User manual
Table Of Contents
- 1 Introducing Acronis Backup
- 2 Getting started
- 3 Understanding Acronis Backup
- 3.1 Owners
- 3.2 Credentials used in backup plans and tasks
- 3.3 User privileges on a managed machine
- 3.4 List of Acronis services
- 3.5 Full, incremental and differential backups
- 3.6 What does a disk or volume backup store?
- 3.7 Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows)
- 3.8 Support for Advanced Format (4K-sector) hard disks
- 3.9 Compatibility with encryption software
- 3.10 Support for SNMP
- 3.11 Support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
- 3.12 Support for UEFI-based machines
- 4 Backup
- 4.1 Back up now
- 4.2 Creating a backup plan
- 4.2.1 Selecting data to back up
- 4.2.2 Access credentials for source
- 4.2.3 Source files exclusion
- 4.2.4 Backup location selection
- 4.2.5 Access credentials for archive location
- 4.2.6 Backup schemes
- 4.2.7 Archive validation
- 4.2.8 Backup plan's credentials
- 4.2.9 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup)
- 4.2.10 Sequence of operations in a backup plan
- 4.2.11 Why is the program asking for the password?
- 4.3 Simplified naming of backup files
- 4.3.1 The [DATE] variable
- 4.3.2 Backup splitting and simplified file naming
- 4.3.3 Usage examples
- 4.3.3.1 Example 1. Daily backup replacing the old one
- 4.3.3.2 Example 2. Daily full backups with a date stamp
- 4.3.3.3 Example 3. Hourly backups within a day
- 4.3.3.4 Example 4. Daily full backups with daily drive swaps
- 4.3.3.5 Example 5. Daily backups with weekly drive swaps
- 4.3.3.6 Example 6. Backups within working hours
- 4.4 Scheduling
- 4.5 Replication and retention of backups
- 4.6 How to disable backup cataloging
- 4.7 Default backup options
- 4.7.1 Additional settings
- 4.7.2 Archive protection
- 4.7.3 Backup cataloging
- 4.7.4 Backup performance
- 4.7.5 Backup splitting
- 4.7.6 Compression level
- 4.7.7 Disaster recovery plan (DRP)
- 4.7.8 E-mail notifications
- 4.7.9 Error handling
- 4.7.10 Event tracing
- 4.7.11 Fast incremental/differential backup
- 4.7.12 File-level backup snapshot
- 4.7.13 File-level security
- 4.7.14 Media components
- 4.7.15 Mount points
- 4.7.16 Multi-volume snapshot
- 4.7.17 Pre/Post commands
- 4.7.18 Pre/Post data capture commands
- 4.7.19 Replication/cleanup inactivity time
- 4.7.20 Sector-by-sector backup
- 4.7.21 Task failure handling
- 4.7.22 Task start conditions
- 4.7.23 Volume Shadow Copy Service
- 5 Recovery
- 5.1 Creating a recovery task
- 5.2 Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based and vice versa
- 5.3 Acronis Active Restore
- 5.4 Bootability troubleshooting
- 5.5 Reverting a Windows system to its factory settings
- 5.6 Default recovery options
- 6 Conversion to a virtual machine
- 7 Storing the backed up data
- 8 Operations with archives and backups
- 9 Bootable media
- 10 Disk management
- 10.1 Supported file systems
- 10.2 Basic precautions
- 10.3 Running Acronis Disk Director Lite
- 10.4 Choosing the operating system for disk management
- 10.5 "Disk management" view
- 10.6 Disk operations
- 10.7 Volume operations
- 10.8 Pending operations
- 11 Protecting applications with disk-level backup
- 12 Administering a managed machine
- 12.1 Backup plans and tasks
- 12.2 Log
- 12.3 Alerts
- 12.4 Changing a license
- 12.5 Collecting system information
- 12.6 Adjusting machine options
- 13 Cloud backup
- 13.1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup
- 13.1.1 What is Acronis Cloud Backup?
- 13.1.2 What data can I back up and recover?
- 13.1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the cloud storage?
- 13.1.4 How do I secure my data?
- 13.1.5 Supported operating systems and virtualization products
- 13.1.6 Backup and recovery FAQ
- 13.1.6.1 What backup methods are available?
- 13.1.6.2 What recovery methods are available?
- 13.1.6.3 Is the cloud storage available under Acronis bootable media?
- 13.1.6.4 What if a network connection is lost during cloud backup or recovery?
- 13.1.6.5 What happens if I run out of space?
- 13.1.6.6 What is the cleanup task for?
- 13.1.6.7 How do I make a recovered machine recognize its subscription?
- 13.1.7 Initial Seeding FAQ
- 13.1.7.1 What is Initial Seeding?
- 13.1.7.2 Why would I want to use Initial Seeding?
- 13.1.7.3 Is Initial Seeding a paid service?
- 13.1.7.4 What types of hard drive can I use for Initial Seeding?
- 13.1.7.5 Can I send more than one backup under a single Initial Seeding license?
- 13.1.7.6 Can I send backups taken from a number of machines on a single hard drive?
- 13.1.7.7 How to buy an Initial Seeding license?
- 13.1.7.8 How do I perform initial seeding?
- 13.1.7.9 How to package a hard drive for shipment?
- 13.1.7.10 How do I track an Initial Seeding order status?
- 13.1.8 Large Scale Recovery FAQ
- 13.1.8.1 What is Large Scale Recovery?
- 13.1.8.2 Why would I use Large Scale Recovery?
- 13.1.8.3 Do I need to perform initial seeding to be able to use Large Scale Recovery?
- 13.1.8.4 Is Large Scale Recovery a paid service?
- 13.1.8.5 Can I perform large scale recovery on a different machine?
- 13.1.8.6 Can I obtain backups taken from a number of machines on a single hard drive?
- 13.1.8.7 How to buy a Large Scale Recovery license?
- 13.1.8.8 How do I track a Large Scale Recovery order status?
- 13.1.8.9 How to perform large scale recovery?
- 13.1.9 Subscription lifecycle FAQ
- 13.1.9.1 How do I access my account management webpage?
- 13.1.9.2 Where do I find the subscriptions that I purchased?
- 13.1.9.3 When does my subscription begin?
- 13.1.9.4 What happens when my subscription expires?
- 13.1.9.5 How do I renew a subscription?
- 13.1.9.6 What is the “Group” column for?
- 13.1.9.7 Can I revoke a subscription from a machine?
- 13.1.9.8 Can I cancel my subscription?
- 13.2 Where do I start?
- 13.3 Choosing a subscription
- 13.4 Configuring proxy settings
- 13.5 Checking the firewall settings
- 13.6 Activating cloud backup subscriptions
- 13.7 Retrieving files from the cloud storage by using a web browser
- 13.8 Limitations of the cloud storage
- 13.9 Terminology reference
- 13.1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup
- 14 Glossary
- Acronis Active Restore
- Acronis Plug-in for WinPE
- Acronis Secure Zone
- Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (ASRM)
- Activity
- Agent (Acronis Backup Agent)
- Archive
- Backup
- Backup archive (Archive)
- Backup operation
- Backup options
- Backup plan (Plan)
- Backup scheme
- Bootable agent
- Bootable media
- Built-in group
- Cataloging
- Centralized backup plan
- Centralized management
- Centralized task
- Centralized vault
- Cleanup
- Console (Acronis Backup Management Console)
- Consolidation
- Data catalog
- Deduplicating vault
- Deduplication
- Differential backup
- Direct management
- Disaster recovery plan (DRP)
- Disk backup (Image)
- Disk group
- Dynamic disk
- Dynamic group
- Dynamic volume
- Encrypted archive
- Encrypted vault
- Export
- Full backup
- GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son)
- Image
- Incremental backup
- Indexing
- Local backup plan
- Local task
- Logical volume
- Machine
- Managed machine
- Managed vault
- Management server (Acronis Backup Management Server)
- Media builder
- Personal vault
- Plan
- Recovery point
- Registered machine
- Registration
- Replenishable pool
- Replication
- Retention rules
- Single-pass backup
- Static group
- Storage node (Acronis Backup Storage Node)
- Task
- Tower of Hanoi
- Unmanaged vault
- Validation
- Vault
- Virtual machine
- WinPE (Windows Preinstallation Environment)
118 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2016
Usage scenarios
1. The system uptime is one of the efficiency criteria.
Examples: Client-oriented online services, Web-retailers, polling stations.
2. The system/storage space ratio is heavily biased toward storage.
Some machines are being used as storage facilities, where the operating system claims a small
space segment and all other disk space is committed to storage, such as movies, sounds or other
multimedia files. Some of these storage volumes can be extremely large as compared to the
system and so practically all the recovery time will be dedicated to recovering the files, which
might be used much later on, if in any near future at all.
If you opt for Acronis Active Restore, the system will be operational in a short time. Users will be
able to open the necessary files from the storage and use them while the rest of the files, which
are not immediately necessary, are being recovered in the background.
Examples: movie collection storage, music collection storage, multimedia storage.
How to use
1. Back up the system disk or volume to a location accessible through the system’s BIOS. This may
be Acronis Secure Zone, a USB hard drive, a flash drive or any internal hard drive.
If your operating system and its loader reside on different volumes, always include both volumes in the
backup. The volumes must also be recovered together; otherwise, there is a high risk that the operating
system will not start.
2. Create bootable media.
3. If a system failure occurs, boot the machine using the bootable media. Start the console and
connect to the bootable agent.
4. Create a recovery task (p. 100). In What to recover, make sure that the system disk or volume is
selected for recovery.
Acronis Active Restore will choose for the boot-up and subsequent recovery the first operating system
found during the backup scan. Do not try to recover more than one operating system using Active Restore if
you want the result to be predictable. When recovering a multi-boot system, choose only one system
volume and boot volume at a time.
5. In Where to recover, make sure that the system disk or volume is mapped to the first disk. If it is
not, map it manually as described in "Selecting target disks" (p. 105).
6. In Acronis Active Restore, select Use.
7. Once the system recovery is started, the operating system boots from the backup. The Acronis
Active Restore icon appears in the system tray. The machine becomes operational and ready to
provide necessary services. The immediate user sees the drive tree and icons and can open files
or launch applications even though they were not yet recovered.
The drivers of Acronis Active Restore intercept system queries and set the immediate priority for
recovery of the files that are necessary to serve the incoming requests. While this on-the-fly
recovery proceeds, the continuing recovery process is transferred to the background.
Please do not shut down or reboot the machine until the recovery is completed. If you switch off the
machine, all the changes made to the system since the last boot up will be lost. The system will not be
recovered, not even partially. The only possible solution in this case will be to restart the recovery process
from a bootable media.
8. The background recovery continues until all the selected volumes are recovered, the log entry is
made and the Acronis Active Restore icon disappears from the system tray.