Incremental backup problem
Hi,
since I updated to TI 2012 I run into the following problem:
Every 3 hours I do an incremental backup of the data partititon of my HD - for years now. After upgrading to TI 2012 every second day a new complete backup of the data partition is saved to the archive.
The amount of data explodes because of this!
I tried different settings but do no avail. The archive is written to an attached QNAP NAS. Sometimes the NAS is down when my PC starts. With TI <2012 that has never been a prob.
HAs anybody a suggestions?
Regards,
SB
I basically have the same issue, except I am backing up to a separate USB-connected drive. Every time I set TI2012 to do incremental backups to an initial full backup, I get another complete backup of equal size to the initial one. Disk fragmentation on my Win 7 64bit OS is turned off. Previously I used TI2010 in exactly the same fashion, and it faithfully produced true incremental backups of a fraction the size of the full backup.
Any suggestions other than the fragmentation observations? Thanks in advance.
Gregory,
What are your backup settings (scheme, auto-cleaning)?
Scheme is "incremental scheme". I don't understand your question about auto-cleaning.
Gregory,
Version 2012 backup scheme is different than 2010. Everything begins with a backup task being created before a backup is possible.
Once the task has been created, with its pre-determined number of backups, any subsequent editing of task values can cause problems. Within the task, a backup scheme is created and the first backup will be a full backup and you pre-determine how many incremental backups you want created before a new full is created.
The first set of 1 full plus x incrementals becomes the first chain or version1. The example below illustrates how this can look. You can alter the 6 and 4 values to your needs and there are other backup schemes possible.
You can schedule the backups or run manually either from within the program via the "Backup now" option; or you can run the task manually via a desktop shortcut created from within the "edit backup settings" option.
The first link is an example of a custom backup scheme for full +incrementals.
sites/default/files/mvp/user285/2012-5545/2012-backup-scheme-inc.gif
The link below is an example of how to setup a TrueImage backup task from within Windows.
Sascha,
The preceding post could be helpful to you.
The incrementals are of no value without a good full backup so it is unwise to accumulate too many incrementals before a new full. After how many incrementals or How frequently do you want to create the full backup of the data?
Gregory,
Can you post a screenshot of your backup options?
Thx for all the responses. Unfortunately, I didn't get a solution yet.
Basically, I would like a full-backup after a month of incremental back-ups. I usually do this manually, as I never got satisfactory results with older version of TI.
I switched defrag off.
I have not changed the task and thus initiated a new full-backup.
With TI2011 every 3 hours around 50 mb were saved with each incremental back-up which my NAS uploads to online storage (non Acronis) at the end of the day. Uploading the full-backup takes three days as my DSL sucks.
That's why this prob with the full-backups after every two days really bugs me as uploading does work like this. I have got only 100 gb online.
With TI 2011 there was never a problem like that. There were other probs that's why I updated. I am a bit sore that QNAP isn't supported yet. I kind of trusted Acronis to include that popular manufacturer of NAS in their list of supported devices and am still waiting for that update.
Cheers,
SB
OK, after following all the good instructions to the letter, the resultant routine has now successfully created an initial full backup, followed the next day by the expected much smaller incremental backup. I added the validate upon creation option, which adds considerably to the time taken for an incremental backup, but that seems like a worthwhile tradeoff for the surety of accurate data. I will wait to see if the automatic cleanup process works as programmed, but the early results suggest that should work as promised.
Many thanks to all you forum stars, and in particular to GroverH's detailed instructions. You are masters at sorting all this out.
Greg
successfully created an initial full backup, followed the next day by the expected much smaller incremental backup.
Good.
I added the validate upon creation option, which adds considerably to the time taken for an incremental backup,
Indeed it does, because it must validate all files in the chain (incrementals and original full backup).
but that seems like a worthwhile tradeoff for the surety of accurate data.
Agreed. I always select that option.
Gregory,
I am very happy with your good results but I must put out a word of caution. It is best to create a task with specific settings and then do not make any further edits or changes to the task. Editing a task can cause unexpected results. Should the results not come out as expected, then create a new task with the desired settings and point the new task to a new blank folder or sub-folder. My recommendations is that the target storage disk starts out empty of any other backup files.
Acronis has provided the capability to perform task edits but in many situations, editing has caused the task not to perform as expected so I personally suggest that editing be avoided.