TI 2009 - Will backups start from non-logged on user and other interesting stuff
Acronis TI 2009 on Windows XP.
Recently I created a windows userid specifically for administrative work, installs, etc. and changed my work id to a limited id. For security reasons this is considered the best way to work. (Avira and many other products and forums suggest it.)
This means I’m almost never on the administrative one. That is the id I must run Acronis on, since Acronis won’t run on a limited id. My question is, if the computer is on but the administrative id is not logged on, will my scheduled Acronis tasks still start?
I have some other TI 2009 questions, if you don’t mind.
1. About restricting the number of backups saved. In TI11 I did not trust this function. When I tested it, it seemed to need as much temporary cache space as the current backups. If it didn’t have enough space, it seemed to abandon those temp files, ending up using even more space than if you didn’t restrict the size/number of backup files at all.
The consolidation function in TI 2009 seems to work better, but should I trust it? When I set the number of files at 10, after consolidation there are still 10 files. This means that forever after it must go through the consolidation function every time it makes a backup. This seems retarded to me. As a programmer, I would have gotten to 10 and then gone back down to one again. I’m assuming here that the consolidation function is more resource intensive and prone to break then the regular incremental backup function. Anyway, my question is whether some user (as paranoid as I am about backups) has gone to the trouble to see if these consolidation functions work and work well enough to trust them.
2. I have been trying to figure out how the one-click protection that comes up when you first install 2009 is any better than making and scheduling a full incremental backup. Does anyone see any great advantages to it?
3. Is TI 2010 as good as 2009?
4. Does anyone trust TI2011?
5. Using TI2009, if I set it to only run when the userid is idle, will that means that it will never run scheduled backups? This seems to have been the case in the past?
6. Finally here is a bit of advice of my own. Whenever you install Acronis, install a program like ‘process tamer’ or ‘process lasso’. These programs stop processes from using up all the CPU. Despite all the garbage about lowering priority, Acronis is a CPU hog like no other and often causes freezes on computers.
You can download process tamer at download.com but you’ve got to get the license from donationcoder.com. You can use it for free, but I’d advise to donate something to get software licenses from that site. It’s worth it and they deserve it. Thanks
thanks for the info
Regarding item #2: The one-click does not include all of your disk inside the backup. You would be safer to perform a disk option backup (all partitions) and then a few incrementals (if you wish to use incremental or differentials) and then repeat the entire diisk option backup again as often as needed.
That's what I thought. Thanks.
Grover,
1. Does Chain2Gen delete all the old backups when it’s time to create a new set? That's the function I'm really looking for, so you don't have to worry about clearing out the hard drive when it's full.
2. I have Chain2Gen and am looking at the documentation. I typically set up five incremental backup files for my users. There are two complete backups, one that starts every Sunday morning and one that starts every other Wednesday. I also set up three daily doc backups, one for Monday and Wednesday, one for Tuesday and Friday, one for Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. I think this means I should set up five different parm files. Is this true?
3. I also typically set up two userids, one administrative and one limited userid. I have to set up the backups under the administrative id, since Acronis won’t run under a limited id. If the administrative id is not logged on, will the backups be created?
Thanks.
I think I answered #3 above. The backups are being made even when the administrative id isn't logged on.
Be reminded that C2G is a helper program. TI does the both the backups and the scheduling. Scheduling can alternately be done using the Windows Task Scheuler to run the TI tasks.
1. What C2G does it to
control the number of backups archives retained in a backup set/folder and to
control the number of backup sets/folders retained, and to
make sure a full backup is created on a date selected by user. This is done by making sure the initial target folder is empty when a full backup is needed.
From C2G standpoint, a backup chain can be
a single full, or
a single full combined with X incremental, or
a single full combined with X differentials.
C2G stores its chains inside folders.
The first chain is stored in a folder labeled "set0".
When the time comes for a new chain, the
"set0" folder becomes "set1" and the set0 is empty to received a new chain beginning again based on the C2G parameters settings. If incrementals or differentials are involved, these are included in this single folder. If the backup type is full backups only, then each backup set or folder will contain only one single full backup only. Thus, if your are retaining ten backup chains (with or without incremental/differentials), these backups sets/chains will be stored in ten separate folders.
2. If you use C2G to run 5 different backup tasks, then you need to have a complete set of C2G files in 5 different folder as one C2G set controls only one task.
I have one control folder named c:\C2G and then individual sub-folders for each task plus one sub-folder which acts as a master and never altered. The individual sub-folders are labeled with task identification and it is this folder and files which are included in the pre/post pre task setting of the various tasks. One task per control sub-folder.
3. Further information is available within my signature index below. Items 5A is the initial release and item 5B has additional setup guides. Actually, all of item 5 can be helpful. I also use MudCrab's DriveNotify with C2G to remind me when to connect my external drives and which drive to connect.
4. User selects the initial name assigned to the backups. TI may or will modify those names and numbers according to its programming. C2G does not control or alter the names assigned to these backups. The names assigned to the backups stored by C2G will be the same names assigned as if C2G was not involved.
5. I would believe that if TI is installed for "All users" , then any user could run the backup but that is an assumption on my part.
6. If you should decide to install, be sure and read the instructions about removing the security blocking before you unzip the file.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/5940?page=2#comment-47220
TrueImage Home 2011 backup scheme settings for Chain2Gen. Choose either Full; or Differential (+full); or Incremental (+full).
Thanks for all your help.