any impact.  I would think not, but since I'm really not sure, don't want to speculate.  From what I've read though, the local icon is just an icon that helps you get to the archived data stored in the cloud.

I would like to note/warn people using the archive feature (or the Cloud features in general) that if they ever decide to not renew their cloud subscription, you need to copy down the archives and/or cloud backup data before the subscription ends to be able to access it.  Acronis will hold the content for 30 days afterwards, but I don't believe it's accessible once the subscription has lapsed so it's important to renew within those 30 days if you end up in this situation.  

The scarey thing with the Acronis cloud solution is that it automatically removes the original data off of the machine after 30 days (if the user is not diligent in retrieving it in a timely manner and does not renew the subscription).  In this instance, both cloud backup and/or archive data will be lost forever after 30 days.

Although this is probably a small risk for most people, it's still a risk.  For me, I prefer to archive my data locally to different locations/drives and then back that data up via a local backup and also back that up to the the Acronis Cloud as a secondary option.  This is just me though and my preference.  I'm sure there are a number of recommendations and preferences for both backps and archives and each person will have their own method that works best for them.