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)
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The roll-back period shows how many days we are guaranteed to have even in the worst case. For a
four-level scheme, it is four days.
4.2.6.5 Manual start
With the Manual start scheme, you do not have to specify the backup schedule. You can run the
backup plan from the Plans and Tasks view manually at any time afterwards.
Specify the appropriate settings as follows.
Backup type
Select the type of backup
Full - selected by default for all backup locations (except for Acronis Cloud Storage).
Incremental. At the first time a full backup will be created. The next backups will be
incremental. Selected as the one and only backup type for Acronis Cloud Storage.
Differential. At the first time a full backup will be created. The next backups will be
differential.
4.2.6.6 Initial seeding
This backup scheme is available when Acronis Cloud Storage is selected as the backup destination. A
backup is only successful if you have an Initial Seeding license.
The Initial Seeding service might be unavailable in your region. To find more information, click here:
http://kb.acronis.com/content/15118.
Initial seeding enables you to transfer the first backup, which is full and usually the largest, to the
cloud storage on a hard drive instead of over the Internet. Subsequent backups, which are all
incremental and thus usually much smaller, can be transferred over the Internet after the full backup
has arrived in the cloud storage.
If you back up 500 GB of data or more, initial seeding ensures faster delivery of the backed-up data
and lower traffic costs.
Please refer to the "Initial Seeding FAQ (p. 240)" section for more details.
4.2.7 Archive validation
Set up the validation task to check if the backed-up data is recoverable. If the backup could not pass
the validation successfully, the validation task fails and the backup plan gets the Error status.
Validation of a file backup imitates recovery of all files from the backup to a dummy destination.
Validation of a volume backup calculates a checksum for every data block saved in the backup.
To set up validation, specify the following parameters
1. When to validate – select when to perform the validation. As the validation is a
resource-intensive operation, it makes sense to schedule the validation to the managed
machine's off-peak period. On the other hand, if the validation is a major part of your data
protection strategy and you prefer to be immediately informed whether the backed-up data is