Acronis True Image Home 11 backup plan question (a basic question)
I am new to this software (and to the backup world in general) and I require some clarification. I would like to back up a particular folder which in turn contains files and more folders (as usual). Suppose I am using an incremental backup to do this regularly. At one point in time I organise my main folder (on the source disk) and I remove some files or folders from it. I would like that during the following backup, Acronis notices this and deletes the removed items (files and folders) from the backup as well so that I always have a perfect copy of the source in my backup files and not a bunch of old folders that are not used anymore!
With my incremental method I am using in Acronis it seems that I am not achieving what I need. I need syncronisation (which also means deleting folders in the backup if they no longer exist!). Is this possible with Acronis ? And what shall I use to do this, incremental or differential ?
Thanks in advance.
Marvin
Marvin:
Have a look at Microsoft SyncToy for a file synchronization program.
Thank you for your prompt answer. Can I ask why is that ? AM I the only one that want my backup to reflect the source exactly and if I delete anything from the source it is also deleted from the backup ? Why isn't this a standard feature in all backup programs. And Acronis is one of the best, how come they never gave it a thought ? OR am I really doing something stupid ??? Please explain further. Isn't a sync better than a one-way copy ?? What am I missing.
- Marvin
Marvin:
Fundamentally, file synchronization and imaging have two different goals. I can't answer for Acronis, but I suspect that they only wanted to make the best imaging software on the market. The fundamental goal of imaging software is to be able to make a point-in-time snapshot of a partition, or even of an entire disk, so that the disk could be restored to this exact state if something went wrong. This function is of the most value when it is used for the purpose of recovering a failed Windows operating system, or recovering from a failed hard disk. This is the core function of Acronis True Image, and the function that it does best. Eventually, feature creep sets in and they have added all kinds of bells and whistles to the product, but not file sync.
File synchronization has a different goal; keeping two sets of data identical to each other. I don't think Acronis ever had that as a goal.
Dear Mark,
Thanks for the explaination. Clearer now. And in your opinion, what would be the best way to backup a particular folder (containing both folders and files that may change in both content and structure) regularly so that if anything happens one can recover this folder as it was last ? Would you go for sync or backup (the Acronis way) ?
Thanks in advance.
Marvin
Marvin:
Given your goals, I would use file sync.
In my work I use both types of backup. I'm a teacher and have a set of course files that are in daily use during a semester. For these I keep a master copy on a file server at work, and use Microsoft SyncToy to synchonize the contents of the course folders to both the work desktop PC and to a Tablet PC used in the classroom. No matter which machine I'm working on I can create or change a file and have those changes updated in all other places. And the nice network admins run daily backups of the file server and have previous versions (shadow copies) implemented on their server going back a month, so the chances of losing an important work file are minimal.
I also use Acronis True Image to create periodic backups of the disk so that if a disaster occurs, the disk can be recovered to the state of the last backup. I'm getting more complacent now and only do this once or twice a month since the most important files are synchronized to multiple destinations twice daily but you can choose a backup interval that best fits your individual comfort level.
Thank you Mark. Very clear. A good teacher indeed :-)
- Marvin
Marvin:
Maybe not as good as I should have been. I did fail to point out an obvious weakness of the sync method. If you accidentally or deliberately change a file and then synchronize to another disk, all of your changes are dutifully copied to the other disk. If you then later discover that you made a mistake, it's too late. The original file has been written over.
With backups, you could go retrieve the previous version of the file. Each method has its pluses and minuses.
Mark:
In fact I have thought about that as well. With this in mind I'd conclude that a backup is safer but can grow in size due to obsolete data. A solution might be to create afresh the full backup and erase the old one and the incremental files.
Marvin.
This is just a personal opinion but after rather too many nasty surprises using file synchronisation programs I now avoid using them altogether and do only point-in-time backups. For me Acronis is the program that enables me to sleep safe in the knowledge I will be able to recover my system amost whatever may happen to it short of physical loss, and WinRAR is the program that automatically does the same for my personal files twice a day.
Marvin,
I am new to ATI also. I think your issues would be resolved by running periodic FULL backups of your data set as well as more frequent incrementals. For example, if you ran a full backup once a week and incrementals daily, you would never be more than one week out of synch. You could then simply restore the latest full backup you have, restore the incrementals and then manually delete anything you didn't want.
OC
I am new to this software (and to the backup world in general) and I require some clarification. I would like to back up a particular folder which in turn contains files and more folders (as usual). Suppose I am using an incremental backup to do this regularly. At one point in time I organise my main folder (on the source disk) and I remove some files or folders from it. I would like that during the following backup, Acronis notices this and deletes the removed items (files and folders) from the backup as well so that I always have a perfect copy of the source in my backup files and not a bunch of old folders that are not used anymore!
With my incremental method I am using in Acronis it seems that I am not achieving what I need. I need syncronisation (which also means deleting folders in the backup if they no longer exist!). Is this possible with Acronis ? And what shall I use to do this, incremental or differential ?
Thanks in advance.
Marvin
Marvin,
I am new to ATI also. I think your issues would be resolved by running periodic FULL backups of your data set as well as more frequent incrementals. For example, if you ran a full backup once a week and incrementals daily, you would never be more than one week out of synch. You could then simply restore the latest full backup you have, restore the incrementals and then manually delete anything you didn't want.
OC
I am new to this software (and to the backup world in general) and I require some clarification. I would like to back up a particular folder which in turn contains files and more folders (as usual). Suppose I am using an incremental backup to do this regularly. At one point in time I organise my main folder (on the source disk) and I remove some files or folders from it. I would like that during the following backup, Acronis notices this and deletes the removed items (files and folders) from the backup as well so that I always have a perfect copy of the source in my backup files and not a bunch of old folders that are not used anymore!
With my incremental method I am using in Acronis it seems that I am not achieving what I need. I need syncronisation (which also means deleting folders in the backup if they no longer exist!). Is this possible with Acronis ? And what shall I use to do this, incremental or differential ?
Thanks in advance.
Marvin
Marvin,
I am new to ATI also. I think your issues would be resolved by running periodic FULL backups of your data set as well as more frequent incrementals. For example, if you ran a full backup once a week and incrementals daily, you would never be more than one week out of synch. You could then simply restore the latest full backup you have, restore the incrementals and then manually delete anything you didn't want.
OC
I am new to this software (and to the backup world in general) and I require some clarification. I would like to back up a particular folder which in turn contains files and more folders (as usual). Suppose I am using an incremental backup to do this regularly. At one point in time I organise my main folder (on the source disk) and I remove some files or folders from it. I would like that during the following backup, Acronis notices this and deletes the removed items (files and folders) from the backup as well so that I always have a perfect copy of the source in my backup files and not a bunch of old folders that are not used anymore!
With my incremental method I am using in Acronis it seems that I am not achieving what I need. I need syncronisation (which also means deleting folders in the backup if they no longer exist!). Is this possible with Acronis ? And what shall I use to do this, incremental or differential ?
Thanks in advance.
Marvin